Exposing Edison's Elephant

Bob's Burgers, S03E16

Louise's new science teacher and head of the science fair refused to let Louise use her recycled volcano as a project and forced her to do a new presentation about Thomas Edison.  Thanks to some hints from the librarian, Louise learned about a controversial experiment that Edison conducted that she could use in her project to crush her teacher's pride in Edison.  Bob and Linda also argued about who made the better spice-related invention.

There's nothing more I like than Louise scheming to get back at someone, eseicially if they are an authority figure.  Once I saw Dinkler crush her volcano, I knew that Louise would stop at nothing to teach him that you just don't do that to her without paying the price.  I liked how hard Louise pushed to expose Edison's cruelty to animals, even while endangering her own sister.

I particularly liked that the librarian first suggested that Louise look up Topsy, but he kept being really secretive about it.  He would whisper things to her that contradicted what he said in his normal voice.  He sounded really crazy and made it seem like the Topsy incident was this big conspiracy that only Louise could expose.  However, when Louise later accused him of being responsible for her trying to speak out about Topsy, the librarian wouldn't help her escape the principal's room and said that he was blameless because he always tells people about Topsy.  I don't know what his real reason was for wanting to lead her to that topic, but I liked that he got her riled up yet kept himself on the sidelines from all the trouble.

I think the best part was when Louise finally escaped and got Teddy to set up the sparks again during the musical performance Gene and Tina were doing.  Although Tina had been freaked out that the yoga mat melted the first time they did this, she still went through it.  She had me fooled too when she was knocked out on the floor after the lights came back on.  I liked that everyone was worried about her, even Louise who had been too blinded by her revenge to notice that she had nearly killed her sister.  Tina turned out to be just be acting very well, and Mr. Dinkler was indeed crushed by performance of Topsy being killed by Edison's experiment.  He spent the rest of the night crying in the bathroom--mission accomplished.  Also, I liked when Bob told Teddy that he nearly killed Tina and Teddy casually apologized for that.  It shows that Louise was just thinking of destroying Dinkler if she thought asking a screw-up like Teddy to handle the electrical aspects of her project was a good idea.  He could have killed all of them.

One other thing I liked was when Bob was watching Gene and Tina sing.  He noticed right away that it was Mr. Fischoeder and Gayle's voice coming out of their mouths.  He was the only one distracted by that.  It did look sort of weird seeing Gene and Tina prancing around with a different voice coming out of their mouths.  I was glad that Bob mentioned that.

As far as the "spiceps" and "spice rack" inventions, I agreed with Gene who said that they both looked ridiculous.  It's weird that Linda thought she could improve on Bob's creation instead of just trying to discourage him from talking about it in the first place.  Making her own version of his thing only made Bob more convincned that he needed to prove that his idea was good.  It was really childish that they both took their inventions to the fair and set them up along with the other kids.  I don't know how that was even allowed, but with Dinkler in charge, he was probably mostly concerned with shutting Louise down.  The craziest thing is that either Bob or Linda's invention won the science fair.  I don't really care which one it was, but that must have been some kind of horribly low-caliber fair if that was the best project.  I mean, second place was Andie and Ollie's counting of hairs on the head--what?  It's not unreasonable that two middle-aged people could have become the winners, I guess.

This was a pretty good episode.  It's always good to see Louise going after someone for revenge.  She's really good about becoming obsessed with making someone pay and making sure that the payback has enough sting to it to make her oppressor regret crossing her.  The funniest thing is that the librarian convinced her to do the Topsy expose, yet he refused to take any blame in all the trouble that Louise had caused.  It was great to see her take down Dinkler, even if Tina was in a little danger.  All of her scheming and Teddy's shoddy electrical work made the story interesting from beginning to end.  The spiceps and spice rack weren't that interesting, though, but it's strange that one of them was able to win the science fair.  It really shows that Louise and the others go to a rather stupid school.

Peter's Cheating Helps Their Marriage

Family Guy, S11E14

Peter got sued for stealing someone's property and the financial loss made it necessary for Lois to take up a job.  She thought she was getting an opportunity to do voice-over work, but it was only a job for phone sex.  Lois eventually got used to it, but she was shocked and hurt when Peter became one of her customers and seemed to get emotionally attached to her persona "Classy."

Somehow Lois getting into the sex industry didn't seem outrageous.  After all, being married to Peter is expensive with all of the random damages and fees that he builds up from his day-to-day mischief.  She basically needs to do whatever she can do to keep the family afloat, even if it's catering to people who need sexual relief over the phone.  Naturally, Lois didn't take too long to get the hang of it, nor even let her family know what she was doing.  I guess that's why she couldn't bust Peter right away because she would have to admit that she was doing phone sex in the first place.

As for Peter's infatuation with her over the phone, I felt like it did dance the line between cheating and being completely linked to Lois for life.  I would probably just call it a technical cheating because Peter was subconsciously falling for his own wife.  I do think it's weird that he would so quickly want to meet the woman and commit adultery, though.  Even if he felt strongly about her, he should have given it some time.  No wonder Lois wanted to fool him when he was being so impulsive about throwing their marriage away (as far as he knew).  Sure Lois was being distant lately, but that was no excuse for him to prepare to leave his family after what seem like a few phone calls.

However, I liked how Lois and Peter came to terms with the odd situation.  Sometimes, because Peter is always making jokes about Lois being old and unattractive, I forget that Peter loves Lois at all.  They have been married for over a decade, so they shouldn't be without their quarrels or complaints about one another.  Still, I liked seeing them reaffirm their feelings for each other in this story, no matter how twisted it was that Peter thought he was actually cheating on her.  For this show, it was sort of sweet that Peter fell in love with her voice and knew deep in his heart that the owner of the voice was the one that he was meant to be with.  It makes me wish that they had more sweet moments like that more often.

As for the jokes in this episode, there weren't many that I liked.  One that did work for me was when there was a cutaway to a man on a plane who decided to go back to coughing in a very annoying way when his magazine had a toenail in it.  It was funny that he grabbed a random baby and coughed in its face too.  I like how this was an exaggerated version of those types of people who seem to have coughing fits just when they happened to be trapped in a plane for a few hours.

Another that I liked was when Lois talked about Peter being in his anime phase.  It's not the first time that I've seen a cartoon poke fun at anime, but I still liked seeing Peter being drawn in a different way.  He had those too-shiny eyes and his body was all shaped like a big block.  He looked ridiculous, and I liked it.  I guess I enjoyed it because it was just so random for what was going on, like most good cutaways.

The last joke that I liked was when Peter was saying goodbye to his kids.  When he got to Chris he was unexpectedly abrupt with him:

Chris, people are gonna tell you you're stupid and that you're no good.

He totally left him hanging just like that.  Wow.  If those were the last words my father said to me, I'd be so struggling with that the rest of my life.   It was even funnier because he wasn't as mean with the other two (I mean, him farting on Meg is basically how he shows his love for her).

This was a pretty good episode.  There wasn't anything too gross and irritating about it, so I liked it a lot better than most stories I've seen.  Also, this was an unusually sweet story between Peter and Lois that involved being unfaithful.  It's strange that their night started off as Peter planning to go to bed with a woman he just met and Lois coming to see if her husband was going to go that far.  Instead of having a horrible and depressing ending, it turned out to make Peter and Lois stronger for the experience.  They may not be the sweetest couple in the cartoon world, but at least they do take the time every once in a while to remind us why the two of them have bothered to get married in the first place.

Ratjo

The Cleveland Show, S04E13

Cleveland was tasked to kill a rat in the house, but he kept it as a pet and lied about it to make his family stay away longer. Cleveland had to make a tough decision about his new pet when it bit Donna and it wasn't clear if the rat had rabies or not.  Rallo also got obsessed with a suitcase Junior was carrying and found his step-brother was involved in real espionage.

Although Cleveland acted like his usual self and lied to get some time away from his family, I liked that he got found out quicker than most cases. Also, his lies were sort of necessary this time because Domna wouldn't have let him keep his new rat friend. It was a little cute that Cleveland befriended the rat, but it was weird how he carried himself with the rat at his side. For example, he was walking his rat in nothing but an open robe with a rope tied to it. Not to mention that he looked like he had just woken up and not showered in days--he looked so ghetto. I don't know why his love for the rat encouraged his slovenly behavior. Like it's bad enough having a rat as a pet without living in your own filth. That was the one aspect of Cleveland's new friendship that I didn't like.

It was messed up that Cleveland's pet bit Donna, possibly giving her rabies, and Cleveland took so long to chose her over the rat. Yeah, it was sad he had to kill the pet he had always wanted as a child, but that was his wife. He is so damn cold sometimes.  Donna was being a bit of a bitch ordering him around while she was hanging with her mother, but that's not a reason to gamble with her life like that.

