Which Version Was The Worst?

The Cleveland Show, S04E08

Cleveland showcased the different versions of The Cleveland Show as broadcast around the world.  These included Mexico, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

As soon as I heard Cleveland explain what the episode was going to be about, I wasn't expecting anything good.  My prediction turned out to be mostly true, the majority of the jokes at various countries being more boring than they were anything else.  Usually when a show attempts to throw their characters into a different setting than normal, it's a good chance to be entertained at how they act in another environment, but I couldn't find much humor in it at all.

The story about Junior's quinceanera was probably my least favorite, but that's not saying much.  The best thing was that Sofia Vergara made a guest appearance, and I found out that she has a pretty good singing voice.  I just like her in general, so it helped me not roll my eyes at the story completely.  I also liked when they did a fake commercial break that featured Consuela advertising her "perfume" called "No."  But it was just really Lemon Pledge.

The next story set in Italy was the least annoying of them all.  It focused on the rivarly between Junior and Rallo, which was certainly a big reason why.  I really liked seeing Rallo in all those outfits.  He was so cute in both what he was wearing at the retirement party and when he was getting a new suit.  Rallo is adorable in a little hat.  Speaking of that retirement party, it was little funny when that guy made a joke about "Crime Warner" and Cleveland snapped his fingers to have that guy shot.  Then he blamed it on a heart attack as they took his body away.  It's rare to see Cleveland in a position of power where he's that scary.

My favorite part of that story was when Junior came crying to Cleveland after he had found Larry in the tub:

[Junior] Daddy! Daddy!  Rallo drowned Larry the leopard!

[Cleveland] Just put him in the dryer.

[Rallo] He had my friend Walt killed!

[Cleveland] So you're even.  Now go on outside and play.

Another quote I liked was when Rallo was admiring himself in the mirror:

Damn, I look good.  Probably gonna die in this suit one day.

Finally, I liked the end of the story, for some reason.  There was something funny about that dramatic music as Rallo couldn't get Donna to save him and Cleveland putting on that jacket, gloves, and hat so that he could take the two out for a "drive."

The story about the writers wasn't that interesting.  The best thing about it was that it wasn't very long, so they could move on to something else.

The story in Japan, was disappointing too.  I had expected it might be my favorite, but it was just okay.  No one's Japanese version was very funny, except maybe Tim.  He had those "anime eyes," and he looked pretty cute.  I didn't care too much about the robot or anything else that was going on.  However, I had a hard time ignoring the fact that Cleveland was dressing up as a pile of shoes at work.  I know it's all supposed to be jokes and stuff, but the nerd in me was like, "You'd never see a pile of shoes like that there.  They would be neatly lined up."  It's too bad I just couldn't enjoy that joke or any of the others.  I won't get another chance to watch Cleveland and the crew in Japan again (I hope).

Even though I didn't like this episode, I'm just happy it wasn't a disaster.  I've seen some pretty bad stuff on this show, and I could have seen them doing worse with these different countires.  All the stories were mostly cheesy, but not in a way I thought was particularly clever or fresh.  I don't mind seeing something poking fun at stereotypes (it's usually a good way to reduce them of their power), but I'd rather see them presented in a way that's a bit different.  When you see the same thing about Italians, for instance, eating tons of spaghetti a thousand times, it's not really going to make you laugh.  Or maybe, even though this is a comedy show, that was the goal of this episode: you get so many bad jokes thrown at you, you just end up being too bored to be offended.

Franny's Life Is Her Own Business

American Dad, S08E07

Francine found out that the fireman who had saved her from a well 35 years ago wasn't dead as everyone had thought.  She attempted to adapt him back into society.  Stan and Roger also tried to start up a male stripper shoe business, but their investment money was dependent on killing someone.

I was sort of annoyed that Terry and Greg were such assholes about trying to get Francine on their show.  They were pissed that she avoided them, and yet they clearly wanted to embarass her on TV.  I mean, they have an idea of what Francine has been doing with her life, so I have little faith that they were trying to do good.  I really hated them in this episode.  Sure, you could blame Steve and the others, but they seriously thought they were trying to help Francine.

Then I was annoyed at the rest of the people with such high expectations for Francine.  Henry was a firefighter--it's pretty much a given that he's going to save lives.  Why should any person he save, even if he dies, be responsible for living an incredible life?   It was such bullshit.  I just kept hoping Francine would come to the conclusion that she didn't have to feel guilty and didn't have to impress anyone with her life's accomplishments except herself.

