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Three hours of comedy on NBC Thursdays debuted last night.  I’ll only be watching two of those at the beginning.  I gave up on The Office after last year’s historically awful run and I dont watch that racist show (Outsourced). 

A quick rundown on last night’s other shows:

• Community - “Asian Population Studies”: Not everything worked here but everything revolving around Ken Jeong certainly did.  A solid return even if that Jeff gag at the end was a little meh.
• Perfect Couples - “Pilot”: A fairly average show that I decided to check out moslty because I like Olivia Munn and that waitress from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Some scenes were funny while others were very flat.  Inconsistent yet somewhat enjoyable.
• Parks and Recreation - “Go Big or Go Home”: It’s finally back!  The Ron Swanson pyramid was worth it alone.  The cast is great especially once you consider they added Rob Lowe and Adam Scott.  That’s like the Lakers getting Pau Gasol for nothing.  I’m just so happy this one’s back.
• 30 Rock - “Mrs. Donaghy”: My favorite thing about 30 Rock is the banter between Fey and Baldwin.  There was certainly plenty of back and forth here to leave me satisfied with this one.

I then followed up this block by taking in some Blake Griffin action in last night’s Clippers/Blazers game.  It was a fun night for sure.

• Scarlett Johansson was up for sale and it only cost the winner $5,100.  [FHM]

• A great breakdown of how NBA teams defend at the rim using rim FG% along with fouling rates.  Very informative stuff here.  Also gives you a way of quantifying just how valuable Dwight Howard is.  The Dwight Howard for MVP stuff can’t really be quantified in a box score.  [Hardwood Paroxysm]

• Rappers + Great works of art = Amazing.  [EDSBS]

• The first major NFL free agent signing of the offseason is…Nate Burleson?  I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Pro Football Talk pretty much sums it up: “In case the “wow” didn’t make it clear, we think that’s an awful contract for Detroit.”  [PFT]

• A review of the two newest basketball documentaries: Magic vs. Bird and Winning Time.  [Sepinwall on TV]

• Back in 2001, someone actually recorded a 31 trillion, the longest trillion ever recorded.  Amazing.  [College Basketball Nation]

• The best comedy series on television just got better: Adam Scott to join the cast of Parks and Recreation.  [Variety]

• How much are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn worth exactly?  [Mashable]

• The iPad will be on sale April 3rd and available for preorder on March 12th.  [Washington Post]

• Scientists confirm that the dinosaurs got got by an asteroid.  Glad we got that settled.  [San Francisco Chronicle]

1. Mad Men - The great run of this show continued through its third season which was equally as terrific as the previous two.  A Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency was one of my favorite episodes of the series so far, and included this wonderful scene that was rather chilling and crazy.  This season had lots of good stuff including the episode that handled the JFK assassination, the opening of Pandora’s box, a goodbye to Sal, and the hitchikers.  It remains the best show on television.

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm - Still the best current comedy series running.  The Seinfeld reunion was a useful gimmick as it generated more interest in the show from fans of Seinfeld.  But the real joy of the gimmick was reuniting Jerry and Larry together, who had a lot of fun on camera together.  The scenes that were just the two of them talking provided some of the best moments.  Putting Michael Richards and Leon in scenes together was also quite epic.

3. Parks and Recreation - This show’s first season was a bit of a struggle, but the show has really come together this year.  It is easily the best of the NBC Thursday night comedies at the moment.  Not only is the show hilarious, but it also features some extremely likeable characters.  Ron Swanson has become the best character on the show (just look at some of his scenes on Hulu) and the rest of the cast is very funny as well (especially Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza).

4. Friday Night Lights - Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are two actors who almost seem too good to be on a television series.  This show remains one of the best shows around despite the low ratings.  Not as magical as the first season, but it provided a much needed twist at the end of season three to change things up a bit.

5. Chuck - Chuck + kung fu.  The third season, which begins January 10th, should be something alright.