Thursday Night TV

Thursday night has plenty of good TV, and with sweeps upon us, the schedule for the month is loaded with new episodes. Earl, Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock, and Smallville after the jump.

My Name is Earl: Earl puts himself on his list since he never let himself grow up, so he starts by trying to get his G.E.D. It proves a little too difficult, so he goes back to his old high school for help, but his old teachers are all burnt out cause since Earl they've had an endless parade of kids who are no good. To make it up, he takes over as a substitute covering in-school suspension.

He tries to show them his life as an example of what happens when you goof off in school, but kids today got no respect. So Earl convinces the teachers to fight fire with fire, and they pull a series of pranks on their students. Everything works out great until a car rigged with an innocent prank ends up exploding. But after freaking out, it turns out that was exactly what the kids needed to fall in line. The teachers get back to teaching, and Earl gets his G.E.D. A funny episode, especially the exploding car, but accidental car bombs as the solution to your problems seems like a very odd message to send. Some especially funny parts:

• "In Armando's class there are six women for every man. Nice."
• A nice callback to Mallrats with Randy's sailboat picture.
• "You better hope that To Catch a Predator guy doesn't come in here and see you with all these kids."
• "And Summer, always remember, just because you have a stripper name doesn't mean you have to grow up to be a stripper."

The Office: Crisis mode, as Dunder Mifflin accidentally sends out a bunch of paper with an obscene watermark. Creed is the Quality Assurance guy, and in an effort to avoid blame pulls some evil genius moves. He gets someone fired for his incompetence, then takes up a collection for her and pockets it. I love that guy.


Jim and Andy go to a high school to apologize for the paper, and discover that Andy's girlfriend is a high school student. But that was a one-note story, because aside from that, there was no point and not much humor.

Michael decides to hold a press conference to apologize, presumably without consulting with upper management, to get ahead of the scandal that probably would not have been a scandal of note. And he brings a client to the press conference who won't accept his apology, so it turns out to be an even bigger disaster than I'd have thought. So he records some kind of crazy apology video that sounds like a manifesto and/or threat, and I guess intends to put it on YouTube? Will they continue this story at all, or just leave it? Weird episode, but it had some really good parts:

• "The image of a beloved cartoon duck performing unspeakable acts upon a certain cartoon mouse that a lot of people like. I've never been a fan."
• "Every week I'm supposed to take four hours and do a quality spot check of the paper mill. And of course the year I blow it off, this happens."
• "Lord, beer me strength."

30 Rock: Season finale already? What a pisser. But what a great episode. Completely insane, but great.

Tracy's still in hiding under the assumed name Gordon Tremeshko (I think?), and only Kenneth knows that he's in Needmore, Pennsylvania, with Kenneth's cousin (played by Sean Hayes in the first role I didn't hate him in) taking care of him. Then going all Misery on him. Kenneth not only rescues him, but throws himself down the stairs to an ambulance will rush them through traffic to get to the show on time.


Jack's love of his job and crazy mother remind him that he doesn't love Phoebe. And gives him a heart attack. And Lemon's love of hers puts the kibosh on the Floydster. Which sucks for him because Tina Fey was looking especially hot tonight. Glasses, business suit, and a hint of cleavage really works for her. And speaking of hot, Cerie makes her first appearance in a while.

Just some of the many, many good parts:

• "My techniques guarantee male orgasm."
• "The most important thing is that she makes Jack very happy. She's like a white Geisha."
• "Carrying plastic bags, sitting on benches, brushing my own teeth. This is unsuitable!"
• "I was at a costume party earlier this evening. And the hostess's dog attacked me, so I had to stab it."
• "And all the time I've been on this earth, I have only one regret: I should've worked more."
• "They've got pretzels downstairs!"
• "If I die will you take care of my birds?" "I got a lot on my plate right now, Ken."

Scrubs: Turk and Dr. Cox fight over who'll treat hypochondriac Lloyd the deliveryman, making up fake diagnoses for his arm pain to make him each other's responsibility. Just as Perry thinks he's won, Turk ups the ante by actually operating. Take that? I have no idea how Perry didn't see that it was all a prank. Turk's prone to doing some stupid stuff, but he's still a good doctor.


I never thought Keri Russell was all that attractive on Felicity but with straighter hair she's gorgeous. She plays Elliot's old friend who J.D. naturally has a thing for. J.D., despite always being a huge jerk to Elliot, is upset that she makes time for Keri Russell but not for him. So he turns into an even bigger jerk and sabotages the Elliot/Keri Russell friendship. We're supposed to like him and all, but sometimes he's a complete dick. It did, however, lead to a pretty amusing appletini scene. But after he gives a hollow apology for his dickishness, Elliot forgives him. And in the closer, Keith proposes to Elliot. Is she going to be Mrs. Dudemeister?

Best parts:

• "It's my screensaver!"
• Turk's Booty Breakdown
• The Janitor's cleanliness ghost

Smallville: The rich have it good. Even Lex's abductors are beautiful women. She blows up a series of tunnels leaving Lex trapped and Lionel in the hospital. Naturally, the tunnels are filled with kryptonite, cause the episode would be over pretty quickly otherwise. As usual, Lex makes it look like he's finally 100% evil, but then turns around at the last second to partially redeem himself. I hope before this show ends, which I hope is soon because I can't stop watching but I really don't like it much anymore, they finally just let Lex become evil. Elsewhere, Lana's getting used to being a Luthor, acting all deceitful and devious. My recording got all messed up in the last 10 minutes, so I might've missed some stuff, but it sounded like the same old conclusion stuff, where they play spooky music and make it sound like big important stuff is going on but nothing really happens.