Tag Archives: Adoption

the office recapping: work bus

This episode was a refreshing burst of comedy. Highlights included famous comedic actor Bryan Cranston directing, and great moments from Jim/Pam and Jim/Dwight.

One of the best things about The Office is that their minor characters often carry large roles. Creed and Kevin were definitely the comedic highlights of the  night.

There is no reason to point out all the inconsistencies or lack of coherent plot. Instead, I’m just going to enjoy this last season for what it is — the smooth(ish) ending of a wonderful show.

The Plot

Jim pranks Dwight into believing their building has electrical problems. Instead of giving workers the day off, Dwight forces them into a bus to continue working. Wanting to get the best pie from LaVerne’s Pie Stand (where you can also get your tires fixed) — and wanting Pam’s forgiveness — Jim tries to convince Dwight to drive the bus there.

Dwight gets frustrated because he is not Angela’s child’s father, and climbs upon the bus’s roof. Jim crawls up on the roof to comfort him, telling him that the entire office is kind of his child, which appeases Dwight into crazily driving to the pie stand.

There’s also a Andy/Nelly/Erin storyline. Nelly wants to adopt a child and seeks the help of Erin. Andy is mean to Nelly about the adoption until he sees Erin crying.

Favorite moments/Quotes: 

  • Creed playing hooky from work and hitchhiking onto a bus, and then realizing that his coworkers were all on the bus
  • Kevin wanting Oscar to shove pie into his face

Jim: What do we want?

All: Pies!

Jim: When do we want it?

All: Pies!

Director Bryan Cranston hanging out with Rainn Wilson!

Emily enjoys lots of things: laughing and watching television being the top two. She loves smart comedies involving witty repartee, loud actions and gestures, over-the-top theatrics, and a solid plot. 

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thoughts on parks and recreation: live ammo

Previously on Parks and Recreation: Lucky

What could be better than an all new Parks? Community and Parks FINALLY back together on the same night.

Leslie learns that the budget for the Parks Department is in danger of being cut. In typical Knope fashion, she leaps to find a solution that makes everyone happy. She successfully convinces Councilman Pillner (played by Bradley Whitford, who is no stranger to navigating the fictional political waters on NBC) to make the cuts elsewhere, which causes a ripple-effect  and results in the threat of puppies dying and people losing their jobs. April takes on more responsibility as the stand-in Leslie, including running a pet adoption fair. Elsewhere in Pawnee, Chris and Ron meditate and “bond”.

The best part of this episode was that it raised the stakes going into the election. Sure, there have been a few laughs throughout the campaign (Pistol Pete’s dunk for example), but it’s become imperative that Leslie beats out Bobby Newman. Not just for the sake of Pawnee, but Chris would lit-er-ally lose his job if Newman is elected. Here were my favorite parts of what may have been (relatively) the most serious episode of Parks this season:

  • Tom’s apartment, which makes me wonder a few things: How much does he make? Is a shelf of coconut water really girl heaven? But most importantly, is 80 degrees the ideal temperature…isn’t that a little hot?
  • Councilman Pillner’s obsession with ships in bottles and Andy misunderstanding the point of it all.
  • April calling the gentleman in the meeting Mr. Hamster Penis.
  • Tom tweeting to Russell Simmons his idea for a “cologne that can kill spiders”.
  • My new favorite motivational quote: “C’mon little sparkle, don’t give up.”
  • The Beer-yonce Knowles aka beer in a sexy mug and the Jay-Zima. If only the Snakehole Lounge was real!
  • Jennifer Barkley (Kathryn Hahn) is back. Good for TV, bad for Knope 2012.
  • I expected that Chris would meditate on a grassy knoll or in an abandoned secret garden behind a community college.
  • Unfortunately, my love for Tom diminished slightly when he wouldn’t play with the cats because he didn’t want animal dander interacting with his cash-murr.
  • “April, that would be the coolest thing since N’Sync, Aerosmith and Nelly performed together at the Super Bowl half-time show.” (Leslie, you forgot about Britney!)
  • Are we really to believe Ron Swanson, lover of meat, wasn’t familiar with gyros (aka the hot spinning cones of meat)?!
  • Tom’s two-toned tie is example enough of why he’s the only man in Pawnee worthy of being an image consultant and  a swagger coach.
  • Tom’s tiny cup photo makes a return! (“What is he thinking?/”Why is my cup so tiny?”Summer Catalog)
  • Drinking the tap water in Pawnee is a bad idea. Duly noted.
  • Cranium, whiskey and wheat grass sounds amazing!

If you want to see more ‘Live Ammo’ and you missed good ol’ Jerry this week, you don’t have to wait until season four comes out on DVD, check out these deleted scenes.

 

 

Nicole is a TV junkie and TVDM helps her feed a lifelong addiction. She can be found here, providing biased commentary (sprinkled with a few Pop Up Video-esque insights) on her favorite shows, every week.

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thoughts on shameless: parenthood

Previously on Shameless: A Bottle of Jean Nate

  • Lip tells Fiona that he dropped out of school during his Senior year.
  • Fiona tells Lip that she will go back and finish high school if he does the same.
  • Steve/Jimmy decides to coach Carl’s football team.
  • Karen and Lip shop around for adoption ideas.
  • Frank catches Ian and Mickey having sex.
  • Mickey sets out to kill Frank so he doesn’t tell everyone what he saw.
  • Lip gets expelled from school but his guidance counselor tells Fiona that another school will except him.
  • Mickey decides not to kill Frank…but he punches a cop instead to intentionally violate his probation.
  • Lip tells Fiona that he isn’t going to school anymore. Fiona gives him an ultimatum: School or leave. Lip leaves…
  • Grammy gives Sheila permission to suffocate her because she doesn’t want to suffer with her cancer anymore.
  • Frank goes to his ex-wife Monica after he finds out his mother is dead.

