Three comedies. Three episodes. Two guest stars. One product recall. One season finale. And, in the end, one champion. Will the victor be The Office, recently named the show with the greatest percentage viewer increase through same-week DVR viewings? Or perhaps 30 Rock, the little show that could celebrating its 1st Season finale with a 2nd in the bag, despite some Alec Baldwin-related drama? Or could it be the veteran Scrubs, still facing a possible cancellation and coming off of an overly emotional story arc around a character death? We’ll have to find out.

The Office – “Product Recall”

It opened with perhaps the best cold open in weeks, featuring Jim mimicking Dwight to a tee. It continued with an episode that featured, for perhaps the first time in weeks, a moment for every single character.

We’ve got Dwight preparing the Office for a press conference by placing Karen, Ryan and Pam out front while placing a plant in front of Phyllis. We’ve got Andy and Jim’s bonding on the school visit over some “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (No one can possibly resist a good “Awimbawa”). We’ve got Michael botching a press conference and threatening to call the “Ungrateful Biatch Hotline” in front of a reporter. Then you have Angela making customer service calls, Kelly breaking into some B-A-N-A-N-A-S, Creed being his usual sketchy self in delightful fashion, and…it was just a fantastic ensemble episode of the office. It didn’t get too caught up in recurring storylines, and yet still seemed believable (Unlike Michael’s trip to the roof during safety training). It was grounded, strong in character, and is perhaps one of the best episode’s of the season.

30 Rock – “Hiatus”

30 Rock delivered some good laughs, including a few from guest star Sean Hayes, but the problem is that it was really much more mired up in recurring storylines that never really came to a satisfactory conclusion. Tina Fey is a great comedy writer, she really is, but she isn’t used to “season long storyline arcs” or “season finales.” The result, really, is an episode that kind of felt like the episode of The Girlie Show within the episode itself: it was too short, too uneventful, and some of it just wasn’t funny enough.

I like that it dealt with some things extremely well (Colleen, Jack’s Mother, was bloody delightful, and the Star Wars references were cute), but parts of it just didn’t seem necessary. The Office has built a mythology which has allowed its more plot driven episodes to have meaning, but 30 Rock hasn’t done this yet. It needs to build to that point, and it hasn’t done it yet; Liz’s breakup with Floyd and Jack’s with Phoebe felt like meaningless diversions to build to some form of dramatic conclusion that was neither a) conclusive or b) dramatic. It just kind of all ended…with some funny lines throughout, but it wasn’t what a finale really needs to be. I’d almost rather it forget about the drama altogether and stick to make tight, slick half-hours of television.

Scrubs – “My Turf War”

Perhaps in the exact opposite direction to The Office or 30 Rock, I actually quite prefer Scrubs when it heads into more dramatic character territory. Too often recently the show has gone to quirky comedy as a first resort. For perhaps the first time in a long time, Scrubs came to the table with an episode that reminded me of the season one episodes I’ve been enjoying recently. It was structured in ways that dealt with each character to a certain degree, and ended on a “cliffhanger” that felt actually, well, real.

It attacked on two fronts, instead of trying to cover nearly four of them as in past weeks. It introduced guest star Keri Russell as a college sorority sister for Elliot, who was funny enough and brought some actual tension into a relationship we haven’t seen in weeks: J.D. and Elliot. Their dynamic is a great part of past seasons, and it was nice of them to return to it in a non-sexual way…well, for now, anyways. And then, concurrently, they were able to deal with the battle between Dr. Cox and Turk, long raging, in a real fashion. The Janitor had his own little subplot that was in the background, Carla and Dr. Kelso had a small role, and the episode ended with Keith proposing to Elliot as J.D. realizes that being Elliot’s best friend might not be as easy now. It had dramatic impact, it had real character shifts, and it had a sense of an ensemble that it hasn’t had in awhile.

And the winner is…

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[Another week, another set of repeats from Thrusday Night’s dramas. The result? Another Thursday Night TV Club focused on NBC’s Comedy Night Done Right.]

The Office

“Safety Training”

This week’s episode of The Office represents an important development for the series: it’s its first attempt to officially integrate a new character into its motley crew of characters. There was very little of Andy, except for Dwight shunning him, and it’s kind of tough for us to really accept him or notice him early in the episode. And, while I think that this would have been fine if the rest of the episode was very successful at providing comedy, it just really wasn’t that great a half hour of the show.

The episode instead dealt with…well, nothing really. After a series of episodes which offered either broad comedy or real plot development, it’s weird to see the show head back to its old roots in ridiculous office situations. This doesn’t mean the show isn’t funny, or that the episode was a waste of time, but rather that it seems inconsequential. It didn’t show a real character shift in anyone, didn’t address any true issues in office work, and just felt like the show was treading water. Considering that we just came off an extended episode which was complicated and interesting, this just felt like a step in the wrong direction.

