[Televisionary]

I had both the good fortune and the unluckiness to go out for drinks last night (with a group of fellow TV critics and reporters) and am still way behind on catching up on my Thursday night programming. (Which feels a bit like a Sisyphean effort every week with so many fantastic series shoehorned onto Thursday nights.) I did, however, manage to catch last night's fantastic episodes of NBC's Community and Parks and Recreation , which offered a much-needed holiday-themed one-two punch after my night of absinthe-based socializing. I thought that both series were firing on all cylinders last night. Community may have pulled off its best episode to date with "Comparative Religion" (written by Liz Cackowski), juggling plots involving Jeff (Joel McHale) standing up to bully (guest star Anthony Michael Hall), the holidays, the end of the semester, and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) coming to terms that her friends might not share her religious views. While I enjoy seeing the

Good news: Will Arnett is coming to Pawnee. E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has confirmed with NBC that Amy Poehler's real-life husband Will Arnett will guest star on an upcoming episode of Parks and Recreation , where he will play an MRI technician at the local hospital. Dos Santos asks which character ends up in the hospital but my answer is that it needn't be that any of the characters is in need of an MRI in the first place. After all, Rashida Jones' Ann works in said hospital and would therefore be a colleague of Arnett's character. What do you think? Will, er, Will Arnett find himself right at home in Pawnee? Wish he'd bring a cassette of the "Final Countdown" along? UPDATE: Looks like Arnett's Parks and Recreation episode will air in January, most likely on January 14th.

Over on Twitter, there's been a great debate waged over the last few days about what the best comedies currently on television are, a subjective discussion if there ever was one. Titles have been thrown about, opinions bandied, and worthiness dissected and then dissected again. The Great Comedy Debate led Time critic James Poniewozik to yesterday publish his list of the top television comedies at the moment (he included just those that are currently on the air right now ) and I thought I do this same, limiting my list to just five US series that are airing new episodes as we speak. So, in no particular order, here are my picks for The Five Best Comedies on Television: Modern Family (ABC) No other series has come close to balancing the sweet with the tart than Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan's brilliant mockumentary Modern Family , which each week dazzles its enraptured audience with a winning combination of heart and humor. It's the rare comedy that can make you roar

I've never been much of a Halloween guy. Some people love to dress up and head out to parties but I've always taken the view that Halloween is one of those holidays that you either believe in with all of your being or you can't quite wrap your head around. Last night, NBC's two-hour Thursday night comedy block all offered Halloween-themed diversions but happily each did so in their own inimitable way with Community focusing on a Mexican Day of the Dead after-school party, Parks and Recreation splitting its focus between Leslie stalking a notorious Halloween teen vandal and Ann throwing a costume party, The Office keeping it all confined to the cold open, and 30 Rock offering a celebration of "gay Halloween." I have to say that I thought that Community and Parks and Recreation were by far the funniest two entries in last night's comedy block, comprising a strong one-two punch of humor that seems to be gathering more confidence week to week. Last night

It really upsets me that more people aren't watching Community and Parks and Recreation on NBC. The two series--now back to back on Thursday nights--are two of the funniest and sharpest comedies on television but the ratings, while not horrible, aren't great and are nowhere near where they should be for such fantastically funny comedies. Granted, there is a hell of a lot of competition on Thursday nights at 8 pm. Viewers have their pick between these two comedies and FlashForward on ABC, Bones on FOX, Survivor on CBS, and The Vampire Diaries on CW. (And that's just at the broadcast level.) Things get even more complicated when you look at Thursday as a whole; there's an overabundance of quality programming to watch, making it even more difficult to decide just what you should be watching live. Personally, I ended up watching Community and Parks and Recreation live last night and TiVo'd FlashForward to watch tonight after I was rather disappointed with the s

I'll admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of the first few episodes of NBC's single-camera comedy series Parks and Recreation , when the series initially debuted earlier this year. The first few episodes seemed like a stilted knockoff of creator Greg Daniels and Mike Schur's own fellow NBC comedy The Office , populated by cartoonish characters, and an unnecessary mockumentary angle that didn't offer any nuance or develop the characters or their situations. But then something rather miraculous occurred: the series improved in the last batch of episodes in its freshman season, toning down the hidden camera/talking heads format and transforming its leading character, Pawnee's Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), into a more three-dimensional and complex individual, rather than a bumbling female Michael Scott type. I had the opportunity last week to watch the first two episodes of Parks and Recreation 's second season, which launches later this week, and I have to say tha

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing. Skeet Ulrich ( Jericho ) has signed on for a multiple-episode story arc on CBS' CSI: NY , where he will play a deeply disturbed killer in three episodes of the procedural crime drama. His first appearance is slated to air October 7th. ( TVGuide.com ) Louis C.K. ( Lucky Louie ) will appear on NBC's Parks and Recreation next season in a multiple-episode story arc in which he'll play a police officer in Pawnee who is a potential love interest for Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope. He'll first appear in the second episode of the series' sophomore season, though it's unclear how many installments he'll ultimately appear in. ( Variety ) Paris Hilton will guest star in an upcoming episode of the CW's Supernatural , where she will play "the role of a demonic creature that takes the form of... Paris Hilton," according to executive producer Sera Gamble, who sheds some light on the supernatural goings-on

