TVSquad

(S02E16) This is an early review.

Avid viewers of Tom Goes to the Mayor know that Tom, no matter how hard he tries, will never be respected by anyone, whether it be his friends, family, or the members of the city council. Of course, it's difficult to blame these people because despite being "full of ideas," the concepts Tom comes up with are usually rather asinine. What I liked the most about this episode is that while Tom still served as the whipping boy, he was actually the voice of reason throughout the entire episode.

(S02E15) This is an early review.

Tragedy strikes Tom and his step-family when his son Brindon dies from a pudding buffet food overdose. The poor kid actually ate so much pudding he literally exploded at his birthday party. Tom is distraught, but he doesn't get much sympathy from the Mayor or anyone else. Whenever Tom brings it up people just laugh at the hilarious way his son died. Tom has trouble letting go and carries a framed picture of his stepson, and also builds a shrine to him in his front yard.

It seems our own Tom Biro, my fellow blogger over at Ad Jab and the guy who recaps House and other shows for y'all just might be in the running to appear on the next season of The Bachelor. It seems his professional profile on LinkedIn was noticed by the show's casting producer:

Dear Tom ,

ABC Television's hit reality television show, The Bachelor, is searching for its next star. After viewing your profile on LinkedIn, the casting producer has selected you as a potential candidate.

(S02E14) The city of Jefferton has a problem: dangerous levels of starch are plaguing the residents, and Tom Peters is very concerned for his family. He's even purchased an Eez-Zee Stool Strips tester so he can make sure his stepsons don't have too much starch in their system. The machine, as demonstrated in an infomercial, is easy to use. In fact, you can test your stool on a bus in less than ten minutes. All you have to do is lick the tester, stir it around in your stool, enter the number that comes up into the machine, and then hold your thumbs on the special identicators for two minutes (it helps if you have some stool on your thumbs).

It turns out Tom's stepsons do have high levels of starch in their system, which he suspects to be the fault of the food they're eating at school. The Mayor suggests he and Tom go undercover, Tom as a student, and himself as the vice-principal. To fit in with the young crowd, Tom has a special surgery in which his knees and shinbones are removed and his feet are reattached to the bottom of his thighs. Also, his vocal chords are removed and stretched on a tiny rack in order to change his voice. The result is a dwarfish version of Tom with a voice that sounds like he's been inhaling helium.

(S02E14) If you check out the Adult Swim schedule grid, the words "Worst episode ever" are written next to this particular episode. The men and monkeys who run Adult Swim have never been above a bit of self deprecation, but I actually thought this episode was pretty damn hilarious.

The show opens with the Mayor poking Tom in the eye with a sharp metal rod. It's okay, though, because Tom's eye is made of glass. It seems he had an accident while playing with his step-sons. Tom, however, isn't there just to have his eye poked buy the inquisitive Mayor, he's there to sell hoagies for the annual Father/Son Barrel Goat Hunt, in which the father/son teams hunt the dreaded barrel goat, a creature that is driven insane by the scent of pickle barrels. The Mayor has never heard of a hoagie (he pronounces it "hoogie") before, and he can't get enough of the sandwiches. He also takes a liking to Tom's glass eye and buys two for himself, which of course makes it difficult for him to see and move around.

(S02E10) One of the things that has made this season of Tom Goes to the Mayor so great is the guest stars. They haven't just used comedians with the same knack for irreverence as Tim and Eric, such as Tom Kenny and Michael Ian Black, but also actors like Judd Hirsch and Robert Loggia who aren't necessarily strangers to comedic acting, but simply have a different approach. Watching Black act like a goofball is fun and all, but it's not surprising. Seeing Hirsch behave in a similar fashion is surprising because we're not used to seeing him that way, and it makes the show all the more fun to watch.

John C. Reilly, a man known for dramatic, albeit quirky, roles in film, shows off his comedic chops in this episode as a mentally-unbalanced man who befriends Tom through a MySpace-like site called "Friendship Alliance." Tom hasn't even been on the site for more than a minute when John sends him a message to meet at Sauceman's, a "house-style saucehouse restaurant" where you can dip your food into over 3,000 different sauces. Tom was only logging onto the site to add his profile (he's the step-grandpop of a baby wolf-child), but since he's the easy-going sort he accepts John's invitation.

