Minimate Customs: Parks & Recreation

Tonight, one of my all-time favorite shows, Parks & Recreation, begins its' final season.  I think there is no better tribute to this excellent show then to show off my Parks & Rec Minimates!  After the break, you'll see pictures of each individual figure.

Well, it's not the Reds

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been a while. Working on some things, and should have some fun posts up soon. But I just wanted to jump in here, because a Sportscenter promo on Monday Night Football just now stuck in my craw. Stuart Scott, from the Soldier Field sideline, pops up to remind us to stay tuned for Sportscenter after the game where they'll tell us "which team just clinched their division... for the fourth straight year". Jaysus. If the answer's going to be so damn obvious, why ask the question?

This is the kind of thing that gets me yelling at the TV, which Hillary thinks is hysterical.

Oh yeah, it's the Phillies, by the way.

Good Lord, it's 9/02/10

Somehow, I don't feel like I can just let this day go by without saying something.

I was of the same graduating class as the 90210 kids; I never watched much in high school, but I did watch a good bit in college. My crazy friend Mike Daly and I used to MST-it, and later my roommates and I would often watch with some of the girls in our social circle. A guilty pleasure, I suppose, though never as much campy fun as Melrose Place. Bad shows just aren't bad in quite the right way anymore. I miss that.

A few memories spring up: The Flaming Lips playing the Peach Pit After Dark, after which my eternal nemesis Steve Sanders remarked something like "I don't know much about 'alternative music [in my mind, he did air quotes here], but those guys rocked!"; the Real World parody episode, where Tori Spelling uses the word "proletariat"; wishing I could have a recurring cameo as the guy who walks up to Steve Sanders and punches him in the face; once convincing a roommate who was late coming home that one of the minor cast members had been killed off. Had him going pretty good.

...And that's about it. Really, 90210 was left behind by Melrose Place, and even while it was still airing felt a little desperate to recapture it's early notoriety. But on this day let's all raise our glasses to Aaron Spelling, most assuredly rotting in the circle of Hell reserved for the creatively bankrupt.

Mad Men Returns

"Mad Men" is a show I like quite a bit, but at the same time think is vastly overrated. While the first season really was quite excellent, the two subsequent seasons have been far less compelling. Much like stylistic forebearer "The Sopranos" (not to mention later issues of The Sandman, in my opinion not widely shared), the show seems to be already resting on its' laurels, having established a standard of impeccable, if sometimes dull, storytelling sure to win awards and accolades.

Last night's episode felt like more of a return to form, at least for one episode. Though last season was often quite tedious (the nadir, in my mind, came in the episode in which the most notable thing was that Pete Campbell and his wife danced the Charleston), it did change the dynamics at both work and home for Don Draper. This was our first chance to dip our toes into the new status quos, and it was mostly successful. Of course, it helps that at least half the episode went by before we saw Betty Draper. She's long been the show's albatross, a vain, vapid nitwit who is impossible to root for even when she's in the right. At least the show finally disposed of the neverending "will she or won't she?" teases that Betty might have an affair by having her have an affair

Of course, my new favorite character to ever appear on "Mad Men is seemingly Henry's mother, who referred to Betty as "Dirt". I hope this means we're not supposed to try and like Betty any more. I still can't decide if January Jones is just a terrible, lifeless actress, or if that's actually part of the performance. Anyway, I'm all for hating on Betty, so keep that coming. I want at least one scathing insult directed at Betty per episode (per scene if possible).

One last thing: It's a really odd tonal shift to go from watching "True Blood" at 9 to "Mad Men" at 10. And when was the last time anyone actually drank any True Blood anyway?

Hillary and I Have Solved One LOST Riddle

Hi there. Boy, it's been a while, hasn't it? You could say that I took the Olympics off, except that I didn't really watch the Olympics... that hockey game was great, though. Anyway, stuff happens.