My favorite part of this story was when they took the rat to the woods and it started attacking them in a rabies-induced frenzy.  It totally reminded me of Stephen King's Cujo.  The two of them were trapped in the car just like that lady and boy in the movie. I loved that because instead of a pretty scary dog, it was a little rat keeping them there. Under normal situations it shouldn't have been able to  harass them so badly. It even crawled into the car via the exhaust pipe--that was crazy!  I almost wished that Donna's mother hadn't shown up and killed the rat. I enjoyed how ridiculous Cleveland and Donna looked while screaming and running from a little animal (not to say I wouldn't freak out being attacked by a rat, rabid or not).

In Rallo and Junior's story, I liked how obsessed Rallo was with spy movies.  That was so typically of a little kid.  He was really annoying the hell our of Junior.  It takes a lot to get Junior pissed, so I liked seeing that for a change.  But once Junior started carrying the suitcase to get back at him or whatever, Rallo stopped being such a nuisance and just worked on cracking Junior's mystery.  I would have liked that better if it wasn't a fake coupon that acted as a pass card to Junior's secret organization.  That was unexpected, but not entirely amusing to me.  I mean, it was a little disturbing, making Junior seem like the kind of dangerous person who abducts people and murders neighbors.  I would have enjoyed it better if the two of them battled in an exaggerated fantasy setting as pretend spies.  In the way it did end, Rallo just got terrified. Wasn't much to laugh about that.

This episode was okay.  I did like that Cleveland's lies this time didn't feel completely selfish.  He was trying to prolong the life of his new pet.  The best part was the rat suddenly attacking him and Donna.  It turned into a good movie spoof.  Rallo and Junior had the potential to turn their spy games into something funny, but it fell flat for me when Junior made the games real and more sinister.  It was a slightly interesting twist, but I'd rather watch the two boys being silly any other day.

Lisa "Cantwell" Them All

The Simpsons, S24E15

Lisa's new substitute was exactly what Lisa had wished for in a teacher, except that she hated Lisa's guts.  Lisa, while racking her brain to find out how she rubbed the woman in the wrong way, continued to be bullied by her new teacher.  Homer went too far with Ned and made him punch him in the eye.  Ned tried to make things right with Homer, but Homer refused to hit him back and make the two of them even while Homer still felt like the better man.

What I liked most overall about Lisa's story was just the idea that even an apple-polisher like Lisa can meet a teacher that doesn't like her.  She might be smart and obedient, but that doesn't mean as a student she's always going to be the star.  I mean, I thik even Mrs. Hoover began to dislike Lisa after a while.  There have been plenty of times that Lisa's made her miserable with her overachieving.  Still, I feel like usually one wouldn't hate Lisa from just a few seconds with her.  I liked that no matter how hard Lisa tried, Ms. Cantwell just couldn't be won over.

Another great point about this story was that Ms. Cantwell was voiced by Tina Fey, giving her an authentically smart-sounding voice.  Hearing her play a teacher reminded me of the movie Mean Girls, where she had to deal with some not entirely likeable girls.  I think this role couldn't have been played better by anyone else.

There few a few specific things that I liked from this story.  The first was when Marge pretended to put a chincilla coat on Lisa to make her fall back to sleep.  It's funny that she doesn't mind making Lisa faint in horror in order to make sure her child is well-rested.  The next is my favorite part where Mrs. Krabapple put Bart into Ms. Cantwell's class.  Bart's entrance was accompanied by demonic-sounding music, and her few minutes of absence gave him enough time to make the room look like a disaster.  I loved how Bart was just circling around in a lawnmover for no reason--what the hell?  That was more than enough to justify her early resignation.  Plus, she still refused to like Lisa, even if she could get Bart's terror to end.  Now that's some deep hatred.

My favorite line also came from this story.  Apparently Ms. Cantwell thought that Skinner and Chalmers were partners:

You two are the worst-dressed gay men I've ever met!

This was just a good story all around.  I even liked that the reason she hated Lisa was because she looked like a pretty, party girl.  It's weird that anyone would mistake Lisa for that type of girl when she's such a bookworm wouldn't even know how to handle a book about partying.

Homer and Ned's story was also good, but not as good as Lisa's.  It was mainly shocking to see Ned punch Homer in the face when he's probably needed to do that on a million other cases where Homer was doing much more terrible things to him.  I suppose Ned was already on edge from his parents being in town, and we all know that his parents are the cause of his anger.  Homer could have just been the icing on the cake.

Speaking of his parents, I swear that we saw them when Ned and Edna got married and they didn't look as old as they did in this episode.  They should look pretty ancient, considering that Ned is even older than Homer, but it's just weird to see their character designs change so recently.  I don't know.  That bothered me at first.

One of the funniest things about this story was just seeing Homer get along so well with Ned's parents.  It was like they were old friends.  Homer's already annoying to Flanders, so to see Ned pissed off even more when Homer was laughing and getting high with his parents was amusing.  All of Ned's sources for rage were right in front of him.  It makes sense that he might throw a fist or two.

My favorite part was when Ned was having trouble sleeping.  He reluctantly took what he referred to as an "sleeping aid," but was just some graham crackers and milk.  I loved that!  Only Ned would be able to make that work for him like that.

One last thing I laughed at was the end where Ned and Homer were praying.  Homer didn't even realize what he was doing on his knees:

This is praying? Let me out of here!

That joke reminds me of some seasons back when Homer was horrified that he was reading a real bible, not the fake one he kept his flask in.

This was one of my favorites episodes so far.  I guess I can always say that it could have been funnier, but that's just a hazard of coveting the earlier seasons that I can still laugh at today.  It was great to see Lisa being tormented by a teacher who refused to like her instead of seeing teachers treat her like a prized jewel.  It is messed up that a teacher would single out a student like that, but since it was Lisa it made the situation funny.  It was even funnier that just a glimpse of what horror Bart could add to the classroom was enough to get Lisa's bully to leave the school.  Ned lost control and finally got a little revenge on Homer, but it worked against him because it made him seem like the aggressor rather than the victim.  I liked, though, that Homer joined forces with Ned's parents and got him to that boiling point.  Since they initiated such an interesting story, it's a shame that they can't visit Ned a little more often.

Tearjerker Returns

American Dad, S08E13

In a sequel to the Tearjecker story, Stan abandoned his life as a spy when his wife, Sexpun, was murdered by a new foe, Black Villain.  Bullock got him to return to his old life and partnered him up with Tearjecker to stop Black Villian's newest evil plan.

I was so excited to see that they did a continuation of this story.  I've been wanting them to do the Tearjerker bit again since I saw the first one a while ago.  It wasn't that I was curious about how Stan and Sexpun's married life went--I really wanted Tearjerker to survive the volcano and come back to be a thorn in Stan's side again.  Roger makes such a good villain since he's usually plotting and screwing people over in his real life.  Like, he's born to be a bad guy, with his loose policy on morals and common decency.

However, Tearjerker didn't end up being the main antagonist, and it was Black Villain who was running the show.  Principal Lewis as a bad guy wasn't a stretch either, but it was his lazy-ass name that I liked the most about him.  It was like someone don't even try to give him a real name.  It made him seem more like a joke rather than a man bent on destroying lives.

Next, I liked how Tearjerker got out of prison.  I was a little annoyed they showed all these underwater levels that separated Tearjerker from the surface until I saw him get pulled through all of them via the magnet inside of him.  It was kind of funny to see him get pulled through acid and cacti and stung by jellyfish.  I shouldn't have doubted that they wouldn't have bothered to slowly show us all of those layers of Earth if it wasn't going to be relevant.  I guess the way I was "fooled" helped make that joke about Tearjerker busting out a lot more funny to me.

My favorite part of the episode was when Sexpun (the clone) regained her memories of her original life and Tearjerker argued that this was impossible:

That's not how cloning works!  You're a completely different person!  You are so dumb!

I feel like he was set up to say that so that the "technical" viewers wouldn't be saying something similar.  Again, I like when they take a second to be the voice of their viewers to sort of combat future complaints (you can't complain about far-fetched concepts if they point them out first).

There were also a few gross moments.  The first, of course, is when Sexpun died.  It was bad enough to see a chunk of herself slide out of her middle without her falling on Stan and the hole around her spreading to Stan-width.  Since it's a cartoon this horrific image was amusing, but I can't imagine if I had to see something that gory in real life.  That would be so nasty.

