The Shows Mostly Formerly Affiliated with NBC's Thursday Night Comedy Block Thread **SPOILERS**

[Berober]

Jesus. Are all American TV shows that are re-aired there that far behind?

Only the ones whose first season are aired on a music video channel, so when they don't get ratings at all they are expendable.

[NM!]

Drunkronswanson.com

Spectacular.

[Josh]

I've seen that site zillions of times.

And I love it no less on the zillionth time than I did on the first.

[Guest mr. potato head]

So last week's episodes. Loved 30 Rock, thought it hit all the right notes (even the Sixth Sense line was a step above Tracy's usual non sequiturs IMO), made surprisingly good use of Kenneth, loved the girl from Kick-Ass as Jack's nemesis. They seemed to have put a lot of care into this one with a lot of "blink and you'll miss it" gags, my favourite of which was during the scene with Jack in Liz's office, Liz sits down, looks at the bag on her desk, realizes it's food and lets out a silent cheer.

Parks and Rec was really good as well (though I was leaning that way before even watching it after reading that Nick Offerman wrote the script). The Office was a bit more flat, but a decent ending to a storyline that's made me enjoy this season much more than anything else post-Michael.

[Josh]

[Berober]

http://www.avclub.com/articles/community-reruns-coming-to-comedy-central,70928/

Starting next year, Community re-runs on Comedy Central.

[LittleDaniel]

...isn't that a bad thing? I might be mistaken, but wasn't one of the arguments about the likeliness of Community coming back after the hiatus the fact that they had to get to a certain number of episodes to reach syndication? If they've already reached the number, wouldn't that mean they're less likely to come back?

[LL!]

But at the same time it can be seen as a positive in the sense that there is more outside revenue/interest coming in to the show.

[Josh]

Yeah, Dan Harmon said he's not sure how much it helps, but it helps not hurts.

[Josh]

John Hodgman explains the best way to support Community. Read it quick, so you can watch the show live, one hour from now!

Also, for funsies, Vulture visited Community's set and took pictures of 27 cool things they found. The Greendale Underground flyer is my favorite.

[Pleatherface]

Not a great episode of Community tonight. Amazing to see it back on tv, and I loved it, but... I'm not sure if it was GOOD enough considering that tonight was the tonight to yank in new viewers.

[Guest mr. potato head]

I guess Community wanted something accessible to lure in potential new viewers, but tonight's ep felt flat to me. "Annie's super-excited about wedding planning guys!" is way too standard a joke compared to what's normally on that show.

Liked 30 Rock quite a bit, they've been quietly putting together a very strong season.

The Office was also actually pretty good in my opinion, with a unique plotline that did a good job of getting characters out of their niches. The Catherine Tate plot felt like it could have been lifted from a much earlier season, which is a good thing. Wasn't nuts about the Andy/Erin plot but hopefully its purpose was just to get the characters where they need to be.

[RPS]

That Office was really really good. Catherine Tate really should take over the role as head of the office. "That is the American Dream... it's really just... random."

[Mofoticon]

That Office was really really good. Catherine Tate really should take over the role as head of the office. "That is the American Dream... it's really just... random."

Couldn't disagree more. Worst episode of the season and it's completely due to Catherine Tate. She's the worst character ever on the show.

[GoGo Yubari]

Whole lot of opinions I totally disagree with up in here! Community was awesome, Office was solid, I haven't really liked Catherine Tate that much but she was really strong tonight.

30 Rock was also good but a little lost in the shuffle. Not watching Up All Night tonight and am DVRing it, but last week's was great.

[RPS]

I agree with GoGo. I haven't really been wowed by Tate outside of the Office, but when she was brought in to be boss it seemed to just click and she felt like a great predecessor for Michael Scott. Andy's been OK, but I just don't think he's the type of character meant to run the Office.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Troy and Abed, two normal guys was great. Some great gags in Community tonight.

[Josh]

Not a great episode of Community tonight. Amazing to see it back on tv, and I loved it, but... I'm not sure if it was GOOD enough considering that tonight was the tonight to yank in new viewers.

Completely disagree with the bolded portions. Community may have the unofficial tag of "The Show That Does Conceptual (Or Genre) Episodes", but that's not all they do. Not by a long shot. And while non-fans may have their curiosity piqued by "they did this wicked cool action movie-style paintball episode", they need to see a solid non-genre, non-conceptual episode to get drawn in as regular viewers. Ultimately, as we've learned over the past year or more, the timeslot itself makes it ridiculously difficult to pull in new viewers. But if any episode is gonna capitalize on the temporary eyes that MIGHT be there, it's a solid non-conceptual piece that's true to form. Tonight's episode was exactly that. It was an ensemble piece that was characteristically self-aware that further developed individual characters and their relationships with each other, all while maintaining a stylized sense of intellect in the dialogue.

30 Rock was fun, mainly for Jack's plot and Hazel.

The Office was indeed very good, in that "oh my god, so much awkward tension" way. I'm not sure if I necessarily want Catherine Tate as the manager, but I could see it working for a time. And this episode proved, once again, that James Spader as Robert California makes for the most charming and likable villain.

If all three shows can keep this up through the end of the season, the 4 show block post-Parks and Rec's return will be absolutely killer.

[caucasianheat]

That Office was really really good. Catherine Tate really should take over the role as head of the office. "That is the American Dream... it's really just... random."

Couldn't disagree more. Worst episode of the season and it's completely due to Catherine Tate. She's the worst character ever on the show.

This is about where I'm at. I've seen some really terrible episodes and characters I didn't like on the Office, but last night was the first time I considered just not watching the show anymore if it's going to be driven around the Nellie character. Didn't like her in the Florida arc and really didn't like her last night. Just awful, she's like this terribly forced Michael Scott/David Brent hybrid and it's not working.

I thought Community was pretty strong. I liked the Troy/Abed plot as a sort of nod to the fact that the show could be toned down and made more accessible and sitcom-y, only for a monkey to crawl out of the ductwork and pull them right back in. "We're weird. We need to be weird."

Line of the night: "That's me! Where'd I get all that money I'm holding?"

[TKz]

Apparently Community did a 2.2 and average a 2.8, beating out American Idol.

That's pretty good, right?