Splitsider

On The Simpsons vs. NewsRadio and Party Down vs. The Bob Newhart Show

There were episodes of Newsradio that could stand up to "M v. M", but "The Cane" ain't one of 'em...

Posted on February 8, 2012 at 12:58 am 0

On Kicking Off the Best Sitcom Episode Ever Tournament: I Love Lucy vs. The Honeymooners and The Simpsons vs. Seinfeld

I'm a little disappointed that Scrubs didn't get a single representative. Just because Braff turned into a smug twee dickbeast and the show endured five seasons of death throes doesn't change the fact that seasons 1–3 entirely redefined the shit you can get away with in 20 minutes.

Posted on January 30, 2012 at 7:01 pm 0

On What Is the Single Best Sitcom Episode of All Time?

Another vote for Community - "Modern Warfare" Coupling - "Unconditional Sex" Newsradio - "Smoking," "Presence," and "President" are all perfect episodes... and "Rap" would be as well if it weren't for the awkward preachy Chuck D cameo. Scrubs - "His Story," "My TCW," or "My White Whale" Friends - "The One With the Ball"

Posted on December 17, 2011 at 5:04 pm 0

On A Visual Community Recap: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

@Shannon Garcia & @August & @JoshUng Yes, and the Dean's penchant for costumes has been well set-up. But it hasn't been consistently women's costumes until the back half of this season. As I said, that's a pat gag. Far as I'm concerned, if Rush Limbaugh would find it hilarious, I'm out. The show still slays. You can clunk two minutes of gags and still have the best comedy on TV.

Posted on April 22, 2011 at 1:25 pm 0

On A Visual Community Recap: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

Posted on April 22, 2011 at 1:13 pm 0

On A Visual Community Recap: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

@Joshua Kurp Well, I don't mean to imply the writers are bigots. This is sort of a complicated and unclear line--though, indeed, I thought the treatment of Tobias stopped being funny at some point as well--but basically it's the difference between the Dean being uniquely weird and him being stereotypically "weird". The drag jokes fall really flat, since they're a "classic" he's-such-a-f** gag. The same way the key to the Tobias jokes was that he wasn't gay but the entire universe conspired to make him seem that way; when the writers started adopting the opinion that he was gay and in the closet, the laughs stopped being at perceptions of sexuality and just started being at the pathetic closeted gay guy, if that makes any sense.

Posted on April 22, 2011 at 1:13 pm 0

On A Visual Community Recap: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

So, I'll be That Guy. This was one of the episodes where the treatment of the Dean was needlessly homophobic. So much else was brilliant, but the Dean Pelton jokes were just, "Haha! Gay man in women's clothing!" They've done funny things with Pelton's proclivities before ("How come he gets a stinger in the front?"), so this just seemed like phoning it in, and being ugly and mean about it. Huge disappointment in an otherwise amazing episode.

Posted on April 22, 2011 at 12:03 pm 0