I'm posting this now, for the sake of posterity, that Hillary and I have just solved one of the great riddles of LOST. Hillary just came up and asked me "do you think Hurley's friend Dave is a ghost?" And I never thought about it, but yeah, of course he is. And then this thought popped in my head: "maybe he's Libby's dead husband." Oh, yes. That's the connection between Libby and Hurley! For comfirmation, I turned to Libby's character bio on Wikipedia, which states that her husband's name is... David! Hahahahahahahahahhahaha!

So I just wanted to post that, for posterity, so that when this is revealed in a few weeks, we can say to the entire internet "we told you so!"

More stuff later, I swear.

Ricky Gervais + Elmo= Funny.

Want definitive proof of Ricky Gervais' genius? He makes Elmo funny. And here's a bonus behind the scenes clip. When does the podcast cartoon begin again?

There's Too Much to Talk About

There's like four things that I want to write about, but none with any kind of depth, so I'm just going to throw them all together.

1. Hey, the Grammys happened. Everyone wave your little flags for the Grammys. This just reminds me how blissfully ignorant I am about contemporary music these days. I didn't even know that Beyonce had a new album out. Unless they were celebrating I am...Sasha Fierce! I don't know if she writes it with the exclamation point at the end, but it looks like it belongs there, doesn't it? I just love it when pop stars publicly admit to having secret fantasy identities with preposterous names. What is she, eight?

Anyway, I'm sure that everyone that won a Grammy sucks. They always do.

2. Speaking of awards shows, the Oscar noms came out today. Just in time for DVD cover printing season! I don't like this whole "nominating ten movies for best picture" thing. It waters down the whole thing. It's like adding an extra round to the playoffs. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire is the cinimatic equivilent of the 8-8 team that backs into the playoffs.

To me, the wild card is Inglorious Bastards. Perhaps I'll post more about it later, but I think it's the most frustrating movie to come out in ages. Parts are brilliant. As gripping as anything I've seen on screen. And parts are just no damn good; basically, all the parts that actually feature the Bastards. If you were to sit down with this movie and edit out every scene Brad Pitt's in, it would be a masterpiece, or at least closer to a masterpiece.

But it should probably win, because it was a weak year for movies and there's really nothing remotely close. Keeping the playoffs analogy from above going, Inglorious Bastards is the cinimatic equivalent of the seeming juggernaut that shows lots of flaws, but no one else is good enough to take advantage, so they win the title.

Couple more quick predictions: George Clooney should win Best Actor. Tarentino should not win Best Director, no matter what IB does in the Best Picture category, but Christoph Waltz simply must win. And if Sandra Bullock wins Best Actress for The Blind Side, the Kodak Theater should collapse upon itself into a sigularity.

3. Lost. Is. Back. Tonight. I'll get to that. If you really can't wait, you can read what my buddy James wrote. Though I'll warn you: it's long. I haven't even read the damn thing yet.

But first, I want to talk about 24. It seems that my worst fears have come true, and that the Curse of the Even Seasons is in full effect. This season has just been lame beyond words. The main plot feels like it still hasn't gotten started. The big bad guy, Arab Jason Schwartzman, has spent the last two hours offscreen in some kind of Russo-Islamic orgy. Every thing going on in the big peace negotiations with President Bulldog Face and Arab Joe Pesci is tremendously boring. Now, Arab Joe Pesci is acting all crazy because Arab Jason Schwartzman betrayed him, so the British and Germans might pull out! What a crazy twist!

And then there's the Starbuck Subplot. Oh, the Starbuck Subplot. It's so bad, I don't even know where to begin. Look, I just don't care that Dana Thrace's real name is actually Jenny Craig. I've no connection to her, and just because she's played by an actress that was on a show in which I did care about her, doesn't mean I care about her here. It's not a transitive property.

And this whole plotline is so distracting from the main story. It basically says "hey, even the CTU agents aren't really focused on what's going on with the Russians, so why should you be?" It might have worked, if the show were starting cold, with just some intel to work, but there's already been a terrorist attack. Shouldn't people seem a little, I dunno, motivated? Anyone?

