With the departure of "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" (which, in my opinion, is a good thing), two new shows have joined "The Office" and "30 Rock" on the famed NBC Thursday night lineup: the community college comedy, "Community", and the Office-esque mockumentary "Parks and Recreation". I am not up to date on Parks, as I was not a fan of the earlier episodes, but I've heard better things and will be exploring the show soon. The other 3 programs, however, I have stuck with and was anticipating Thursday night's season finales. Let's see how these final episodes, and seasons overall, stack up.
COMMUNITY
8 PM, THURSDAY NIGHTS ON NBC
At its start, Community was an entertaining show, although not very compelling, or particularly funny. It was definitely fun to watch, but there was little intrigue about the characters, and instead of being outrageously funny like 30 Rock or excruciatingly awkward like The Office, it was more along the lines of amusing. The show eventually got better, however, and found its place in the lineup, and my list of great shows. It moved out of its awkward beginning phases and settled in its niche with a fantastic theme of movie imitations and the wild humor of its outlandish characters. They became interesting, and something to care about. Jeff's sarcastic comments are there, but his douche baggery was toned down to make him likable. Britta's annoying female angst was turned into a pitiful humor that made her entertaining. Abed and Troy's constant shenanigans became a welcome pattern. Pierce's childish and obnoxious comments went from being dumb to downright hilarious. Annie and Shirley made their beds too as the sweet, naive members of the group. They became a community.
So much, that in the season finale, it was actually pretty melancholy to see these characters bid farewell to Annie for the summer as she prepared to leave with her boyfriend. This subplot was one of many, including a fight between Troy and Abed over moving in together, a rivalry between professor Duncan and former-teacher Senor Cheng, and most importantly a love triangle between Jeff, Slater, and Britta. I don't want to ruin how this triangle turns out in case you haven't watched the finale yet, but its outcome is great and unexpected. The season finale of Community felt very season finale-ish. Which is great, and one of the best things about this fantastic episode. Overall, it stacks up as an incredible season finale, and a mark that Community has really come into its own.
The last few episodes of the show, including the incredible "Modern Warfare", have been an absolute pleasure, and I'm looking forward to the show's return in the fall.
Community, Season 1 Overall Grade: B+
Community, Season 1 Finale: A
THE OFFICE
9 PM, THURSDAY NIGHTS ON NBC
Season 6 of "The Office" rocketed off with a great start. The first episode, "Gossip", was a fun mess around with classic Office antics, and a great exploitation of the stupidity of it's star, Michael Scott. And of course, a few episodes later was Jim and Pam's wedding, which was one of my personal favorite episodes ever, being both hilarious and a blast of nostalgia. The show, after its great beginning, did something very unfortunate: it started to suck. And I don't mean suck as in "oh that show sucks", because a sucky episode of The Office is still better than a lot of what's on TV. However, compared to the show's first 3 seasons, it is clearly dying down. Since Steve Carrell is officially leaving the show after next year's season, hopefully they'll take the cue to end the series and make it a season to remember. Season 6 has some great moments, but overall the sum never really matches the brilliance of its parts.
In the extremely unexciting season finale, there are some fantastic moments, such as Michael's interactions with the Sabre head honcho (played again in a guest starring role by Cathy Bates), Dwight's plot to buy out the Dunder Mifflin property, and the overall setup is great, with each character trying to avoid the tag of being the whistleblower on a line of faulty printers. The plot just doesn't meet its expectations; the antics of the investigation are never as fun as they should be, there is not enough emphasis put on the horror of Dwight owning the building's property, there's almost no involvement for Jim and Pam, and the worst part of it for me was the complete lack of a great cliffhanger after the ones the series has become known for. For me, ever since Jim and Pam finally got together, the show has lost some of its narrative draw, and while the writers regained it with the agony of adult angst in season 5 with the whole Michael Scott Paper Company fiasco, season 6 just forgot about that and wandered on without purpose. This didn't feel like a season finale, and it didn't feel like The Office. Hopefully next year, the show will stop slacking off like its characters, and get its act together.
The Office, Season 6 Overall Grade: B-
The Office, Season 6 Finale: C
30 ROCK
9:30 PM, THURSDAY NIGHTS ON NBC
Now, back to some good news. 30 Rock, TV's funniest comedy, definitely rocked it with its 4th season. Through Liz Lemon trying to find her soul mate, Jack Donaghy juggling two women, and of course the insane antics of Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock proved that it just doesn't get old, and is stronger than it's ever been. The show has always been a blast, as it operates in its own universe; every character is so crazy and out-there that to each other, they're just normal. There hasn't been a TV comedy since Arrested Development with such sharp and ridiculously funny one-liners and characters.
In its season finale, Jack's love triangle comes to a conclusion, Jenna makes a decision in her relationship with her own impersonator, and Liz is swept away by guest star Matt Damon, in a hilariously shruggish performance that I hope will span out for at least one or two more episodes next season. I would have preferred more Tracy in this episode, but that doesn't stpo it from being a blast. The episode is full of witty lines and concludes with an absolutely brilliant drunk speech from the lovable country boy page Kenneth Parcell. If there's one show I'll miss this summer, it's 30 Rock.
30 Rock, Season 4 Overall Grade: A
30 Rock, Season 4 Finale: A-
Thursday night was full of disappointment and reward, as three of the best comedies on television came to a close for the summer. I am now eagerly awaiting, above all else, the season finale of Chuck on Monday night, and possibly one of the grandest television events in history: the monumental finale of Lost's incredible 6 year run. Thus far, I'd have to give the best finale prize to Community: it felt the most like a season finale, and wonderfully tied together a show that has grown up quite a bit. What did you think?
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