TV Blues: Unmet Expectations

Time for some more NBC griping, though this time it's not the programming decisions (Olympics tape-delays notwithstanding) but the programs themselves that I'm taking issue with.

Law & Order: SVU used to be pretty reliably entertaining, if occasionally a bit over the top. But this season has been largely laughable. Last week's episode about a killer targeting lesbians dragged out every dusty stereotype in the book. It wasn't helped by the presence of Kathy Griffin as an in-your-face activist. I'm a fan of KG, but there were two problems with this casting: I couldn't buy her in a dramatic role because of her standup and her overall public persona; and I can only assume that she agreed to do the part before she'd read the script, because her dialogue was abysmal.

Last week's highly anticipated episode of The Office, in which Pam finally gave birth, was another serious letdown. This show rarely hits a wrong note, but this double-length episode managed to cram in almost six seasons' worth of them. Andy and Erin's tiptoeing around each other has none of the charm of Pam and Jim's earlier trajectory; it's gotten so tedious that now that they're finally going on a date, I'm not sure I care. Pam and Jim's wedding episode earlier this season was one of the series' best, but the interactions between them as parents-to-be this week felt mostly inconsistent with their characters. Could it be that the baby is causing them to lose their cute-couple mojo? And how in the world could they allow Dwight to enter their house, unaccompanied, under any circumstances? I sincerely hope The Office hasn't jumped the shark, but I'm worried.

And what of Saturday Night Live? Eighteen months ago the show was once again relevant and on target with the election business, but more importantly, it was funny. There are certainly other bright spots: Jon Hamm's second time hosting wasn't quite as good as his first, but his appearance as the saxophone-playing Sergio in the Digital Short "The Curse" was one of the funniest things the show has done in ages. Zach Galifianakis's oddball humor this past weekend elevated the monologue, usually one of the weaker parts of the show. And whenever Justin Timberlake hosts, the show is funny, period.

But these high points are getting increasingly scarce. The previous weekend's show was hosted by Jennifer Lopez. I've never had much of an opinion about her as a singer or an actor, but the show did her a huge disservice by saddling her (and the rest of the cast) with sketches that mostly leaned on tired Latino stereotypes, because, you know, Lopez is Puerto Rican. (The exception was the telenovela spoof "Besos y Lagrimas," which was pretty funny.) By contrast, Lopez happened to guest star on last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother and there wasn't a single Latina joke or reference. She was just a character, the author of a self-help book for women, and I thought she did a decent job.

I think SNL just doesn't put enough thought into how its guest hosts can best fit into the ensemble. Too often the fourth wall is dropped and the host plays himself or herself. That only works when that person totally upends their public persona, which doesn't happen often. And when a particular week's show does turn out to be really good, it always leaves me thinking, why aren't they all this funny?

P.S. I'm still not sold on Vampire Weekend after seeing them perform on this week's show, but "Giving Up the Gun" is the freshest and most interesting song of theirs that I've heard thus far.