After its six-episode first season, NBC's Parks and Recreation still isn't reaching anywhere near its actual potential. Given the strengths of creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur and the comedic timing of the talented cast, Parks and Recreation should have been a home run but it's been hampered by an unnecessary and clunky format that sucks the energy out of every scene and an over-reliance on unfunny talking heads. However, last night's season finale of Parks and Recreation ("Rock Show") was at least a step in the right direction. Written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Mike Schur, it played down the mockumentary aspects of the format that are typically overused and irritating, focusing the energy of the piece on several storylines--Andy (Chris Pratt) getting his casts off, Leslie (Amy Poehler) going on a date with a much older man, and Ann (Rashida Jones) discovering that Andy had lied to her--all of which dovetailed quite nicely at Andy's first r

NBC unveiled part of its plan for the 2009-2010 season just a few hours ahead of its infront presentation to advertisers in New York. The Peacock ordered six new series including dramas Trauma, Parenthood, Mercy, and Day One (described as an "event series") and comedies 100 Questions and Community . NBC also officially announced that it had renewed dramas Heroes and Southland and comedy Parks and Recreation , as well as ordering six new installments of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday . As expected, there was no mention of on the bubble series like Chuck, Law & Order , and My Name is Earl , although the network was quick to acknowledge that additional renewals and pickups will be announced May 19th, when NBC announces its full 2009-2010 schedule. (Also missing: Medium , which some news outlets had reported as already being renewed.) It's a rather full offering (with the potential for further orders), considering that NBC has lost its 10 pm hour during t

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing. All eyes are on NBC today as the net plans to unveil to advertisers a slew of new and returning series at its "infront" in New York. Loads of rumors are flying around about the fate of several projects so please take any reports with a grain of salt until they are officially confirmed by NBC. NBC has renewed freshman drama Southland for a second season of thirteen episodes, despite the fact that the series came in third place on Thursday. However, execs are said to be high on the John Wells-executive produced drama from Warner Bros. Television and believe it has the potential to become a hit... though it will have to do so in a timeslot other than the 10 pm hour as NBC will be handing over that timeslot to Jay Leno this fall. Freshman comedy Parks and Recreation is also expected to get a second season order today as well, though it's thought that NBC may delay decisions on such series as Chuck and such pilots as David

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing. Just shortly after the airing of Lost 's 100th episode, The New York Times ' Dave Itzkoff recalls a recent interview with showrunner Damon Lindelof about he and the writing staff are preparing for the end of Lost in May 2010. "I think one of our biggest concerns is reaching the climax of the story too soon – you have to time it right, you have to walk that line between giving a steady supply of story and character pathos and mysteries being answered along the way, so that the audience doesn’t feel like it all comes in one big chunk," said Lindelof. "But then if you do it too soon, they kind of feel like, 'I got everything that I cared about halfway through the season, so why am I still watching?' And it’s terrifying. Finally, we’re going to do it. There’s no excuses, we don’t get to say, 'We didn’t get to end the show on our own terms. They kept us on the air three years longer than we wanted to be.

I was curious to check out the second episode of NBC's Parks and Recreation ("Canvassing") last night to see if my feelings about the new Amy Poehler-starring series, from creators Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, had changed at all. After watching the series' second episode, I was struck once again how the mockumentary format that the duo borrowed from The Office just doesn't work here. In fact, I believe it's what's holding the series back. Too often the characters rely on overused talking heads to convey information that would be far more humorous if they were said to actual people (I'm thinking of Leslie's bit about returning to the park on her birthday with her White House staff as an example) than to the unseen camera crew. Additionally, the use of the hand-held cameras works much better in the physical confines of The Office , where the Dunder Mifflin crew works in bullpen-style seating rather than in tiny, cramped offices. Far too often, the

Will the pit become Leslie's Hoover Dam? You read my advance review of NBC's new comedy series, Parks and Recreation , starring Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Paul Schneider, Nick Offerman, and Aubrey Plaza, but--now that the series has launched--I am curious to see what you thought. What did you think of the pilot episode of Parks and Recreation ? Do you like the series' Mid-West milieu? Did you appreciate the use of The Office -style mockumentary format or did it grate on your nerves? Did you think Amy Poehler shined as Leslie Knope? And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week? Talk back here. Next week on Parks and Recreation ("Make My Pit a Park"), Leslie (Amy Poehler) decides that they should canvass the community to take the public reading on the pit project before a public forum; despite being extremely far away from bringing in contractors, Tom (Aziz Ansari) starts calling in favors from various city vendors.

Full disclosure: I loved the pilot script for Parks and Recreation , the new series from The Office writer/executive producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, which launches Thursday night on NBC. It was written with flair and perfectly set up a whole new world: that of small town politics, or specifically the Parks and Recreation Department of fictional berg Pawnee, Indiana, as seen through the wide eyes of one Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), a small town politico who won't take no for an answer and, even after six year, still hasn't lost her zeal for politics or paper-pushing. There, she discovers her "Hoover Dam," a deserted construction site pit that she intends to transform into a beautiful park. Over the last few months, Daniels and Schur had assembled quite a cast for Parks and Recreation . In addition to Poehler, there's Aziz Ansari ( Human Giant ), Rashida Jones ( The Office ), Chris Pratt ( Everwood ), Paul Schneider ( Lars and the Real Girl ), Nick Offerman (