Looking back at it, “The Trolley Problem” was the episode that marked the great turn in The Good Place from comedy to televised manifesto. “The Trolley Problem” is a great episode, funny enough to fulfill us while simultaneously leaning all the way into the literal Philosophy 101 stuff that dominated so much of the series’ second half.… Read More The Good Place S4E13, “Whenever You’re Ready”
Created by Ryan Murphy. Starring Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith 22) E21, “Funk” – written by Ian Brennan As much as any show I’ve ever watched, I think I remember where I was for my first viewings of Glee episodes. I know where I was when I watched “Funk” for the first time. It was… Read More Glee, Season 1
Dir. Woody Allen. Starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello (Featured image links here) In the past five or six years, I think we’ve been very anxious to find movies which remind us somehow of the past, to lighten our own sort of pessimism about the world at large, and to crown these films as… Read More The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Created by Dan Harmon. Starring Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi 24) S2E1, “Anthropology 101.” Primary characters: Jeff and Britta/Secondary characters: Annie and Shirley The first season of Community is absolutely rock-solid, with a few shining episodes here and there (“Beginner Pottery,” one of the standout examples of “half the study group takes this class… Read More Community, Season 2
Dir. Rob Reiner. Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher The difference between When Harry Met Sally (…, and you’re nuts if you think I’m going to type that every time) and every other romantic comedy is that When Harry Met Sally has the most boring plot. Bringing Up Baby throws Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn together via Baby, the… Read More When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
During my student teaching (it was technically a “practicum” and not “student teaching,” but that’s another kettle of sardines), I made it to school every day. On one day, though, I couldn’t stay long enough to teach anything. I managed to get up at 6:30, throw on my clothes, drive over to the school, and… Read More Freaks and Geeks S1E7, “Carded and Discarded”
While Glee was premiering on Fox in the fall of 2009, NBC was airing a new comedy of its own. Unlike Glee, an hour-long program which pretended to be comedy but which ended up plowing for drama and reaping awkward silences, Community was a half-hour program which knew it was funny and aspired to become… Read More Community S1E21, “Contemporary American Poultry”
Dir. Nicholas Stoller. Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall for the third time recently. I first saw it maybe a year after it came out. I watched it again in college, remembering how much fun I had when I saw it as a high school senior, and then wondered… Read More Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Seeing Things Secondhand 