Community Anthropology 101

Community has quickly become one of best comedies on television. A show that you immediately care about and connect with all the characters. A part of what was once the best night of television, NBC’s Thursday nights are now being challenged. The juggernaut from CBS, The Big Band Theory, has moved and is now in direct competition with Community.

The basic premise of the show is that Jeff Winger, played by Joel McHale (Informant!, The Soup), was a lawyer who was disbarred after it was found out that he lied about his schooling. Attempting to regain his position, Jeff enrolls into Community College and starts a study group to get closer to Britta Perry, played by Gillian Jacobs (The Box, Choke).

Other members of the study group include Pierce Hawthorne, played by Chevy Chase (Caddyshack, Vacation), Troy Barnes, played by Donald Glover (Mystery Team, 30 Rock), Annie Edison, played by Alison Brie (Mad Men, Scream 4), Shirley Bennett, played by Yvette Nicole Brown (500 days of Summer, Tropic Thunder), and Abed Nadir played by Danny Pudi (ER, Gilmore Girls). Another raising star is Ken Jeong (The Hangover, Knocked Up) playing Senor Chang.

At the end of the first season of Community Annie was preparing to leave Greendale, Troy was in search of a new roommate, a Jeff was being fought over between Professor Slater and Brita. The show added another twist when Jeff left the dance and ran into Annie and they kissed.

Anthropology 101Season two starts a new school year with the gang back together. Now finished with their foreign language requirement, the study group will take anthropology as the next class to tackle together. Betty White, still riding the wave of her amazing resurgence, guest stars as the anthropology professor. Senor Chang, also was discovered to have bogus credentials, is now enrolled as a student and in the class.
Starts out a little awkward in the group, but the show deals with it great, Brita acknowledges mistakes were made, and Jeff and Annie talk about using discretion on what happened. Once in class Britta has become an idol to the younger girls as now she is the underdog after putting herself out there and then turned down.

To beat Britta at her own game Jeff must put himself out there, confessing his love for her, hoping that she will turn him down. She doesn’t and the stale mate beginnings, much to the dismay of Annie, who still has feelings for Jeff. Things start to go a little too far as Abed uses the situation to create a meta-wedding, things start to blow up when Annie finds out that Brita and Jeff slept together and she tells everyone that they kissed.

At the end of the day, Betty White as the professor gets suspended after attacking Jeff, and a lesson learned wraps up everything nicely from last season, and now a fresh start with everything seemingly back to normal.

Another great episode, everything that I loved from the first season and it doesn’t feel like there was any let down. If you aren’t watching this show, then why are you reading this? No, what I meant to say, if your friends aren’t watching this show, get new friends. Yep, that’s it.
　

Running Wilde The Pilot

From the creators of fan favorite Arrested Development brings us Running Wilde. A romantic comedy about the son of an oil tycoon Steve Wilde, played by Will Arnett (Arrested Development), and environmentalist Emmy Kadubic, played by Keri Russell (Felicity) and her daughter Puddle, played by Stefania Owen (Lovely Bones).
　
Once the daughter of the family housekeeper, the paths of Steve and Emmy cross again when the company his father owns wants to drill for oil in an area of the rain forest where the indigenous tribe that Emmy has been trying to save, live.
　
By throwing himself a party where he receives the Humanitarian of the Year Award, Steve hopes get back his childhood sweetheart Emmy. The story is told through the perspective of Emmy’s 12 year old daughter Puddle, who hasn’t spoke in 6 months and hates being in the rain forest, sees this invitation as a way out. Emmy sees this invitation as way to get the Wilde Oil Company not to drill where this indigenous tribe lives, but Steve is unwilling to stand up to his father, and risk losing his trust fund.

