Valentine’s Day came early to the NBC comedies. Who handled it best?

Community: Communication Studies
While last week’s episode of Community played to all of its strengths, this week’s episode indulged all of its bad habits. It was another episode exploring the shallow relationship between Jeff and Brita. (And, is it me, or is everything we know about Brita told and not shown? I still don’t really know who she is.) Abed’s pop-culture meta-commentary was especially on-the-nose (if this were a sitcom, you’d do this—but it is a sitcom, get it!), and even Senior Chang’s antics were more frantic than funny, unlike last week’s more subtle “clearly I had no other plans fall through.”

Parks and Recreation: Galentine’s Day
This episode checked in on all of the show’s couples: Leslie and Justin, Tom and Wendy, Ann and Mark, and April, her boyfriend, his boyfriend, and Andy. (Oh, Andy. The world is not ready for “Sex Hair.”) Though things don’t really look good for any of them, the show managed to mix in a lot of sweet, touching moments alongside big laughs.

The Office: Manager and Salesman
This episode effectively ended the “Jim as co-manager” arc, resetting things so that Michael is back to being sole manager and Jim is back to salesman, a blow that’s softened by the fact that salesmen can apparently make more money than their managers. This is especially disappointing since, despite all the machinations, Jim never did anything as co-manager except make Ryan sit in the closet. That, in turn, inspired a Dwight/Ryan team-up that also didn’t go anywhere. Sometimes I think this show is ust spinning its wheels.

30 Rock: Anna Howard Shaw Day
Valentine’s Day is a holiday about loneliness and insecurity, so it’s right in 30 Rock’s strike zone. Liz schedules a root canal for Valentine’s Day thinking it’ll count as an opt-out for the holiday, only to realize that she couldn’t find anyone who cared enough about her to take her home from the surgery. Meanwhile, Jack starts dating Elizabeth Banks (!), someone who knows all his games and is better at playing them. Liz’s exes appear to her as a laughing-gas hallucination, and stick around for an over-credits bumper that should probably be considered racist but was still really, really funny.

So, who won Thursday?

There’s no question that Thursday is my TV day. The DVR fires up at 8 pm and doesn’t finish recording until 12:30 on Friday. I can last for a week just on what I record on Thursdays.

The centerpiece of this weekly marathon is obviously the NBC Thursday-night sitcoms: Community, Parks and Recreation, the Office, and 30 Rock. And, on days when I can’t sit down to watch all of them, I find it really hard to decide which ones to watch. It used to be that I’d head straight for the Office and 30 Rock, but Community and Parks & Rec have really grown into strong comedies, while conventional wisdom says that 30 Rock is slipping, and sometimes the Office is just too harsh.

This constant horse-race of the four shows jockeying to be the best each week have given me the idea for a new weekly feature: Who Wins Thursday? Each week, it’s a toss-up as to which of the four sitcoms is the best. I’m determined to crown a winner each week.

And, since I can’t wait for this week’s Valentine’s Day slate of episodes, I’m going to start with last week. The rundown:

Community: Romantic Expressionism

Jeff and Brita conspire to keep Annie from dating a “gateway douchebag,” while everyone else tries to Rifftrax b-movies in Abed’s dorm. Jeff and Brita work better as co-conspirators than each others’ romantic interests. But Troy steals everybody’s thunder in both plots, trying awkwardly to seduce Annie away from Vaughn while maintaining that his relationship with Abed is totally cool.

Parks and Recreation: Sweetums

A candy company tries to sponsor Leslie’s park, and she crusades against their high fructose corn syrup and tries to get Ron to start living a healthier life. Meanwhile, Tom Haverford gets the rest of the gang to help him move out of Wendy’s house. While it does have a hilarious cameo from “DJ Roomba,” the episode’s plot feels more like a Simpsons-style corporate parody, and b-story with Tom is a downer.

The Office: Sabre

When Michael Scott has trouble transitioning to working for Sabre, the company that bought Dunder Mifflin, he visits David Wallace. The resulting misery is the Office’s bread and butter, but I still find it difficult to watch. When working at Dunder Mifflin is demonstrated to be the better of two options, nobody wins. The b-plot involves Jim and Pam in a situation where neither of them are allowed to be cute or make silly “what?” faces.

30 Rock: Verna

Jack tries to help Jenna get over her mommy issues, which somehow don’t include the fact that Jan Hooks is her mom and looks totally frightening. While they’re walking around oblivious, Liz and Frank move in together and have a Paranormal Activity-style camera set up to show how Liz eats in her sleep. A lot of it is funny, but both plots have elements that are gross and off-putting.

So…

I just wanted you to know that my true love, Mindy Kaling from The Office, is on Twitter and you should totally follow her. It’s very much like her blog, the sporadically-updated Thing I’ve Bought That I Love, with lots of enthusiasm, exclamation points and beginning things with “you guys!”

Of course, while you’re at it, you should follow us.

Anybody else we should be following?  Leave ‘em in the comments.

Here are the top five TV moments that made me stand up and say “yeah!” in 2008. (As in: “Yeah! TV is awesome!” or “Yeah! I still don’t watch Mad Men or Damages!”)

