thePeanutBloggery

This was an odd week for the inaugural “What I Watched”, as most of the shows, such as Heroes and The Gilmore Girls, were airing re-runs. Apparently the networks assume all the viewers were out shopping and at Christmas parties. If only. Studio 60, the most narcissistic show on television, made a big to-do about having a traditional Christmas episode (in the land of fiction) with snow and Santa, then went ahead (in the real world) and aired it three full weeks before Christmas.

A few brave series aired new episodes this week. They were primarily holiday themed as expected and hoped for.

• Monday night on CBS, a new How I Met Your Mother titled “How Lily Stole Christmas” delivered a solid amount of holiday cheer. Although it was only mildly amusing, and the gimmick of saying the word “Grinch” repeatedly in place of a normally bleeped invective felt forced, this episode is likely to become the one they pull out of storage every year right before Christmas (and let’s hope I’m talking about a bunch of years). While it didn’t reach the level of comedy I’ve come to expect this season, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) revealed a brand new variety of obnoxiousness by coming down with the flu, and the revelation of the history of Ted and Lily’s friendship provided a welcomed strengthening of the group.

• Thursday night on Fox, The O.C. aired their annual Chrismukkah episode. “The Chrismukk-huh?” asked the It’s a Wonderful Life question: What if Ryan (and Taylor, but mostly Ryan) had never come to the O.C.? This was the best Chrismukkah episode since the first (when Summer dressed as Wonder Woman), and in vintage O.C. style, it was handled with a wink and a nudge. Most importantly, it seemed to finally put an end to the Marisa Cooper mourning period.

• Meanwhile, on NBC, Scrubs was airing an oddly un-holiday themed episode, “My Coffee”. For the past two seasons, their schedule has been so erratic, they’ve been unable to plan around holidays and season like the rest of television. This episode was a certain improvement over last week’s “worst-ever” episode, but it still didn’t reach the quality of the season premiere. Perhaps JD and Turk as fathers doesn’t make for good comedy, or perhaps it’s Dr. Cox’s frightening blond jerry curl that prevents me from fully enjoying what is traditionally one of the most consistent comedies on television.

• Because Ugly Betty was airing a re-run, I decided to tune to NBC for the hour-long The Office, “A Benihana Christmas”. I don’t watch this show regularly, because I find it too painful and too real, but I laughed often during this episode (something I’m not known for), and when it was over I was confident in my decision to skip my office party this year.

Finally, I leave you with “What They Said”:

When you walk through the door, does it feel like you’ve been slapped in the face by Christmas?”
Marshall in How I Met Your Mother inquiring about the decorations at their apartment.