This thread typically doesn’t have a ton of participants, so let’s not try to keep ourselves to a thread per week, and just start a new one if this one seems to get bulky.
Last night’s episode had more laugh-out-loud moments for me than I can remember in recent television history. Everyone except Donna seemed to have some good screen time. But the highlight of the episode had to be the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. I paused, and went frame-by-frame, and nearly wet my pants laughing so hard. Some that are hard to read, or just plain favorites:
Cursing: There’s only one bad word: Taxes. If any other word is good enough for sailors, it’s good enough for you.
Facial Hair: Full, thick and square. Nothing sculpted. If you have to sculpt it, that probably means you can’t grow it.
America: The only country that matters. If you want to experience other “cultures”, use an atlas or a ham radio.
The entire fourth row of various animal proteins (fish: Sport only!), but with “Romantic Love” in the middle of them all.
It does seem a little over-thought, but if writers are sitting around having a “things Ron Swanson would say” session, you’d come up with a lot of great material that you wouldn’t be able to use because there’s no context. This is a good catch-all that you can dump them into.
I follow Ken Tremendous (the head writer’s nickname) on Twitter, and they’re extremely excited about next week’s episode. I realize every writer is always excited about “next week’s episode”, but he usually gives pretty good anticipatory blurbs.
I agree. Though all the characters are strong, focusing on those two is the best way to do it. I think there’s probably a lot of pressure to focus on Ann (especially in Season 1, since she was pulling in The Office viewers) and Leslie. Both are decent characters (Leslie moreso), but Ron and Andy are gold.
I was thinking about it at work today and remembered that there was some good stuff in last night’s episode…
Andy (leaving voice mail): “I’ve left you 200 messages and you haven’t returned a single one! If you’re trying to tell me something, I don’t know what it is because you won’t return my calls!”
The whole Andy / Ron coaching comparison thing was great. I guess when I expressed disappointment in the other thread I was thinking about the date thing which seemed kind of lame.
I have a raging Rashida Jones crush so maybe I just don’t like her dating period.
“Fish, for sport only! It’s practically a vegetable anyway.”
Yeh, Ron and Andy are my favorites, but the entire cast is pretty great as an ensemble.
During the show, I was trying to read everything I could off of Ron’s Pyramid of Greatness, and remember just catching that the two penultimate spots were “America” and “Buffets”. That right there just kinda says it all.
i don’t like aziz ansari’s character all that much, but i think that’s kind of the point. i just think he does a good job, does a good job, then takes it a half step too douchey into bizarre/distracting/under-my-skin territory and i feel really put off by the weirdness. i’m not explaining myself very well, but… that’s how i feel.
i like aziz ansari though. human giant and his standup were terrific. this character? just a little too “Randy” for my liking.
Did they write out the missing guy at the end of last year? It’s been so long I forget. Can someone refresh me? (Man, I can’t even remember his name… Mark?)
And what was Ron’s thing about Capitalism? How God separates the smart from the poor? Was that it?
Its linked in the OP, but you more or less have it.
Andy is my least favorite character. The actor does a good job with it, but TV doesn’t really need another well-meaning buffoon, its been done to death in other sitcoms.
Ron, Leslie and Ansari’s character are much more interesting. Plus the last also ensures NBC’s weird “one or more S. Asian per sitcom” rule is observed.
I would be worried that they’re going to the Ron well too often, except that everything he (and Andy) did was full of awesome and win. What can beat Ron grilling (in his office!) while lecturing on the advantages of libertarianism?
I thought Amy Poehler was really great acting like someone who is out of it, but desperately trying to hold it together. They way she was kind of reacting rationally to hallucinatory images was fun.
And of course the whole Chris/Ann thing was hilarious. I have to admit I laughed most at the scatological stuff. “Once I thought he farted, but it was me.” and “STOP. POOPING!”
Ron re April: “I won’t be able find anyone as aggressively mean and at the same time apathetic. That April- she’s the whole package. But I may be able to find someone just as inaffective.”
I liked this episode a lot more than the premiere. Even Tom was great.
“Would you rather live in the pouch of a giant kangaroo, or have a tiny kangaroo living in your own pouch.”
“Tiny kangaroo in my pouch.”
“I forgot to mention, the tiny kangaroo is a racist.”