I do like burnt-out Renee Walker, though. She's, like, a billion times hotter and more interesting then normal Renee Walker. And, see, her storyline is working because we care about her. Why is it so !@#$ hard for the 24 braintrust to figure this out?

So. Lost. Is back. I said that already. But it bears repeating. Lost. Tonight. And there are enough spoilers out there so that we have some idea of what's going on, and the Lindleoff and Cuse have said that by the end of tonight we'll finally have enough information to make accurate theories. All that is good.

I don't have too much to say right now; I'm sure I will tomorrow. But I just want to put this in print right now: The Island is not actually an island. It's a sophisticated time machine designed to look like an island. That's why it can be "moved", and that's why it has a mechanism built into its' center. And Jacob and his enemy aren't gods, they're time travelers. For some reason, they can't hurt each other directly; that's why Jacob's enemy had to find a loophole.

At least, that's my two cents. We'll see, right?

Blackest Lost

Okay, so just bear with me a minute here. This will be cool. I promise.

So DC Comics is doing this big event right now called Blackest Night, which flows from what has been going on in the Green Lantern comics the last few years. You all know about the Green Lanterns, right? They're an interstellar police force that use Power Rings guided by their willpower. Anyway, writer Geoff Johns has been riffing on the concept by creating new Lantern Corps, using different colored rings powered by different emotions (I know, willpower isn't an emotion... just go with it). Red ring bearers, for example, are filled with rage. Yellow Lanterns (led by ex-GL Sinestro) instill great fear, blue lanterns inspire hope, and...

I'm loosing you, aren't I?

Okay. Blackest Night. Basically the dead have risen, powered by Black Lantern rings. And, as there has been a lot of death around here in the DC Universe the last few years, the whole thing seems centered on Earth. We've got a Black Lantern Aquaman, and a Black Lantern Martian Manhunter, and now a Black Lantern Hawkman (he died in the first issue), and many, many others. And representatives (the nominal leader) from each Corp have formed a little band, because only by the rings working together can the Black Lanterns be destroyed. That's the gist of it.

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Only in the last issue, and I suppose this is a spoiler, but the damn thing's been out since Christmas, so you only have yourself to blame if you don't know this, it was decided that one of each lantern isn't enough to kill all the Black Lanterns on Earth. So the rings duplicated themselves, and hastily chose deputies from amongst Earth's heroes and villains. The Flash, for example, inspires great hope, so he's the Blue Lantern. The Atom feels great compassion, so he's the Indigo Lantern... yes, indigo. I'm not making this up.

Look, it might be easier at this point if you go to the Wikipedia page. I'll wait.

So the wife and I read this, awhile back, and she asked me what I thought of Johns' choices for Lanterns. And I think they're fine, mostly. Scarecrow, as the Yellow Lantern, makes sense, but is a little too obvious. I like Lex Luthor as the Orange Lantern, which feeds off greed (my friend Kevin was especially unimpressed by Luthor as greed agent, suggesting that he should be the Blue Lantern, because he fights Superman, and you've got to feel a lot of hope to do that. I think it's an interesting premise. I don't agree with it, but I think it's interesting). The only one I really have a problem with is Mera, Aquaman's little-used wife (who has, at least, played a big role in the series thus far) as the Red Lantern. That's the best you could come up with? Mera?

Anyway. While we were chatting about this, and probably because we were finishing rewatching season 5 of Lost on DVD, I started speculating which characters on Lost would wear which rings, if the same thing happened on the Island. And, you know, there's a lot of dead people on the Island with axes to grind. Who represents will? Fear? Rage? Love? Hope? And the rest?

Yep, that's it. That's what this post is about. Sure took a while to get here, huh? But moving on. Hillary and I talked about it for a while (meaning: most of the rest of the night, and I think it probably kept both of us up), and we managed to assign rings to everybody. I think it's a fun game, and I encourage you to try it. Pick your favorite show- or, better yet, your family and friends- and try to decide who would get what ring, if the dead were rising. Only they're not zombies. Just very, very zombie-like.

