Better Off Ted, "Beating a Dead Workforce" & "Change We Can't Believe In": Never gonna give you up

A quick review of last night's "Better Off Ted" double feature coming up just as soon as I talk about drawer elves(*)...

(*) Good lord, were these episodes awash in "just as soon as" candidates. Eventually, I just had to stop jotting them down, and I let "fun Steven," "talk about drawer elves" and "know what a beard of fingers would feel like" battle it out to the death. The lesson: never bet against an elf - especially one in a drawer.

Much like "Scrubs," "Ted" finally regained its footing with its post-Rose Bowl episode, then followed that up with two more very strong ones last night.

Both episodes featured plenty of wordplay (again, see all the potential "as soon as" candidates, which also included "unsubscribe to whatever you're doing right now" and "demonstrate irony"), great physical comedy (Veronica sweeping the leg Cobra Kai-style, Lem and Phil trying to communicate without speech), examples of technology run amok (the noisy sleep machine, the terrifying PA system), random pop culture digressions (Veronica's Rick-rolled elevator music), corporate satire (the company turning the late Jenkins into a religious figure to keep the employees working so hard), and the usual disturbing bits of Veronica psychology (Ted: "The version of Linda you heard in your head was right!").

Plus, the second episode finally gave us another Veridian ad, which taught us, "Friendship. It's the same as stealing."

They finally got the show clicking again, and I'm gonna really enjoy the rest of this run while I can.

What did everybody else think?

'Big Love' season 4 review - Sepinwall on TV

Over at NJ.com is my review of "Big Love" at the start of season 4, which begins Sunday. Unfortunately, the re-examination of the series' priorities I was hoping for after last year's "Come, Ye Saints" didn't happen, and all the elements I find distracting (Juniper Creek, Bill's businesses, etc.) are still very, very present.

I think I'm going to take a similar approach to blogging this season of the show that I did for much of the most recent season of "Dexter": Assuming I've watched an episode, I'll put up a post for discussion purposes, but I'm not going to write much unless I have much to say (as happened last year with "Come, Ye Saints"). At this point, it's pretty clear to me that the show is what it is, and not what I want it to be, and there's no point beating that dead horse each week, even as I enjoy certain aspects of it.

Scrubs, "Our White Coats" & "Our Couples": (No JD) + Drew = Winner

A review of last night's two "Scrubs" - which, if you gave up on the show earlier this season, were vastly improved - coming up just as soon as I say "fo shizzle" for a week...

I kept speculating during the early episodes of the season that we really couldn't judge the new incarnation of the show until Zach Braff left, because he was dominating so much of the proceedings, and because the writers chose to backslide JD into his irritating season 6 & 7 persona. Braff's been gone for three episodes (though he still has one more to go), and those three have been vastly improved. The low ratings probably won't allow for this, but these latest episodes feel like the foundation of a show I'd be happy to watch for several more seasons.

With JD out of the way, the med students have become much more clearly-defined. Lucy seems more interesting as a mirror of Elliot than JD (her fantasy sequences still aren't really working; like the narration, that device probably should have been retired with JD), I'm starting to enjoy Cole more (even if I keep imagining the character being funnier if Aziz Ansari were still available to play him), and Drew has become very funny no matter what other character he's paired with. There's just enough of Dr. Cox in Michael Mosley's performance to feel like a torch is being passed, but not so much that the character just comes across as a rip-off.

After being consigned to play JD's eagle wingman in the earlier episodes, Turk has come back to life (and we still get some Turk-as-the-black-JD moments, just in small enough doses to be funny rather than frustrating), and it was nice to see the second episode address Turk and Cox finally being peers (even if Cox ultimately outranks Turk). And after it seemed like too many episodes this year were designed to take away the edge that made Denise such a unique and funny character last season, we saw with the second episode's golf cart theft subplot that even if Denise softens a little for Drew, she's still capable of unleashing great evil on the rest of the universe.

What did everybody else think?

Men of a Certain Age, "Powerless": Going the distance

A review of last night's "Men of a Certain Age" coming up just as soon as I lick all my fries...

TNT sent five of the first six "Men of a Certain Age" episodes out for review, omitting only "Powerless." Often, when a network skips over an episode in a screener package, it's because that one's a (relative) dud and they don't want it factored into early reviews. And for a while into "Powerless," it felt like that was exactly the reason TNT didn't send it out. In particular, this was the first time it felt like a Joe story dragged, and the moment where Joe tried to deflect his daughter's anger by telling her that Albert ate her fries was the first time a joke on the show felt uncomfortably close to something Ray Romano would have done on "Everybody Loves Raymond."(*)

(*) And I say this as someone who put "Raymond" on his list of the decade's best comedies, and who first noticed that Ray was becoming a good dramatic actor in some of his scenes on that show. But there was a tone and a level of reality to that show that's different from this one, and so some types of jokes don't easily translate.

