Two Thursday night shows everyone should watch (or at least Tivo)

Thursday night is a crazy night for everyone, I know. My DVR comes this close to exploding weekly with the marathon I put it through.  I watch 7 shows, which amounts to 6 hours of television in one night. It’s crazy and ridiculous and from what I hear, everyone has this predicament. And I am going to suggest you add to it.

No, not 30 Rock. You should know by now that you’re missing out big time by not watching this show, and if no one else has convinced you, I certainly won’t be able to. (But if you’re not watching, what is wrong with you?) No, I’m talking about two teeny-tiny fledgling shows no one’s watching and everyone should be — Community and Ace of Cakes.

Community is pretty self-explanatory. Kona’s been writing up reviews for it since the beginning, and we both agree that it’s awesome. The Soup‘s Joel McHale is a sleazy lawyer whose dubious educational credentials get him disbarred. And, of course, being the lazy sleaze he is, he decides to get them back the easiest way he knows how — community college and easy A courses, which leads him to form a study group, mostly to impress Britta, the girl he has a major crush on. Everyone in this show is an extreme caricature. You have, for example, John Oliver‘s guest appearances as an inept, exceedingly British psychology professor, or Chevy Chase as a lonely, bordering-on-old man who’s just trying to feel like he’s not completely alone in his twilight years and is desperately trying to be hip and with the in-crowd. And they’re not even the best characters,  just the ones you’re more likely to recognize.

This show is everything I look for in a comedy — a large, endearingly flawed ensemble, easily quotable lines, a group of misfits coming together to form a crazy, rag-tag family, and moments of profound humanity that make me emotionally invested, not just amused. I honestly can’t believe there have only been about four or five episodes of this show (or that it has such low ratings), because I feel invested in and tied to these characters already. They’re darling. They’re hilarious. You need to be watching them.

And then… there’s Ace of Cakes. (The fact that no one watches this show may be because it’s on Food Network. Watch it anyways.) The premise is simple — filming a week in the life of Charm City Cakes, a Baltimore bakery known for their ability to create pretty much anything out of cake. You watch them construct the cake, be hilarious and darling while they do it, and then deliver to some happy customers. Cool, right?

But seriously, you have no idea how hard it is to get people into this show. “I hate reality TV!” everyone whines, or “food shows are boring!” Both of these are insane complaints. First of all, this is reality TV only in the sense that it’s not scripted (mostly — sometimes the crew does fun stunts for the camera), and is really more like a documentary than a reality television show. There’s none of the drama or sniping or cattiness that goes on in most shows. Everyone who works there genuinely seem to like each other (most of them were friends before working together) and be sincerely cool people. Hell, Mary Alice (my favorite!), who’s the secretary/manager/bakery mom is like that awesome, off-beat babysitter you always wanted and spends most episodes clothed in quirky t-shirts, many of which are from Threadless (which is my favorite place to buy t-shirts too). She’s amazing. She’s awesome. I want to be her when I grow up.

Second of all, it’s not about cooking. It’s about the decorating. Problem-solving, if you will. You get to hear every cake’s story (so you know why, exactly, someone wants cakes that look like this), see all the cool techniques they use to construct them, and incidentally marvel over the fact that oh my god, I had no idea you could do that with food! If you’ve ever been suckered into Food Network Challenge, you’ll like this show — the show actually started because Duff (who runs the bakery and is the head chef) was such a popular contestant in the challenges they just decided to dedicate a half an hour to filming him. If you like Cake Boss, you’ll like this show, because Cake Boss is the TLC knock-off. Only instead of adorable thirty-somethings who  love each other and like to play pinball and pull pranks and are generally adorable, you have screaming Italian New Yorkers and it’s extremely subpar. If you’re a fan of joy, you should like this show. It’s really as simple as that.

So, think about it. I know Thursday’s busy for you, but I think you and your DVR should sit down and discuss this. Heck, just save the shows and watch them on the weekend. They’re worth it.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Oct 20, 2009 @ 12:05 EST5EDT