1. Green Lantern/Willpower: Jack Sheppard. I know: too easy. But it's the only real choice. Jack is the guy who's totally dominated by his iron, stubborn, will. He's the guy who is always chasing off into the jungle, and carrying dynamite in his backpack, even though he's the doctor and the survivors' most precious resource. He's the guy that wanted to perform his own appendectomy. Hell, he's the guy who refused to believe that Locke had moved the Island even after watching it disappear. So this isn't really a validation of Jack as a hero, just an admittance that he is... shall we say focused to the extreme.

2. Yellow Lantern/Fear: Sayid. Well, duh. I think that the Yellow Lantern Corps might have been invented with Sayid in mind. I also think that Naveen Andrews would make an excellent Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern movies, but I digress.

3. Red Lantern/Rage: Sawyer. I thought about this one for quite awhile. Both Ben and Sayid would have a great claim on this one as well, but I think Sawyer takes the cake. His entire life (much like Batman) has been built around revenge for his dead parents. His personality for much of the show was really just a mask; it's not until this last season, trapped with the Dharma Initiative in the '70s, that Sawyer begins to come into his own. And then it's all taken away, the life he's built, and he watches the woman he loves pulled to her death, knowing that she goes to her grave doubting his love for her. So yeah, I'd say rage is Sawyer's primary motivation.

4. Orange Lantern/Avarice: Ben. If we'd done this around seasons 1, 2, or 3, no doubt this would be Sawyer. And I don't really like reducing Ben to being all about greed. But he is still a villain, after all. And almost every action he's ever made has been about preserving himself and his power. And, I think, his speech to Jacob, his declaration of "what about me?" ultimately reveals a lot about him.

5. Blue Lanterns/ Hope: Locke. What is Locke's defining character trait, it it's not hope? He wants to be special, desperately, and on the Island he finally succeeds, or so he thinks. Unfortunately, this optimistic desperation seems to leave him constantly exploited by others: first his father, who tricks him into giving up a kidney; then the cult he joins, and the police that see him as an easy way to infiltrate it; Ben, over and over again; and finally Jacob's unnamed enemy, who uses Locke as a pawn to both manipulate Jack into returning to the Island (to, ultimately, be involved in the Incident), and to get close to Jacob. I'm not saying these are their best traits, only their most dominant....

6. Star Sapphires/Love: Juliet. This one was all Hillary. It was definitely the toughest one to identify. For one thing, the Star Sapphires are only women, so that eliminates much of the cast (including Desmond, sadly). Kate? Please. Sun? Oh, don't give me Sun. Anyone that would abandon their child, perhaps forever, on a wild revenge kick doesn't know a damn thing about love. Even amongst the dead, there's not much. Thought about Penny, but she's not really a part of the main cast, and she's never even been on the Island (that we know about.... bum bum BUM). But Juliet...? Yeah, Juliet works. First off, her whole reason for accepting Richard's offer is to help her sister. And she keeps working to try and save the women impregnated on the Island, even after watching so many die. And there's Goodwyn, and Jack, and Sawyer... she does crazy things, for all of them, because she loves them. We watched the season 5 finale after talking about this, and Hillary must have said 50 billion times "she's so the Star Sapphire", to the point I almost had to slug her. But she's right.

7. Indigo Tribe/ Compassion: Hurley. This stems from my belief that Hurley is the heart and soul of the show. He was always the great mediator amongst the survivors, while never wanting to be the leader. I think it's telling that, on an island full of liars- Ben, Kate, Sawyer- people don't lie to Hurley often. Even Jacob, when he visits him, is entirely straight with him. Perhaps that's why the dead want to visit Hurley.

Okay, I lied. That wasn't cool at all, was it?

Clip Show? Seriously?

