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Watch out for those rockets, they might make you go blind.

Is everyone ready for me to throw down some boldness? Because, dammit, I’ll do it. I’ll do it right here and right now, just like Sammy Hagar. Yeah? You game for this? OK. Fine. Here it goes. After three weeks of new television, lots of ups, lots of down, I think I can say with certainty that Aliens In America is the best new show this season. Unfortunately, I fear it may have reached it comedic climax this week. Though even if they did, we’ll always have “Rocket Club.” More after the jump…

My biggest concern at this point is that they’ll ultimately run out of reasons for people to be scared, or offput, by Raja. This week they took the character to the place we probably all suspected they would eventually go, to the hardware store where he tried to purchase parts for a model rocket — parts that sounded a lot like he was making a bomb. That this rocket was indirectly a way to cover-up for house-brother Justin’s endless high school need to see breasts on the internet made it all the more fantastic.

I complained earlier about how the connections this season on Curb Your Enthusiasm couldn’t be more obvious and seem, if nothing else, lazy. With Aliens In America, especially Monday night’s episode, everything was done so subtly you didn’t realize there was going to be a culmination of anything until it actually happens, making everything that came before that much funnier.

The other problem (which isn’t really a problem at all, unless you’re a network executive) is that it isn’t a show that translates well to recapping or the retelling of funny moments. It very much is a “you just have to see it” kind of series. (Which, for those of you who aren’t clear, is me telling you to watch this show.) A lot of the humor is derived from the editing and the subtlety in the performances from the actors — who, might I add, are all top notch. This is true ten-fold for Scott Patterson, who plays Justin’s dad. As of this moment he’s #2 in my list of cool, current TV-dads right behind Coach Eric Taylor. There’s something about his logical understanding of youth played against his wife’s frantic, protective, take-no-prisoners nature that strikes me as just pitch perfect. It’s broad comedy that plays almost invisibly in the way it registers with the viewer. It’s the type of show where you find yourself laughing thirty seconds after something has happened, as every joke seems like its given room to fully embrace its surroundings before finally landing.

Check it out. Full episodes are available at CWTV.com.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Aliens In America, The CW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.