Monday, December 27, 2021

What I’m Watching: Mr. Mayor (Holiday Special)

Mr. Mayor: “Mr. Mayor’s Magical L.A. Christmas” (B)

I appreciated an unexpected sampling of this show, which, unlike the rest of the NBC comedy lineup that aired an early episode or two in December, isn’t returning until March for its full second season. It was dependably absurd, the best representation of this show’s warped universe in one short half-hour. The concept of L.A. Christmas Eve being December 22nd, meaning that everyone has to leave for their trips out of town, is exactly the kind of thing that isn’t quite real but somehow could be, and naturally Neil would try to do something nice for all of his staff that ended up keeping them all there late. Orly’s suggestion of an experience instead wasn’t a great idea since that only made it worse, and Taran Killam’s magician was not the attraction he should have been. Bringing everyone together to sing Jaden’s song for him after Neil set his script on fire was a perfectly ridiculous conclusion, and I enjoyed the debate over who the main character in this story was. Tommy not being able to remember the salad name of the weak-armed skeleton crew’s leader was entertaining, and figuring out the way to make him the true hero took a while but eventually worked out. I enjoyed recognizing a “30 Rock” player, Scott Adsit, as Patrick the photographer, whose obsession with Arpi delighted Mikaela but did not make her happy at all, forcing her to stage a happy get-together when she instead whispered a rather harsh warning in his ear. This show really is weird.

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