Let me start off by saying that I haven't found the new season of The Office to be particularly compelling. The two big storylines this year- "Jim's now a boss too!" and "Dunder Mifflin's in trouble!"- have been pretty blah. I don't know why they decided to change Jim's character so fundamentally; he was always supposed to be our anchor, our window into this wacky little world. And now he's... I don' even know what. The Man, I guess. Anyway, his struggles to be taken seriously by the staff as the new co-manager is just not that interesting, and I even relate to that, having been in that situation a time or two myself. And then there's the other thing... Dunder Mifflin's in trouble... who cares, really?

I also think that the writers have run out of funny ideas for the characters. The only thing they've done this year that stand out is to try and recapture the old Pam and Jim Unspoken Crush dynamic with Andy and Erin (God...no...). Oh, and have Ryan wear funny outfits. Seriously, that's what they've been doing, having Ryan in some crazy getup each week. That's it. No jokes or anything, just Ryan and his bow tie or glasses or... who cares, really?

I think that Parks and Recreations has really hurt The Office. Not just because they lost Mike Schur (AKA Mose Schrute, AKA Ken Tremendous of Fire Joe Morgan and the writer of this and this. Really, I think this whole post is just an excuse to link to my two favorite Fire Joe Morgan posts. That's a victory in and of itself.), but because Parks and Recreations has so completely co-opted The Office's formula that the latter no longer seems remotely special. The fact that Parks and Recreations is seemingly not remotely funny in the least (in fairness, I've only watched two episodes, but the only thing that made me laugh was Will Arnet, as a guest star) makes The Office seem less funny, somehow. As if they pointed out that The Office was really just a pseudo-documentary about a bunch of goofy characters stuck with a bumbling boss, and you could do that with anyone, really. Heck, maybe NBC should have tried to get Jay Leno to give it a shot.

But I digress. Yes, I realize this is my opening, and so I haven't really digressed from anything, but I digress. Last night The Office hit what was, let's hope, the nadir in this season of discontent by running a clip show. You all know what a clip show is, right? I mean, it even has it's own Wikipedia entry. So I don't have to explain that a clip show is where a long running series spends an entire episode running clips from old episodes, loosely supported by a framing sequence that's usually painful in it's execution. If you ever watch the commentaries to the clip shows on The Simpsons DVDs, they explain that clip shows are often the result of networks wanting to have as many hours of a popular show as possible, but not wanting to pay for a full season. So a clip show is a cheap way to present a "new" episode. And they are lame, lame, lame.

And last night was no exception. The setup, in a nutshell, is that Dunder Mifflin is being sold, and so an auditor is coming to look at the branch's assets and speak to the HR guy (Toby). So you might expect hi-jinks as Michael and the gang try to put their best faces forward. And you get a little bit of that-- Michael rides a Segway! But then the bank guy sits down with Toby, and asks him if there's any safety issues that he should know about. And Toby says nothing, as the camera tightens on him, and several scenes of Michael and co. being decidedly unsafe rolls. Now, at first, I thought this was a clever little joke, a way of saying "oh yes there is!" before Toby says "oh no there's not!" But it kept going. And going. And then he asked Toby a question about sexual harassment, and the same thing happened. And I said to Hillary, "Is this a clip show?" And she said "I think it's a clip show."

And I promised, "Well, I'll be blogging about this tomorrow!", which she applauded. And I always keep my promises. When it comes to blogging. So here you go. That was the whole point. Go read those Fire Joe Morgan things, they're really funny. Not lame. Like The Office has become. Or clip shows. Or this blog. Hey, do you like the new name?

Yes, I'm Still Watching 24

I really don't know why I'm still watching 24. I can't say I was anticipating the show beginning; honestly, it felt like a bit of a chore, knowing that I'd be stuck with the damn thing again for the next four months. So why don't I just not watch? Well, you have to understand that I'm not like you jonny-come-latelies; I'm an original 24 fan. I watched the pilot. I've sat through this show for seven goddamn years now- a full week in real time!- and I'll be damned if I'm going to stop now just because I know the show's long since peaked creatively and should just be canceled.

