TV Report: Week of 1/29

February Sweeps started this past Thursday so for the next month of so, there will be a full schedule of new TV shows. There's also the Super Bowl taking place tonight in Indianapolis between the Giants and the Patriots. But let's first take a look back at the TV week that was and speaking of Indiana...


Pawnee Celebrates Valentine's Day

Another great Parks and Recreation episode this past week which opened with the celebration of Galentine's Day, the day before Valentine's Day. (Sidenote: All day today though I keep imagining how epic Leslie Knope's Super Bowl party would be especially this year with it happening in her home state). The rest of the episode was just as perfect with highlights containing Leslie trying to set Ann up, Ben going on an epic romantic scavenger hunt from Leslie (with the help of Andy and a delightfully giddy Ron), and a depressed heartbroken Chris. So basically... every plot line. The fandom saw glimpses of Ann/Tom way back so in this case the show seems to be trying to catch up and I'm actually excited by this pairing. Could be a case of SO WRONG being SO RIGHT. The Party Down reunion with Adam Scott and Martin Starr was also great.

New Girl Becomes More Friend-ly

Remember last season when Big Bang Theory had the master stroke of bringing in two girls in order to give Penny her own world away from the guys and thereby giving the show some renewed vigor? Well New Girl seems to be doing the same much earlier in its run as evident in this last new episode with Jess having to deal with Nick's new girlfriend Julia (played by Party Down alum Lizzy Caplan) as well as having extended scenes with best friend Cece and random new character Sadie. The latter is a lesbian and thus have fantastic scenes with Schmidt (who had lots of things to do this episode and bringing it each time). Julia is like the anti-Jess and the dynamics between the two, just by themselves or playing off of Nick, are just wonderful. The show still has no clue what to do Wilson though which is a total bummer.

Another Delicious Ham for The Good Wife

Let's hope these ham sandwich episodes become a yearly tradition in The Good Wife, because they're always so good. The main story had to do with Wendy Scott-Carr presenting her case against Will Gardner in front of a grand jury, which had plenty of drama in its own right, but the episode also had a great meeting of the minds with Eli and Stacie whose rivalry tickles me a bit. As for the grand jury deal, Wendy held her own, but Elsbetch and crew was too much for her. The latter's strategy to try and connect Peter to the investigation was genius and forced Wendy to go after Alicia's sexual relationship with Will. Julianna Marguilies was fantastic in this scene as she was with her scene with Peter earlier asking him to back off Will. Just the perfect amount of desperation and resolve. In other news, Dana slapped Kalinda making me go "OH NO SHE DIN'T!" Though I wonder if this means not-so-good things re: Alicia's forged signature.

Fringe Doubles on Awesome with Two Astrids

It's been a long time coming, but this week's Fringe episode finally gave the wonderfully fantastic Jasika Nicole somewhat of a substantial storyline with her alt-self traversing into our universe to meet herself after her father passed away. Seeing the two interact is just as delightful as seeing any of the other characters do the same, but the emotional undercurrent, especially with the relationship both of them had seemingly with their fathers, made this even more affecting. Not to mention the interesting juxtaposition of their relationship with Walter with our Astrid sometimes treating him like a child while alt-Astrid almost making him a substitute father. Big thumbs up for Nicole and I wished we got more of this even though it feels like a one-time thing. Lovely scenes with Anna Torv as well especially her scenes with Peter (as our Olivia) and with Walter (as alt-Olivia).

Other Miscellaneous TV Thoughts

I probably shouldn't have laughed when Blaine got injured, Quinn got accepted into Yale, and Rachel accepted Finn's proposal in Glee, but I did (though how fabulous was Naya Rivera singing Smooth Criminal?)... Haven't seen Gossip Girl in two years, but I did quickly check out its 100th episode to see if they would reveal the identity of the titular character and they did, though a bit anti-climatically... Speaking of shows I never blog about, Grey's Anatomy had one trippy alt-reality episode which was fun as an exercise, but a bit exasperating all the same... Once Upon A Time may not be flawless, but I do like how they constantly mix and match stories such as this week's genie of Agrabah becoming trapped inside the Evil Queen's mirror via his own wish... Loved Liz and Jack going at each other in 30 Rock with Liz getting training from an old training video made my Jack; it's Jack-off... And finally Ringer is back and there seems to be a new bitch in town and I'm not talking about Siobhan finally making her New York comeback. So with that, let's go NEW YORK GIANTS!