Enlightened: Plato's cubicle

Speaking of problems with reviewing television episodically, when a work really capitalizes on the television form, serializing an exploration as long and deep as a good, um, presidential administration, while breaking that work into unified links in a chain, perfect little circles in themselves that nevertheless drive toward something bigger, immediate reaction is about as valuable as snarkily recapping Plato’s puppet show. Enlightened is certainly not the first form-breaker, but it took me at least four episodes to reach all the way around it and get a feel for what it is, and even that was just a first impression. That’s not least because it announces itself with the subtlety of true confidence and the premiere is something of a prologue, focusing on Amy Jellicoe’s relationship with the world’s most lifelike MacGuffin, a higher-up named Damon (played by The Office’s duplicitous Charles Esten, and if you think that’s an accident, Diane Ladd plays Laura Dern’s mother) instead of characters and relationships that would become much more significant to the overall story of the first season.

Community: Gay Bash-ing, Homophobia, and TV Comedy

I could not be more thrilled that the Internet realizes God’s gift to television is fallible, worth taking out of the glass case and looking at from other angles, but homophobia feels like a kneejerk charge. Near as I can tell—and please correct me because I’m not the closest observer of Community, though I did specifically rewatch the last few episodes for these purposes—the concern trolls foul-criers are upset because Pierce and Shirley spout homophobia that the rest of the group lets go, the same way they constantly do with Pierce’s racism. Or, for instance, Britta’s priorities: “I can excuse racism, but I draw the line at animal cruelty.” Yes, Shirley sort of confronts her position (“You can excuse racism?”), but the show flies past because we get it. It’s the perfect little jab at progressive politics, not a position paper for Dan Harmon’s presidential campaign.