What Show Will You Save? An E! Online Poll

E!Online is running a poll asking people to vote on the one show they would save from a list of programs that are “on the bubble”.  According to Ain’t it Cool News the show that has received the most votes the last five years running has been renewed.

Of the 17 shows on the list there are 5 that I’m pulling for: 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs and Veronica Mars.  But according to the rules I can only choose one.  Last year my vote would have gone to Veronica Mars hands down but this year I have to vote for Friday Night Lights, especially after watching last night’s amazing hour  It’s not that I don’t want the rest to make it but rules are rules.

Click here to vote for your favourite and feel free to comment below and let me know your pick.

“Comedy Night Done Right” – Who can argue with that?

Great article today on NBC’s Thursday night comedy block, the best 2 hours of comedy on TV.  I write here enough about the shows individually but it’s good to look at the block collectively and recognize that this is unique to TV today where sitcoms either have disappeared, completely suck or are the same-old, same old with the same laughs, jokes and stock characters that have been on for years.

None of those criticisms apply to this block of Earl, The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock made more remarkable for airing on the biggest ad night against the biggest hits on TV and largely crushing the competition week after week where it counts most – the quality of the shows.

Scrubs – Season 6, Episode 11 – My Night to Remember

I haven’t written much about Scrubs this season, the exception being the amazing musical episode.  I love this show and have since it started but the last few episodes have kind of been letdowns.

This week’s episode was a clip show which is both good and bad.  On the bad side I hate clip shows.  They don’t add much and as JD said at the beginning it’s what TV people use when they’re out of ideas.  The flip side is it reminded me how great this show can be when its fantastic ensemble cast deftly balances the absurd and the humorous with the drama and emotion.

Funny enough I watched a rerun of the finale from season 1 this evening (a true classic) before I saw this episode and felt like pulling out my Scrubs DVD sets and having a marathon of the first 4 seasons.  This episode made me want to do that even more.

Still, I’m conflicted.  It’s hard to give an episode that’s mostly retreaded content a better than average rating but the mix of scenes the episode closed out with was so great at highlighting why I love this show that I’m just going to have to cheat a bit.

Avi’s Scrubs Series Rating: A+

Scrubs – Season 6, Episode 6 – My Musical

I know I haven’t written about Scrubs yet this season but don’t take that to mean that it isn’t one of my favourite shows on TV. How much do I love the Scrubs?  When it ends its run either this season or next, without a doubt it will be in my TV Hall of Fame.  I own the first 4 seasons on DVD and intend to buy the rest when they come out.  There is no other comedy that blends humour, fantasy sequences and emotional moments portrayed by one of the best ensemble casts on television.

Which is a perfect segue into a discussion about Thursday’s brilliant musical episode which was a great reminder just how big (and of course talented) the Scrubs extended cast is (although I missed Jordan’s presence).  I have a soft spot for musicals so I was somewhat predisposed to liking this episode but they really knocked it out of the park.  For those who haven’t seen it, the premise was a woman with a brain tumor who heard everyone around her speaking in song and let me say it just worked.

The songs were written by the creators of the Broadway show Avenue Q which is essentially a musical adult version of Sesame Street.  The influence of their previous work was best highlighted in the sure to be best selling, Everything Comes Down to Poo where JD and Turk explained how “they can find what’s wrong with you by looking at your poo” and Man Love.  They didn’t just draw influence from their own show as many other great musicals got their own homages.  Like the Les Miserables influenced group march to When the Truth Comes Out to the Rent influenced You’re Going to be Okay to the Grease We’ll be Friends Forever – all toe tapping numbers that will find their way on to my MP3 player in short order.

Also loved the Cox rant and who knew what a pretty voice Carla had?  Her duet with Turk reminded me a lot of the Xander-Anya number from the Buffy musical episode (couldn’t not mention it) as they sang about just how little Turk knows of his bride.  Still they are a great couple and it’s hard not to appreciate how the writers have developed their relationship over the past 6 years.

In writing about shows like Grey’s Anatomy I’ve highlighted how annoying and pretentious the voice over is.  With Scrubs though I rarely have that feeling and in fact it is the closing voice overs that usually give me the lump in my throat and tonight was no exception.

Most shows can’t pull off what Scrubs does on a week to week basis – see Boston Legal, for example, as a show that just can’t find the proper balance between the ridiculous and the serious.  For most other shows what Scrubs did this week would be a risk where the odds of failure were really high.  Fortunately Scrubs isn’t like other shows.

Avi’s Episode Rating: A+