Must-See TV?

I have a nightmare. A nightmare that, in two or three years, NBC’s entire schedule will be Jay Leno playing the comedy equivalent of teeball on the airwaves. “You loved him at 11:30, you loved him at 10:00, you’ll love him at 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., and uh, 2:17 p.m….why not?!” I’ve heard legends — tall tales really — that Jay Leno used to be a hilarious comedian. Apparently, if you go on an Indiana Jones-like quest on YouTube, you can discovered this long-burried Leno. But the Leno that has commanded millions of eyeballs (but whose eyeballs, I wonder?) is a watered-down, broader Leno — the same Leno that now commands the 10:00 p.m. timeslot on NBC at the sacrifice of original fictional programming. What I’m asking is if a joke lands at 9 o’clock in primetime and nobody’s there to see it, does it make a sound? I hope so.

TV is changing — we all get that. TiVo and DVR mean there’s no missing anything anymore. But if we don’t watch better TV, we will end up missing a lot. Hence the contrast that exists on NBC’s Thursday night schedule. 8:00 p.m.: Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursdays; 8:30 p.m.: Parks and Recreation; 9:00 p.m.: The Office; 9:30 p.m.: Community; 10:00 p.m.: The Jay Leno Show. Ladies and gentlemen, appeasement is not a valid strategy. If we don’t hold the line here, Community might as well be called “Poland.” From 8:00 to 10:00 on NBC is still funny, and especially when 30 Rock returns, it’ll be some of the most original comedy content on TV, at least off cable. But unfortunately, best is not most, and these shows, while having a following, both critically and in the public, don’t have the ratings of even something as banal as Two and a Half Men.

SNL Thursdays was an interesting experiment last year during the election that yielded high dividends for NBC. It was their highest-rated scripted show. That explains its return this fall, and it’ll be interesting to see how it performs in a non-political season, although that seems like a false thing to say. There’s still comedy gold to be mined out of reality (thanks to Congressman Joe Wilson), but hopefully there’s still enough to spread between Thursday and Saturday. But this past Thursday’s debut was strong, thanks largely in part to Mr. Wilson and the fact that all these years later, Jimmy Carter and James Carville (or at least impersonations of them) are still hilarious…at least to me anyway. Sorry, Leno people.

At 8:30, we transition from Amy Poehler from one desk to another — that of  ”Weekend Update” to hers as Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation — a cousin to The Office. I was skeptical when Parks came around last winter, wondering if it’d be too much of a good thing. Imagine if, in the ’90s, NBC had a show on before Friends called “Pals.” But even though the approach is the same, the talent is talented enough to not only differentiate the show but make it entertaining in its own right. I offer a lot of these props to Aziz Ansari, who plays an assistant in the Pawnee, Indiana government office of — yeah, you guessed it — Parks and Recreation. Sorry about the posthumous logline there, but Mr. Ansari is so damned entertaining, I wish there was a show on NBC called “Aziz Ansari Says Things.” I’d watch the junk out of it. He carries the show a long way, along with Poehler, who’s really growing into her role. In Knope, you can tell Poehler is actually playing a character. Knope is a lot less weird and eccentric than the real life Poehler — a lot less aware and socially maleable. Poehler nails it, and the premise for this year’s premiere episode shows a lot of promise for the season. Knope accidentally weds two male penguins in a ceremony meant to promote the local zoo, and unwillingly becomes a gay icon. Yes, it wasn’t much longer before we heard Lady Gaga…but it was funny.

At 9:00, we get our old friend The Office. I couldn’t shake this feeling that the show, at this point, has become that guy that stayed in college too long. For a few years he was the coolest, but now, six or seven years later, you’re left wondering if he’ll ever change or grow up. That lasted for a few minutes, and then I didn’t really care. The Rolling Stones still play rock ‘n’ roll; The Office can keep doing its thing as long as it can, but I feel we’ve got less rather than more left to go. The driving force of the show was the “would they, won’t they” of Jim and Pam. Well, now Pam is pregnant. The show has less of a central tension, but still works some good bits in. The rumor mill of this year’s season premiere offered some great stuff, and after a big summer of being in The Hangover, Ed Helms was the standout as a “am I/aren’t I” maybe-gay Andy Bernard. At least for this week.

At 9:30, we got the hyped-all-summer-long Community — a more traditional sitcom whose premise follows a kind of “island of misfit toys” group of adults at community college. Joel McHale, who is the only force for good in the dark pits of E! as host of The Soup, stars as a lawyer stripped of his right to practice, along with a cast that includes Chevy Chase, an attractive blonde, Ken Joeng (again, The Hangover) and the sassy black lady from Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh that we don’t know all that much about but who seems promising. With the pedigree of its cast and surrounding schedule, I’m willing to see Community through. The first episode had quite a few laughs, but the best is probably yet to come, and it usually takes a while for a new comedy to get its footing. Just check out the first couple of episodes of 30 Rock.

By the way, when Tina Fey returns (and oh, how I’ve waited), one of these shows will have to scoot to make room. Probably Community, maybe SNL, but couldn’t they just push Leno out of the way? Well, if we keep watching, maybe comedy’s got a chance. NBC’s DVR-era of “Thursday Must-See TV” indicates there might even be a strong one.