Thursday Night TV

It feels like about a year since the last new My Name is Earl. I liked Andy Barker, P.I., but I knew it was going to be cancelled, so I did my best not to get too attached. Since Earl will be sticking around, I'm happy to have it back. Spoilers for tonight's Earl, The Office, 30 Rock, and Scrubs past the jump.


My Name is Earl: Flipping on the television at 4am reminds Earl that he and Randy used to harass a local news reporter. To make it up to her, Earl agrees to appear in a heartwarming story, but Randy gets left out of the action. Earl makes him the center of the story, but the reporter ends up editing Randy to look retarded. It's not that big of a stretch, but she did it on purpose. In the end, it just makes Randy feel like he's finally noticed by karma, so now he and Earl are partners in completing the list.

Best parts:

• I love it every time Tim Stack pops up. Anybody remember Night Stand with Dick Dietrich? That show was hilarious.
• "Family asks that donations in the name of Mr. West be made to the family."
• "Also reported killed in the explosion were two drifters, a homeless man, and a bum."
• "And just like Van Halen, we were going to keep playing until everybody got sick of us."
• "When he's had a few drinks, he uses his junk as the spout, but never in front of the kids."

The Office: Michael takes the warehouse crew's scarier safety seminar as a threat to his masculinity or something. Andy, who is now Drew, is being shunned by Dwight. Everyone else has turned into compulsive gamblers. Apparently, Michael's plan to prove that he's tough is to jump off the roof, which almost wins Kevin $100,000. No love triangle stuff this week, just good old fashioned funny.


Best parts:

• Jim's translation of Dwight's thoughts was pretty good.
• Michael calling that lady "Pudge."
• Dwight leaning his head into the bailer ("Bailer? I don't even know her!")
• After Daryl's cool scary safety presentation, Toby's upstairs tips were great. "You always want to keep a sweater or cardigan of some sort in case it gets drafty."
• I love a good Van de Graaff Generator joke.
• "When you land, try and land like an eight year old. These bouncy castles are not designed for adults."
• "If John Mellencamp ever wins an Oscar, I am a very rich dude."

30 Rock: Rip Torn is back as Giess, Jack's boss. After the disastrous fireworks special last week, Giess takes the microwave division away from Jack, and hints that the way to get it back is to get married. This sends Jack into a spiral of depression.

Liz, on the other hand, is jazzed that her relationship with the unfortunately named Floyd is going well, playing Uno by candlelight and crapping all over the same movies. But the bliss is short lived, because Jack latches on to "the Floydster" as a cure for the blues, seriously cramping Liz's style. Eventually she convinces Jack to find someone for himself, and he ends up hooking up with Phoebe, who has "avian bone disorder," leaving her bones hollow and brittle. Which I guess is kinda funny when gentle taps cause her to say "ouch," but I think that'll get old quickly. Sounds like she's sticking around though, as Jack looks to get back the microwave division by proposing to Phoebe in the last scene.


Tracy is still pitching his idea for a movie based on Thomas Jefferson's life, with him playing all the parts, Norbit-style, except it's not a comedy. Rip Torn, however, would like him to make a sequel to Fat Bitch, the movie where Tracy plays a dog. To sell them on it, he's going to use the TGS set and staff to make a trailer. And stays in character all day. After the trailer turns out crappy, he's decided to finance it himself, so it looks like this will be a lengthy story arc.

Best parts:

• Fun with the pause button: the movies playing when Liz and Floyd came out of the theater were: The President's Wife, Moonquest: Quest for the Moon, Speaking of Emily, and The Boy Made of Corn.
• "It's like my old man said, 'If you try, you win.' And he was a hell of a garbage man."
• "I took the money from the sale of those pieces, and a bought a sailboat, and I named it after my ex-wife, and I sank it."
• How cute was Liz in her pajamas?

Scrubs: After Laverne's funeral, everyone slips right back into routine, except for Carla, who can't understand how everyone can act like nothing's changed.

Elliot doesn't seem interested in anything with Keith except sex, and he's had enough of it. In the first of a few scenes this episode where one character bluntly tells another character exactly what their problem is, Carla, in a rather bitchy manner, tells her that she's letting Keith slip away because she's afraid of getting hurt like she did with J.D.

Dr. Cox is on a quest to take 20 minutes for himself, but keeps getting interrupted by people who need his help. In scene #2 of easy problem solving, Kelso tells Perry that being the "go to guy" is time for himself, because that brings him joy.

J.D. and Turk have to treat a deaf child, and only the Janitor knows how to sign. They figure out he can have his hearing restored with a cochlear implant. After a recent Law & Order: CI covered the same thing, I knew the father wouldn't go for it. In problem solver #3, the Janitor tells J.D. and Turk that being deaf might be the thing the father and son have most in common, so they're better able to understand what's going on.


And apparently everyone solving each other's problems was the spirit of Laverne living on, which gives Carla warm fuzzies. A little too sweet for me. Still some funny scenes though:

• J.D.'s fantasy of his funeral.
• Dr. Cox's imaginary sound-proof bubble.
• After Keith shot down the KFed/Britney roleplaying, was Elliot suggesting Claus von Bulow and Alan Dershowitz roles?
• "Well that sucks caboodle."
• "I'll give you a hint, it starts with an 'M' and ends with an 'R'." "Marg
• Helgenberger!"