The other nasty part was when the Tearjerker clones started fighting each other.  True to the DNA they had been created from, all of them were violent, unstable, and horny.  I don't know why Black Villain would have thought it would have been effective to use him as the base for his army.  They took care of themselves in less than two minutes.  And some of them were making out with each other.  Roger making out with anyone is bad enough, but seeing double Roger is double the gross.  But it was ironic that Black Villain unleashed the Tearjerker army only to have them be utterly useless.

Oh, I forgot that I liked how Tearjerker met his end in this story.  Something about him claiming that if a volcano couldn't kill him, nearly nothing would before he got stabbed through by a marlin was funny.  I guess this was because he was done in by something so cartoon-like.  How many people fall to their deaths on a fish?  And just when it looked like he was going to make it, a killer whale dragged him and that marlin into the sea.  So much for a third chapter in the Tearjerker saga.  Unless I'm lucky enough for them to simply make a convenient excuse as to why he survived a second time.

This was one of my favorite episodes.  It's definitely up there with that mock play.  I was extremely pleased to find out that they would do another Tearjerker story, even if it wasn't necessarily about his evil plan.  There was still enough comedy and general suspense with Black Villain added to the mix that I couldn't complain that Tearjerker wasn't in the center of it all.  I just hope that if they decide to make a third story that Tearjerker will be the headlining villain.  Maybe luck will be on my side, and I'll get to see that episode in the next season.

Best Friend Toilet

Bob's Burgers, S03E15

Gene, after losing his chance to care for a flour baby, happened upon a super-intelligent toilet and befriended it as he began to care for it.  Their friendship was compromised when a dangerous man started stalking Gene, wanting to take the toilet back.  Bob also found that while wearing a suit he had gotten from the funeral home, he was more popular and attractive than he ever was without it.

Gene taking care of a bag of flour was doomed from the start.  An egg would have just been impossible--he has the grace and delicacy of an a drunken ox.  Now, Gene and a toilet are about the best match I could think of, without considered something imaginary.  It having the ability to speak and do things like play music is just a bonus.  It felt very natural for Gene to be out in the middle of the woods talking to a toilet like it was some random kid he had just met.  The only thing I thought was weird was that the toilet was able to work fine without being hooked into anything.  I mean, it was charged and all, but how would one actually use it to relieve fluids?  Where would those go if flushed?  I don't know.  I kept wondering about that the whole the time.  Good thing Gene never used it to pee.

I thought Gene assembling his friends and family to help the toilet escape Max Flush was pretty cute.  It was a nice parody of E.T.  It was definitely thinking outside of the box by replacing the alien with a toilet.  I haven't seen that version yet, so it helped keep my interest throughout.  I also liked how the kids managed to lure Max away with one of their friends dressed as Gene and by leaving a decoy on the ferry.  Those kids are good.  They would have been rid of the guy for good if he hadn't been able to swim back to shore.  You would think that Max would have caught up to them sooner, but they are damn smart.  I like when they band together to do some kind of operation, like when they were selling peeks at the nude beach.  They need to do more projects that involve the kids plus their friends.

It was almost sad when Gene had to part with his new best friend, and when he told it that he loved it, the toilet kept saying "Vomit now."  No matter if you felt a twinge of sentiment for the bond Gene seemed to have formed with the toilet, you couldn't possibly not find the tiniest bit in humor in their final exchange.  It was almost as if the toilet wanted to vomit from Gene getting overly emotional at the end.  I'm glad it happened as it did with Gene yelling futiley to express his feelings and the toilet just thinking he needed to toss his cookies.

I liked Bob's story as much as I did Gene's--that was a pleasant surprise.  Bob isn't the most respected or good-looking guy around, so to see him have people nearly treating him like a celebrity because of a suit was bizarre, but an entertaining story.  It was amazing that he was being given free drinks and women were flirting with him.  The same guy who looks like a hairy bowling pin.  I thought Linda might spoil his fun, but she seemed just as dazzled by Bob in his suit as strangers were.  I felt sadder when he had to part with the suit more than Gene had to with the toilet.  I mean, that suit really improved his life.  It's a shame that police officer recognized the suit--Bob deserved to live in the glory of his clothing a little longer.  I think it's the best thing that's happened to him in a long time.

There was also a line earlier in the story that I liked.  Louise had an amusing reaction to his suit:

Wow, Don Draper's kinda fat this season.

Suggesting that Bob even looks like a fatter version of Don Draper is a pretty damn good compliment.  I mean, Louise isn't known to say very nice things in general, so that's as about as good as he's gonna get.

I liked this episode.  It was one of those rare ones where I wasn't irritated at anyone and the story wasn't centered around events of bad luck.  Gene having a best friend that was a toilet was a surprisingly good match, considering how unusual Gene is.  It was also one of the better E.T. spoofs that I've seen in a while.  I wish that Bob had a little more time with his suit, though.  He's never going to get the money or success to be as respectable and beloved as he was on his own, so it feels like that was his one opportunity to shine.  But I guess since Gene had to say goodbye to something he loved, it was only fair that Bob would have to do the same.

Everyone Sucks At Everything

The Cleveland Show, S04E12

Cleveland and his friends worried that the excitement had gone out of their friendship and tried to repair it.  After many failed attempts, they tried going to an amusement park they had once shared good times, ignoring the fact that it was closed down.  Donna wanted to boost Rallo's confidence by making him think he was an excellent bowler, but Rallo's overconfidence made Donna show him the harsh truth about how little there is that young kids are good at in general.

You would think that with such a variety of friends that it would take longer than 3 years for it to get stale.  Unless that group was composed of the most boring guys you could find, I find it hard to believe Cleveland and the gang were having problems already.  I'm sure that they do spend most of their time together sitting at the Broken Stool drinking, but they've done so many random activies that were also dangerous and thrilling.  That should make the days when they're not doing something to put them in jail or injury themselves seem like a vacation.  So I had problems just buying that they didn't have the same chemistry anymore.

There were little things that I sort of liked in this story, like Cleveland remarking he'd get another bear as a friend or how Tim looked in the fun mirror, but mostly I had neutral feelings about their frollick in the condemened amusement park.  The vomiting was gross and them being stuck on the Roter overall made me impatient for their rescue or just anything.  Things did get a little better when Rallo tried to save them and later Donna.  By the end of it, I don't even think I cared whether they were better friends or not.  The focus had really changed to Rallo feeling better about being a worthless kid.

Rallo, who had to hear the ugly truth about the skill level of a kid from his mother, didn't really start to grab my interest until he stopped acting like a superstar bowler.  I liked when he went to the strip club and met Robert.  His father actually had some good advice about finding Cleveland, yet he didn't give a damn that his 5 year-old was walking around at night to strip clubs and such.  Instead of driving Rallo home, he took him to an abandoned amusement park where Rallo could have gotten hurt (and very likely would have if the firemen hadn't come).  It was funny that even Rallo couldn't stay quiet as his father left him unsupervised in such a frightening place:

[Robert] Man, this place looks scary.  All right, see you later.[Rallo] That man is not a good father.

That was about the funniest thing in the episdoe, except for the disturbing picture that Junior had drawn.  It had him crying next to a grave with the caption, "I miss mommy."  It was sad in a way that made you chuckle that no one gave a damn about what might be going on in Junior's head to draw that.

After all of Donna's talk (and that horrible song) about how kids suck at everything, she really showed that any person of any age can suck when she set the place on fire.  Damn.  How stupid can she be?  Rallo was mostly stupidly courageous--Donna was just ignorant about electrical fires.   They were just lucky that the firemen showed up.  I don't know why they did, though.  How is it that they got there so fast, especially when that place was supposed to be empty?

I didn't hate this episode, but at the same time, I can't say there was much that was worth mentioning about it.  I did like that Cleveland and his friends' problem eventually became part of Rallo's story about wanting to prove his worth as a kid.  There are less intersecting stories in this show recently, so I like when they change things up once in a while.  Neither story was particularly good, so combining them into an almost decent story was better than having the two of them separate and completely awful.

Being A Heel Is Cool

The Simpsons, S024E14

Homer's new interest in buying storage lockers at auctions led him to discover his father's collection of wrestling gear.  Thanks to Bart's interest and Mr. Burns' fondness for his persona Glamorous Godfrey, Abe was convinced to get into the ring again, despite having to play the part of a villain.

