While I Was Out…

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | April 20, 2009 | +

* CNN fell behind not just Fox News but also Ashton Kutcher.

* But neither of them was as big as Susan Boyle.

* Fox News, meanwhile, served tea across the country on Tax Day. And at least one CNN correspondent was not going to take it. (Getting whipped by Ashton Kutcher probably didn’t help.)

* The SAG board approved a new contract—barely.

* NBC’s Southland and Parks and Recreation returned for their second weeks. I haven’t yet watched the second Southland; the second Parks and Rec, I thought, was a step forward and a step back, with the peripheral characters becoming more interesting, while Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope risks becoming buffoonish. On the other hand, her need to please her bureaucratic big-wheel mom provides interest her character hadn’t had. I’m sticking with it for the rest of its run this season—are you?

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archstanton68

Parks & Rec is good, but I’m having doubts that it will ever be anything more. something just seems off.
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Meanwhile, Party Down is one of the funniest shows around. It’s got a great cast, and the premise keeps it interesting week to week. It’s definitely a must watch.
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Finally, Breaking Bad is still on a run of greatness. It’s the best show that most people have never heard of.
James Poniewozik

@archstanton68: The next episode of Party Down is probably the best one so far.
gnatalby

I actually really liked the second episode of Parks and Recreation and the tension between Leslie and her mother is a large part of it.

The other is what the man candy (Mark?) said in the first episode– Leslie has a really lovable enthusiasm for public service. After the uncomfortable, disastrous meeting she was happy to be called Park lady, and that’s just very charming.

It makes me think of the difference between the British and American Offices. The British Office is (great but) much too depressing for an American audience. But even the American Office has a sort of drudgery to it. There’s an activity in Parks and Rec that is lacking in the Office. They are working toward a goal, even though it’s obviously going to take a lot more than two months.

Even the oppositional characters have an activity to them as opposed to say, Stanley who is just a grump or Ryan and Jim who are obstructionist.
Chaddogg

What I’m missing, so far, in Parks and Recreation is the “Jim/Pam” stand-in as the voice of reason in the bizarro world. Maybe that’s supposed to be Rashida Jones, but I think the Office works in a way that Parks and Recreation hasn’t yet by having one character who reacts as we, the audience would, to the strange behavior of the more wacky characters. Plus, it would be nice to see Leslie Knope (like Michael Scott or Dwight) demonstrate that she’s good at her job occasionally. I’m sticking with it (because it does have some genuinely funny moments)….
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And I REALLY like Southland….gritty, real, feels like a documentary, and some great actors involved. Ben Mackenzie is frankly shocking me with how good he’s been….
Dave

I had an idea for future robo-posts (or general discussion posts). It’d be fun to have posts directed at bringing in new people to discussion. Mrs. Dave and I just watched S1 of HIMYM, and so we’ll be long caught up by next year (unless the show ends at S4… I haven’t really followed anything about it up until now). I’m hardly shy about jumping into discussion, but there may be others who either follow or are new to the blog but never post. I really enjoy seeing new folks to the LDG, and I imagine there will be a good handful of people either new to the show or newly caught up before S6 starts.
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How long is P&R supposed to run? I’m wishing my last couple Thursdays would have been more free, but I’m curious how long it’s going to be running if we do catch up on it.