NBC Thursday Comedies - Week 8

After being weirdly scheduled on a Wednesday, 30 Rock takes a week off.  Guess they had to get that election themed episode in before the election.  That leaves only two shows to review this week, and for once, I didn't completely hate The Office.

The Office - "The Boat"
I actually really liked the phone prank played on Dwight.  It was a great use for all the characters and it perfectly fit into being fun and crazy, but not so outlandish to make it stupid.  Well done on them for crafting a satisfying Dwight story.  I was also digging the Andy that's good at handling the family crisis, but then that one went off the rails.  The idea of Andy holding on to that piece of his childhood to finally be a man makes sense for the character, it's just a character trait of his I'm not fond of.  I was okay with it up until he decides to sail it all the way to the Bahamas.  That was the point where they reached the so outlandish it's stupid.  And leaving Erin behind was suppose to be funny, but instead was just weird.  Andy as I know him would not have even hesitated to ask Erin along.  As for the Oscar and Kevin subplot, just blah.  I already hate the Oscar cheating with the Senator story, and I've grown really tired of the "Kevin is too stupid to function" plot lines.  Oh well, overall, a mostly good episode.  I'll take it.

Parks and Recreation - "Ben's Parents"
Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad!  Jonathan Banks was superb in his deadpan-ness as Ben's dad.  His delivery of the Wyatts being a Twizzler family was amazing, and the small moment where him and Ron stare down for the last bacon-wrapped shrimp was a wonderful little beat.  Glenne Headly was also good as Ben's mom, but in an entirely different fashion, you can see why the marriage fell apart.  Leslie trying to fix everything with a unity quilt is such a Leslie thing to do, and hilarious in the way it all went wrong.  Ever since the powers that be broke up Ann and Chris, they have had some trouble with what to do with Ann, but Rob Lowe has been killing it as depressed Chris.  Having Ann, April, and Andy try to cheer him up (or in April's case, make him sad) was a very fun subplot.  Also, we had a return of Jean-Ralphio!  Putting him around Ron Swanson is always juxtapositional comedy gold.  I really like that Tom actually has a good idea for once, and now that he's dropped Jean-Ralphio, it could actually go somewhere.  I hope this turns into a nice arc for Tom, much in the way they grew up April some last year.