When I realized that this episode was going to be about Grandpa and another of his past occupations, I felt like Marge did when she found out that Abe wasn't gay at all.  We've already seen a few stories about hm this season and none of them have been really excellent.  This one wasn't bad (like the others), but I think I enjoyed the sentimental part of it better.  Under Burns' spell, Abe began to think that being a heel had its benefits, and as a bonus, his grandson started to admire him.  It's not often that you see Bart wanting to imitate someone in his family, so to see him taking after his grandfather was cute, even if it was encouraging him to be more of a jerk than usual.  This was an interesting way for Abe and Bart to have common ground--who would have thought that Grandpa used to wrestle as a vain, cheating show-boat?  Plus, Abe was able to reclaim Bart's soul without causing Bart to feel like his grandfather was uncool again.  It was just as fun for Bart to be Laddie Liberty and beat up on Burns as it was for him to be Beautiful Bart (his hair in the latter was strangely adorable).

This story also included a song, something we haven't heard in a while (unless you count those songs that Abe sang in that other story about him as a songwriter).  The melody and the lyrics for the most part were terrible, and Burns sang it pretty badly, I thought.  He's most famous for singing "See My Vest" from earlier seasons, so I don't know why his voice sounded so pitiful in this song.  What I did like was when Burns listed some villians that you love to hate, lining himself up with such notables as Eric Cartman, Megatron, Skeletor, and Voldemort.  Now that was pretty damn funny.  You could, of course, argue that all of these villains have varying levels of evil, but they are popularly hated characters nonetheless.  Him singing about that just makes me imagine all these guys hanging out having beers or something, boasting stories that try to top the others in bad deeds.  I really like the thought of that.  Otherwise, that song was pretty forgettable, and I wouldn't say that I thought it was essential.

One other thing that was funny to me was when Grandpa was recalling the negative side of playing a heel:

But there was a downside to being hated:  being hated.

I love when they have lines like this where they are a bit redundant.

This was an okay episode.  I'd want to watch it again to catch some of the little things I missed the first time.  It had a fairly cute story to it, and I enjoyed watching Bart look up to Abe instead of dreading the day he'd become his father's father.  It might have made a better story to have Abe end up being gay like Marge wanted, but changing details like that in this point of the game would probably be hard to swallow.  But I still like wondering how the story would have turned out if they did need to find Abe a man to love.  I'm sure it would have made a much more, albeit unbelievable, interesting story.

Same Old Story Again

The Cleveland Show, S04E11

Cleveland voluntarily took a severance package and quit his job, but kept it secret from Donna and had fun spending the money while only pretending to use that time to find a new job.  Roberta and Federline broke up, and Rallo was happy to see Roberta start dating a black guy until he found out that Devon was too strict and boring.

I can't say what's much different in this story about Donna and Cleveland compared to most stories about the two of them.  Cleveland does something wrong and enjoys himself in the meantime before Donna figures out that he's been lying through his teeth.  This formula for a story isn't unique to this show (Homer Simpson does it on a regular basis, as well), but what I dislike about when Cleveland chooses to do it is that he usually does it for selfish reasons.  It's not that he wanted to save himself from embarrassment or felt not so confident about finding another job, but he just didn't want Donna to make him do chores or whatever around the house (and he probably didn't want to have to use the money on his family).  I was surprised at first that he was going to tell Donna exactly what he had done at work until he used the time-rewinding technique from Superman (I don't know which one).  Unlike when I had seen Stan Smith use this on American Dad, Cleveland successfully went back in time to prevent himself from letting Donna spoil his fun.  I wish that Cleveland had only imagined he had done it, like Stan (I don't much like that they used the same reference like that).

Also, per usual to this setup, Cleveland's deception was revealed through his own carelessness and stupidity.  Much like when he was pretending to be homeless, he was too busy having a good time to remember that he shouldn't dine in the same restaurant his wife was working in.  I guess since Cleveland will never be the type to admit what he did wrong without being caught in the act first, we have to wait for his lies to catch up with him.  I wish they had caught up sooner--he wasn't doing anything that exciting with all that money.  He then spun the situation to look like he was going to end his life due to the hopelessness of the current job market, making him look even more like a selfish ass.   It would have been a great lesson to him if Donna had won in the end when she punched him off of the ledge.  Instead, Cleveland's seemingly joke to sue Donna wasn't a lie at all, and the money that he won in that settlement allowed him to return things back to status quo.  I didn't like that ending.  I hate when Cleveland appears to win in the end when he was the one doing wrong all along.  Unless they can do that in a very humorous way, which wasn't achieved this time, I'd rather see him get his just desserts.

There was only about one thing I liked about this story and that was when Clevleand was making some speech on the ledge to the "unemployed hippies."  He was getting a little long-winded and Rallo shouted out:

Wrap it up!

I had to laugh at that because the time was perfect and the sentiment was apt.  Cleveland was just having another bullshitting session that wasn't important in the least.  If only Donna could have gotten up  there sooner to knock him off.

The side story involved Rallo, but sadly he wasn't put to good use.  The focus was mainly on how Ferdeline reverted back to his non-poser self (a sight that was a bit eerie for some reason) and how Devon sucked the fun out of Rallo's life.  The latter should have been decently funny, but it wasn't.  I guess because there wasn't anything more to Devon than following the rules and reforming Rallo.  I actually didn't even feel like he was dating Roberta--it was more like he was Rallo's 24-7 babysitter.  I might have found Rallo's situation funnier if he complained to someone about Devon, but they didn't believe he was an unpleasant guy.  Instead, it just became clearer and clearer than Devon was as about as fun as counting blades of grass.  He was making Rallo's life hell, but to me it wasn't anything personal, so it didn't tickle my funny bone.  Also, Rallo didn't have any chances to turn the tables on Devon or anything.  He just had to get Federline back.  As much as I dislike Federline, he's the lesser of two evils, I guess.

This episode made me feel like I was watching a different but similar episode with just a few of the pieces changed.  I'd like to see Cleveland have more times where his lies seemed necessary rather than a reflection of him protecting his own best interests.  I would have also liked to see Rallo get more revenge on Devon than bringing back Federline to take his place.  While it's better to have Federline at Roberta's side than Devon, I would have ultimately preferred a story without the two of them in the first place.

Mindy's Perfect Guy

The Mindy Project, S01E16

Mindy reconnected with a guy that she had met at camp when she was thirteen and had an amazing time with him.  The only thing that ruined the start to their relationship was that Sam was in the army and was meant to deploy for 18 months to Afghanistan.  Mindy, not wanting Sam to leave so quickly after they started something so good, tried to find a way to make him ineligible to return to duty for a while.  Danny also was asked by a couple to be their sperm donor and had second thoughts after agreeing to it.

Who would have guessed the first guy that seemed to be Mindy's perfect match would be played by Seth Rogen?  I like him as an actor just fine, but I didn't think that he would have such chemistry with Mindy that it was a little devastating that Sam had to go in the end.  He had all the things that I felt like Mindy needed: a guy who could keep up with her in the comedy department, could share in her love of romantic comedies, and was genuinely a nice person.  It was like every second they spent together made me not want to see him go even more.  It was a little embarrassing that Mindy got caught trying to sabotage his return to service, but I sorta wanted her to succeed.  Sam won me over from the second he awkwardly tried to pretend that he was blind--why did he have to be played by a guest star?  Argh.

My favorite scene between Mindy and Sam was when they were at the drug store and he suggested that they use self-checkout.  Mindy only scanned one item before it had an error and set off an alarm because it thought she was trying to bag something she hadn't paid for.  I liked how they ran off, abandoing their items, and how the machine knew her name.  I think even though it made them look like shoplifters, it was a memory that they could laugh about later.

Sam also gave Mindy the best goodbye letter ever.  I haven't watched the movie You Got Mail, but I think that Sam's ability to quote from it in a letter (and his request that she not share this fact to anyone else) made him look even more perfect for Mindy than he had before.  Their story together was exactly what you would expect from the kind of movies that she liked:  first meeting as kids, and then years later having a chance love connect as adults.  Where is she going to meet a guy again that has this kind of setup?  I really wanted him to stay, but the beautiful letter he left behind was more than adequate to make me accept that he was just one of Mindy's passing through loves.

I also had a line that I liked from this story.  It was after Sam asked Danny whether Mindy was a great doctor and he agreed, surprisingly.  Morgan summed up nicely how much value that nod of approval from Danny meant:

That means a lot coming from him because he's very competitive and doesn't give a lot of compliments.

Either Danny is really starting to fall for Mindy or he really approved of Sam enough to be honest with him (because we all know he wouldn't want to co-own a business with her if he didn't think she was a doctor of good quality).  I liked that Danny has really started to bond with Mindy and seems less about bringing her down and more about joking around with her.  I like honest Danny a lot more than "pretending like he's the biggest bastard in the world" Danny.

