I Want Better Costumes!

Community, S04E02

Jeff and the others stopped by Pierce's house after he called saying that he was locked in his panic room.  Pierce told them that the reason he had holed up in there was because he thought he saw his father's ghost.  As the gang explored the house for the notebook with the access code to free Pierce, they we frightened by several freaky occurrences.

Seeing a Halloween story on Valentine's Day was refreshing in that it wasn't typical, but it did remind me that this show was supposed to have started back up in October.  Still, instead of seeing a bunch of hearts and candy, I was able to enjoy everyone in costumes.  Or I would have been able to if they were good ones.  I liked when they dressed up as celebrities for some kid's party more than what they decided to wear to Vicky's party.  I mean, I've seen Princess Leia a million times as a costume, even if it was adorable that her whole family was doing characters from that movie.  Britta was a ham--boring.  Jeff was a boxing--yawn.  Annie's wasn't too bad, especially since she mistook the girl from Ring for being a girl who announces the matches at a boxing ring.  I prefer what she ended up with than something like what Dean had did (who was sort of cute as a ring girl).  Abed's costume was cute too, but I had no idea who he was until I looked it up.  He and Troy were dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes!  Wow.  I would have never gotten that on my own.  That makes me like the stupid-looking tiger costume Troy was in a whole lot better and absolutely makes me adore Abed's (which was cute without knowing the reference).  I was initially a little concerned that they didn't go all out for a costume opportunity, but they exceeded my expectations.

Besides that most of the costumes weren't too impressive, I also didn't like too much that they ended up at Pierce's house.  I was prety much like Jeff the whole time, suspecting that he was up to something.  I liked that when everyone else was willing to give Pierce the benift of the doubt, Jeff was appalled at their sympathy:

What in the Scooby Doo is happening to you people?!

That was about the only line that stands out to me from the story.  There was more of a focus on the "horror" going on in the house than comedy, really.  That and Britta trying to show Jeff that he missed not having a father more than he let on.  The only thing interesting about that (it was mostly annoying that Britta was doing more of her "therapy") was that Jeff had found out his father's number, but hadn't gotten around to calling him.  I suspect that he was too scared to do so until the events of that night had passed.  Although, I'm not sure that I'm eager to see Jeff's dad or not.  After not knowing him for some many years, I can't imagine that their reunion will be a good one.

When it all turned out to be a Halloween prank just like Jeff had predicted, I wasn't as annoyed as I would have been if Gilbert hadn't appeared and had a sweet moment with Pierce.  Maybe with more brotherly love in his life, Pierce might be a little less insufferable.  At the moment, he's sort of like a fly that you swat at that just won't go away.  As he's an important part of the "study group," I would like to enjoy his character a little more.  At least for the time he'll be around (I've heard rumor that Chevy Chase won't be on the show for the entire season).

Finally, I just wish there was a little more Abed.  Like I said before, there was a focus on Jeff and his father problems, which I'm not too concerned with right now.  I did like that Abed was excited about finding a secret room and he was spying on his friends from the security room like it was reality TV or something, but that just wasn't enough for me.  I was a little happier when the extra segment showed Abed and Troy playing around with the secret door and Pierce came out and demanded to know who was in his house.  I like seeing them mess around with him like he's their crazy uncle or something.

This episode wasn't bad, but it could be better.  Somehow I'm wondering if the season is just off to a slow start or if my tastes have changed.  I don't know how I feel about Jeff bringing up his long-lost father.  That story could go either way.  Pierce's haunted house was a let down, as were most of the costumes.  However, Abed and Troy brought their A game, so I can't complain too much about that.  I just want there to be a little more Abed (and Troy) moments.  They're the kind of duo that I can't get enough of seeing.

Sheldon Makes A Good Data

Big Bang Theory, S06E13

The boys drove to a comic convention and were stranded when Leonard's car got stolen during their photo shoot.  The girls decided to try and understand their men by trying out some comics books themselves.  They soon got into heated arguments about what they read, surprising Leonard and the others.

This isn't the first time that the guys have dressed up, but it is certainly one of my favorites.  I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan, but I am familiar with some of the character that were on The Next Generation.  Sheldon as Data was absolutely perfect.  I loved it!  He has about the emotional range of a synthetic human and the makeup job on him looked great.  Second, I loved Leonard as a little, glasses-wearing Picard.  Leonard was so cute with a bald head!  The others costumes were good too, but I especially liked Leonard's and Sheldon's.  Then I liked that Sheldon seemed to respect Leonard's leadership for once simply because he was wearing a captain's outfit.  Man, Leonard should wear that every day to keep Sheldon listening to him for once.

