Play...
0:00 - Apparently Tivo is laughing in the face of the space time continuum, but anyway! This exchange from the cold open kills me:
Ron: Look, I love a good dog as much as the next guy, but this building doesn't allow animals. Andy, take him outside.0:03 - It has been said, and I agree, that Parks & Rec didn't work until they stopped trying to have Leslie be Michael. I think the scene of her suggesting ways for Mark to propose to Ann was a good example of their differences. They still have the same child-like, fairy-tale-informed sense of the world (suggesting riding up on horseback to Anne in a balloon, and pointing to skywriting with the proposal spelled out), but there's a selflessness to Leslie's fantasies that Michael doesn't even show in his everyday life. Michael can be happy for others but will always try to make it about him in the end, Leslie keeps herself out of it.
Andy: What? And SHOOT him?!
Ron: No, just keep him outside.
0:07 - Okay, someone on the writing staff HAD to have worked at a local-access telethon before. The self-important host and the guy who is just doing impressions of out-dated comedy bits are already giving me flashbacks.
0:08 - Far more painful is the subplot of Leslie trying to stay awake when she's been up for 24 hours already. Not painful as in badly done, because it's as accurate as the telethon (especially Leslie's nap obviously just making her more tired, and Ann's trepidation about waking her up), but painful because it's such a horrible situation that we've all been in.
0:09 - A classic rule of local-access: if you have been paid to play sports or act then you are suddenly Tom Brady or George Clooney. Hence, Indiana Pacers legend Detlef Schrempf.
0:14 - Of course Ron suffers from "sleep fighting." Although I think "suffers" is probably just the terminology.
0:15 - April and Andy's oblivious relationship should annoy me, but it doesn't. I think it's that it's so un-angsty. April's attempts to make him jealous are so cliched and ham-fisted, and can never seem to overcome Andy's dumb positivity. Perfect example, April trying to flirt with the guy on the phone but struggling to come up with what to say and settling on him being funny, followed by Andy happily asking "funny girl on the phone?" Usually the frustration with these relationships comes from the writers constantly using them to make us all feel bad. Eventually you want the payoff to the relationship because you've earned it by being put through the emotions of it, and you just want the bad feelings to stop. Andy and April have their moments of feeling bad, but it's mostly funny misunderstandings, and I'm in no rush to get away from funny misunderstandings (if they stay funny).
0:17 - First, I love how Mark is just watching Ron sleep-fight when Leslie finds him ("it's like watching underwater ballet"). Second, I was slightly wrong about Leslie. Sometimes she will use others for her own purposes, but her end-game is the greater good, while Michael's is always himself. Yes, she wants Mark to propose to Ann on TV to get more donations, but it's just a means to funding diabetes research, not for her own benefit. Well, other than her own sense of accomplishment.
0:17 - Why don't I love this show more? It has three of the best characters on TV: Ron Swanson, Andy, and Jerry. I'm giving Jerry extra-credit for uniqueness and difficulty. The only thing that makes him a loser is that everyone thinks he's a loser, but at the same time I have no sympathy for him because there IS something weirdly unlikable about him. He's a man with skills and not a single molecule of charisma, which is unusual to see...well, until Heroes comes back. ZING!
0:23 - Atta boy Andy! Another thing I love about Andy, the fact that he's so dumb and oblivious takes all the meanness out of his and April's relationship. It probably should've been mean that April pretty much lured the creepy guy to the studio and Andy chased him off, but Andy was doing it out of chivalry rather than jealousy. Also, that guy was seriously creepy, he got what he deserved no matter what.
0:30 - Lots of sleep jokes this episode, which is odd since it was about a telethon for diabetes. Well capped off with Leslie sleeping for 22 hours (so far) and sitting up at one point only to fall right back to sleep.
Overall a nice little episode. Mostly just a chance for lots of one-liners and new situations for the characters to end up in, but there's nothing wrong with that on a sitcom. The big plot move was Ann and Mark having issues, but are we supposed to care about them?
Status: *ding* One Thumb Up
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