When Emmy threatens to go back to the Jungle, Puddle finally speaks up, but only to Steve, asking for his help so she doesn’t have to go back to the rain forest and leave civilization. Agreeing to help, Steve follows the plain to get a fake doctor to say that Puddle cannot leave and needs to go to school in town. Steve works in that they must be a resident and offers a place on his estate for Emmy and Puddle to live in. The lie is quickly over as Steve has a slip of the tongue. Emmy starts to storm out complaining about Steve when Puddle speaks to defend him. When Steve actually does good for nothing, Emmy decides maybe they’ll stay after all, and takes on the challenge of making him a better man.

This is the shows second attempt after the first shot at the pilot needed a little fine tuning. Originally David Cross was going to be on the first pilot, but due to a scheduling conflict was unable to work it out. After some rewrites and rescheduling, David Cross was added to the cast. Having not seen the original pilot myself I can’t speak much of it, but what I have heard the show was a little bumpy and was lacking chemistry. Much of the time projects that needs an overhaul do not have much success and as they continue to try and find there way, viewers find other things to watch.

Overall, I do see a little bit of promise for the show. It has its moments of brilliance, but then again some of the types of jokes may start to get old after awhile. I am already a little biased towards the creators and Will Arnett, but besides that, I will give this new show a chance.

Raising Hope The Pilot

With the hopes of using the powerful lead in of Glee, this new FOX half-hour comedy will try to succeed as another live action sitcom on their schedule where others have failed. Raising Hope is the story of a 23 year old guy who still lives at home and enjoys the night life. A one night stand results in a pregnancy with a felon on the run, that later leads to her giving birth in jail. Now he and his reluctant family must overcome their deficiencies in their attempts at Raising Hope.
　
The show stars Lucas Neff as Jimmy Chance, Cloris Leachman as Maw Maw, Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt and his parents Burt and Virginia, also Bijou Phillips is guest staring as Lucy the mother of Hope.
　
Jimmy living at home, working as pool boy, is determined that there has to be more to life. His parents are already resigned to the fact that their lives are what they are, and Maw Maw has seemed to already lost her mind. Out to get Maw Maw’s bubble gum ice cream, Jimmy runs into Lucy who jumps in his van as he then speeds off, apparently saving her life. The next morning at the breakfast table, with Lucy using the facilities, the family sees on the news that this “sweet” girl is wanted for murder, and they decided to turn her in. Jumping ahead eight months later he finds out the news of her pregnancy, and the news she has been sentenced to the electric chair.
　
Surviving in a house with people that have little or no experience with raising an infant properly, Jimmy’s choice to keep the baby has potentially helped him find his purpose in life. While still finding his way with the baby, a few run ins with the grocery store clerk, Sabrina played by Shannon Woodward (The Haunting of Molly Hartley), has introduced a seemingly likable character that has entertaining ways of keeping her self busy as well as sane in her mundane job.
　
Although the show clearly has many unbelievable situations, I will be interested in seeing how the show progresses. The characters are only somewhat interesting up to this point, and our societal shift towards Idiocracy is very apparent.
　

Lone Star The Pilot

Lone Star is one of FOX’s new shows on the fall schedule, and one of the most promising shows of a crowded premiere week that features 20+ new shows on the networks.

