NEW SHOWS:
Key & Peele – Season 3, Episode 8 (A-)
Not a dud in the bunch, even if many of the sketches were rather low-brow. Now say it with me: “I was hy on poteneuse.”
DVR BINGE:
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – “Mac Day,” “The Gang Saves the Day,” “The Gang Gets Quarantined” (average: B+)
Though the first of these episodes was the kind of mean-spirited, hateful episode that makes me want to bail on the whole series. The second episode was creative, then unexpectedly moving. The final was a great twist on the bottle episode and makes me think this season on the whole was very good.
Saturday Night Live Halloween Special (B)
Some of the sketches, including the 2007 opening with a cameo from the Commander-in-Chief, fell completely flat. But the best, especially the creepy closer and my personal favorites like Vincent Price’s Halloween Special and an update from Stefon, were truly some of the best sketches the show has done this decade.
Saturday Night Live – “Kerry Washington/Eminem” (B)
Better than it had an right to be, especially when it got really weird, with not one but two terrifying game shows. As always, it doesn’t all work, but like last week, I’m down with it failing for doing something bizarre instead of mediocre and semi-topical.
OLD SHOWS:
Modern Family (Season 1) – “The Incident” (A)
These USA reruns are dangerous. Just like Law & Order and Seinfeld, I can easily get lost in a marthon. But this episode, from the first half of its first season, might just be the best the show has ever done. It’s so good it makes you wonder why Shelley Long doesn’t drop by all the time.
Modern Family (Season 3) – “Lifetime Supply” (A-)
A highlight from a less-than-stellar season. All three stories are so good that they never distract or detract from one another.
The Simpsons (Season 6) – “’Round Springfield” (A-)
As they joked in “The 138th Episode Spectacular,” Bleeding Gums Murphy was never popular. But his death got to me, as pretty much any show I’m going to watch from now until the end of time will. But that’s OK. After several hilarious episodes, I’m OK with The Simpsons getting a little melancholy.
The Simpsons (Season 22) – “The Ned-liest Catch” (B)
Fox lied to me. This wasn’t the Season Three classic “Bart the Lover.” But it was an episode I’d never seen before, and a pretty good one at that. But Ned loosening up isn’t the same as Gordie Howe saying “Truly yours is a butt that won’t quit.” RIP Marcia Wallace.
Programming Note: These posts will likely get shorter and shorter as next week is the last week I will have a DVR, and I will use much of that time to rip through the stockpile of movies I have on there. Cable is just too expensive nowadays, so I’ll have to rely on services like Hulu Plus and networks’ own sites to keep up with new shows.