Scott's Blog of Doom

Well, I knew that House had an angle going with the whole "cancer" thing, but I just couldn't figure out what it was, which made that aspect of the show almost as entertaining to play along with at home as the Patient was. House's disciples were all adorable ("Were you two showering together?" "No!") and Wilson's point about faking cancer and then pushing away the people who care about him was a really good one. House really is too much of a lowlife to deserve a friend like Wilson. But we love him anyway.

I thought Dave Matthews was tremendous as the savant piano player, and the "I Don't Like Mondays" bit was really charming as well. The great lines came fast and furious, with Cuddy's "Call the Make-A-Wish Foundation", House's "If you want a sperm sample, come back without the needle" and Chase's incredibly awkward "I'm going to hug you now" in the most scared voice possible.

Possibly my favorite episode of the season thus far. If not, then it's way up there.

And oh man, do Thursdays ever rule now.

Rumors are swirling about the fate of Zach Braff next season, as it's now being reported that he's being offered a pretty gigantic amount of money to do another season of Scrubs instead of his mopey indy movies (hey, Zach, BE FUNNY!), and hopefully if he comes back for another go the show will go through a revival, because this season hasn't been very good. Last week's clip show was pretty brutal, and Dr. Cox was suddenly bald and now he's not and I'm confused. At least the Private Dancer saga wrapped up this week, and there were some great flashbacks (Haven't we all gotten into a water balloon fight with a hot girl who just wanted to get naked and warm up under the covers?). The Janitor's crazy talking goldfish was suitably weird, and really there wasn't enough Ted for my liking. I think the problem with the show is the same one that plagues many others -- it started out as us associating with the loser, newbie intern JD who knew nothing and was at the bottom of the totem pole. Now he's an attending doctor, pretty much knows everything and he's got a half-acre. Really the show needs to find someone else to narrate and focus on and maybe start again from the beginning like that. And then Zach can go make movies where he acts all melancholy about his life while indy bands play on the soundtrack. I still love the show, but it needs a kick in the ass really, really badly.

However, a show that has seemingly been kicked for the better is 30 Rock, which is rapidly ascending up my hard-to-crack list of shows I will now make time to watch instead of switching over to WWE 24/7 by default. What was originally looking like another lame behind-the-scenes-at-SNL contender has turned into a really funny show with some legitimate laugh-out-loud moments, like Tracy converting to Irish Catholic because they'll forgive ANYTHING, or Liz doing the most cliche performance evaluation ever before awkwardly firing everyone in the Accounting department. They WORK for the laughs instead of going for the cheap sitcom punchline, and I respect that.

Finally, I know this is old news to those in the US, but we're finally getting The Sarah Silverman Program up here on our version of the Comedy Network, and it's like they rounded up all the former Mr. Show actors and had them do a sitcom. It's BRILLIANT, because Silverman is such a shallow and heartless bitch, and that's why she's so darn lovable. Tonight's episode, where she takes in a homeless guy but denies him food "because then he'd just think it was something he didn't have to earn," was amazingly great, filled with quotable moments like "Sssh! It's not a duet..." and her ongoing argument with the ghost of Fred's queefing mother ("Do you want to end up like me?" "No, because you're totally annoying"). I can see why it's such a hit on Comedy Central, because it's gloriously self-centered and obnoxious in a way that no sitcom has dared to be since, dare I say it, Seinfeld. Well, they're both Jewish, at least. Time will tell with Sarah Silverman, but having 90% of the Mr. Show troupe is a good way to start. And is Brian Posehn really gay?