The Simpsons - 17x12 - My Fair Laddy

    In an adaptation of My Fair Lady, Lisa takes Groundskeeper Willie under her wing, in an effort to turn him into a proper gentleman.  Homer's blue pants have worn out, and he's desperate to replace them.  He becomes a human billboard for them.
    I'm not a fan of the direction that Groundskeeper Willie has taken.  They've taken the same gags as they do with Moe, and just put an accent on them.  One of my favorite, early gags with Willie was when he tears his shirt open to reveal that he's incredibly muscular.  As a result, I don't care for the A story in this episode.  But there are a lot of good gags in here.  The cruel replacement gym teacher who just pummels students with dodge balls.
    But Homer's B story is very good, and I don't remember it at all.  I know that I must have seen this episode before, because I remember the A story, but Homer's quest for replacement blue pants is great.

The Simpsons - 24x02 - Treehouse of Horror XXIII

    Another Halloween anthology.  In the first story, Springfield's Supercollider creates a black hole.  Lisa takes it in, which eventually leads to the end of Springfield.  In the second story, the Simpsons are haunted by a ghost in a found-footage parody of Paranormal Activity.  The last story is a version of Back to the Future, where Bart prevents Homer and Marge from getting married, and she ends up with Artie Ziff.
    I was really happy with this episode.  Normally I have some reservations about the Halloween episodes, since they focus on ideas that are just too non-horror.  Despite that weakness, I liked this one.  The first story, even though it had a stronger sci-fi bent, it was fairly horrific.  Seeing things get sucked into non-existence was pretty dark, as well as Homer's hand getting warped.
    The second story, even though I haven't seen Paranormal Activity, was really funny.  When we see such short snippets of the Simpsons, it implies this bizarre family life that's even more hilarious than the longer gags.
    The third story is more firmly not a horror story, but it still has something that I'm a real sucker for - duplicates of people.  This isn't quite the same as Homer being cloned, but a collection of versions of Homer from different time periods is still a real joy to behold.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 4x17 - Night Terrors

    The Enterprise runs into a ship that has been drifting for awhile.  Almost everyone on board is dead, there's just a single Betazoid person alive, but he seems pretty messed up.  Everyone on board the Enterprise starts to start acting weird, hallucinating, and snapping at each other.  And their engines aren't working.  Troi is having nightmares.
    I've seen this episode many times, and it's a lot of fun.  It's one of the creepier episodes of TNG, and that alone makes it worthwhile.  There's a great sequence where Crusher is in the Enterprise's morgue, and starts hallucinating that all the bodies are sitting upright.
    The more I think about the plot of the episode, the more it seems like a stretch.  Troi is getting a dream message from some other species that's stuck in the same trap?  And they give a vague message about how to get out of the trap by using a simile?  They're already speaking English!

Bob's Burgers - 1x06 - Sheesh! Cab, Bob?

    Tina's 13th birthday is coming up, and in order to pay for the special party she wants to have, Bob drives a cab on the night shift after work.  Tina wants to invite the son of the owner of the restaurant across the street, and intends to have her first kiss with him.
    This was a very good episode, especially since the premise doesn't sound that interesting.  I like Tina.  She's awkward, but she's very nice about it.  She doesn't seem to be as embarrassed about herself as other girls would be.  And she doesn't have the same absurd tendencies that her siblings have.  Her desire to kiss Jimmy Pesto, Jr is surprisingly well defined, and there's something sweet about that.
    It's also interesting how there's no clear B-story.  Every aspect of the episode stems from the one event.  Bob gets to meet a segment of the city's nightlife that he didn't know existed.  Bob has his conflict with Jimmy Pesto.  Tina is being taught how to kiss.
    And the episode ends with everything working out fine!  I would normally think there would be an ending that didn't have Tina getting her wish, but it all came together fine.
    The character designs are really getting weirder than usual.  Without his mustache, Bob looks like a Richard Scarry worm, same as his wife.

The Big Bang Theory - 6x02 - The Decoupling Fluctuation

    After Penny confides in Amy and Bernadette that she isn't too sure about her relationship with Leonard, Amy tells Sheldon.  Sheldon has an impossible time keeping a secret, and winds up trying to tell Leonard.  Then asks Penny not to break up with him.  Meanwhile, Howard is still in space, and is dealing with being picked on by the other astronauts.
    I watched these episodes back-to-back, and I realized that I barely laughed at any of it.  The show is moving away from being a comedy, and more toward being a relationship drama.  And it's not even a very good relationship drama.
    I think I cared about Leonard and Penny at first, because Leonard was more of a nerd, and a show about the two of them making each other better people would be much more touching.  Instead, Leonard is not a nerd when he's with her - he's just an insecure, fairly unattractive guy.  Penny rarely has shown any improvement.  If anything, she clings to her dumb behaviors more than she did before.
    The plot about a secret making the rounds in a group has been done, and it doesn't seem to be important in this episode.  Stuart has replaced Howard in their clique, and just gives Sheldon more of an opportunity to pick on him.  Which is exactly as unfunny as it usually is.
    Howard's story about dealing with the other astronauts is just… absurd.  They're desperate for story, and it shows.
    Any development in the relationships?  We got one line that indicated that Sheldon cares about Leonard.

The Big Bang Theory - 6x01 - The Date Night Variable

    With Howard in space, Raj is now a 5th wheel.  He tries to fit in with Sheldon and Amy, then with Leonard and Penny, while both pairs try to work through different issues.
    It's been a long time since I saw Big Bang Theory.  I had pretty much just forgotten about the show since the last season ended.  My feelings about the show mutate with nearly every episode, and I constantly feel disappointed.  But I keep watch for the occasional bit that feels good.
    Sheldon has an anniversary date with Amy.  This is as painful as it sounds.  Amy wants to have a certain amount of romance, and Sheldon doesn't want to have anything to do with it.  he ultimately keeps her from walking out by quoting a line from Spider-Man.
    Leonard and Penny also have a peculiar night in, but it's nowhere near as unpalatable as Sheldon and Amy.  Leonard wants the two of them to work through their issues, and put their relationship in order.  Penny isn't comfortable with that.  No further development here.
    Raj is actually just a common thread to allow them to present these distinct stories.  They close off Raj's night by having him stop by the comic shop, where he invites Stuart to join their clique  at a movie the next night.
    There's an implication that Stuart is gay (just as there have been implications of Raj being gay).  Stuart is another painful character.  He exists only to give self-depreciating remarks about how unsuccessful he is, and how lonely he is.  He's Moe, but without any of the fun.

Night Gallery - 3x04 - Rare Objects

    A mobster (played by Mickey Rooney!) is shot in an attempt on his life.  The doctor who patches him up refers him to a man who can help him retire from mob life safely.
    This script was written by Serling, who usually has good ideas, and his writing is solid, but tends to suffer under the pressure to create.  And this one does too.  It jumps around a bit more than expected, especially for a story that moves as slowly as this.  From the first five minutes, I didn't know where it would go during the next five, and so forth.  I wasn't sure if this was intentional or not.
    Of course, the story leads up to a twist.  The twist wasn't what I was expecting, since it seemed a little too science-fiction for the plot that had been building up.  Because of the out-of-the-blue quality, it isn't that satisfying.