Danny also seems to have made Mindy his problem solver.  While everyone else at the office was making him terrified of fathering a son that wasn't going to be in his life, Mindy quickly got him out of his commitment of donating sperm by listing Danny's many faults.  Although he didn't look prepared for the negative points that she was going to tell the couple, Danny went along with it and appeared grateful that she released him from the burden.  The old Danny probably wouldn't even have gone to Mindy for advice in the past.  But the new and more likeable Danny trusted her enough to tell her his problem and let her take care of it.  I'm really liking the place that their friendship has gotten to now.

This might be my favorite episode yet.  It's as good as that one at the club, but I think Mindy meeting a guy who had it all for her purposes beats a good night clubbing, for sure.  Seth Rogen was fantastic as Sam, and I hope somewhere (possibly in the second season if the show gets renewed) that Sam returns.  Maybe by then Mindy will already have found someone as great as him, but I still want him to come back and rekindle that spark they have together.  Sam's character really made me forget about all the other jerks Mindy's been cursed with, so I'll always be grateful for that.  I'm also grateful that Sam's visit made Danny admit how much he values Mindy as a doctor.  The two of them are really getting along well lately, and I'm eager to see if their friendship can deepen to the point that Danny opens himself up to Mindy even more.

Schmidt Presents "Tinfinity"

New Girl, S02E18

Schmidt and Nick celebrated their tenth roommate anniversary with an elaborate party.  Nick wanted to be part of the planning, but Schmidt only pretended to give up some of his control.  Jess was determined to stop thinking about Nick's lips and frustrated about not knowing what he was thinking, so she latched onto a "real man" who was more open about his feelings.  Cece was disappointed at how casually her marriage proposal came about with Shivrang.

It's just like Schmidt to throw a party that most people would mistake as a celebration for lovers rather than friends.  It's sort of cute that he values his friendship with Nick so much that he would want to make a big deal out of each year that they've spent together.  I'm a little surprised that their friends were down with it, though--I'd be questioning why two grown men who aren't together need to throw a party that wasn't just about drinking and dancing (or hooking up with random girls).   But people seemed to have no problem doing things like taking pictures in the Nick and Schmidt photo cutouts (super weird, even if it was for a married couple).

I guess the best thing about the party was Nick's contribution of a purchased porta-potty.  I might understand someone who often holds outside parties wanting to have one on hand, but not someone like Nick who probably doesn't even have a place to put that after the party is over with.  If it were of good quality, I guess he could rent it out to other people, but it was disgusting to look at from the outside--I couldn't imagine even washing my hands in there.  It's so like Nick to buy the one that was meant for the garbage and be so proud of it that he was trying to bully people into using it.  I really like when he was trying to get Sanders to use it and gave him the ultimatum of using it or leaving the party.  Sanders left without a second thought.  You would think people literally running away from his porta-potty would give him a sign that he made a really dumb and filthy purchase.

I liked that Jess is so obsessed with Nick's lips, but would rather run from that problem than do something about it (like kiss Nick some more to get it out of her system).  Her solution was to flirt aggressively with Jax (which might have been partially because she wanted to screw with Winston a bit), who seemed to be exactly what she wanted--a man who could tell her straight up if he liked her or not.  It was interesting both that Jax turned out to be exactly what she didn't want, and that Nick was acting a little jealous of Jax.  Although Jess didn't get to kiss someone who could erase her memory of Nick, Jax turned out to be a significant guy in the scheme of things.  He proved that Jess probably does like Nick's "grumpy mystery" better than a guy who declares that he is going to marry and put a baby in her in less than a few days or knowing her.  I liked when Nick, trying to hide that he didn't like Jess with Jax, asked her if she truly wanted a guy who was open like that.  I liked that moment as much as I liked when he was staring at Jess and Jax at the bar with concern.  Jess didn't get the cure she needed to stop thinking about Nick's lips, so she ran off in the night after being offered a bottle he had drank from.  It'd be nice if all the guys she tries to get involved with put her right back where she started with Nick.

Before Jess met Jax, she met some random guys and had a good line with the second one we saw:

[Guy #2] Microchips be gettin' smaller.  They be like blueberry size.  So you could put 'em in your cereal, girl.

[Jess] I don't get your thing.

 No wonder she ran to the first "normal" guy that she ran into after that.  What in the world was that guy talking about?

I've decided that I like Shivrang, even though he kept using the expression "do this thing" to refer to getting married.  The first time he said it I felt like it was such a passive way to refer to marriage, but then again, they are having an arranged marriage.  I don't mind that, but it would be nice if they made it seem less like going to get a mole removed and more about joining their lives together.  Anyway, when he got on the stage and proposed to Cece with all of the toast sequence stuff going on (can't believe that Schmidt wanted that romantic display going on during his speech), I thought that was really sweet.  He asked her again if she wanted to "do this thing," but by then it sounded just right and less mechinical.  I'm glad that things worked out for Cece, but I am a little sad that Schmidt had to see that at his "Tinfinity" event.  Shivrang stole his moment in two senses--he ruined his big speech and he ruined his chance to propose to Cece in a big flashy way.  You can't blame Shivrang for that, though.  I'm a little in the middle right now whether I want Shivrang to suceed or if I want Schmidt to make a comeback. Schmidt's heart is in the right place, but he can't get it together.  Shivrang may not be beating Cece over the head with the romance stick, but he's a good guy with no drama.  Can''t be mad at her for going either way.

This was a good episode. Somehow the party became more about Nick taking a stand with a gross porta-potty he bought than having a good time.  Jess tried to run away from Nick's lips to another, but found that a guy who is too open is just as bad as a guy who is a little closed up like Nick.  Cece was sort of swept off her feet when Shivrang redid his proposal to her, and the slightly odd friendship anniversary party turned to an engagement party of some sorts.  I don't know if Cece will really go ahead and walk down the aisle for Shivrang, but it's just as likely that she will as it is that Schmidt will win her back somehow.

Mindy's Rowlf Wasn't That Bad

The Mindy Project, S01E15

Mindy's pitiful taxi video about women's health brought her enough ridicule and infamy that the local news wanted her to do a segment on their show.  Danny coached her on how to successfully present facts without being a joke, but Mindy had to bail on the show at the last minute to look after a patient.  Danny reluctantly took her place.  Beverly also got rehired to the practice as part of the administrative staff, but she had trouble using computers.

I didn't think that Mindy's little video was so bad.  It was definitely dorky, but not so bad that I think that the cab driver needed to express a wish to kill himself the longer he heard her voice.  It was strange that when I saw her open her mouth super-wide, it reminded me of The Muppets, but I still didn't get why she was dressed up as a dog.  It wasn't until later when Mindy said that she was trying to be Rowlf that I got it.  I felt like an idiot, but I felt like it made me like her video even more.  Only Mindy would dress like him to teach tips about women's health.  She is so random that it ends up being a little adorable.

I had mixed feelings about her being on the news, though.  On one hand, it was a chance for her to redeem herself and show that she's not just some goofball playing with puppets, pretending to be a doctor.  On the other hand, they only wanted her because her rating for pity was so high.  Damn. She wasn't that bad.  I don't think her taxi video was the best thing to bring in customers, but I don't think it was something that should have been on Tosh.0 as one of his "Fat Losers of the Week."  People's reaction to her video were way over the top.  She was being silly about reporting health.  It wasn't like she was sobbing over a cheeseburger on the floor or something.

I thought Mindy was going to make herself look even more like an idiot until she picked job duty over PR repair.  Her choice was the right one, I think.  We got to see Danny mess up on all the things that he assumed Mindy would do, proving once again that he (and Jeremy) shouldn't act like she's the only one capable of making their business look bad.  I'm pretty sure that Mindy would have been able to keep it together a little better than Danny.  He fell apart so quickly.  The best thing about him doing the news segment, though, might have been that his screw-up probably distracted the town from her dog-doctor video.

The absolute greatest thing that happened in the episode was one of my favorite scenes so far.  Danny and Mindy were in the elevator when Brendon came in.  I was not ready to see his smug face so soon, nor did I want to see Mindy being lured into his trap again.  Thankfully, Mindy did not want to give him the time of day:

[Brendon] Mindy, why aren't you answering my texts?

[Mindy] Because you're a dick.

I wanted to leap out of my chair and cheer when I heard that.  Finally!  It took her long enough to cut the bastard off.  I couldn't have possibly handled her being fooled by that piece of trash one more time.  Way to go, Mindy.

I didn't care too much about Beverly coming back to the practice.  So far she doesn't bring much besides a knack for racist quips.  Maybe that'll grow on me with time, but for now I wasn't impressed by the story about how she didn't even know how to use a mouse.  Who hasn't seen an elderly person struggle with technology?  This was nothing new, nor made me glad to see Beverly employed there again.

