Monday Night Comedy Roundup
Kind of a letdown on most fronts as Monday’s collection of comedies proved to be decent though rarely LOL-funny (even to the point of using “LOL” to describe situations that aren’t necessarily worth of laughing out loud, but just chuckling to oneself). They weren’t bad episodes. I never felt like turning the television off, but the laughs just weren’t there — except for The Boondocks, which is achingly funny. Brief thoughts on Weeds, Aliens In America and Samantha Who? coming up after the jump…
Weeds — I gotta say, despite the rapidly rotting flesh that is the bulk of Weeds this season, this particular episode wasn’t particularly terrible. Of course, as I mentioned above, it wasn’t particularly funny either leaving us with something of a null-set. For most of the half-hour the characters behaved as they should behave, not as the writers would like for them to behave. Andy’s sideline-Murderball love interest led to one of the more memorable scenes (with Andy nervously talking his way through a pat-down by a burley pot-dealer and his anxious pitbull) from the character this season. I’d even go so far as to say that Nancy’s murderous freakout at Celia was well within the parameters of acceptable character behavior. Still, by the episode’s end she was nailing yet another of the male cast members, and while this time it made sense for the story the fact that almost every episode this season has ended with the same thing happening it really diluted its emotional impact. I can’t blame the woman for being sexually assertive, but I can certainly blame the writers for being uninspired in the structural presentation of this information. Does that make sense? Does it even matter at this point?
Samantha Who? — Christina Applegate continues to wow me in the role despite this episode having far too many moments when I actually said aloud the the punching before it was delivered (PLOL?). Still, as far a shows being carried by one member of the cast, Samantha Who? seems to be perched on very capable shoulders.
Aliens In America — This was yet another good episode for my favorite new comedy despite not being nearly as sharp as the show had been in previous weeks. Perhaps this was because the main storyline of the dad losing his job felt awfully familiar to my favorite episode of the cancelled and little-watched series Sons and Daughters. There was also a joke early on about confusing Indian with Native American (dot or feather?) that I remember being way funnier on Strangers With Candy nearly ten years ago. While I’m nitpicking, I might as well add that the idea of Raja getting a job at a convenient store should have yield far more jokes than it did. So it was an off week. It still netted more laughs than the previous two shows combined…
The Boondocks — …though not as many as Monday’s episode of The Boondocks which has become so outrageously funny it is now the Monday night show I look forward to the most (yes, even more than HIMYM). I would attempt to explain what the episode was about, but doing so would result in a Larry David-esque retelling of a racially-charged story that I fear would result in my friends heads being shaved by angry doctors. Suffice to say it involved an exorcist parody, perhaps the coolest kung-fu fight on television since Caine walked the earth and a ghost-Ghostface Killah. So good.
Tags: ABC, Adult Swim, Aliens In America, Samantha Who?, Showtime, The Boondocks, The CW, Weeds
