Grid Effect

Finally getting around to discussing this, it was a much more hectic day at work than initially perceived and we were apparently having network isues last night that I wasn’t privy to, because the webpage wouldn’t open. So, my apologies for those I may have mislead.

Anyhow…man alive. I know this show prides itself on its monolithic tone of comedy, but this episode was too one-note for me, almost to the point of being depressing. For those who didn’t watch it, the basic premise was that Murray was feeling inadequate as the band’s manager, so Bret and Jermaine hired a semi-professional actor to pose as a record executive that encourages Murray and his professionalism, but hesitantly refuses them a record deal. The actor, however, gets a little carried away with his craft, and does offer Murray a record deal, and high jinks ensues.

If you think about it, its kind of a tired comedy plot structure: One friend feels inept, and in an ill-advised manner the other friend(s) attempt to make the one friend feel better. And after a series of misunderstandings, he inevitably ends up feeling worse, but it concludes with some sort of life lesson which leads to all participating parties gaining some matter of perspective.

Now, was this better than most? absolutely. At least it had a couple songs that were decent (And I’ve refused to sit through any Lord of The Rings movies), Dave shared a charming tale of modern love with us and there were more subtle gestures, such as Murray’s “emergency band meeting” that included roll call. But the overall comedy bit just seemed to fall flat. Nothing really side-splitting came from the “Murray is depressed” storyline. It was still better than Entourage, but only by default.

Supposedly, this episode was supposed to air earlier in the season and was pushed back for whatever reason. With one episode left in their immensely successful pilot season, we’re certainly expecting them to send us off into the fall on a higher note than they did two days ago.