NEW SHOWS:
Key & Peele – Season 3, Episode 7 (B+)
A Halloween-themed episode means the sketches try a little too hard to have a spooky connection, but as always, the majority are brilliant.
Grey’s Anatomy – “Thriller” (C-)
There’s an interesting way to do a Halloween episode using real-life fear, but this isn’t it.
DVR BINGE:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “The Tagger,” “The Slump,” “M.E. Time,” “The Vulture,” “Halloween” (average: B+)
The show has continued to improve over its first six episodes. It’s got a ways to go still, but the cast is gelling. Even if this just becomes a “hang-out show” to fill the void in my heart left by Happy Endings, so be it.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – “Mac and Dennis Buy a Timeshare” (B-)
As always, there’s an episode of Sunny that’s awfully repetitive but still manages to wrangle some laughs. It’s when we get a bunch of these that it becomes a problem. Biggest laugh had to be the soldier dressed “like Ebenezer Scrooge” at bedtime.
Key & Peele – Season 3, Episodes 3-6 (average: A-)
Far and away the best sketch show on TV, and regularly the funniest, Key & Peele continues to find new ways to be hilarious and relevant. They’re socially conscious and brilliant, which makes them The Roots of sketch comedy. The first two had a few mediocre skits, but the last two knocked every one out of the park.
Modern Family – “Larry’s Wife,” “Farm Strong,” “The Late Show” (average: B+)
While the first two of these episodes had some funny moments and frustrating storylines, “The Late Show” was the tide that lifted all boats. It’s one of those episodes every season that just completely knocks it out of the park from the first line.
Saturday Night Live – “Edward Norton/Janelle Monáe” (B)
As always, hit-or-miss. But I feel like Ed Norton pushed the cast to do weirder and weirder sketches, which I’m always for. Better to have something completely off-the-wall fail than something ho-hum succeed at existing. Favorite sketch, besides the brilliant Wes Anderson parody, was probably the creepy neighbor explaining what he was handing out to the kids.
Scandal – “Say Hello to My Little Friend” (B-)
Boyfriend duty again. This episode wasn’t actively terrible, mainly because it was just a rip-off of Law & Order, which I am always down to watch.
OLD SHOWS:
The Simpsons (Season 6) – “The PTA Disbands!” (A)
Easily one of Season 6’s standouts and perhaps the best episode about Springfield’s easy slide into complete decay. Its bleak endgame is just icing on the cake in an episode filled, as always, with quotable lines like “That’s a paddlin'” and “That’s a very lovely jig, Kearney.”