Coming in at the number one spot was the jaw dropping 30 Rock. No, not Matt Damon's embarrassing attempts at acting. The big problem here was that this epsiode, written by a woman, on a show created by a woman, included this: "And this morning I made love to my wife and she was still asleep so I didn't have to be gentle." Really? Rape jokes, Tina Fey? That's what 'feminist' Fey has come to? Treating rape as a joke? If a man had written that 'joke,' there would be a huge outcry. The fact that a faux feminist wrote it did not make marital rape amusing.
In second place? Guest stars a plenty could be found throughout the week. Some (Matt Damon) humiliated themselves. One more than held her own: Jennifer Aniston. Aniston showed up on Cougar Town reteaming with former Friends castmate Courtney Cox and playing a therapist with a bucket of issues all her own. "5 . . . 4. . . 3 . . . My anger is a puddle, I simply step out," she declares after slamming into a car in the parking lot.
Third place was the life lesson, the theme that kept popping up over and over all week: Life is a cliff and you have to jump in. This was established in the first three minutes of Undercovers and the before the main title on Fringe and approximately 13 minutes into The Event.
Pop culture references? What would television be without them? "More creative!" responds actual writers. But why not get an easy laugh off the work of others? It certainly helped Tina Fey advance her own career, right? So for reasons that make no sense, the lead on Community weighed in on the Twilight films and novels: "Men are monsters who crave young flesh." It's how Bobby on Cougar Town ended up announcing, "Check this out! David Caruso: 'We're going to solve this'." And in the best move, Community went with a Twitter account entitled Old White Man Says which everyone agreed would make a lousy TV show.
Fifth place went to Cougar Town's creation of a new game. Grayson explained, "Movie Mash Up. You take two movie titles that share a word, combine them and then you describe that movie. For example a killer whale gives out golden tickets to see who gets his candy company." Free Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "A Fat cartoon cat gets to play catch with his dead father." Garfield of Dreams. "A crime solving dog deals with racism in Brooklyn." Scooby Doo The Right Thing.
Sixth place was reality which can be both painful and ugly: Around the time Betty White's reduced to drinking her own urine for laughs (Community), maybe it's time for her to be a bit more choosy about what offers she accepts.
Next up is slow beginnings. Detroit 1-8-7 served up roughly thirty minutes of back story before finally hitting its stride in the final moments.
Eight place? Around the time Busy Philipps' Laurie was talking to Dan Byrd's presumably sleeping Travis, it became clear that Cougar Town was the most multi-textured show and, at the start of season two, had already achieved the interconnections that some shows take years to achieve and others never even reach.
At ninth place was just how good it was to see Maura Tierney back on TV (The Whole Truth) and be reminded of what a strong actress she is. Added bonus was the fact that she and co-star Rob Morrow actually have onscreen chemistry.
And finally, the reality that the chest hair makes the man. James Wolk proved that on Lone Star coming across like a fully formed man as opposed to boyish smoothie Sean Wing on The Whole Truth. One you'd love to hop in the sack with, the other a child you'd like to buy Boy Scout popcorn from.