Watch This: Parks and Recreation

I'm sure this is a completely unnecessary post, because you are already watching this fine show.  It is hilarious!  Starring the awesome Amy Pohler, Parks and Recreation covers the life of Leslie Knope, a dedicated public servant in the Parks department.  The cast of characters includes her nurse friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), Ron Swanson, her anti-government boss; and Rob Lowe.  The show is shot in mockumentary style.

Leslie is optimistic, hung ho, and excited about the government!  No one else is excited about the government or their job.

I think what I like most about this show is how it portrays an office.  There is a moderately diverse cast that looks like real people.  At the end of the day though, that office acts like an "office family" does in real life, and it's touching to see on TV.  

If you haven't seen it, I'm really sad for you.  So you should immediately track down these episodes:

• Season 2, Episode 10:  Hunting Trip.  Leslie invites herself along to the annual boys' hunting trip.
• Season 2, Episode 17:  Woman of the Year.  Ron wins the "Woman of the Year" award that Leslie covets.
• Season 2, Episode 22:  Telethon.  Leslie hosts the 1-6am shift of a telethon.

(I apparently did not care for Season 1.  Feel free to skip it.)

Some of my favorite quotes:

Ron Swanson: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Don't teach a man to fish, and you feed yourself. He's a grown man. Fishing's not that hard.

 Leslie: What I hear when I’m being yelled at is people caring loudly at me.

And some of my favorite clips:

Tom shares some of his favorite nicknames:


Ron Swanson's pyramid of greatness:

Watch This: The Fabulous Beekman Boys

I have no idea what Planet Green is, but it's apparently a TV channel that I get that has my new favorite show:  The Fabulous Beekman Boys.  It is Hil. Arious.  Two city boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, a writer and former drag queen, and Dr. Brent Ridge, a former VP at Martha Stewart Omnimedia bought a mansion in upstate New York, and they've since decided to farm.  Hilarity ensues.  Dr. Ridge is total type A, and admits everything they know about farming, they learned from their employee Farmer John and the internet (at one point, the llama seems sick and Josh is googling to determine if they fed the llama something poisonous.)  Dr. Ridge wants the tractors to line up and the pigs clean for a party.  He's my kind of guy.

Not enough screen time is given to Farmer John.  I wish they had pictures of this guy on their web page that I could show you but he's this big, hulking guy who has a teeny girly voice, and begins crying when thinking about his goat herd, and how he wouldn't be able to keep them without Josh and Brent.

The only problem about this show is Husband spent weeks building this raised garden in the backyard and constantly wants me to go to a place called The Natural Gardner.  The last thing I need is for him to think we need to get a country house or farm, and this show isn't helping that situation.

Watch this: Wipeout

To me, nothing says summer like the return of Wipeout!, the funniest show on television.

The concept is simple:  about 20 contestants make their way through a water obstacle course, the apex of which is an obstacle called "the big red balls", which is made up of . . . big red balls that the contestants must bounce across to reach the other side, like a bridge that doesn't work at all.  The obstacles change from week to week as well, but generally also include a wall of punching arms which propel the contestant into mud.  The top contestants with the best time go on to another challenge, more are eliminated, there's another challenge where more are eliminated and finally the top two or three go to the final wipeout obstacle course.

And it's hilarious.  Running commentary is provided by John Anderson and John Henson, who also provide nicknames for the contestants so you don't get confused.  Watching people fall off or get knocked off the obstacles is just funny and on the rare occasion someone actually completes an obstacle, it's awe-inspiring.