(S02E09) This is an early review courtesy of Adult Swim Fix, so don't read if you want to wait until Sunday night to see the episode.

I love Michael Ian Black, but I'm not in love with him. You know what I mean? A person can have everything you want in a comedian, but somehow he just can't turn you on the way you need. You end up having to sneak out at night to get your comedy satisfaction elsewhere, or even worse, you sneak off to the bathroom after he's finished his routine and he walks in and catches you reading a joke book. With a look of mortification and deep personal shame he shouts, "What, I'm not enough for you?!"

(S02E07) This episode begins with Tom sitting in a jail cell with another prisoner (Judd Hirsch) who's in jail because he locked his fifteen year old nephew in the cellar over the weekend for pooping and peeing all over his house. Tom, on the other hand, is in jail for killing about four thousand people. His cell mate reacts to this news with, "people are too sensitive these days."

Tom's tale of woe begins when he becomes a salesman for a new device called "Spray a Carpet or Rug," a gigantic machine that emits a foam that turns into carpet instantaneously. The Mayor loves the device because he can carpet all of Jefferton and not have to pay the "lawn mower man" who takes care of the grass and has been pestering the Mayor about a raise. The city council allows Tom to do a test run on Memorial Park, so Tom dons his chemical suit (the foam causes him seizures) and carpets the whole park.

(S02E06) This is an early review, courtesy of Adult Swim Fix. The actually episode will air Sunday evening, as usual.

I never would have thought Robert Loggia and Tom Goes to the Mayor would be a good match, but his role in this episode as the owner of a waterbed store was just one of the things that made this episode probably the best one of the season so far. Loggia plays Lew, the owner of Lew's Waterbed Galleria, a store that's actually on the lake, so people don't pay local taxes. While Tom is hanging out on the boardwalk where the store is located, he runs into a street musician he calls "Saxman" (Tom Kenny). Saxman not only plays soprano saxophone, but he also plays a "digital chime box" with his feet. Tom loves the Saxman's music, and when he finds out the Saxman is going to be kicked off the boardwalk by Lew the waterbed man, Tom decides to let him stay in his front yard in a pup tent, even though his wife is out of town visiting her ex-husband and doesn't like Tom to have men over when she's away.

(S02E01) To celebrate thirty years of Jefferton, the Mayor has decided to hold a contest to see who can come up with the best painting to represent the city. After a slightly modified opening sequence where the Mayor announces the contest, we cut to a scene in his office where he rejects contestant after contestant by knocking their paintings out of their hands with a stick. Like clockwork, Tom Peters shows up with a great new idea that's going to inevitably end up in disaster. This time, Tom has invented something called Big Cups, large receptacles that hold almost two liters (1.8 to be exact). Tom, not one to always think his ideas through completely, doesn't enlarge the cups to house an entire two liter bottle of soda, but instead offers a smaller disposable cup and a plastic bag with which to dispose of the extra soda. Tom Goes to the Mayor is full of subtle gems like that, where even the most absurd moments aren't given much more than a passing glance. A lot of these moments center on the Mayor himself, who always greets Tom in person as if he's answering his phone: "Hello, Mayor's office!" There's also the "one-man band" toward the end of this episode, which is really just a man with a CD player taped to his chest. Also, instead of walking behind the podium to give his speech, two people actually drag the podium in front of Tom. It's hilarious because it's complete unnecessary.

When I saw Greg Germann sitting there at the bar in the opening scene, I almost jumped up and down with glee. I loved him on Ally McBeal and oh, how I've missed him (turns out he's been doing B movies and such these past several years)! Is he joining the show?

Um, no. He's the very epitome of the bad date, told in one of the most charming ways I've seen recently. Mary Ellen's voiceovers make everything just seem so infused with destiny. It's really a lovely trick and, in this scene, its played to maximum effect.

Susan, she's not loving the boor German plays at all. Much better: the doctor that treats them both for a vicious accidental head-butt. (heh. "in some cultures headbutting is a mating ritual!" heh heh). He's certainly a hotty and Susan proceeds to pursue him in the awkward way that no one but Susan could.