I was sort of glad to see that Henry wanted to go back into the well (even if he ironically died after diving back in) because seeing him bite off a woman's nose, punch and kill a bird in midair, and nearly rape Klaus made me think that Francine would have been infinitely better off never having found him in the first place.   I mean, maybe it would have been nice if she could have returned the favor by getting his life back on track, but when you think about it, Henry living in a well for thirty-plus years would have never realistically gotten back into society (not without some intense therapy or something).  I didn't want to see what other disgusting things he was going to do next.  He just needed to go (not die, though).

The side story with Stan and Roger was pretty uneventful.  They only tried once to kill Hideki's wife and then found out their idea had already been stolen.  It all happened pretty much in what seemed one breath.  I was expecting something much more different.  There were, however, two interesting things from that story.  The first was seeing Roger hosting that Japanese game show:

I kept wondering what Roger was saying, but after listening a few times, I figured that he was just saying gibberish (or super fast and badly pronounced Japanese or something).  When seeing this, I was sort of reminded of the ridiculous shows I would happen upon while flipping through TV in Japan. 

The second thing I thought was interesting was that Stan and Roger were having coffee later at a place called "Coughy's Coffee."  I don't know why but that made me chuckle.  I think that's a pretty good name for a coffee shop.

In general, I don't think I liked this episode that much.  I would have much rather Roger and Stan's story had been extended and the "Baby Franny" story had been the side story.  I feel like lots of times I would switch the main and side story.  However, I'm just glad they didn't do another Christmas story.  Almost every one they've shown has been really violent and crazy.  I'd much rather be angry about a story like this than see another insane holiday episode.

I Think Nick Is More In Love Than Jess

New Girl, S01E17

Instead of Nick and Jess finally getting together, Jess was unexpectedly thrown into the arms of a parent of one of her students, who seemed like the biggest jerk at first.  As his generous nature and interest in Jess is made clear, Jess is able to look past her first impression of him and see a charming guy.  Nick, on the other hand, takes much less time to fall for the man, and it took little more than a sweater and a cellphone.  Winston also struggles to look smart while Schmidt shows that he thinks that Winston isn't as smart as he is.

Before I talk about how I laughed almost the entire time Jess and Nick both came to know Russel, I will say that I didn't care much for Winston's story.  I did realize that Schmidt is a know-it-all, talks way too much, and looks down on others.  I guess I have been so distracted by his OCD qualities and sexually unnerving banter to notice this earlier.  In the end, Winston learned that Shelby didn't care that Winston didn't know a bunch of random facts, but Schmidt didn't learn anything.  In fact, he continued to give his opinion about matters no one asked him about while Winston and Shelby were making out.  This may have been the first time I wanted him to shut up (usually the things out of his mouth are gold).

That story paled in comparison to the laugh fest I was treated to with Nick and Jess.  In the beginning, Nick was ridiculed in a cellphone store because his credit score was so low, he became a breathing, walking joke.  I love that that they brought the whole staff out to laugh at him about that.  Although Jess tries to comfort him by suggesting he use his inability to get a phone to add mystery to himself, his friends are not really that sympathetic to his credit problem.  Two of my favorite comments made about Nick's poverty was that he had a credit score of a "homeless ghost" and that he weighed more than his credit score. 

Jess' rocky start with Russel was due not only to her defending her teaching methods (mostly that of "dreamcess") against a parent who complained that his daughter needed tutoring and less creative time, but was also due to the fact that she was playing "Mr. Monogamy" and rambling on about just having had demonstrated the proper way to put on and remove a condom with a cucumber.  We would expect nothing less from Jess.  It reminds me a little of how bad she was at picking up guys at the bar.

Even though I think Jess was stupid to listen to the craziest poor man she knew (aka Nick) and go tell off Russel at his office, it was a good thing that she did.  On a side note, no one wanted to listen to Winston (aka the 3rd smartest guy in the loft) who suggested that she just make a simple apology to Russel to reduce the likelihood she would enrage him enough to withdrawal all his donations to her school.  If she hadn't gone to Russel's office, her car wouldn't have broken down in the street, and Russel wouldn't have been able to show up and offer her his car and an invitation to his cookout.

I had mixed feelings about Jess accepting Russel's help (although if my car was stuck in the middle of the street, I think I would readily take anyone's help) and his invitation.  I mean, they barely knew each other and the first time they met, he was pretty rude.  I would wonder if he had something under his sleeve.  Worse still, she accepted the invitation and brought Nick along.  Really?  Nick?  I was worried he would either make a huge jackass out of himself or piss off Russel without Jess having to do a thing.