The show is about a con man and his father that try to steal money from a woman that he marries and her father that runs an oil business. At the same time he also runs a con in another town where he has a girlfriend. When offered a real job by his father-in-law, he begins to have second thoughts about running the scam, while his father refuses to let it go.
　
The show stars some little knowns as it rounds out its cast with some supporting stars. Robert/Bob Allen is played by James Wolk (You Again) and John, his father is played by David Keith (Behind Enemy Lines, U-571). Robert’s girlfriend, Lindsay, is played by Eloise Mumford (Mercy, Crash). Bob’s wife, Cat Thatcher, is played by Adrianne Palicki (Legion, Women in Trouble), her father Clint Thatcher is played by Jon Voight (Transformers, Mission Impossible), and her brothers Tram Thatcher played by Mark Deklin (The Wish List), and Drew Thatcher played by Bryce Johnson (Sleeping Dogs Lie, Hit List),round out the cast .
　
Clint (John Voight) runs an oil rig, and against his sons wishes, offers Bob a job. This job, gets him into the company, his dad is very excited about it, but Bob wants to take the job for real, instead of a con that they have been working on. Upset that Bob may not be focused on the mark, his dad reminds him what they been working towards for a long time. After some reluctance, Bob takes the job.
　
Although he lies for a living, and has a wife and girlfriend, Robert turns down an offer from a beautiful women to remain faithful to both. Allowing himself to get close to Lindsay, his girlfriend, in town that he has run dry, has let guilt seep into his conscience.
　
His dad is tipped off by a someone in the commissioners office that a lawyer is investigating some of the deeds for the wells he sold people in Midland, the place where he stays with his girlfriend. Reluctant to leave, his dad comes up with a great line, “this is a house of cards, you don’t get to live in it.” Ultimately he knows his father is right, leaving that night as Lindsey sleeps seemingly satisfied.
　
Trying to help clean his conscience he once again declines to work an angle on his father-in-law’s company as his dad pushes ideas on how to work it. No longer able to live the straight life after a lifetime as a con man, John refuses to let this opportunity go. Bob insists after faking it for so long, he believes he can do this job and make an honest living. Once realizing his son won’t give up this new found honest living idea, it appears he will begin working the con on his son as well.
Tram, already not happy with the promotion given by his father, starts to dig around as he is very suspicious of his brother-law. Potentially making things worse for himself, Bob gets deeper into his double life as he buys up land in Midland, with money from his father-in-law’s company, and runs to Las Vegas to marry his girlfriend, as he now claims to be in love with both women.
　
The shows gets right into it, establishes the double life lead by Robert/Bob Allen, and the angle he uses for his cons. It quickly introduces all the main characters and the objective of the father-son team.
　
The music played without dialog adds a little more depth to the character in some defining moments as you are easily hooked, and immediately care for this person whose actions and deeds will lead many people to lose all their savings. A good man deep down, is drawn into these schemes by his father, a man that deep down is greedy, and only cares about himself. A lonely life a con man must live, a life lived always as someone you are not.
　
The pilot dealt with a lot of things right away, not having a slow burn as one would have expected. Although I enjoyed it, I’m not sure how long this story can last, and where it will go once things start to get resolved. The characters are pretty good so far, and the actors chosen for each part I believe were well cast. I will be tuning in each week as I am looking forward to see what happens next.

Chuck Versus The Anniversary

Chuck Versus The Anniversary
　
We last left Chuck receiving one final message from his dad. One that leads him to discover there is much more to his family’s past then he could have imagined, and more importantly his mother (Linda Hamilton) is still out there and is also in the spy game. He finds himself going back on a promise he gave to his sister, and begins the search for her.

Chuck must keep his search a secret, but still needing help he recruits his best friend Morgan to aid him in his personal mission. Chuck and Sarah now together, officially, Sarah and Casey leave on a mission without Chuck, as he and Morgan prepare for there own mission. Their first attempt brings them around the world in a montage that leaves to a dead end.

After a handful of interviews end suspiciously and suddenly the bus ride leads Chuck and Morgan back to the new Buy More where chuck runs into Greta (Olivia Munn) and General Beckman who runs the store that is also the new CIA/NSA substation. Beckman goes back on her promise to let Chuck out of the CIA.

Sarah and Casey’s mission leads them to Marco (Dolph Lundgren) and it is clear that Casey misses Chuck on their missions. Marco works for a Russian arms dealer Volkoff Industries. Chuck and Morgan’s mission bring them to the same location as Sarah and Casey, where they need to be saved. To escape, Chuck must use the EMP which destroys the computer that may have had information about his mother. No longer able to keep his secret from Casey and Sarah, they both agree to help Chuck on his quest, officially making Chuck a spy again. He must know tell Ellie, but she thinks the Buy More was the only job he could get, she tells him she’s pregnant, and he isn’t able to tell her the truth.