The worst thing was that Sheldon had hacked Leonard's GPS so that it not only spoke in Sheldon's voice, but also did things like quiz them with trivia about driving and such.  I was with Howard when he suggested that Leonard drive them off a bridge.  It sort of made it the one good thing about his car getting stolen--at least they wouldn't have to listen to Sheldon guiding them the way back home too.  It was sort of funny, though, that the robbers were enjoying all the Sheldon trivia.  I doubt they would have enjoyed it as much if they had the owner of that voice giving them all of that interesting knowledge.

I liked that the girls tried to dive into the boys' world by reading some comics.  I never expected, though, that they would really get invested in the stories.  I mean, they were arguing things that I'm sure the boys have for years and years.  And they had just scratched at the surface.  They were simply debating about Thor's hammer.  If they ever managed to get that issue settled, who knows what they would go on to next?  It was cute that the boys found the energy again to act out their fantasies and went to investigate the girls' arguments with their phasers sent on "stun."  But I wonder what happened after that?  Were the girls embarrassed that they were on the same level as the guys?  Or did the boys join into the arguments, making things much worse?  That was the only thing I was disappointed about.  I wanted to see the meeting of the old comic nerds and the new comic nerds.

This was a great episode.  It definitely goes down as one of my favorite stories about the guys being in costumes.  I have to watch it again because I really enjoyed seeing Sheldon as Data and Leonard as Picard.  It was also funny to see the girls having heavy discussions about Thor's hammer as if it were some kind of important world issue.  They might not exactly get the boys' infatuation with the comic book world, but they definitely dipped their toes in it now.

Is Jane A Warlock?

Happy Endings, S03E02

Penny tried to buy a car without having Jane interfere too much.  Max showed Brad how to live Brad's old life in Max's no-money style.  Alex and Dave looked at apartments together.

This episode was okay.  I think what I liked best was that Jane got to be her normal aggressive self in this episode.  This time she was a no-prisoners negotiator for a car purchase.  More than that, I really loved how Jane kept magically moving from place to place and Penny wondering if she was a witch or warlock.  I can understand that Penny might have wanted to do something on her own (and she ultimately did),  but I would have just let Jane do her thing.  It's amazing how well she could predict all the moves of the dealership down to the meager cup of water offered to them.  She just couldn't predict that Penny's seemingly bumbling moves (like walking straight through a glass wall) were just a ploy to get a good price.

At the very end, I also like how coolly she interacted with the "Car Czar."  Who walks around with not just your salary offer, but your counteroffer to someone rejecting your salary offer?  Damn!  She still manages to surprise me with how insanely prepared she is.  She just can't be beat.  But I wonder if she really is going to go work for that guy, or was that just a gag at the end?

I thought that Max taking Brad around for the day was cute, but not entirely funny.  Them going to random meetings for free food was pretty good, but the best part of that story was when Max had a substitute for Brad's running trainer.  I loved seeing Max slap a pretzel out of a guy's hand and punch him in the face before running off.  That takes balls and insanity.  I respect that Max may be a bum, but at least he's not a coward.  Also, he did that for Brad, so he's not afraid to get the shit beat out of him for someone he loves.

Alex and Dave...   I feel like a broken record, but they just suck.  I was already bored by the idea of them moving in together, but I was just angry to see them wasting a real estate agent's time by coming up with the worst excuses ever to reject every good apartment that she had shown them.  They were being assholes.  Indecisive assholes.  Luckily, that lady tore them a new one when they tried one last time to make up a reason not to take the apartment.  I had hoped they would come clean with their feelings about being committed to each other, but they just took the place anyway.  Ugh.  Maybe if they had done the right thing and were honest, I could have hated them a little less.  Now I have to watch them pretend they are loving living together when they're already miserable.  Not excited to see all that.

I will mention a few lines that were pretty good in this episode.  The first was from Max when he was tasting the brunch food Jane made:

You go, girl! [tastes the food and spits it out] You go to hell, girl!

 The other that I thought was memorable was when Jane was for the second time trying to appeal to Penny's love of teen fantasy novels to motivate her:

[Jane] Must be strong. Like Hermione in the Harry Potter books.
[Penny] You read those?
[Jane] Dorks.