The Good Ole High School Try: Fiona’s high school days – or education in general – have been a recurring topic this season so this storyline seems to fit. She does everything else so why not go back to school. Her GED program might not be the equivalent to Lip’s actual schoolwork but she sets a great example. I think she’ll complete the program but I don’t see her continuing past that. She has too much to do at home and she isn’t going to leave the reigns in the hands of Lip or Ian and definitely not Frank.

Baby to the Highest Bidder: Lip has been planing on taking care of Karen’s child since he found out she was pregnant but she has her mind set on getting rid of the baby. We all know Lip has “daddy issues” – and rightfully so – but when is he going to tell Karen he would rather make sure the child is taken care of with affection as opposed to money? Lip gets stupid when it comes to Karen but he is only torturing himself the more he lets it go on. She tends to walk right over him – and any other man in her life for that matter. Lip must love being a glutton for psychological punishment because I don’t see why he has let this go on for as long as it has.

Angel of Death? Now that Grammy’s ticker doesn’t tock anymore is Frank going to stop being emo? Hopefully. Is he going to mad horrible decisions because of it? His name IS Frank Gallagher. Case in point, why is he going back to Monica (Chloe Webb)? Didn’t her and her truck driving lesbian lover cause enough hell last season? I could be wrong though. Maybe she comes back and actually tries to do what’s right for the family instead of for herself.

(No Longer) Lost in Translation: Maybe it’s nothing but does Estefania’s phone conversation tip us off to a confrontation in the future? She told someone that she “only wanted to be you” and she isn’t having sex with Steve. Also, she called Liam a “crack baby”.

On the next Shameless: Hurricane Monica

Will is a (not so) recovering TV and movie addict and TVDM only helps in feeding his vices. TVDM is the best outlet for him to spread his disease -without the use of airborne pathogens...

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modern family recapping: egg drop

Previously on Modern Family: Lifetime Supply

Phil, Haley, Gloria

Phil, who recently departed from his real estate company to start his own, is giving an introductory presentation on what people can expect from the new company. He asks Haley to help him out, I suppose as an act of responsibility before she heads to college. Let’s be honest, Haley isn’t going to college for responsibility, she’s going for more boys with foot fetishes and frat parties.

Still, she agrees, and they get Gloria to help in the real estate spectacle. Gloria and Haley are detained by manicures and a towed car, which forces Phil to give the entire presentation himself, like a one man band. Gloria takes the blame, because Haley doesn’t think Phil will get mad at Gloria. She’s right and Gloria takes offense to this. Screeching at Phil like a hyena, she finally gets him to yell back at her, which he can only do because the hyena like screech is not very becoming.  They hug it out, which Phil enjoys a little too much.

Manny Confesses

Claire is helping Luke with his egg drop project, because she helps Luke with every project. Once Jay finds out about this he immediately agrees to help Manny with his egg drop project, thus beginning a father-daughter competition like you’ve never seen before.  Jay even initiates some scare tactics to get Claire shaking. Meanwhile Claire is begging Alex for her egg drop design, since it’s apparently flawless. Alex won’t budge, because she always does what’s right and because she’s too competitive to let someone else win with her design. Wonder where she gets that from. Luke and Manny enjoy the competition between Claire and Jay because it means not doing any of the project.  After a successful first story drop, and raising the stakes to a second story drop, Claire and Jay feel bad about taking over the project. But before they can apologize Manny confesses to and apologizes for the scheme.

Mitchell and Cam, already in agreement about expanding their family, have an interview with a pregnant teen mom, who believes there are 52 states. They relinquish their power of choice and let the seriously misinformed teenager run their lives during the meeting. She feng shuis their living room and asks them to sing for her. I welcome any chance to hear Jesse Tyler Ferguson sing, and loved seeing Mitchell break free of his controlled exterior and shine. Teen mom tells Cam he was pitchy, and Cam, wanting to prove her wrong and take back his spotlight, sings a second song to celebrate Teen mom choosing them. Note to anyone who ever wishes to adopt from an impressionable teen girl: singing “Don’t Leave Me Now” is not a good idea. Mitchell and Cam don’t get the baby, and now he/she will grow up thinking East Dakota is a state.

 Phil Gimmicks

Best/Funniest Moment

  • Phil introducing himself and running all around the stage and showroom to cue his gimmicks on time.
  • Gloria screaming like a hyena in heat, multiple times throughout the episode.
  • 52 states including East Dakota, gotta love that American education.
  • Teen Mom calling Cam pitchy.
  • Claire claiming she was testing the strength of the eggs.

Quotes

Claire(talking about Alex): “There’s something wrong with that one.”

Jay (to Claire): “You came out of the womb like that. I’m not entirely sure there wasn’t a twin in there that you bumped off.”

Manny(talking about Gloria on the phone with relatives): “I understood ‘crazy old witch’ ‘go kill yourself’ then ‘I love you’.”

Glora: “Be careful with boys who like feet, that can get weird really fast.”

Kristen is a confused young adult who sometimes thinks TV shows are actually her life. Wouldn’t that be cool? Unless she was a victim on Dexter, or a deranged privileged teenager on gossip girl, or a wolf on teen wolf, or Liz Lemon! Never mind. It wouldn’t be cool. Kristen is a young adult. Follow her @kris10_Alyse or read frustrateddreamer.com

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