Big Bang Theory! One the 3 (surviving) Funniest Shows on TV, along with Better Off Ted, and the new Community -- all share the same knack for unexpected jokes, some of which you can savor for a moment.Big Bang makes jokes a lot of regular TV watchers won't even get, which seems brave to me even though there are lots of nerds around--and lots of people who have to live & work with nerds and spend much of the show shaking our heads in amused dismay.
Better Off Ted goes off down insane paths of immorality that just get deeper and more nutty all the way down to the final moment. I love how they handle the voiceover; the two lab guys, especially the African-American one, steal the show every minute they're on screen, and the actress who plays the boss is so over the top it's a wicked joy to watch her go.
Community puts many of its punchlines just off to one side of where the obvious kind of joke would ordinarily be.
Chevy Chase: "You remind me of me when I was your age."
Joel McHale: "I deserved that."
Which takes a moment to sink in. And the guy from Palestine who is hyperobservant, and who labors to understand what's going on culturally by shoehorning the moment into American movie he's seen. I look forward to how they will pay off the other characters over time. Any comedy that starts with a disgraced lawyer who got his law degree from Columbia -- the country, not the university, and, as one character points out, "as an email attachment" -- can't help but make you laugh.
And a running gag that the lead actress looks like Elizabeth Shue (she does) plays off a similar scene at the end of The Office that preceded the premiere, where three morose employees complain of being referred to by their boss by the name of whatever actor they happen to resemble (and they do, too!). Wheels within wheels!
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