Please tell me it’s getting better after the first episode…
I feel like episode 3 is about when it hits its stride again. It takes a couple of episodes to set up the new scenario. The last 5 episodes are particularly fantastic.
A joke I’m not sure I get from Episode 5: Titus has a “Quest Diagnostics Barbie Chalet”. It’s made of a bunch of unopened envelopes marked “IMPORTANT TEST RESULTS - FINAL NOTICE” (and yeah, I know they do blood tests). I’m guessing the implication is that they’re HIV tests and he doesn’t want to face the possibility of a positive result? Is that right or am I missing something?
This show makes me smile. And laugh, but I smile through every episode. I only hate that I have no control and binged on the whole season in one weekend. I already miss it. There is not a thing I don’t like. I am not crazy about the character Amy Sedaris plays. The faces she makes are so off-putting and her acting is so over-the-top, just a painted up sad clown. But it’s tolerable as long as we have Carol Kane to balance it out.
The finale was my favorite episode but it seemed like a lot of closure. Were they not expecting to make a third season?
Yeah, Amy Sedaris is gross and terrible. I like that they got Fred Armisen to do some totally random weird bit characters though.
It’s all the same character. He’s always Robert Durst. He’s great.
That would be a bit too dark for the show, I think. Titus is a hugely selfish character, but ignoring the risk of HIV and endangering others would be much, much too far. I’m sure the tests would be for something more humorously innocuous.
I’m curious if they’ll ever do any direct 30 Rock references. It really feels like the two shows could be taking place in the same reality.
But they’re not referenced again, so the joke is supposed to convey something on its own. HIV tests, or at least general STD tests, seem like the logical go-to for that. I can understand apprehension about the results of such tests and it’s obviously a bigger deal in the gay community. You’re reading into a comedy show too far if you try to apply character ethics to a one-off joke like that though.
I tried Googling to see if there were any other references that might explain the joke, but nothing turned up.
Just hit the episode with the music soundalikes. Jesus Christ, I thought I was going to die laughing.
Totally disappointed in the season, but this episode was amazing
“No, me baby! Me no go to bed!”
I nearly fell off my couch when the Hanson soundalike came on, because it made exactly as much sense as the original lyrics - which is to say, none.
What was the joke with the puppet-old lady at Mike’s family table?
I missed it and it was just…odd.
I forget what the verbal joke was that led to the cut over to her, but seeing her, I laughed my ass off because it’s basically a muppet caricature of a shrunken, wrinkled old grandmother.
I want to watch it, but the portrayal of Dong really bothered me and I just can’t watch it anymore. I started to watch Season 2 but the recap of Season 1 had him right in there, and I forgot how nasty his portrayal is. How is it ok to be so racist against Asians?
It’s too bad because I really liked the show otherwise, but I can’t abide by such stuff anymore, the older I get. 
I want to understand what you’re saying, because I want to be sensitive to racist portrayals but I’m not seeing it here. He does have a heavy accent and sometimes gets his English wrong, but he is supposed to be a recent immigrant so I don’t know if that’s it. He has a job at a Chinese restaurant, is that the problem? Surely that’s common?
I mean, they play him for laughs as a foreigner and an immigrant, but I don’t understand the charge of racism. They mine Titus’ gayness and blackness for jokes (and Lilly’s age, and Mrs. White’s Native American heritage) - so I haven’t felt like Dong’s been singled out or treated badly.
You’re probably not going to like the fact that in Season Two he’s improved his English skills by watching a lot of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
We finished watching the season two nights ago and I didn’t even realize it until we tried watching the next episode last night. It seemed an odd way to end until I figured out they were cliffhangers… 
I think I liked Mikey the best. He had his goofy bits like going to Con Con and having a puppet for a grandma but he was also really grounded and I liked some of the character stuff he and Titus had together. Everybody else is so over the top goofy that a little grounded is nice.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Carol Kane is a national comedic treasure.