One thing that bothered me right in the beginning that some shows and movies do, after Morgan agrees to help him he starts spouting out taglines, and Chuck stops him by saying “this is not some opening of a TV show, this is real life.” The show starts out a little bumpy, dialog seems a little rough, and things have gotten a little sensational. It is also clear that the special guests are will be using their famous catch phrases, Dolph Lundgren says to Casey, “I must break you”, its alright, I still enjoyed it.

As always, this episode was very entertaining, many funny parts, but as per usual a very good story. The show most times finds a perfect blend of action, comedy, romance, and suspense.

The 2010 Fall TV Lineup

Fall 2010 has a lot of promise, with many fan favorites returning as well as some interesting new shows throughout the dial.  One problem that the networks will have is that each night is crowded and many new shows are already on the bubble.  Here is what the new primetime schedule is going to look like starting  the week of September 20^th:

Sunday	8:00		8:30		9:00		9:30	10:00
ABC	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition				Desperate Housewives			Brothers & Sisters
CBS	The Amazing Race				Undercover Boss			CSI: Miami
CW	Local Programming
FOX	The Simpsons	The Cleveland Show		Family Guy		American Dad			Local
NBC	Sunday Night Football

Monday	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	Dancing with the Stars				Castle
CBS	How I Met Your Mother	Rules of Engagement	Two and a Half Men	Mike & Molly (New)	Hawaii Five-O (New)
CW	90210		Gossip Girl		Local
FOX	House		Lone Star (New)		Local
NBC	Chuck		The Event (New)		Chase (New)

Tuesday	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	No Ordinary Family (New)		Dancing w/ the Stars: Results Show		Detroit 1-8-7 (New)
CBS	NCIS		NCIS: Los Angeles		The Good Wife
CW	One Tree Hill		Life Unexpected		Local
FOX	Glee		Raising Hope (New)	Running Wilde (New)	Local
NBC	Biggest Loser				Parenthood

Wednesday	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	The Middle	Better with You (New)	Modern Family	Cougar Town	The Whole Truth (New)
CBS	Survivor		Criminal Minds		The Defenders (New)
CW	America’s Next Top Model		Hellcats (New)		Local
FOX	Lie to Me		Hell’s Kitchen		Local
NBC	Undercovers (New)		Law & Order: SVU		Law & Order: Los Angeles (New)

Thursday	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	My Generation (New)		Grey’s Anatomy		Private Practice
CBS	Big Bang Theory	$#*! My Dad Says (New)	CSI		The Mentalist
CW	Vampire Diaries		Nikita (New)		Local
FOX	Bones		Fringe		Local
NBC	Community	30 Rock	The Office	Outsourced (New)	The Apprentice

Friday	8:00	8:30	9:00	9:30	10:00
ABC	Secret Millionaire (New)		Body of Proof (New)		20/20
CBS	Medium		CSI: NY		Blue Bloods (New)
CW	Smallville		Supernatural		Local
FOX	Human Target		Good Guys		Local
NBC	Who Do You Think You Are?/School Pride (New)		Dateline NBC		Outlaw (New)

Notable cable premieres:

FX:      Terriers Wednesday September 8th 10:00

            Sons of Anarchy Tuesday September 7th 10:00

            It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Thursday September 16^th 10:00

            The League Thursday September 16^th 10:30

Comedy Central:  South Park October 6th 10:00

                           Ugly Americans October 6th 10:30

AMC:  The Walking Dead Sunday October 31^st 10:00

HBO:   Boardwalk Empire Sunday September 19^th 9:00

            Bored to Death Sunday September 26^th 10:00

            Eastbound & Down Sunday September 26^th 10:00

Showtime:   Dexter Sunday September 26^th 9:00

Other notable network shows returning are NBC’s Parks and Recreation is due for a midseason return, and FOX’s Sunday Night lineup returns with The Simpson’s, The Cleveland Show, and Family Guy on September 26^th, and American Dad October 3^rd.