Fall Into Television (Week 8)

Two full months into a gimmick and still going strong, even if I'm a day late this time. Whatever, I had a terrible day yesterday and have gone completely deaf in my left ear. We have to make allowances!

• How I Met Your Mother: I'm of several minds about this episode, but none of them are really negative. I enjoy drunk Allison Hannigan, NPH had some good lines, and there was still more Ted/Robin tension, which I always love. Seriously, I can't believe they've painted themselves into this corner - their chemistry is just so far off the charts that any real mother to end the show is not going to be good enough.
  
  
• South Park: Oh man. How is it that they're finally hitting a good stride on this show with only 1 more episode left in the season? That was just hilarious start to finish. Big props to the slapping song, and Kyle's hair. Also, all the small children who started following Stan in hall with their Sharks/Jets snaps in preparation for the musical number. I straight up laughed out loud both times it happened.
  
  
• Ugly Betty: Well damn, that was a heartbreaking ending. Why, the gays, why?
  
  But ignoring that, how cute was Marc's new emo hair (it's flat ironed because he's sad, see)? As usual, any episodes that contain copious amounts of the Amanda/Marc/Betty combo are at least 200% better than their Daniel/Christina heavy counterparts.
  
  Also, Justin is evolving into the best thing in the history of the world, what with his commentary and all. I don't care if he even gets a storyline, so long as they let him keep up this level of snark.
  
  
• Survivor: And there goes my last great hope of having one of my favorites as a winner. Alas, poor Charlie was not long for this world without the creepy dynamic that he had with Marcus. I guess all my eggs are now with Sugar and her scheming ways of, y'know, actually playing the game.
  
  And wow, that's all I have to talk about. Maybe this show is starting to lose its edge, like everyone keeps telling me.
  

• The Office: Oh man, that was pretty much as close to a dark episode as you can get with The Office. But wow, how the bright parts lit up the rest. Andy and DrunkOscar! Kelly and Ryan with his pushups! That soft lit sunset ending with Jim and Pam! Yeah, okay, I'm officially an Office apologist - even though it wasn't a strong episode, I still love it for its plot progression. That's terrible.
  
  But wait! Darrel's little dance to his truck! So cute.
  
  
• 30 Rock: That was... not good. Some amazingly hilarious one-liners (see the recap below for a good smattering) but they fell into the pit they usually avoid - the guest stars took over the whole show. I love Jennifer Aniston as much as the next homosexual, but seriously her character threw the entire episode out of whack in a way that we haven't seen since Seinfeld was around.
  
  And Night Court? Really? Sure, whatever. I just watched last week's Oprah episode three times in a row and I'm fine with anything 30 Rock does, now and forever.
  
  
• Amazing Race: Okay, I'm officially back on board for putting this show on the shortlist for Best Show on TV Period. Beautifully edited, compelling, interesting, and funny. That was a pretty flawless episode, even if this is obviously the weakest field of competitors probably ever. I mean, there is no way that the Frat Boys should be anywhere near this race after the third or fourth leg, and they're in the Top 4. That's just insane.
  
  But it does lead to a lot of compelling questions. Primarily: why on earth did Nick/Starr and Terence/Sarah both go for the Fast Forward? They're both front running teams, with two very error prone teams(Frats and Ken/Tina) still in the race. Why take a huge gamble to get first, when you're pretty much guaranteed to beat out one of those two half-wit teams for elimination? I think it comes down to the fact that Ken/Tina had already used their chance for the FF, and since the Frats weren't going to try for it (since what happened to them the last time they tried) Nick/Starr figured they'd take it (and assumed they would win any actual race, since that's all they do.) And then Terence/Sarah's overconfidence in their physical/grind it out race style kept them going at it long after they should have bailed. That's a heavy blow to take, and I think Sarah was super classy in not I-told-you-so-ing the point that Terence basically screwed them.
  
  Ah well, no one really cares. All we should really be talking about is Austin's hilarious turn as a crazy wandering cow in Kazakhstan. Good lord, that was the best thing I've seen in ages.
  
  
• Things I Missed: Just Grey's Anatomy, which whatever. That was a short lived revival for sure. Oh, and was Simpsons/King of the Hill on this week? I couldn't hear them over the sound of Amazing Race being so awesome.
  

RECAP

Best Episode of the Week:
Amazing Race - I'm an Angry Cow

Best Lines of the Week:
30 Rock - Tracy: "Is there nothing sacred? Have we lost our moral center? It just makes me wanna pee on someone."
OR
30 Rock - Tracy: "I hate to see you like this, Ken-dog. It's like an owl without a graduation cap - Heartbreaking!"
OR
Liz: "Did she do sexy birthday or mannequin that comes to life?"
Jack: "Sexy birthday. Thank God."
OR
Cerie's description of the Aquarium dance club, which I can't remember verbatim. Something like, "all the women stay in a glass room at the center of the dance floor and all the guys watch and feed them."

Best Moment of the Week:
Amazing Race - Wandering cow costumes, and the dancing therein.
Runners Up:
South Park - Aborted attempts at choreographed dance routines in the school halls.
The Office - Andy's drunk dial to Angela (or more appropriately - Oscar's reaction to said call)

Most Disappointing:
The Office - The continued cuckolding of Andy by the increasingly hateful Angela/Dwight. How is this still going on?

Most Anticipated: Final 4 of The Amazing Race! My top two teams are still going strong here, so I'm very excited. Also, that preview for Ugly Betty looks like maximum amounts of Marc. So yay!