South Park- The Pandemic Special

 

8/10

In this new special, the citizens of South Park deal with the various burdens of the coronavirus pandemic. This was enjoyable.

The Pandemic Special is classic South Park: funny, crazy satire. The one hour length allowed director/writer Trey Parker tackle all the aspects of the pandemic. (Not to mention a jab at the police situation.) As outrageous as things get, Parker is clearly trying to help people blow off steam from this horrible mess. The ending is probably one of the most poignant moments the show has ever gotten.

Now, this is also "typical" South Park. I wouldn't say this episode is considered one of the show's standouts.

Also, if you like South Park but sometimes it goes too far for you, this is one of those episodes that gets messed up.

Overall, I recommend this.  

30 Rock: A One-Time Special

8/10

What I like about this hour long 30 Rock special is that even after seven years the writing and cast hasn't dropped a beat. The special feels like classic 30 Rock and is a stronger effort than the Parks and Rec special.

It helps that this unlike P+R has more camera work. The premise is still based on the characters contacting each other via social media and quarantining themselves, but the cast had more help from a limited on-set crew.

There were a couple parts that weren't perfect. I've never been the biggest Jenna Maloney (played by Jane Krakowski) fan, I found her jokes here to be particularly stale and obvious here. Also, there is a character called Vivian or something like that who just doesn't work. 

I've seen complaints that this is too much of an advertisement for NBC's new streaming service Peacock. I won't deny that, but considering that 30 Rock always poked fun at corporate synergy and NBC and is being obvious about it's own commercialism, I won't hold it against them. I mean it was a pretty clever way to get me to watch commercials for the new NBC shows.

Overall, I highly recommend this for fans of the show.