Cougar Town, "When the Time Comes"

Every episode of Cougar Town is always good for a few laughs.  It is, after all, another show from the mastermind behind Scrubs, Bill Lawrence.  This particular Thanksgiving episode had a definite Scrubs style to it.  Probably because Laurie's new iPhone app features a talking Zach Braff to suggest appetizers.  In addition to that, I caught a line ("Eagle!") that only a true Scrubs fan would replay in their mind with Zach Braff's voice.

Enough about Scrubs!  Cougar Town has made a style of its own, and it is definitely getting the recognition it deserves.  It has not been a show about cougars since the very beginning of last season.  Now in its second season, Courtney Cox's main character Jules is settled in a relationship with her neighbor, Grayson.  Their relationship status doesn't stop the banter between them.  It also helps that Jules' ex husband,  Bobby, is always hanging out with them, their other married neighbor couple, and Jules' co-worker Laurie.

This week's episode was all about Jules trying to get a romantic Thanksgiving dinner set up.  She knew all along that her son, his college roommate, her ex-husband, co-worker, and best friend/neighbor would also be in attendance.  She asked them all to come dressed up for a fancy dinner.  This is the type of quirkiness that Cougar Town fans have grown to love about Jules Cobb.

Things don't turn out as planned, once Grayson eats oyster, which he was allergic to.  In the end though, they all end up sitting around the table being thankful to have each other as friends.  It may not have been the funniest episode the show has done, but it was heartfelt and appropriate for a family holiday.

Modern Family, "Mother Tucker"

Surprisingly, this episode that aired the night before Thanksgiving was not about the holiday.  It actually didn't matter to me, because the storylines they did have were brilliant.

Phil has always had a special attachment to his eldest daughter Haley's boyfriend Dylan.  Dylan is a clueless, quiet yet hilarious teenager whom Haley was cheating on with her tutor.  When Claire catches Haley making out with the tutor, she encourages Haley to break up with Dylan as soon as possible.  Phil is upset at the thought of the break-up, partially because he had been publicly dumped in high school.

When Dylan comes to the house to get his things left there, Phil feels bad and starts to hang out with him as they go guitar shopping.  Phil is definitely my favorite character on TV right behind Michael Scott on The Office.  Those 2 characters have a lot in common, and it is no wonder that this attributes to the popularity of both shows.

Manny, the 50 year old soul living in a 12 year old's body, was helping diagnose his stepfather Jay's symptoms using a Web MD type of site.  Manny's mother Gloria doesn't believe in any sort of medical attention because she was raised in Colombia and is used to treating her ailments herself.  This particular storyline wasn't the funniest the Pritchett family has had but nothing could have beaten Phil's relationship with Dylan.

I haven't even mentioned Cam and Mitchell's story yet, and their situation is where the episode title comes from.  Cam's mother (as seen above) comes to visit, and she is very inappropriately touchy with Mitchell, without meaning to be like that.  This was a very predictable way to prove that Cam is a momma's boy at heart.

Modern Family, "Manny Get Your Gun"

The ABC Wednesday comedy night line-up was full of excellent episodes.  I chose to write about Modern Family this time because out of all the shows, this one had me tearing up from laughing so much.

The Dunphys are my favorite of the 3 main families.  Phil and Claire are the parents of Luke, Alex, and Haley.  Phil started off the episode with talking about family camp, an apparent tradition in their family.
Talking about the color teams they were split into last summer, this exchange of words was classic:

Phil: "If you ain't white, you ain't right!"

Claire: "Phil, have you learned nothing?!"

Soon, the attention shifted to the other families, all of whom were getting ready for Manny's birthday dinner.  The gay couple, Cameron and Mitchell, were shopping for their nephew's birthday present when they found an old man trying to yell for an old woman in the plaza.  Cam stepped in and helped get his message across, only to discover that the woman was the man's mistress.  As Mitchell said, they were the most "adult adulterers!"  Perhaps the funniest scene with Cam and Mitchell happened after Mitchell joined in on a flash dance mob.  Cameron was so upset that Mitchell "cheated on him with dance" when all Mitchell was trying to do was prove that he can be fun. 

Manny is getting ready for his own birthday dinner when he realizes he hasn't lived like a child much.  He drinks coffee, and complains about his achy knee predicting the rainy weather to come.  When he pulls out an old pool float he got years ago, he literally floats around in his wallows until his mother Gloria makes him snap out of it so they can finally leave for his dinner.

All of these storylines literally collided in the end when they all almost crash in front of the restaurant.  The good thing about this show is that every episode has a warm message underneath all the humor.  If you haven't seen it before, I would highly recommend catching up!

Season 1 is out on DVD now! 

30 Rock, "Brooklyn Without Limits"

John Slattery follows the lead of his Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm and was the guest-star on this week's 30 Rock.  Whether or not Slattery's politician character Steve Austin will make another appearance is unknown at the moment but it was an enjoyable episode.  His Rhode Island accent was not as painful to hear as other occasional guest stars, like Julianne Moore with her Boston accent.

The funniest storyline of this episode has to do with the title of it, Brooklyn Without Limits.  That is the name of a hipster clothing store outside of Manhattan where everyone's favorite Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) found what she believed to be the best jeans she's ever owned.  As a plus, she buys into their supposed eco-friendly claims when she announces that "these jeans totally make up for all the time I took long showers because I was bored!"

After Liz finds out that this supposed local company is owned by Halliburton, she gets changed into overalls that probably had never seen the light of day since the 1990s.  Jack Donaghy cracks a joke about them, but Liz feels better about herself because Jenna and Tracy inspired her.

While Liz was busy worrying about her jeans, Jack was encouraging Slattery's Steve Austin to make an appearance on TV so that it was known that their company Kabletown backs him up as a candidate.  It was pretty funny to see his previous campaign videos, where his theme was all about the rebirth of America.  He even went so far as to get baby rattles printed with his name on them.

Tracy Jordan had received news that important people from the Golden Globes were interested in coming to view his movie, Hard to Watch, based on the book "Stone Cold Bummer" by Manipulate.  Jenna, the jealous actress, tried to get him to ruin his chances of winning their votes.  Once the screening of the film was over, however, she felt truly sorry for what she was doing because she was moved by the message of the Precious knock-off.

Tracy ended up inspiring Liz when she visited Jenna and Tracy, and in turn, Liz brought her inspiring message to Jack.  Overall, this was a good episode to have aired just days after Tina Fey herself had won the Mark Twain prize for American Humor.  It is a very well-deserved award, and I hope there's many more years of Tina's writing and acting to look forward to!