This episode was okay.  It had an incredible moment where Mindy basically told Brendon to shove it, but that didn't really make up for the entire story.  I like seeing Mindy putting her patients above her own reputation, but I'm a little tired of her being made a fool of for little reason.  Beverly, known for punching Mindy square in the nose, has returned to the show, but I don't see her value quite yet.  We'll see if she's able to make herself as indispensable as Morgan or Betsy.

Get Out Of Here, Schmidt!

New Girl, S02E17

Schmidt found an empty parking spot and started a competition for it between him, Jess, and Nick.  Nick dropped out of the race initially and became the deciding vote for Schmidt and Jess, but he only got manipulated by them due to the kiss situation.  Fed up with being toyed with by Jess and Schmidt, Nick made a mad dash for the spot, prompting all three of them to stake out the parking spot until one of them finally gave it up.  Winston also ran around town looking for a condom so he could have sex with Daisy during her tight schedule.

Schmidt got on my nerves with his reaction to Nick and Jess' kiss.  I feel like they should have never told him because he made into something more upsetting than it was.  Jess and Nick were bringing a new and awkward vibe to the apartment, but that didn't give Schmidt the right to give them shit about it like they had been having sex or anything and were stirring up drama because of that.  Mostly I think Schmidt was worried about the parking spot and Jess using sexual tension to get an advantage over him.  He did bring up the loft oath about some no-nailing policy that the guys had all signed, but hearing that just made me hate the fact that Schmidt knew about Jess and Nick all the more.  He made it so much worse talking about that agreement and forcing a kiss with Jess (so gross).

Schmidt also interrupted one of the best parts of the episode.  Jess had forfeited her rights to the parking spot after Nick talked about how much he regretted kissing her.  I absolutely loved when he said that his real regret was that he made things between them weird and the reason he kissed her was because he couldn't help it.  The way they were looking at each was just like they would finally get to kiss again until "Pee Pants" Schmidt walked in between them and basically peed all over their moment.  I was so pissed about that!  I almost wish that Jess and Nick didn't care about the parking spot from the beginning and just let Schmidt have it so they could have all that time to concentrate on themselves.  Wish Jess had rammed into his car so hard that it flipped over and slid down the street into traffic.

One part that was equally as good that Schmidt didn't ruin was when Jess decided to seduce Nick by wearing his hoodie paired only with some tights.  I can't believe how much she wanted that parking spot or how much she unconsciously wanted to flirt with Nick.  Typically you would think that it would be hard or embarrassing to come on to your roommate for the sake of easier parking, but Jess looked like she was more than willing to slide that hoodie down to show him what was underneath.  I loved it because Nick was surprised and confused, yet not against her methods.  I even liked when he offered her a hug and Jess panicked and gave him a purple nurple.  One of the comedy benefits of them being so awkward with each other now.

The only thing that I liked in Winston's story was when he ran to Cece's for a condom.  Shivrang crazily was giving Cece a second chance, it seemed, and she was trying to convince him that her friends were chill and drama-free.  I liked that after Winston had made Shivrang confess he did have a condom and assumed that Cece wasn't going to give Shivrang any that night that Shivrang claimed this second meeting with Cece's friends was worse than the first time.  I had to agree, and he'd be the biggest idiot in the world to give her a third chance.  Not sure if Cece's dodging a bullet or not--we haven't quite gotten to see what Shivrang is all about yet.

I liked this episode mainly because of how Jess and Nick were acting around each other.  I don't know how long it will continue to be like this with them, but since it's creating a lot of funny situations, I don't mind if it drags on.  I just hope that Schmidt will butt out and let their natural attraction for each other play out.  I'm getting a bit antsy to see what next step they will take.  Whether they decide to start seeing other people or try out dating each other, I'm ready for it, even if it causes a lot more damage to their friendship.

Roger's Sacrifice

American Dad, S08E12

Roger was determined to be free to walk around without an outfit when Jeff was home, so he pretended to be Jeff's imaginary friend.  Klaus later revealed to Jeff that Roger was real, and Stan refused to let both Jeff and Roger live if Jeff wouldn't be able to keep Roger a secret.  Steve also struggled to avoid ridicule about his flat ass at school.

Roger was being a straight dumbass  thinking that being naked whenever he felt like it was worth risking his life.  That's what it boiled down to when he tried to find a way to be outfit-less around Jeff.  He really makes dangerous decisions based on silly or small benefits.  He could have either worn less heavy clothing (tweed--really?) or stayed up in the attic when he wanted to be nude.  It wasn't that hard.  But it is Roger and he likes to have his cake and eat it too.

I was almost lured into the false impression that Roger would sacrifice the freedom he enjoys on Earth so that neither he nor Jeff would have to die.  After all, he was disappointed when he found at that the gun pointed at him in the garage didn't have bullets after all.  He doesn't give a damn if Jeff lives or die or about Hayley's feelings.  So to see him pack up and see that montage of him to the tune of M.A.S.H.'s theme song, I was just waiting for Roger to pull the rug from underneath everyone.  He did have me going for a while--it was nearly the end before he betrayed Jeff and shoved him into the beam of that spaceship.  Nicely played, Roger.  It was funny that Stan was impressed by Roger's move and not upset at all that Jeff was gone.  I just wonder if Jeff will stay gone (probably not, though).

My favorite part of this story was the very beginning when Stan was reading a newspaper.  He was caught off-guard by a bra ad on the second page and kept searching for a real article:

Finally, here's an article.  "A woman choked on her own bra."  What newspaper is this?

I'm curious to know what kind of specialty newspaper he was reading too.  It's rare that I'm laughing that early on in an episode.

I also liked what Roger said when Stan had tackled him later for being naked in front of Jeff:

This is the talkiest rape ever.

I don't know why he is so calm about being raped.  I guess because he's no stranger to committing that crime himself.

Steve's story was a nice twist on puberty.  Instead of making fun of someone for their boobs or something not growing in, it was asses.  That school Steve goes to keeps getting weirder and weirder.  I felt bad for Steve, though, because all of his friends had enough behind to dance appropriately to the "Wally World" song.  Plus, Barry showed what a ham-crazy bastard he is by exposing the hams Steve had used to stuff his pants.  That idiot isn't much of a friend to him.  I think he probably would have still eaten Steve's hams even if Steve had explained to his friends what he was trying to do.

My favorite part of the story was when Steve went to "Ba-Donkin Donuts."  That name for that place was great, but it was even greater that the fire started there was because a fat guy in courdoroy pants had his thighs rubbing together too fast.  That had me cracking up.  I couldn't even feel sorry for all the people who got trapped in there knowing that fat thighs were the cause of the fire.  That was hilarious.

It was nice that Steve realized that his mom was right about his flat ass having a purpose since he was able to escape from the restaurant, but it was strange to me that all those people couldn't escape.  There were two windows in the front--couldn't someone have thrown a chair or something at it to make a hole? That was crazy.  As crazy as Steve calling 9-11 to  report to the dispatcher that he had overcome his hatred of his own ass.  Steve essentially killed all those people in there.  That was a pretty unexpected ending.

This was a pretty good episode.  I thought I would be over stories about Roger being exposed as an alien, but this one went down a different path.  I never thought they would have Roger leave Earth because they need his wacky ass on this show, but I didn't really imagine that he would send Jeff away either.  You never know what Roger will do.  The same sort of applies for Steve.  I wouldn't have figured that his ass would have saved him from a burning restaurant, nor would I have thought that he wouldn't help the people stuck in there.  In a way, Steve's as crazy of a bastard as Roger is sometimes.

Chris Runs To Herbert's

Family Guy, S11E13

Meg saw Chris steal money from their mom and began blackmailing him to do her bidding.  When Chris got sick of being treated like slave, he ran to Herbert's house to live.  Stewie also got hooked into Anne Murray's music and turned Brian to her music as well.

I wasn't sure what would become of Chris being at Meg's beck and call.  She didn't really do anything too shocking or twisted (save maybe wanting him to call girls and pretend to be their dead babies), but I knew that Chris couldn't possibly tolerate being her slave forever.  I thought he might just come clean to his parents, but he surprised me by running away to Herbert's house.

I was scared what might happen to Chris under that pervert's roof for a few days, but after trying to jump into Chris' bed the first night, he didn't seem to make any other big moves.  He might have been working up to that had Chris not driven him crazy with his slovenly ways.  Chris got kicked out at the right time because in a cabin relatively alone with Herbert miles away, Chris probably would have been in some real danger there.  The collection of tapes he had spying on kids was creepier than anything he really did to Chris, so I guess I was glad about that part.