Instead, Nick went from scoffing at all the luxury Russel lived in with classic lines such as:

This hallway is excessive.  It's braggy.

To becoming so enamored with Russel's desk that he felt like he could be a CEO or a president.  He also grabbed a wooden duck and felt like he understood hunting for the first time.  It was incredible how Nick went off the deep end (of amazement at a better lifestyle) in such a short while.  By the time Russel came into the room, Nick already had his sweater on and seemed pretty settled in (I think Jess could have easily left him there without him noticing for a day).  When Nick rambled on to explain himself to Russel, it was hilarious that he thought the sweater was for the chair (a chair sweater--how fancy do you think he is?).  I wonder if Russel would have been as nice to let him keep the sweater and give him a new phone if he didn't like Jess as much.  Still, that's a long way to go to date a girl.  I would take more time to figure out if Jess was on the level (she's on her own level, that's for sure) before I tried to win over her friends.

I felt embarrassed for Jess when she had the fiasco in the bathroom with the Japanese bidet, but it was also very familiar to me.  The control panel for the toilet was just like the many ones I saw while in Japan, so I enjoyed the reminder of my previous life.  I'm just glad that none of the toilets I ever used had an automated voice.  Also, what was Jess thinking pressing random buttons and sitting down on a toilet like that?  I would have ran out of there too, acting as stupid as she did.

 The best part of the end of this story was not that Russel asked Jess out properly, nor that she fell into the koi pond, but was that Nick, listening to Russel's instructions that he should only fold his new sweater, rushed to fish Jess out of the water, but never made it there in time because he was too busy folding his sweater as carefully as if it was his most prized possession (it probably for a man who has a credit score like he does).

I also liked that they showed a few clips of Nick playing "boss" or whatever kind of important person he could imagine.  It was like watching a little boy playing in his father's study or something.  Perhaps Nick really will take the things that Russel told him to heart and start to get a little of his life together.  It's like as the episodes go on, you get to see one more thing about Nick that makes you wonder how he gets by.

I'm not too in love with the idea of Jess dating Russel, but I'm curious to see if he can really impress her.  I know that money isn't going to make Jess swoon, but perhaps he can relate to her on some level that no one else has so far.  Or at least, we can enjoy Jess floundering around while she tries to have a normal meal with him (looking forward to that disaster).  If Russel can do any kind good for this show, I would love to see him have a good impression on Nick and challenge him to be the best man he can be.  Perhaps if Nick grows a little as a person, we might see him and Jess get together a little sooner than I'm waiting for.

No One Just Sits On The Toilet

This week's Portlandia did sketches that included a band, a clothing shop, that women's bookstore, and jewelry making.

I liked the opening sketch called, "2 girls, 2 shirts."  OMG.  That's totally a store in Japan.  It would be like a very open space with a few items to buy that are cute and all but freaking expensive.  It made me wonder how they were able to stay open.  I liked that the store in this sketch actually closed, but another ridiculous owner took its place.

I generally like the women's bookstore sketches.  Those 2 girls are really opinionated and crazy.  The best part this time was the serious, dramatic music when the intern dares to say that vodka is fun.  How dare she.  As soon as she says "no vodka," the music gets light again and all is well.  Ha.

Bicycle movers??  Oh, God.  That has to be the worst idea ever unless you are a 6 year-old relocating your stuff to another tree house down the street.  I'm actually impressed in that sketch that the movers didn't break more stuff than they did.  And they actually brought it almost to the house.  They got the address wrong, but it was close enough that they could see the right house from the wrong one.  With movers using bicycles, I say that's a triumph.

You gotta love Kristen Wiig making a guest appearance.  I didn't care for the Catnap concept, but I liked that she was an obsessed fan and kept them prisoner.  The best of that sketch was when Gathy (horrible name) tells them that she can't read while sitting on the toilet, but has to do something to keep herself busy (like making these hairy-looking donuts??).  The notion that someone just sits there is incomprehensible to her:

[Gathy] Who just sits there? 

[Gil] Many people sit there.

[Gathy] I don't think so. 

[Gil] I do think so.

Gathy then gives him the death glare and he apologizes.  Love it.

I wonder who else will show up on Portlandia.  They have had some pretty good guest stars so far.