White Night: Off Their Rockers

Perhaps the only thing funnier than Betty White's newish NBC show "Off Their Rockers" is the recent "Saturday Night Live" parody of it in which Maya Rudolph impersonates Maya Angelou (a laugh in itself) and pranks "Morgan Freeman" by putting a banana cream pie on his chair.  Charging into the coveted Wednesday 8:00 pm time slot to save us from the horror that was "Whitney" and reruns of ABC's "The Middle" (my favorite show, by the way.  When will it be new again?), "Off Their Rockers" borrows from the tradition of "Candid Camera" and "Punk'd," putting a new spin on practical jokes by placing senior citizens in the role of the pranksters.  Their prey?  Unsuspecting and often sullen twentysomethings loitering around southern California hotspots and beaches.  Interspersed with blurbs of Betty herself zinging one-liners from her gorgeous estate (or maybe it's just a set; who can tell?), the effect is charming and zany and showcases the go-for-the-gusto-before-it's-gone spirit that illuminates the eldery set.  Betty, after all, is ninety!  Sometimes, when I feel tired or put upon or even just plain old discouraged, I remind myself that Ms. White appears in a weekly sitcom ("Hot in Cleveland"), makes movies (the latest of which is The Lorax), and guest stars on a host of other shows in addition to this fresh venture, all with unbeatable humor and grace.   Who knew that The Golden Girls's ditsiest dame had all that fabulousness tucked under her blond bouffant?  Well, I did.  But that's only because I have a soft spot for kooks and watch too much TV.

New TV (Otherwise Known as Fall's Consolation Prize)

Last week marked the beginning of the 2011-2012 TV season, and with it my deliverance from the surfeit of sitcom reruns and played-out movies that buzzed on my TV like so much white noise this summer.  As always, my menu of mainstays, including The Middle, Modern Family, Community, and The Office, was sprinkled with fresh new selections.  Just as when I'm presented with an updated restaurant menu, I couldn't help but wonder which newbies would become the new mac and cheese, i.e., flavorful, fulfilling, and always a treat, and which would suffer the fate of concoctions made unpalatable by too many or too few ingredients.  Here's my take on three of the series debuts I sampled (in reverse chronological order):

Show: Pan Am
Network: ABC
Time: Sunday, 10:00 pm EST

Despite the scuttlebutt that it was just a Mad Men knock-off, I had high hopes for Pan Am (pun intended).  Like lots of people, I like a good period piece.  Stories set in iconic eras can't help but be shrouded in romance, and the admittedly fluffy ABC capitalizes on this phenomenon in its drama showcasing stewardesses of the early 1960s.  To be honest, it was slow going at first.  The plot centers around four women -- each a trailblazer of sorts -- which means that there was a bit of back-story to relay.  Even so, Pan Am has all the hallmarks of a best-selling saga and will probably become more engrossing as the season unfolds.

Show: Whitney
Network: NBC
Time: Thursday, 9:30 pm EST

NBC is known for sitcoms that probe beneath life's underbelly.  Whitney, starring comedian Whitney Cummings, fits right in as the story of a cohabiting, thirty-something couple contemplating marriage.  Albeit gentler than the other social commentary-spouting shows in NBC's Thursday night lineup (Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office), Whitney delivers some trenchant one-liners about love and relationships.  Unfortunately, most of them were in the commercials, which somewhat diluted their appeal.  Nevertheless, pilots are often iffy, so I remain optimistic.

Show: New Girl

Network: FOX

Time: Tuesday, 9:00 pm EST

New Girl is just the sort of off-beat show you'd expect to see on the network that brought us The Simpsons.  Starring queen of quirk Zooey Deschanel, it centers around Jess, a newly single teacher who finds herself living with three guys she met on Craigslist.  Fashion-challenged and in the habit of bursting into song, Jess catapults over Deschanel's resident territory of the unusual headlong into the land of just plain odd.  Indeed, her actions are often cringeworthy, particularly when she's hurling herself at prospective suitors.  Still, her eccentricities are born of a genuineness that render her as endearing and vulnerable.

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Criticisms aside, I'll continue watching all of these shows.  Sweet, salty, or tangy, stories are my favorite snack.