Chris made a good point that he and Meg need to stick together, growing up in the house they do.  Lois and Peter didn't even notice that Chris was missing for a few days.  That's crazy.  Even if Meg was covering for him, the fact that they didn't physically see him for a while didn't bother them at all.  Great parents they are.

The funniest thing about this story, I guess, was when Chris had to put in Meg's contacts.  It was freaky how her pupils rolled back into her head, but Chris' reaction to that was entertaining.  He first compared her eyes to ping pong balls.  Finally, he said that she looked like some blind jazz man--I really liked that comparison.

Another interesting moment was when Peter and Lois were at a restaurant.  He made a call to someone named "Damone" and asked him to help him pay for their bill.  It was a clip from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but I have never seen that movie, so I didn't get the reference.  The joke there might have worked for me had I seen it.

In Stewie's story, I liked that it commented on that fact that people listening to music can get very different impressions/meanings from the lyrics.  I think they did a good job about speaking to the fact that arguing about differing opinions is pointless.  There is no right or wrong.  Stewie and Brian thought they would settle their argument by getting the "true" interpretion from Anne Murray, but she had sung "Snowbird" in her own interpretation and hadn't written the song at all.  Somehow Stewie thought that made her a fraud and he felt like he had been deceived, which made him seem all the more ridiculous.  Regardless of who wrote it, the way it made him feel was the right answer for himself.

It was concerning that Stewie tied up Anne Murray and pointed a gun at her.  There was no resolution of that--they just ended it with him harassing her like that.  We can just add that to Stewie's list of messed up things.

I think what I liked best about this story was when Brian first got into Anne Murray's music and imagined when he was a puppy.  It was cute to see him frolicking with his siblings and nuzzling with his mother.  Sometimes I forget how sensitive Brian is because he's often so insensitive and narcissistic.

I liked this episode because Meg and Chris were able to have a pretty sweet ending.  Meg started off treating Chris horribly, but in the end she showed that she appreciated him, and they bonded.  Stewie's story wasn't so sweet, but it at least it brought up an interesting topic.  It really made me think about how there's just no wrong way to feel about music.

Ya'll All Need Part-Time Jobs

Bob's Burgers, S03E14

Linda took a job at a grocery store to help the family with finances, but Bob failed to encourage her and show that Linda was crucial to the restaurant.  She started off part-time, but when Bob gave her a bad employee review, she took the full-time job as shift manager. Tina also met a mysterious boy in the dairy fridge and used his band-aid to find him when the two parted without exchanging information.

I can't believe that with the way that Linda has to bounce so many checks with their debtors that Bob thinks that they hadn't gotten to the point where they needed another income from another job.  Seriously?  They should have had Linda (hell, even the kids selling newspapers or something) working a long time ago.  I think that Bob was just too proud to admit that his restaurant simply doesn't do well enough to keep his family afloat.  After all, he has a wife and three children to support.  It's no time to be prideful.

Anyway, Bob could have had Linda back at the restaurant sooner if he only realized how much Linda does for his business.  One of the most interesting things she does is keep the restaurant at the perfect temperature.  I think that Teddy was overreacting when Bob was adjusting wrong, but he definitely doesn't have the thermostat finesse that his wife has.

Speaking of Teddy, the only part of this story that was really funny was when Bob had to close his restaurant down because of lack of meat and electricity and Teddy refused to leave.  Bob was treating him like a cat and shouting at him to go, and Teddy just wouldn't leave.  What the hell does Teddy even do?  He always seems to have time to lounge about Bob's restaurant all day with unwanted and dubious advice.

One other thing that was sort of funny was when Linda told the customers that she didn't like them.  One guy commented that of course he could hear her because she was on a microphone.  I liked that Louise sort of made that guy feel bad for making her mother look a little dumb:

[Louise] She told me that she hates you the most.
[Customer] Whaaat?

It was sort of sad that Linda thought she was showing Bob a lesson by leaving the restaurant to himself (which she was), but she ended up showing that she is not management material.  She usually manages her own kids, who have good reasons to listen to her orders, unlike employees who will use any old excuse to get out of work.  I can't believe that she actually gave everyone the day off and was left alone in the store.  It was strange to me that people didn't start rioting and leaving with free stuff sooner than they had.  I feel a little bad for the boss who had to come back and find his store in ruins, thanks to Linda.  Bob couldn't run his restaurant too well without Linda, but he didn't exactly destroy the business.  Linda probably put Fresh Feed out of business.

Tina's story was so weird.  Not surprising, but still.  That was completely gross that she kept that kid's band-aid and was using it like a glass slipper on some random kids that showed up to the restaurant.  And who the hell are these kids who were enticed by that flyer she put up?  I can't believe that she got that many people in the first place.  Must be nothing else going on in that town.

I guess her nasty efforts were fruitful, though.  She met the boy again, learned his name, and got a kiss.  I don't know if it will develop any further than the dairy aisle, but since it's Tina, who cares?  That's a victory for her no matter how she got there.

This episode wasn't too bad.  It was sort of nice to see Linda out of the restaurant for a change.  It showed that there is a worse place to work than Bob's restaurant.  This story also showed that Bob would be shut down in a second if he didn't have Linda handling the banks and such.  He really is thick-headed sometimes.  Tina's band-aid version of Cinderella was a little gross, but at least it had a cute ending.  Tina could use a boy in her life to concentrate all of her weird affections on.

Milhouse Walks In Kirk's Shoes

The Simpsons, S24E13

Bart decided to make Milhouse pretend to be Kirk when he accidentally shaved his head similar to Kirk's hairstyle.  Bart and Milhouse enjoyed going around town reaping the benefits that only adults could take advantage of.  Homer's obsession with find-it books increased his ability to find things that were out of place.

The novelty of Milhouse dressing up like Kirk was short-lived for me.  At first it seemed like this story was going to go in a good direction, but Bart and Milhouse didn't really do anything that special as far as what they could do as an adult.   My favorite thing that they did was go into Moe's, not to drink, but to ask Moe where babies came from.  Moe's response was intensely disturbing:

Ah, well, in my case my mom was hit with a voodoo curse, I gestated for five years, and then I popped out backwards and on fire.

I like when they make Moe sound inhumane like that.   Over the years he's become more and more of a monster.

Unrelated to the Milhouse story, really, there were a few good lines.  One was when Marge took Lisa to this puppet show that Lisa had suggested.  They soon saw that it was going to be a bunch of puppets getting killed:

[Marge] Maybe we should go.

[Knight] Nobody leave until every puppet dead.

What kind of sickos make you watch puppets get killed?  I like when stuff goes from creepy to scary.

Finally, I liked when Homer asked Marge about Highlights magazine:

[Homer] Marge, can I get a subscription to Highlights magazine?

[Marge] Homer, that's for children.

[Homer] Where does it say that?!

[Marge] Read the rest of the title!

[Homer] Highlights for...doh! 

It was kinda cool that Homer got this "superpower" of detection after reading so many children's books.  This skill turned out to be useful, even when him noticing the free breakfast on a banner seemed to suggest he had forgotten about the kids.  Although, Homer had zeroed in on the free food, he succeeded in finding the kids.  I don't know how he would have been able to otherwise just looking on the streets for something strange.

I also liked the very end of the episode where Homer got mad at Bart for saying that he hoped that he didn't end up looking like Homer.  He was strangling him and complaining that Bart's comment didn't allow them to end things on a heart-warming note.  I liked this because if Homer and Bart hadn't had that moment, it would have ended that way.

Although there wasn't a bunch that I liked from this episode, I still feel like it was good.  I say that because there wasn't anything particularly bad about it.  I just wish that Bart and Milhouse had gotten more creative in what they could do with adult power in their hands.  Homer surprisingly improved himself by reading a children's book.  If only he could read a kid's book that would teach him how to pay attention and work harder.  He might turn into a decent employee.

Why Are Those Even Together?

 The Cleveland Show, S04E10

 Cleveland got his parents tickets to a George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars concert after Freight Train failed to show up to the special anniversary dinner Cookie arranged.  Feeling neglected by her husband,  Cookie suddenly ran off with George Clinton shortly after meeting him on the stage.  Freight Train tried to hide his feelings about that by declaring her dead to him.  Junior also lost the floor model he had used to play "office," so he faked his way into a job at a real office.