But the Owen story carried things for a while. Outside of the usual brilliance of Andre Braugher (his sidewalk spaz-out while making a phone call to cut through the red tape was a thing of comic wonder), any man or woman of a certain age (that age being "adult") can relate to the hell that is institutional bureaucracy, and Owen's frustration at being trapped in this circumstance, followed by his joy at briefly escaping it, were captured on the show's usual loving small scale.

And Joe's story ultimately turned around, too, in the scene where he confronted Lucy's stalker ex. I thought that was a really nice piece of writing (and acting from Ray), as Joe found a way to both comfort and threaten the kid, and as it became clear that only some of what he was saying got through. Had Joe come across as an obvious font of wisdom - or had the kid gotten the "Rocky" reference - it would have felt fake, but instead it was the right level of insight and awkwardness.

Plus, I have to give points to Joe (and, I guess, the show) for recognizing that the best part of the "Rocky" score isn't "Gonna Fly Now" but "Going the Distance," which plays over the climax to the first Creed-Balboa fight, which still gives me chills every damn time I watch it.

Terry's stories still interest me less than the other two guys, but I liked Owen's explanation for why Terry is always late - and Terry suddenly understanding the point on his way to see Annie - and I liked how realistic Annie is about her relationship with "the old guy." She knows what Terry is, and isn't expecting to tame him. She just wants to be treated with a little respect for her time, and Carla Gallo plays well off of Scott Bakula.

What did everybody else think?

Mid-season TV preview - Sepinwall on TV

In today's column, I run through premiere dates for notable new and returning mid-season TV shows, plus return dates for all those fall shows like "Glee," "V" and the non-rhyming "FlashForward" that are taking very long mid-season breaks.

As mentioned last week, I've liked a good deal of the new stuff I've seen, so what does and doesn't join the blogging rotation will be a question of time management, especially while I'm at press tour starting on Friday. Despite the use of the above photo(*), don't expect "24" to be back in the rotation. I gave the new season two and a half episodes to change my mind after I walked away early last season, and despite liking some of the new castmembers, I think that show and I are better off quits - particularly since what looks like it could be season eight's version of amnesia/cougar comes very early.

(*) Who doesn't like the image of Jack Bauer holding a gun in his hand? Other than suspected terrorists, I mean.

Chuck vs. the season 2 DVD

"Chuck" comes back on Sunday night (I gave a few early thoughts on the new episodes last month), which means purchasers of the "Chuck: The Complete Second Season" DVD set (which hits stores and places like Amazon tomorrow) will only have a few days to dive through the 22 episodes to get up to speed for the new batch. (In fairness to Warner Bros., the release date was set back when everyone assumed season three wouldn't begin until March, and I don't know how easy it is to change course at the last minute.)

After the jump, a few thoughts on the DVD set, and if you're interested in a chance to meet the cast and/or help out a real good cause, go check out the We Heart Chuck site for details, ASAP...

My review copy was one of the limited-edition ones, which includes the 3-D version of "Chuck vs. the Third Dimension" as well as two pairs of 3-D glasses so that you and your special lady or gentleman friend can watch it together. Having just seen "Avatar," it's hard to be as impressed by effects like a knife flying at the screen or Big Mike's donut moving towards his mouth, but the episode itself remains fun.

And that's my sum feeling about the set in general. The special features are interesting to varying degrees, but the real draw is 22 episodes of one of the most purely fun seasons of TV I've ever had the pleasure to watch and review.

As to the other features, my favorite was probably "Dude in Distress," a breakdown of how they put together the show's stunts (with an extended look at Sarah and Nicole Richie's shower smackdown in "Chuck vs. the Cougars"), but there are also deleted scenes from most episodes (nothing plot-heavy from what I saw; mostly it's jokes that got cut for time), the webisodes about the Buy More staff that ran early last year, a funny gag reel (if you like that sort of thing; if nothing else, it's a rare opportunity to see the usually serious Yvonne Strahovski smiling and laughing), a more general behind-the-scenes featurette, and a couple of funny sequences where Captain Awesome and Casey separately offer tips on how to deal with everyday problems like job interviewing, first dates and going to your high school reunion.

But, again, I was much happier to just have a permanent copy of episodes like "Chuck vs. the Santa Claus" or "Chuck vs. the Colonel" than I was to play with the bonus features. This is going to become one of my go-to DVD sets whenever I'm having a sick day. (Which I'm hoping today doesn't turn into.)

There is a new blog logo. Discuss.

And don't forget, as always, that you can check this post for links to, and explanations for, all the old logos.