Past Purges
Saturday Night Live "Amy Adams/One Direction"
This was my favorite episode of the season yet and that shouldn't be a surprise. Amy Adams is indisputably a national treasure (she was born in Italy but she's ours now!). The Christmas episode always brings back old cast members who are giddy to return. And, Christmas is ripe with jokes. The Dr. Evil sketch was shockingly brilliant. I'd forgotten about that guy entirely and the moment I saw him on the screen, I couldn't believe I didn't think of him after this North Korea business. The Serial sketch was hilarious. Girlfriends talk show and Asian-American Doll were great too. Garth and Kat returned for Weekend Update. I even really enjoyed the bizarre raccoon sketch at the end. So much of this worked for me.
Mulaney "It's a Wonderful Home Alone"
Individual elements of this should work really well. Jane and Motif failing at getting John a gift and ignoring his suggestions. Nick Kroll as a Hispanic TV personality who is hiding his accent to see if he could still be popular, all the Home Alone allusions. This could all work. It doesn't. I wish I liked this show more. It's frustrating.
Could it be that even the clever jokes go exactly the way I'd expect? Or maybe it's because it doesn't embrace the fact that this is a cartoon world enough? Perhaps it's that there's so many showy performances but nothing for them to show.
A to Z "J is for Jan Vaughan"
It's weird how you start watching a show differently when you know a show is cancelled and episodes are being mercilessly burned off. For example, this week when I saw Sarah Baker, I started thinking "Boy was she good in 'So Did the Fat Lady'. Why can't she end up on a show that I like?". Then, Echo Kellum showed up and I thought, "Is that Echo Kellum? I hope I'm not being racist and that's a completely different guy. No, that must be him. He deserves to get more work too. I miss 'Ben and Kate'." That naturally led to a debate in my head about whether Lucy Punch or Leonora Crichlow is a better British best friend. Either way, they'd be great to hang out with-and would you look at that, the episode is over. Dead show walking. Still kind of fun to watch it.
Brooklyn Nine Nine "Beach House"
I couldn't've asked for a better episode to start the year. It was funny beginning to end, using all the characters optimally. There's vacation Terry, not worrying about having a C-story and just having a good time. Boyle and Diaz and scheming to help her relationship without a hint of tension from his past feelings for her. Gina is obsessed with meeting "6 drink Amy" and it turns out that "6 drink Amy" is just sort of depressing. Hitcock and Scully drop being completely incompetent for a week in order to scheme people into investing in their [unintentionally] underwater casino idea. Then there's Jake trying to make the best of feeling guilty and inviting Holt to the beach house. Holt, is simply a hilarious killjoy. And don't think I didn't notice the Kwazy Cupcakes mention.
Gotham "Rogues' Gallery"
Two interesting things I noted: Cobblepot is owning the Penguin moniker already and Penguin got completely shut down, which was needed. For a moment, I thought they'd developed him way too quickly as a major player.
They sure are having fun in Arkham Asylum. One episode in and it looks like a good mid-season detour. I'd like if they could do a half season arch there, but I get the feeling the countdown to Jim being back in the precinct is a short one.
Scorpion "Kill Screen"
I don't get why Sylvester would want to hide his video game guru days. In this group, it might earn some slight teasing, but I'd issue it would be a point of pride. They sure had to work to make a story in which Ralph had significance.
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