Monday, December 28, 2009

OUR BALLS ARE IN YOUR COURT: Among the more prestigious -- or at least, the most consistent awards I've given out each year on the site is the ALOTT5MA Award for Funniest Half Hour of Television of the Year. Our past winners are:
2004: The Daily Show, Night Two of the Democratic National Convention ("My father was a poor Virginia turd-miner ... ")
2005: South Park, "Best Friends Forever"
2006: The Office, "The Injury"
2007: 30 Rock, "The Source Awards"
2008: The Colbert Report, April 17, 2008 (Edwards, Clinton, Obama cameos from Philadelphia.)
The answer didn't come immediately to me, because the funniest show I remember from this year is technically ineligible -- the Office episode "Stress Relief" which followed the Super Bowl lasted an hour, but oh, what an hour. Save Bandit! Boom, roasted. You don't have any friends or any family or any land. (Alan has more.) But rules are rules, and an hour is not a half hour. (Same goes for the wedding episode, which was warm and wonderful.)

So I started thinking about other shows, and in particular Modern Family, and mostly about "Fizbo," which between its nonlinear structure and the confrontation at the gas station brought an already great show to a new level of awesome. People are gonna stare! They're not used to seeing one clown in a car!

Anyone wanting to declare "Fizbo" the winner can do so with confidence, and I'll confess to not having seen enough Parks & Recreation (or Better Off Ted, or this season of Curb) to know if I'm really missing an obvious winner from there.

But in the end, I went back through that list of Office episodes and was reminded of "Broke," in which Dunder Mifflin was forced to buy out the Michael Scott Paper Company -- of which I said at the time "I take back every skeptical thing I said about The Office last week. That was beautiful. I do love it when Michael demonstrates his intelligence." Indeed, it's where his childish stubbornness and business savvy merge perfectly:
Michael Scott: I'll see your situation and I'll raise you a situation. Your company is losing clients left and right. You have a stockholder meeting coming up and you are going to have to explain to them why your most profitable branch is bleeding. So they may be looking for a little change in the CFO. So I don't think I need to wait out Dunder Mifflin. I think I just have to wait out you.
[...]
Michael Scott: Our company is worth nothing. That's the difference between you and I. Business isn't about money to me, David. If tomorrow my company goes under I will just start another paper company. And then another and another and another. I have no shortage of company names.
David Wallace: Michael ...
Michael Scott: That's one of 'em! Yes!
(Alan thought it was superb.) The Office has remained strong over the years while contemporaries like 30 Rock have faltered. Its creators understand that the best comedy starts from great, nuanced characters engaged in plots about which we care. This year saw the rise and fall of the Michael Scott Paper Company, Pam and Jim's wedding (proving again that love need not ruin a show) and the gradual collapse of Dunder Mifflin itself amid these trying economic times. Just because it's a sitcom doesn't mean it can't also be ambitious, and I am happy to acknowledge the greatness of The Office one more time.

9 comments:

  1. You are really missing out on 'Parks and Recreation.'  "The Stakeout" (2.2), "Ron and Tammy" (2.8), and "The Hunting Trip" (2.10) are three of the funniest episodes of television ever -- and I'm a longtime fan of 'The Office' and am currently enjoying 'Modern Family' and 'Better Off Ted.'

    My order of funniest episodes (regardless of your half-hour programming rule):
    1.  "Stress Relief" (The Office)
    2.  "Ron and Tammy" (Parks and Rec)
    3.  "Racial Sensitivity" (Better Off Ted)
    4.  "The Camel" (Parks and Rec -- but I majored in art history, so this may not be as brilliant to others)
    5.  "Debate 109" / "Comparative Religion" (Community -- but I'm a sucker for metareferentiality and original, I emphasize original, holiday jokes on religion)

    Also, if you were to take out all the heaven/hell mythology of 'Supernatural,' you would have the funniest montage in the history of... ever.

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  2. Patrick2:48 PM

    "Racial Sensitivity" from Better Off Ted

    The show was new (it was only episode 4) and fresh.  It absolutely killed.

    If not this, then "Fizbo."

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  3. M Haubs4:24 PM

    Curb was more uneven than many of the shows mentioned here - it had both some of its best and worst episodes this season.

    But I have to say I didn't see anything funnier than The Black Swan or The Table Read this year. Both uproarious. You gotta recharge the mitzvah.

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  4. Alex Gordon5:56 PM

    Agreed on The Table Read. Also loved every ep of Modern Family, but especially the Xmas ep.

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  5. Dan Suitor9:42 PM

    "Racial Sensitivity" is the clear winner in my mind. No show more perfectly distilled the post-racial-but-not-really mindset of the Aughts to its core elements. Deft, mad-cap, and rediculous, it'll be the episode of BOT that we all remember by name years later.

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  6. Marsha10:37 AM

    "Racial Sensitivity" as well. Adam, I loved the Office ep you mentioned, but even by your description, it was your favorite, or best half hour of the year, not the funniest. It was a very satisfying episode and beautifully written and acted, but not even the funniest 30 minutes of the Office this year.

    If not Racial Sensitivity, I've got to go with the P&R with Ron's hernia or Fizbo.

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  7. Yep, Racial Sensitivity for me as well. Like any great Ted office, but hilarious and cringe-inducing.

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  8. Jennifer J.12:20 AM

    I'd vote for Ron & Tammy. Then Fizbo. Then Racial Sensitivity. Then the Office episode mentioned.

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  9. P&R is the TV MVP of 2009.  I wish I'd remembered to comment that NBC was showing four episodes of it tonight, so I hope new people caught it anyway!  

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