Episode 2 improves the pacing and humor from Episode 1 by paroding American television, only still beatable in 2 hours.
Situation Comedy starts out with Sam and Max recieving a phone call from the Commissioner detailing this episode's challenge: a TV talk show host is holding her audience captive (literally, they can't leave the studio) and forcing them to endure her gifts and tirades. In order to get on the set to stop her, Sam and Max are going to have to star in a wide variety of low budget TV shows, including "Who doesn't want to be a millionaire?" and "Embarassing Idol". Sound wacky? The whole game is that way. Playing the first episode while not strictly necessary, will help you be in on a lot more jokes and understand the overarching narrative better. The puzzles are still relatively easy, and mostly serve as filler for the game's dialogue and wacky situations. The game looks appropriately cartoony and the voice actors deliver an all around solid job with delivering their deadpan lines. While it lacks some of the features associated with "next-gen"gaming (HDR, shader effects, whatever), the game looks fine. "Levels" are somewhat small, though, and even with a 3.2 ghz processor and a gig of RAM I still had noticeable delays in going from area to area. These only lasted a few seconds, though, and really don't distract from the game.
The first few minutes of gameplay are going to have players expierencing Deja Vu. The office is the same set as episode 1, with mostly the same comments upon observing various objects. However, Sybil has a new job and Bosco has a new paranoia that leaves him posing as British. You even have to play the "car chase" minigame again, only with a slight twist. Upon arriving at the studio, however, the game shows you mostly new content. Some characters are back, such as the Soda Poppers, but there are at least three new faces, including a chicken trained to do Shakesperean theater and a producer able to defy the laws of physics. Apparently, almost the entire studio workforce slipped in to watch the talk show, and are now trapped there as well, leaving just a few people to do the actual work. This is where you come in, to become the actors for the studio's productions as there is no one else available.
One of the things that make Episode 2 better is that American TV is such a great and ripe target for parody. With the rise of reality TV, some of the stuff previewed (I hope no one actually watches it) is weirder then what any comedic writer could hope to achieve. As such, starring on a cooking show where you mix random household ingredients such as uranium or red paint chip and end up creating a casserole (the previous show host got food poisoning) is good fun. Furthermore, the dialogue and events are better paced then the original, with less back and forth and dead time. As such, you skip from show to show enjoying good laughs all the way. In addition, the end game finally hints at a plot that will combine all the episodes together.
Unfortunately, its over all to soon. I timed myself while playing it and it took me exactly 2 hours with no help from walkthroughs or the like. However, since I got it for free (I'm paying for Gametap anyways) and get another episode this January, I don't mind the short length. Its episodic content done right. However, if you don't want a Gametap membership ($10 a month, less if you purchase a package plan), then you're looking at spending $8 for a 2 hour game with no replay value. Hard to justify it under those conditions. Still, its a great fun to play and there is not much else like it in gaming.