5. When I realized during the season premiere of Degrassi: The Next Generation that Season 8 would mark a return to classic theme-song territory

OK, yeah, it’s more of a pop-punk cover of the Degrassi theme than the original gospel glee club incarnation, and I have no idea what to think of these new grade eight kids who are really more like Degrassi: Is This a New Generation Yet? I’m Still Figuring Out Whether I Belong to X or Y, but after a ridiculous hiatus that featured our favorite Canadians striking poses like the cheese-tastic recent opening credits for The City, the show’s opening once again glories to the sight of all cast members, no matter how peripheral or in some cases yet-to-be-formally-introduced, mugging for the camera while engaged in school activities. Whatever it takes indeed.

4. When Olivia Munn led an impromptu chant of “USA! USA!” on Attack of the Show

This may have happened more than once. I almost always find it funny.

I'm looking for a book on terminator infestations.

Seriously, I have to hand it to the Terminators: even when they screw up, they’re willing to wait for a hundred years inside of a wall to fix it. And to kill you.

2. When Pam and Jim Got Engaged

This little scene is everything that’s wonderful about the Pam-Jim relationship: sweet, unadorned, and completely free of Friends-style soapiness:

1. When Liz Lemon terrorized her staff by promising that “you’ll all have chins!”

Little on TV delights me as much as 30 Rock (Steve Martin lamenting “I miscounted the men!” could’ve just as easily made this list), and just about nothing on TV delighted me as much as this particular moment which, even better, is virtually impossible to explain. It’s a moment from the episode “Sandwich Day,” and it’s not available on NBC’s website. Basically, Liz Lemon, brandishing an awards statuette, threatens Kenneth the page, telling him to get her another sandwich or “I’ll cut your face up so bad you’ll have a chin.” Funny enough, but when Liz stepped back, statuette still in hand, and nonsensically opened up her threat to the rest of the room, I pretty much died.

2008 saw a lot of great performances by whole bodies. Tina Fey couldn’t have told a lot of funny jokes if she hadn’t been able to say them with her mouth. And learned the lines by reading them with her eyes. And walked to the studio with her legs.

But there are some body parts that worked overtime this year, picking up the slack where other body parts just took up room (I’m looking at you Ellen Pompeo’s forehead!).

As such, let’s take a quick vote — which TV body part deserves recognition for its Outstanding Achievement in Being a TV Star Body Part? Let me know in the comments if I’ve left off a deserving part. Otherwise, going clockwise from the left…

Ooh! Ooh! My turn! My turn! My five favorite things:

5. How I Met Your Mother‘s Sly References to My Life

I realize that this may not interest anyone but me, but that’s why it’s at No. 5. And I also realize that a lot of people also say, “That show is just like my LIFE!” when, in fact, the similarities are not all that impressive. (Wow, you wear overpriced clothes and guzzle down pink drinks at horrible, sceney bars? You’re just like the people on Sex and the City.) In fact, if you’re around my age, and especially if you’re my age and you live in New York, there are probably a lot of things about How I Met Your Mother that resemble situations from your life.

But there are a couple really, really specific references to my life in How I Met Your Mother, and I love seeing them turn up. The first is that the creator went to my college, and he’s always including little nods to the alma mater. At first it was just a college tee-shirt here and there, until they finally admitted that the characters went to my school. But even better than the outright admission are the little references: For example, Marshall briefly worked at a law firm called Nicholson, Hewitt, and West—which happened to be the names of our three freshmen dorms.

But even better than that is my favorite reference of all—which, fine, happened in 2007, but like Dan I didn’t see the episode until 2008, so it counts—is the episode where they make fun of my favorite hometown amusement park: Rye Playland. In HIMYM it turns up as “Tuckahoe Funland,” probably because they make reference to a myriad of deaths that have happened there. Sadly, this is true for my park as well.

Buzz went looking for opinions about the best underappreciated TV gem of ’08. (BuzzSugar)

Sandie shared a special Holiday preview of Supernatural‘s upcoming January episodes. (Daemon’s TV)

In the latest installment of Take 5, GMMR looked back at the top 5 episodes of Veronica Mars. (Give Me My Remote)

Rae takes a look at one of the shows she’s been anticipating for months, TNT’s new series Leverage. (RTVW Online)

In a year when some of the most inept executives in America got the ax, one man looks to carry the mantel into 2009, and he is scheduling what you watch on your television, well, by his track record you are avoiding them. (Scooter McGavin’s 9th Green)

Vance checks out Toronto’s cast for the play Dog Sees God which happens to look a lot like Degrassi: The Next Generation (Marco! Craig! Jay! Jane!). (Tapeworthy)

This week, Jace was all about looking forward, with advance reviews of Season Two of FX’s Damages and the pilot script for ABC’s Flash Forward, which could just be the next Lost. (Televisionary)

Holy affluent teen drama! This week Gossip Girl featured a funeral, a wedding and a Blair/Chuck meltdown. (TiFaux)

With the shocking announcement by NBC that Jay Leno will be sticking with the network, theTVaddict.com put together a list of Winners & Losers (The TV Addict)

Raoul talked to the winners of The Amazing Race. (TV Filter)

Suffering with an almighty pre-Christmas hangover, TV Spy was, to its shame, a blog of few words, as it looked forward to the new series of Flight of the Conchords and Battlestar Galactica. (TV Spy)