Tuesday, February 26, 2013
TV Guide Asks for Favorite Comedy; Episodic Review: Raising Hope - "The Old Girl" and Mindy Project - "The One That Got Away" Airing Tonight on Fox
Selected by TV Guide Magazine's Editors, the 2012 Fan Favorite nominees in the "Favorite Comedy" category are 2 Broke Girls, Community, Cougar Town, Girls, Glee, Happy Endings, Modern Family, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, and The Middle. Who will you choose? You can make a difference. The SitcomsOnline pick for Favorite Comedy goes to Modern Family (though 2-3 others are tempting, too). Go and vote and your favorite comedy could make the cover!
On the next...Raising Hope:
By: Todd
Fox's Tuesday sitcom starring Martha Plimpton airs Tuesday nights at 8:00pm & 8:30pm and we have just watched the episode that airs tonight (Feb. 26) at 8:30pm. Hilary Duff guest stars! In the episode airing tonight, "The Old Girl," Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) is excited to introduce her new friend, Rachel (guest star Hilary Duff), to the family, but Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Burt (Garret Dillahunt) are shocked when she turns out to be Jimmy's (Lucas Neff) ex-girlfriend who broke his heart as a teenager.
After Hope is bitten by a cow at the Natesville petting zoo, they receive 500 pounds of beef in order to avoid a messy lawsuit. The family has nothing but meat for the next week. Sabrina shows them a photo of her new friend, Rachel. Everybody is shocked to see that she is Jimmy's ex-girlfriend. Jimmy had met her at college when he was 18. They meet every single weekend, but the relationship is eventually ended by Rachel. Jimmy, Virginia and Burt later sing Ain't No Sunshine in a breakup video montage. Sabrina invites Rachel over for dinner. Jimmy reads a letter that he had written to Rachel seven years ago. Rachel tells him that Virginia and Burt are the whole reason they broke up. In flashback scenes, a young Jimmy is shown by rejected by a girl at a grocery store. Young Jimmy also sings Ain't No Sunshine. Many years later and in more flashback scenes, Virginia and Burt go to the college to meet Rachel. They don't want to see Jimmy get his heart broken again, so they try to get Richard interested in Rachel. Richard, however, has his sights set on somebody else. Will Rachel stay for the dinner or will she go? Tune in to find out. It's an all-new hour of Raising Hope tonight. Only the second episode was available for review. Hilary Duff hasn't appeared in any episodic series in the last few years, so it's nice to see her return to television with this funny guest appearance. This episode is Virginia and Burt centric and offers plenty of flashback scenes. It's always fun to see the scenes when Virginia and Burt were younger and even more insane. Trace Garcia, creator Greg Garcia's son, does a fine job as the five-year-old Jimmy and even sings like the adult Jimmy. I liked how they set up the present day and flashback breakup montages the same way. Their flashback scenes are always very creative. It's a pretty enjoyable episode overall. The highlights are the Virginia and Burt flashback scenes at the college and the Ain't No Sunshine renditions. I'm looking forward to the My Name Is Earl reunion with Jason Lee, Jaime Pressly, Ethan Suplee, Nadine Velazquez and Eddie Steeples tonight in the first episode ("Making the Band") airing at 8:00pm. That would be my pick of the night. B
On the next...The Mindy Project:
By: Skees
Fox's Tuesday night comedy starring Mindy Kaling airs Tuesday nights at 9:30pm immediately following New Girl and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (Feb. 26). Seth Rogen guest stars!. In the episode airing tonight, "The One That Got Away," Mindy (Mindy Kaling) reunites with her "first kiss," Sam (guest star Seth Rogen) and the two reminisce about their time at Jewish summer camp, and soon rekindle the sparks of their teen romance.
Mindy has reunited with an old flame once again (surprise?) when she meets up with Sam (played by guest star Seth Rogen). Unlike many of her old flames, though, Sam goes pretty far back... all the way back to when Mindy was at Jewish summer camp (don't ask). It was at this summer camp where Mindy first met Sam and had her first kiss. Of course, once summer was over, she was headed back home and Sam was out of her life. That is, until Sam returns home from his duty in the Army (wearing an Army t-shirt that Mindy is convinced that he picked up at hipster-chic Urban Outfitters) and meets up with Mindy. Once she finds out that Sam is about to be deployed again, she becomes a bit reluctant to attempt to rekindle the relationship, but as she begins to fall for him once again, she considers doing whatever it takes to keep him from leaving her life... literally anything.
Once again, this is yet another predictable episode about Mindy falling in love... again. These episodes are good once in a while, but the whole theme just continues to wear a bit thin in my opinion. I enjoyed seeing Rogen make an appearance in the episode, but much like other guest stars who've appeared in previous episodes, it seems like a generic script was already written for anybody without actually using Rogen's talents and creating a character around him. I have been growing to like this series, but too many of these "old boyfriend back in Mindy's life" stories can wear thin very quickly. Regardless, though, this wasn't a bad story, and I loved the ploy that Mindy tried to undertake to keep this boyfriend around... I'd just rather these episodes less often, and also to see big-name male guest stars be somebody other than a love-interest for Mindy. B-
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, September 11
Abbott Elementary - "Double Date" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Two teachers head out on a double date, but when they run into familiar bar patrons, it proves to be an unfortunate distraction; at Ava's first book club meeting, the group ends up in a debate over who would be the best post-apocalyptic leader.
Abbott Elementary - "Mother's Day" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Barbara invites Gregory to her family's Mother's Day brunch; Jacob scrambles to figure out how to organize a school field trip.
Abbott Elementary - "Smith Playground" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Jacob manages to pull off a school-wide field trip to the park, but when Abbott must share the playground, the fun and games turn competitive; Mr. Johnson enjoys having an empty school to himself.
Abbott Elementary - "Party" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ahead of summer vacation, Janine throws the perfect end-of-year party for her colleagues and friends, taking all their interests into consideration.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 9)
Wednesday, September 11
- James Adomian (Duncanville) - Watch James on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Kathryn Hahn (Tiny Beautiful Things/Central Park/Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Kathryn is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Amy Ryan (Only Murders in the Building/The Office/The Naked Truth) - Amy appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Aparna Nancherla (Lopez vs Lopez/Search Party/Corporate) - Aprana is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Edie Falco (Bupkis/Nurse Jackie) - Edie stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10pm on Bravo.
- Kaitlin Olson (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/The Mick) - Kaitlin talks about the new ABC series High Potential ABC's Good Morning America some time between 7-9am, on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings, and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Drew is kicking off an important new series called Wellsdays, focused on all things wellness every Wednesday with Valerie Bertinelli opening up about her healthy lifestyle journey and prioritizing mental health on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Lacey Chabert (Still the King/Baby Daddy/Family Guy) - Lacey discusses her new series Celebrations with Lacey Chabert on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
04/03 - Too Close for Comfort - The Complete Series (VEI)
04/08 - Check It Out! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/21 - Frasier (2023) - Season One
06/11 - The Jeffersons - The Complete Series (2024 Release)
06/11 - Welcome Back, Kotter - The Complete Series (2024 Release)
07/05 - Letterkenny - Season 12 (Final Season)
07/30 - Ted Lasso - The Richmond Way (The Complete Series) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K Ultra HD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
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