And, God help me, I still like the show. I like Jack. I like all the twists and turns I know it's going to take, even if I know they are stupid and won't make any sense if looked at in context. 24 is not a show that holds up to repeated viewings, I think, because knowing where the train is going ruins the whole thing. I also don't think it plays well on DVD, because getting to the end of the hour, and then waiting for the next week, is a big part of the fun. There are a lot- A LOT- of shows that do serialization better then 24 (funnily enough, this season has added cast members of several of those shows), but none does episodic television better.

Plus, I've sacrificed for this show. I've changed plans. I've forced myself on friends, when I didn't have cable, that I'm sure would rather be doing something else. I've dragged my wife into this. I need to see it through to the end.

But man, I really hope this is it. Last season gives me some hope that the show won't go out on a down note, because it was a huge improvement over the horror that was Day 6. But it wasn't up to the standards of seasons 1,3, and 5. See, that's one of the things that makes me apprehensive about this year: it's an even year, and my theory (which not everyone may agree with) is that the odd numbered seasons have been vastly superior to the even ones. Day 1 was great. Day 1 was one of the best TV seasons I've ever seen. I bought the DVD, very cheap, a year or two ago and was surprised how well it held up. I would have been happy if it ended there, especially after watching Day 2. Which is probably really better then I think, but my only real memory of it was Kim caught in a bear trap being stalked by a puma.

But Day 3... oh man, Day 3. Everything about it is perfect. I know a lot of fans don't agree, but Chase Edmuns was the best sidekick Jack ever had. Jack was given a believable failing (a heroin addiction that he'd picked up while under cover... okay, maybe believable isn't the word I'm looking for) that made him fallable for the first time; the White House subplot is actually interesting, and leads to David Palmer's resignation; Kim actually has something to do; Sherri Palmer and Nina Myers finally die; and I think this is even Cloe's first season. And Tony's in charge and Michelle is awesome and the villain is the best one ever...

And then there was season 4. Which was okay. Had some moments. But there are several tedious subplots involving these new characters that we don't give a shit about. And in the Day 8 premiere tonight, they already started this with Starbuck from BSG. Hey everybody, see this character that you've known for the last hour? Well, she's not who she says she is! She has a secret!

This has always been the downfall of 24: nobody other then Jack is particularly interesting, but he can't be on camera all the time (after all, he has to drive places), so they have to have other things going on. Affairs and personality clashes and just all sorts of stupid crap. Now, if these characters last long enough, like Tony and Michelle and Cloe and several others, then we get to like them and their subplots are interesting. And then they kill them, for drama, and we have to start with a whole new bunch. It's like freshmen initiation.

Where was I? Oh yes, Day 5. Glorious Day 5. Where the ridiculousness factor was cranked to 11. It's probably the most over the top 24 ever was, but it worked. Jack utters my eternal favorite line, in threatening this year's traitor: "you've read my file!" The Nixonian president is revealed as the bad guy, even though it made absolutely no sense. Jack steers a plane from the baggage compartment; best of all, he does so after grunting "okay, you son of a bitch!"

And then Day 6...God. So bad. I don't even really want to talk about it. Except to say that Wayne Palmer was pretty hard to accept as president, since it was his affair with the wife of David Palmer's main financial backer lead to the deaths of the aforementioned backer and wife, and the death of David's ex-wife Sherri, and David's resignation as president. Seems like that would probably have come out during the campain. And another Palmer sibling is introduced, and even gets star billing, only to disappear after about three episodes, pop back up, do one thing, and disappear again. Oh, it was not good. And the producers knew that, and you get the sense in watching it that they were just trying to get to the end of the day. Just like Jack.