This one I'd actually like to use on someone because I'd enjoy teasing them (I'm not much of a Harry Potter fan).

Lastly, I sort of liked their group costume.  I mean, it was original, at least.  And sort of cute.  It was just sad that they couldn't get out the damn door.  But still, it's a lot better than some of the costumes I've seen for other Halloween stories lately.

Again, I wasn't too thrilled with this episode, but I do feel like there's some hope for me to get pumped about this show again.  Maybe if Dave and Alex get their act together, I'll be able to remember how I love the others again and just be enjoying the laughs.  I'm tired already of groaning at the two of them as things are now.

Boo! (Not In A Halloween Way)

The Mindy Project, S01E04

Mindy was invited to a party with Josh, but was reluctant to come when she couldn't find a good costume.  Danny and Jeremy went to the DMV to get their licenses, but Danny had a much harder time than his friend.

Well, there wasn't much that I liked about this episode.  I'm still on the fence about whether I like Josh or not, too.  I think the funniest thing about this episode was when Mindy was absently petting a cat until she realized that it wasn't hers and tossed it out the window.  I totally thought she had a cat for a second.  That was so random!

I also thought it was slightly funny that Danny got a second chance to take his road test because Jeremy told the administrator that he had been molested in a car.  He was especially nervous and terrible at driving.  But I felt his struggle to get the license because I'm past the teenage years and have yet to get my license.  I would probably punch a kid if he called me old when going to take the test.  I'm glad he didn't have to go through the pain of taking the test for another time.  It would be a nightmare to have the DMV know you personally because you've failed that many times.

I also will give Josh some points for dressing up as Inigo Montoya for Halloween.  He actually looked much cuter in that than he usually does (he has a weird face), and he paid 3000 dollars just to please Mindy with that costume.  Plus, he knew that she had dressed up as Diane from Cheers, which was nice because I had no idea who she was supposed to be.  Honestly, after she had talked to Riley about the Great Pumpkin and they were playing the Peanuts theme, I thought she was about to go as Lucy or something (I mean, not when she grabbed that wig, though).

What I didn't like the most about this episode was when Mindy was catching up with Tom.  Not only was he not apologetic enough, but Mindy was clearly still hung up on him.  I really wish she hadn't re-evaluated her life because Tom was having a baby.  I hated to see her mope around because of that.  What she had with him obviously wasn't real if he moved on so quickly with another woman.  I was a little disappointed to see her relapse like that.  Come on, Mindy!

This episode was fairly unimpressive.  For a Halloween story it was pretty boring and for any other kind of story, it was little frustrating (mostly because of Mindy and Tom).  I guess I like that Mindy's getting closer to Josh and on the path to a better relationship, but she's far from me applauding her just yet.  Right now I just feel like I want to shake her before I change the channel.

Penny Less Raggedy, Sheldon More Raggedy

Big Bang Theory, S06E05

Howard was annoying everyone with his incessant talk about being an astronaut.  Sheldon and Amy tried to compromise on a theme for a couple's costume.  Raj helped Stuart with his Halloween party.  Penny finally made an effort to learn about Leonard's work.

I have to be honest that I, too, was just as fed up with Howard working the topic of space into every conversation as his friends were.  But I can sympathize with him because I feel like I sort of do that nowadays with a different subject.  Even so, I recognize that it's a horrible habit and should be suppressed as much as possible.  I was most annoyed with him when he was pouting about not speaking about his greatest achievement while dressed in an awesome costume of Papa Smurf.  He and Bernadette were rocking their couple's costume and all he could think about was how it sucked no one was giving him props about his astronaut days.  Geez.  So glad that Raj gave him that video of Buzz Aldrin to put things in to hilarious perspective for him.  I would sock Howard if he got as bad as that guy was with handing out candy.

The best story in this episode was Sheldon and Amy's for sure.  As soon as Sheldon suggested that they dress as R2D2 and CP30, I knew that there was little hope for Amy to get the kind of costume she'd want.  But I loved when they were making a Venn diagram of their ideas but getting nowhere.  Sheldon had ideas like Batman and Robin and Kirk and Spock, while Amy's were nothing alike.  She had ideas like Dharma and Greg (who would get that?) and the funnier couple of Blossom and Joey!  Oh, my God!  How I wished Sheldon would have liked that one.  My favorite part of all was when Sheldon explained why he didn't want anything to do with her Raggedy Ann idea:

Those dolls represent three things I do not care for:  clowns, children and raggediness.