The focus on safety and Michael’s search to prove himself is nothing we haven’t seen before, and it never really got to be resolved in a meaningful way. The betting sideplot which accompanied it was cute, sure, but it hasn’t been asked to carry an episode since the days of Office Olympics (And even there it had real ramifications for characters). Instead, all we got was some rather humorous but not laugh-out-loud funny moments. The bets included: guessing the number of jelly beans, seeing how long Ryan can talk to Kelly (With sidebets regarding how many times she says ‘Awesome’ or mentions romantic comedies), and whether or not Creed will realize when they switch out his apple with a potato. He doesn’t. That being said, they were still very small-scale, and didn’t really make an impact.

And the problem was that this episode really did have to do something more than this. It really needed to integrate Andy into the office atmosphere and make me see a purpose for him: and it didn’t. Andy was shunned by Dwight, which was humorous, but it was humorous for Dwight and not for Andy. If all he’s going to do is be a nothing character, then why bring him back full time? And while I think he can be established with time, and this episode didn’t sink their ability to bring him into the cast, I really think that a better effort needing to be put forward.

30 Rock

“Corporate Crush”

Where the Office finds itself in a bit of a rut, 30 Rock is the exact opposite; every single one of its storylines is a continuation of last week’s episode, and it all feels natural and interconnected. It’s shown itself capable of balancing storylines, and yet managing to provide a varied smattering of comedy each week. It’s situational, it’s absurdist, and yet it remains grounded in the principles of the show as it was organized: Liz is a lovelorn writer, Jack is the powerful yet insecure executive, and Tracy is the absurd actor. In this episode, each of them got to grow as characters and show new sides of themselves. This is precisely what The Office didn’t manage to do, and why 30 Rock was the better show on this evening.

Liz and Floyd’s relationship was nice and established until Jack came along, and Floyd and Jack started mandating. Jack, you see, is struggling with depression ever since his fireworks extravaganza last week went horribly awry and Don Geiss (President of GE or something) took away his prized Microwave Oven division. After Liz tells him to stop trying to steal the Floydster (Jack’s nickname for Floyd), he decides to find his own Floydster by dating his art dealer, and then proposing to her in order to fulfill the executive stereotype brought up at the beginning of the episode. Meanwhile, Tracy tries to get his Norbit-style Jefferson biopic made, and even when he fails he decides to finance it himself.

See how that all relates back to last week’s episode? To the basic nature of these characters? To everything the show stands for? For actually managing to contribute to the show in a meaningful fashion, and yet remaining funny, 30 Rock succeeds once again.

Scrubs

“My Words of Wisdom”

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Supersized Comedy Night

Done Right

NBC’s Funny Foresome

So, while the last edition of Thursday Night TV Club dealt with primarily ABC’s drama lineup, this week provided a unique two and a half hours of fresh comedy at NBC. Supersized episodes of The Office, 30 Rock and Scrubs coupled with a new Andy Barker resulted in a very satisfying night of comedy. How satisfying was it? Well, I actually have a specific positive thing to say about every episode. This is quite rare, especially with a show like Scrubs that I’ve criticized often in the past.

But, the reality is that each show stepped up to the plate in their own way, and each deserves a special Thursday Night TV Club Award of Recognition.

Award of Recognition for the

Most Well-Negotiated Return

The Office – “The Negotiation”

After a long break, The Office returned with an episode that did everything right in such a situation. Having gone on hiatus with the dramatic ‘Cocktails,’ the show needed to balance the drama of Roy’s anger with the comedic elements the show is known for. The show took that drama and managed it; there was no true confrontation between Jim and Pam, there was no on-screen discussion of the scenario, it just happened in the cold open and was dealt with off-screen. This was a strong decision, and shows the deft touch of the show’s producers.

What it allowed was for the comedy to move forward. Whether it was Dwight the hero and Jim’s attempts to be nice to him, Angela’s sexual excitement over Dwight’s actions or Toby’s continued torture at the hands of Kelly, the show was packed with the type of character interactions that are integral to the show’s dynamic. Michael’s salary negotiation helped to reveal more regarding his relationship with Jan, his hatred of Toby and the show managed to return after a dramatic event without missing a beat. It was a well-negotiated return indeed for the recent Peabody winners.

Award of Recognition for the

Best Justification of Renewal

30 Rock – “Fireworks”

Tina Fey’s sitcom was recently renewed for a 2^nd season and tonight’s episode showed why. It was balancing all of the show’s elements with deft coordination throughout the episode. It dealt with Liz’s relationship problems, Tracy’s Paranoia, Jack’s insecurities, Special Guest Stars like Will Arnett, and the usual office madness which occurs. And yet, the show managed to do with ease. Liz’s relationship with Floyd went through a logical pattern, Will Arnett was as awesome as ever (“TV. On your PHONE!” I was just waiting for the ‘Come on!’). It was fantastic.

I’ve since realized why this might have been the case: Jane Krakowski’s Jenna was nowhere to be found. While her character isn’t a curse on the episodes she is in, the show just seems to work that much better without her. The character of Jenna just doesn’t seem necessary at this point, as this episode showed; did anyone really miss Jenna? Either way, the show continued its consistent streak, which was a powerful reminder as to why NBC made the decision to renew the show in the first place.

However, we can’t forget the show’s greatest moment: Tracy dreams that he is on Maury Povich to find his biological father, which is Alec Baldwin playing Thomas Jefferson, and hilarity ensues. I loves me some Maury.

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