A lot of people stopped at that point. But not me. And I was rewarded with a pretty decent season, a return to form, kind of like U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. But one that really didn't hold up all that well next to the show's peak, kind of like U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind. Tony came back, but as a bad guy, only he wasn't actually a bad guy, he was under cover. Only he wasn't actually under cover, he was pretending to be a good guy to use the feds to trick the bad guys so that he could get his hands on some chemical weapons for some other bad guys. Only he wasn't actually on their side, he was just using this as a way to get close to their leader, who somehow had his wife Michelle killed. So in the end... wha?

And then there was the president. This is what I find hardest to believe, perhaps about anything over the course of the whole series: people actually liked President Allison Taylor, and Cherry Jones portrayal as such. She won an Emmy. And I have to say: I was surprised that she was the one named Cherry Jones. I like to try to guess which characters have which real names from the credits, and I was sure that hot FBI agent/ Bauer sidekick Renee Walker was Cherry Jones, and frumpy President Taylor was Annie Wersching. But no, it's the other way around. And I still can't believe that. I mean, doesn't this look like a Cherry Jones?


And this like an Annie Wersching?


But I digress. She was the worst part of Day 7. Each time they cut to the Oval Office, I groaned. What's funny about 24 is that the producers keep trying to tweak the format, to keep the show fresh, but they still keep all the White House stuff, even though it's all totally played out. David Palmer was the good-guy President; he's dead. Charles Logan was the bad-guy president; he should be dead, but for some reason will be returning later this year. Because that's just what they do on 24.

The show tonight was fine; I'm sure tomorrow will be fine as well. I didn't buy for a second that the reporter chick was the traitor, so I'm glad they didn't try to make us believe it for longer then the break between episodes 1 and 2. And I really wish Freddie Prinze Jr. wasn't on the show. But Jack's leather jacket tonight was wicked cool; so was his little bag. Say what you want about the man, but he's got style.

Goodbye Curb

If last night was, in fact, the last episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm-and, considering that Larry David has been something of a bald, Jewish Brett Farve in the past when it comes to ending the series, I'm still not 100% convinced that it is- I would certainly say it's time. It's not that the show isn't funny anymore, but it's always funny in the same way, episode after episode, season after season. Larry runs afoul of someone; sometimes he's in the right, sometimes he's in the wrong. Never really matters. There will be some kind of minor thread weaved throughout the episode, which seems unimportant but will somehow tie in to the resolution, in which Larry will most likely end up with egg on his face. Over and over and over.

Considering that this same basic formula was also applied to most every episode of Seinfeld, it's pretty remarkable that David has been able to do so much with such a narrow view of what it funny. Plot was never very important to Larry David-- which may be why his only movie effort, Sour Grapes, is almost unwatchable. Observation is, and by and large those observations are spot on. David is also the one comic that's been able to make jokes about the bathroom without resorting to toilet humor, for which I applaud.

I also appreciate that David tackled the elephant in the room since Curb began, the Seinfeld reunion, in the same fashion he did other season-long arcs like his ill-fated restaurant and Broadway appearance in the Producers. That is to say, it remained the backdrop, but never dominated the season. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't get to see much of the Seinfeld cast; a shame, because all were excellent in the famed Curb improv format. Jerry Seinfeld, in particular, seemed to be having a ball. I would have greatly preferred to see more Jerry then, oh, Mocha Joe. Let's just hope that the DVD set has a longer look behind the scenes.

I don't have too much to say about the finale. Like most of the season, it had its' moments without being particularly memorable. Seeing Larry attempt to fill Jason Alexander's shoes as George Costanza was one of the highlights of the series, but the episode's sub-plots (Larry's feud with Mocha Joe, and his attempt to find out who put a stain on Julia Louise-Dreyfuss' coffee table) were tedious. Did anyone else notice that, at the same time that Mocha Joe was threatening to have Jason Alexander's beloved dogs destroyed for attacking him, Jason Alexander continued to buy coffee from Mocha Joe? Yeah. It's time to end it.