"Raggediness" was the part that really had me rolling.  Only Sheldon.

I thought that "Raggedy CP30" was the best compromise that anyone could expect out of Sheldon (and Amy was thrilled), so I guess it was a win for her.  She did almost get a hickey from Sheldon until he figured out what it was.  Haha.  Watching him put one on Amy would have been pretty damn hilarious, though.

Another win that happened was for Leonard.  I mean, for once Penny decided to act like a decent girlfriend and step a little into his world.  It was really nice to see her impressed by the work he did and for Leonard to get some sex that wasn't out of pity, haha.  It did make me like Penny slightly more than I have before.  But I still think Leonard could do better.

Not much to say about Raj except that he is such a dork with his little puns for the food names.  But at least his party planning was a success.  It's just too bad that it was getting Stuart the girls and not Raj.  He could have used that victory.

Pretty good episode.  I'm just happy that from now on we don't have to listen to Howard go on about being an astronaut, and Amy is one step closer to living her dream as having a real boyfriend (as real as Sheldon can be in that capacity).  Penny seems like less of a "raggedy" girlfriend, but she still has some work to do.  Crossing my fingers that she won't backslide and will keep trying to make Leonard a little happier from here on.

Witches And Switches

Suburgatory, S02E02

Tessa was worried that a witch was following her so that she could make her a witch too.  Dallas failed to ask George on a date.  George decided to dress up like Noah for the Halloween party after Noah had dressed up like George.

This was a pretty cute Halloween episode.  First of all, we got to see everyone in different costumes.  The ones I enjoyed best were Malik as Fred and Tessa as Daphne from Scooby Doo.  I would have never expected Malik to pick that outfit (and it was only funnier when Ryan had mistakenly thought to wear the same one), but it suited him.  I also thought that Tessa was adorable in a red wig and her boots.  She totally pulled off that look.  What I didn't like too much was Noah being George and vice-versa.

Although I didn't like their costumes because Noah was being an ass, and George with a blonde wig and lack of mustache (I cried out in protest when he raised his razor to his face) was just so very, very wrong, this situation turned out to be funny.  At the party, George was getting the Noah treatment and Noah got George's.  That was hilarious.  I loved that girls were more into Noah as George and that they escorted his ass out when he seemed to be threatening George.  Love seeing someone like Noah get what they deserve.  But because George had dolled himself up like one of the Chatswins zombies, he learned that he had missed an opportunity to date Dallas.

I felt sorta bad that Dallas, although not completely forthcoming in her invitation, was shot down by George.  Oh, but I also have to say the second I saw her in this episode, I knew that her costume was Barbie.  I just never figured she would imagine that George would want to be her Ken.  But I liked that when Dalia let him know the opportunity he had missed (gotta love that girl for telling him how it is), George basically was Ken by then and he and Dallas had upgraded from "friends who flirt."  But we still can't be totally sure that they are going to make it to couple status anytime soon.

I also liked Tessa's story too because the witch following her turned out to be a feminist hippie of some sort and was played by Rachel Dratch. She's just an odd woman no matter what role she plays.  And it was nice for Tessa to meet someone local who wasn't all about dressing up slutty and getting plastic surgery.  If she remains on the show, she could be a good role model for her.  But I just wonder why it is that Paula can sneak into the school and plant her book in certain places without anyone ever noticing.  That's pretty creepy, no matter what message of feminism she's trying to spread to the clueless students of Chatswin.

And speaking of that book she had planted, I wondered how it was okay for Shelia to just burn it when it was a library book.  Well, I did until I learned that Paula was just putting the book in library on her own accord.  So I suppose it's okay.  But still, the principle of the thing.  That lady is nuts.   And so is Lisa for that matter, trying to convince Tessa to stay by her side and claiming spirits were speaking through her.  I was a little more freaked out by her than I was of the so-called witch.

I liked this episode and I'd want to see it again to take my time to admire the other costumes in the episode that I might have missed.  I liked that it wasn't too cheesy with the scary theme, and it didn't take away too much from the underlying stories of the show (like George and Dallas getting closer).  I would have liked to have more Dalia as usual, and I would have loved to see Malik and Ryan get into more over them both being Fred.  Hell, I just want to see more Ryan period.  Oh, and I hope they can work in some more scenes with George shirtless too (did not know he had it going on like that)!