NBC's Thursday Night Comedy

A very quick, very dirty review of first impressions from the premiers of NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up (sans 30 Rock):

SNL Weekend Update Thursday - Completely unnecessary. I understand that this was widely popular during the run-up to the election last year, but a.) you had Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and b.) well... Tina Fey! I think Seth Meyers is a great writer and has clearly ushered in a new era of SNL watchability, but this format needs to go away quickly. Most of the bits were unfunny (Kristen Wiig is becoming one of my least-favorite cast members), and "Really?!? With Seth and Amy" missed the most obvious subjects of ridicule... the public (over)reaction to Kanye/Serena!
Grade: D

Parks and Recreation - Season 1 definitely ended on a high-note with "Rock Show," and this season started strong with "Pawnee Zoo." The concept of Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) getting in trouble for marrying two male penguins is both hilarious and a little too realistic. Although I'm interested in how they'll move forward with the budding relationship between Ann (Rashida Jones) and Mark (Paul Schneider), I'm sad to see that Andy (Chris Pratt) will likely have a smaller role in the show... he killed in the season finale last year! I really hope people start watching this show, and I know that the writers will start using Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza more. Underwriting for those two would be a crime.
Grade: B

The Office - I have to say it: this show is getting unwatchable. It's not necessarily bad, but it's less and less funny, and the mini-renaissance it had last year with the Michael Scott Paper Company plot line is over. I understand that they work from a very specific concept, but the scenarios they're writing are just unbelievable. No one is as dumb as Michael, and I think that was proved with this week's ludicrous "Start rumors to hide rumors" plot. I feel like I'm watching The Office out of loyalty to their earlier seasons, which is never a good thing. It's not something I look forward to every week, and while I hope they can turn it around, I'm worried this cast has become stale.
Grade: C+

Community - What can we really say after just one show? A lot of the really funny scenes were in the extended preview that NBC gave us a while back, so there wasn't a lot of new plot or dialogue on display (although the test answer tete-a-tete between Joel McHale and John Oliver was pretty funny). That being said, I feel like the cast has a lot of potential to display strong chemistry, and it'll be very interesting to see where they take the show over the course of a season (right now, the plot is relatively narrow). Still too early to call, but I'm predicting a solid first season.
Grade: B-