I don't know how many times we can see a story about FT and Cookie before it's just been overdone (it's about there for me already).  FT has been screwing around on Cookie for years, and she always takes him back.  Granted, this time it looked like Cookie was living a pretty sweet life with George Clinton, but I think even after a while she would have gotten bored with it and wanted her neglectful husband back.  FT, despite him going to the trouble of making a funk band to win Cookie back, is never going to change.  So he broke up with some (I know he couldn't have possibly called all of his women) of his cheating partners--we all know that next time we see him, he'll be back to his old tricks.  He just wouldn't be FT, otherwise.  So watching the story I was just waiting for it to be over, so FT could go back to treating his wife like crap again.  Waste of a story.

There were a few parts that I liked, though.  One was just that we got to hear George Clinton's music.  It has been so long since I've heard it.  It gave me a nice nostalgic feeling.  I wished they could have used more of it throughout.

I also liked some lines.  The first was when Freight Train was trying to report to the police that Cookie had been kidnapped, and they doubted that someone who wasn't that great like FT hadn't driven her away:

[Freight Train] Come on, Cleveland.  Once again, police are no help to a black man.
[Cop] We are both black, sir.
[Freight Train] All cops are white on the inside!

I liked this line because it's a good example of someone playing the race card when it's not valid at all.  I sort of like when people do that jokingly, as in this story, but not if they are for real.  Then they just sound ignorant.

The last line I liked was when Cleveland was telling FT to go win his woman back and kept talking about the cheeseburger he was going to eat.  He kept changing his mind about how he was going to eat it until he finally decided:

And I'm going to have a cheeseburger.  And you know what, no tomatoes.  Actually, avocado.  That's a good fat.  Like me.

 In Junior's story, there wasn't much that I particularly liked.  It was just weird that he managed to slip into an office, unhired, and got promoted for a job he didn't even know about.  This was evident when he first got to the office, stapled a file and then shredded it for no reason.  Junior's just lucky that his chunky frame makes him look older than he does. 

Oh, and it was really stupid of him to pay for Roberta to be his wife.  Roberta is such a waste of space most of the time, and she proved that by going off on Junior at the picnic.  And really, what was the point of her doing that?  If she had agreed to help Junior and got paid, why did she need to embarrass him and risk jeopardizing his fake job?  I really wished he had used that fist to punch her across the face.  Rallo was okay.  He just needed a swing and he was cool.  Haha.

I didn't really like this episode.  I don't need to see any more stories about FT upsetting Cookie and then managing to win her back for some reason.  In reality, it would be a much better story if they both just agreed to stop acting like the worst couple in the world (or divorced).  Unfortunately, the side story about Junior was also lacking.  It didn't really add anything to the episode beyond stressing the fact that fantasy and reality are one in the same for Junior.  It was a little interesting, but nowhere near funny.

Killing Max Jets

American Dad, S08E11

Roger's rich character named Max Jets got out of jail, and his generous nature and fat pockets seemed to be the answer to the Smith family's problems.  Once Max took on a young girlfriend, he decided to cut off the family and spend his money on her.  Not wanting to live on a budget again, the Smith family conspired to get rid of the girlfriend and, if necessary, get rid of Max instead so they could inherit his fortune.

There was little doubt in my mind that when Roger brought up Max Jets that it wouldn't be Roger himself.  It's ridiculous that he's been pretending to be imprisoned for many years and had to sneak back into jail as if he'd always been there.  But for Roger that level of excessive commitment to his persona is expected by now.  The thing that's most strange to me is when Roger plays characters who are loaded.  This isn't the first time he's been someone with money to burn, yet he doesn't choose to live his life in luxury.  I guess maybe Roger is just too compelled to live as many different lives as possible and sticking with one, no matter how financially stable some of them may be, doesn't suit his lifestyle.

You would think that with all the life experience Roger has by playing some many different people with different pasts and personalities that he might have a good handle on people in general.  It doesn't seem to be the case when he was letting Gina take him for all he was worth.  Then again, perhaps Roger simply wanted to stay true to the character of Max, who might not be so keen to notice that a woman like Gina was only interested in his money.  I don't know why he would want to play someone who was so stupid, though. 

Putting aside that Max got killed by Gina (unlike Steve I wasn't too bothered by the fact he got killed because Roger has had many of his characters killed), Roger must must have thought her actions didn't matter much since he was also playing his own son, Jerry.  When Gina mentioned that she had agreed not to inherit any money from Max in the case that he died, I should have figured there was a good reason.  It did strike me as odd, but I couldn't piece it together.  I couldn't even think about Gina being sneaky when Roger was in on the plot to get his own inheritance under the noses of his murderous, yet not completely unloving family.  It just made the whole appearance of Max Jet a way for Roger to screw with them and do absolutely nothing to help with their money problem.

Therefore, the fact that all of the family wanted to try and kill Max in their own way seemed a little bit like justice.  They were being selfish since they wanted to keep all the money for themselves if they succeeded, but it's not that surprising since they were living on such meager means.  Living without much excess can make people desperate to have more.  Plus, Max had already given them a taste of the good life.  To rip that away in a quick second over someone who wasn't even family could easily turn a person toward murder.

I didn't really find anything funny, per se, with this story, but it was interesting just because you got to see the family working together to kill Roger.  In general, I like seeing them working together on a goal because they get insane and fuel each other's crazy ideas.  I didn't like that Roger was having fun making them all dance around for money that they were never going to get, but at least I wasn't aware of how involved he was in the deception.  And also Gina killed both of his characters and took all of his money in the end, so Roger was the one who got ultimately screwed.  Adding that all together, I think this was a pretty good episode.

Everyone Has A Story, But Not A Good One

Family Guy, S11E12

The show did a parody of the movie Valentine's Day, and showed different stories about each of the characters on this holiday.  Lois and Peter spent the day in bed, Quagmire got turned into a woman, Meg went out with a boy she met online, Stewie went back in time to the Summer of Love, Stewie gathered together all of Brian's ex girlfriends to find out what Brian's problem was, Herbert helped his grand-niece talk to Chris, and Mayor West found out Carol was seeing another mayor.

I enjoyed the beginning of this episode that was made to be like a trailer of the movie they were spoofing.  It's nothing new, but I still like this setup each time I see in a show (usually, anyway).  One of my favorite parts of that was when it said "Comes more evidence of Family Guy's decline."  I tend to like their ironic jokes like that.

There were a lot of stories packed into one episode, but none of them were particularly great.  The top ones for me were Stewie's story, Brian's story, and Meg's story.  If I had to pick the most interesting of those three, it would be Meg's simply because it was a good story for her when you consider how most of Meg's romantic endeavors go.

Meg's date seemed to be going well at the beginning, which could only mean that something bad had to happen.  However, Meg turned lemons into lemonade when she didn't want to end her date just because she was down a kidney and bleeding everywhere.  Talk about low standards/desperation.  I was happy, though, to see that Meg had a pretty great day with Toby.  They had lunch, went ice skating, got caricatures done (Meg was drawn as a pile of poo, but I could let that slide), she got her kidney back as a present, and she got a kiss.  Toby is a criminal, for sure, but at least he's sort of a gentleman (though he is kinda gross using a dead, shriveled conjoined twin as a bookmark--eww).  Sadly, Meg couldn't do much better than him, but at least he seemed genuinely into her.  I liked seeing Meg have a relatively happy end for once, instead of her looking like a pathetic psycho.

Stewie's story where he kissed his own mother as a baby wasn't surprising (as I figured it might be her), but it does speak to the idea that Stewie has a lot of mother issues.  He already has this desire to dispose of her (though not so much lately), and now he has to deal with the fact he's a little attracted to her.  It just makes me wonder how messed up Stewie is going to be when he finally gets to puberty.

I thought that Brian's story, while grabbing my attention more than others, was a waste of time.  I don't know why Stewie would think he needed to gather all of Brian's exes to know what the problem with Brian is.  It's basically everything with Brian is wrong.  Stewie's been there through all of his failures, most of them fizzling out because Brian's ego got in the way or his mountain of lies finally collapsed.  I couldn't imagine any of them saying something redeeming about Brian because he's always been the worst lover/boyfriend.  Hopefully Stewie was really just gathering them for his own amusement to make fun of Brian's many shortcomings.   Or perhaps he knew that the riot of exes he sent after Brian would help him end up in bed with a bunch of different girls.  I surely didn't expect that.  That was the biggest surprise out of all the stories.  More random to me than Quagmire turning into a woman.  Don't know why anyone in their right mind would sleep with an asshole like Brian.

This episode was only okay because I thought it was going to be good since I enjoy spoofs.  The stories weren't terrible, but they definitely could have been funnier.  I appreciate that they didn't do a single Valentine's story and tried to do several.  It just would have been a bonus if most of the stories were really memorable and a little less uneventful.