Best Thursday Night In A While

All three shows were amazing, and all set up next week's episodes, which makes next Thursday potentially huge. Let's get right to it.

The Office has been working a few storylines, and they start to come to a head tonight. The flaming Sabre printers, the baby contract between Dwight and Angela, Jim and Pam having a baby, and Michael Scott having an affair with a married woman. Well, the baby contract is mediated, leading to a settlement where Dwight has to have sex (to completion) with Angela five times. Jim and Pam are exhausted from being up all night with the baby, so Daryl tells them about the secret warehouse nap spot...which happens to be within earshot of Dwight and Angela's love nest. Unfortunate. Andy, as a former cuckold, drags Michael to see the husband of the lady (yes, I don't take notes) he's nailing, in order to hopefully bring Michael around. Michael refuses to capitulate though, but the collective shaming that the rest of the office hits him with finally gets him to do the right thing. Favorite scene had to be where Ryan, inspired by Michael's "take what you want" philosophy, walks right up to Erin and basically offers her a threeway with him and Kelly, then just as quickly walks back and gives up on the "take what you want" philosophy. In the coda, Michael is ambush interviewed by the local news about the aforementioned flaming printers, of which he is of course oblivious.

On 30 Rock, Liz is stuck going to three weddings in one day (that's twelve hours of Spanx), and decides to revisit old boyfriends in order to find the one who she can take to Floyd's wedding. After returns of Jon Hamm (now with pirate hook hands), and Dennis (trying to "balloon boy" his way to fortune), she has to settle with...Wesley Snipes. Still such a great character. Meanwhile, Tracy is going to star in Garfield 3 (Feline Groovy...it's a pun, because cat's paws have grooves), but DotCom and Kenneth try to get Tracy to take a more dramatic role in order to get him the "O" in his "EGOT" necklace. That leads to a great litany of terrible things that Tracy saw as a youth, all of which he has repressed: A prostitute stabbed a clown, a baby gave a tattoo to another baby, a crackhead breastfeeding a rat, and my personal favorite, our basketball hoop was a ribcage. So Liz, stuck with Wesley, almost manages to find a charming groomsman...but he's a furry. Did you have to use the correct terminology of "yiffing"? Now I feel unclean. Also, Jack finally has sex with Nancy (and I'll take Julianne Moore in lingerie every week, thank you), but has to come clean with her about Avery. He does so at Floyd's Catholic wedding, taking advantage of the fact that Nancy can't storm out on him before the end of Mass, then texts Liz to stall her reading until he can calm her down. And...to be continued? Well, all right then.

Community: I had to save this for last, because this is such a great show. It is hitting every joke out of the park, and look no further than the scene where Jeff puts Annie on the "witness stand". Just such a great performance by Joel McHale, and equally good by Alison Brie, who doesn't even have to speak for most of the scene. Let me backtrack: It's finals week (it's finals week here too! I just took one yesterday! It's like they're writing this show about meeeeee!!!), and Annie assumes that everyone will be moving on to Spanish 103 and keeping the group together. Jeff has other plans, and the group looks to be falling apart. Well, not really, but it looks that way to Annie. Senor Chang (still the best character name on TV today) confides in Jeff that he never actually got certified as a Spanish teacher, and needs Jeff's help in getting one of those fake (i.e. "better than real") diplomas that got Jeff in all that trouble. Unbeknownst to them, Annie's recorder is running, and she rats out Senor Chang to the dean in an effort to make the whole gang repeat Spanish and thus stick together. The scene with the actual Spanish teacher was great, showing just how little teaching Senor Chang has done in the last two semesters.

So that brings us back to the scene in the library, with Jeff tearing Annie a new one. She leaves, and the rest of the group buckles down to hit the books and try to pass the test. However, at test time, Shirley gets a text from Annie, saying that she's coming clean to Senor Chang. Concerned (as we all knew he would be), Jeff runs to the rescue, followed by the rest of the group...then eventually by Starburns, who leads a Spartacus-like run out of the classroom ("We all love Hannah!"), postponing the test. Annie turns out to be okay, and the gang comes back to take (and pass) the test...thanks to Pierce boning the replacement teacher in exchange for an easier exam. Oh, and Troy gets a Good Will Hunting storyline where he's a plumbing savant. Always nice to see Jerry Minor. Last episode of the season is next week, and I'll be sad to see it go.

Speaking of which, the fall schedule is ending soon, and summer is almost upon us. I know Eureka, Psych, and Burn Notice are coming back, as is Warehouse 13, so my nerd pants are tingling. I'm also thinking of doing Dexter from Season 1. Doctor Who, part 2, is Saturday...I can't believe I've managed to wait a whole week for it. See you Monday!