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While it still hasn't been made official, it's safe to assume that this weekend's Mick Jagger-hosted season finale of Saturday Night Live marked the last time that Kristen Wiig will appear in Studio 8H... as an ensemble player at least. (We suspect she'll be back as a host somewhere down the line.) After all, considering that teary send-off to the tune of "Ruby Tuesday" it'll be strange if she returns in the fall. And although Andy Samberg (who may also be leaving) didn't get quite as obvious a farewell, his season-ending Digital Short -- which sequelized the skit that got launched the whole franchise seven years ago, "Lazy Sunday" -- suggested that it was a wrap for him as well. The only question mark now is Jason Sudeikis, another supposedly departing cast member who barely appeared in any sketches at all. While we wait for the formal announcement about casting changes, here are the episode's most memorable send-offs.
Let's all take a moment and breath a deep sigh of relief that last night's triple dose of Community won't be the last we see of the series outside of DVD viewing parties and its inevitable syndication run on Comedy Central. To the relief of many and the surprise of a few, NBC has renewed the series for one more 13-episode season, slated to air on Fridays in the fall. Naturally, we'd be happier with a full-season pick up, but an additional 286 minutes at Greendale is better than none at all.
I know I should probably be stressing out over Parks and Recreation still being in limbo for a Season 5 (at least as of this writing) while deciding whether "Win, Lose, or Draw" was better than last year's Season 3 finale, "Li'l Sebastian," but honestly, all I want to do right now is sit in a high-quality leather chair and reflect on a season of television that made me happy.
First off, congrats to the cast and crew of Community for nabbing a fourth-season, 13-episode order. It's nice to know that next week's back-to-back-to-back three-episode finale blowout won't be the last we ever see of the Greendale crew. Funnily enough, though, had things gone the other way, last night's episode "Curriculum Unavailable" could have almost have served as a series finale... provided they had chopped off the last five minutes.
I'm pretty sure that back in the day, I watched the episode of Full House where they went to Disney World about a thousand times, and when I grew tired of that, I watched the Family Matters one. Much as I hate blatant product placement (I still shudder at Claire and Haley's trip to Target), I'm a sucker for group outings to the Happiest Place on Earth. But that's not the only reason I liked "Disneyland."
At the conclusion of last week's Law & Order-themed episode, the Greendale student body lost one of its own -- the enigmatic, drug-dealing, pet-lizard-owning and sideburns-rocking Alex Osbourne a.k.a. Star-Burns. Last night's outing, "Course Listing Unavailable," was an offbeat farewell to the character that followed the arc of the five stages of grief... well, maybe three out of five anyway.
We've reached the penultimate episode of a pretty fantastic season of television... not that the gradually sinking ratings really reflect it. Last week's "The Debate" had the least U.S. viewers in the series' history, with the previous weeks behind it not faring much better. I don't fear Parks and Recreation being cancelled -- I'm just trying to say that it'd be ideal if everyone and their moms watched this show together to help build a better Pawnee. Though, it does make I... sad.
"Basic Lupine Urology" (a sly Dick Wolf reference) was the title of last night's Community episode, but they probably should have just gone ahead and called it Advanced Law & Order Studies. Because that was about as spot-on a spoof as we've seen from this show -- or, indeed, any series -- in recent memory. If we're being honest, we probably laughed more at the Ken Burns parody from a few weeks back, but execution-wise, this one both recreated and sent up its source material with the kind of expert precision that can only come with years of wasted nights and weekends watching marathons of Law & Order repeats.
One of my fears after watching "The Debate" is that Parks and Recreation will go hardcore sitcom on us and make someone other than Leslie or Bobby Newport win the City Council seat. It's not my favorite trope out there, and I know I should give this show a bit more credit than to go that route without a bigger picture in mind, but the writers clearly have so much fun with Fester Trim (Buddy Garrity Brad Leland), Brandi Maxxxx (Mara Marini) and, to a lesser degree, Manrico Della Rossa (Gary Carlos Cervantes) -- does anyone else feel like he's oddly phoned-in? -- that I feel only cautiously optimistic about not being let down.
"Parent Trap..." was not my favorite episode so far, as June was tremendously annoying, but there were some great moments involving small children. It's too bad that June went bananas and shook "her baby" because the two roomies with a foster child could have had comic potential for a few more episodes. Still, this installment did teach us a few things:
MOST RECENT POSTS
Saturday Night Live: The Most Memorable Farewells
Community: School's Out For Summer
Parks and Recreation: Who Made the Comedy Grade Last Night?
Community: We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes
Modern Family: The Happiest Place on Earth
Community: Death is Your Gift
Parks and Recreation: Who Made the Comedy Grade Last Night?
Community: Law & Disorder
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