05:30 NCIS
07:30 Miss/Guided
08:00 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
08:30 Corner Gas
NCIS. Season 4, Episode 22. "In the Dark" A solid case-of-the-week and good scenes on the personal lives make for another enjoyable NCIS. John Billingsley (why is he not a superstar by now?) guests as blind photographer who takes a snap of a dead body without knowing it. Meanwhile, Tony and Gibbs are under pressure from the women in their lives to make a stronger commitment. I can understand why Tony is skittish. The scene between him and Ziva is wonderful (where she says what a good man he is). But Gibbs is a different story. He's being too closed off for no good reason. I feel sorry for his girlfriend.
Miss/Guided. Episode 4. "Rebel Yell" The first half is terrific (as the three teachers run riot round the school one night) but the second half is devoid of laughs (as the repercussions of their fun lead to Draconian measures).
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Season 3, Episode 1. "The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby" The title says it all, really. And - being the show that it is, with the characters that it has - we know how this will play out. Pretty soon, Mac and Dee are trying to make money off the kid (trying to kick-start a career in advertising). Dennis becomes a tree-hugger for a while, mostly for a girl. And there's a lovely use of a thunderstorm at the end of the episode. It links all the plots and it's funny. The show exists by having a bunch of characters who take extreme reactions to situations. The fact that they are vile people makes them oddly lovable, and there is a lot of fun to be had from tuning in just to see what offensive thing they are going to do next.
Corner Gas. Season 4, Episode 18. "Happy Campers" Hilarious. Too many highlights to mention. Hank has a Good Hair Day with leads to a couple of fantastic musical montages as he swaggers about town having great things happen to him, and Davis goes camping with Oscar and Brent. But the genius of this episode is in the storyline which has Lacey and Wanda switching jobs to find out who has the tougher job. Turns out they both suck, so they both enlist Emma and Karen to help out. Except it turns out that Emma and Karen are much, much better than anyone at those jobs and - eventually - Lacey and Wanda return to their original jobs in the shadow of someone who is many times better than them. It's so clever and so funny.
Corner Gas (so clever and so funny)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Thu, Oct 2, 08 - NCIS, Miss/Guided, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Corner Gas
