Grid Effect

Since I procrastinated doing a follow up to last nights Extras, there is little for me to write about so here are a few thoughts:

-Why does anyone watch The Grammy’s nowadays? The show lost significant credibility in years past, what with giving Milli-Vannilli two Grammys several years ago, and if you look at a list of passed winners, it leaves something to be desired.

-Ricky Gervais and Larry David are responsible for almost every comedy I have followed in my adult life (The exceptions being Arrested Development and South Park). So when I heard they were getting together to talk shop for a show in London, I was a little disappointed it wouldn’t be airing here in the states. Thanks to technological advancements over the past ten years (ala YouTube), we are no longer restricted by geographical borders when it comes to viewing availability.

-Speaking of YouTube, it doesn’t pertain so much to dramatic or comedic television (at least not scripted, anyway) but Sean Taylor must not adhere to the unspoken rule of coasting in the Pro Bowl. I can’t think of a more fitting response then the Japanese call of this play.

-I hesitantly admit that I caught a bit of Desperate Housewives last night. And it seems like a regular occurrence to kill people off in this show. Am I wrong, or is this series still about a small suburban community? There isn’t a drug cartel intriniscally involved, is there? You’d figure after the tenth person in two years turned up murdered, they would form a neighborhood watch or something to deter the violence.

-And finally, I don’t really watch the series, so I can’t attest to it. It is critically heralded and people tell me there are a lot of modern day parallels to war, social politics, etc. So I am probably over-simplifying the case, but the impression I get is Battlestar Galactica is just for masochistic Trekkies.

Welcome back to Survivor. It hasn’t been two months since the last season ended, coupled with the magnificence that was “Cook Islands” and the short layover, “Fiji” is going to be held to a high standard. As I wrote in my first entry for grideffect, early Survivor episodes are just cannon fodder for the latter ones. So usually I am not quick to judge. But whereas most grideffect readers probably recognize me as a somewhat overly critical, meniacal douchebag, I was actually encouraged by last night’s premiere, if for nothing else than the host of personalities that they have stockpiled the cast with.

The premiere opens with Jeff talking about cannibalism (yet again) and the fiji islands. Its the standard melodramatic intro you have come to know and expect from the franchise.

Everyone gets off the boat high fiving. Some guy named Engardo is spouting about how the arrival didn’t meet his expectations, and that feeling is parroted serveral more times. There is some guy named “Rocky” who is a bartender, he is ripped from the pages of blue collar Boston stereotypes, despite naming himself after a fictional Philadelphia icon (the hang dog eyes make the nickname applicable). Not sure what the deal is with the nicknames, so far we have a Boo, a Mookie and a Dreamz as well. Apparently they are all regular viewers, though. Because goofy alias’ or otherwise, they all begin to hunt and gather.

Some box arrives on shore and they all rely on Rocky, Dreamz and every other alpha male to crack it open, how fitting. Until Yau-Man, who is a native of Borneau and quite possibly the smallest male participant in the history of Survivor, sets the rock on its flat end so that pointed end is in the air, and slams the box on the non-dull end of the rock, hatching it open without any remote effort.

Inside said box, There are directions for tracking down materials and building a relatively nice camp setting. Which they promptly do after commercial. Luckily, there is an architect this season who goes by Sylvia (if that is your real name) who immediately begins barking orders at everyone. At first, much like whenever they show someone being authoritarian on Survivor, we assume that she will end up offending everyone. Somehow, though, she manages to garnish everyones respect, and they are all complacent. Also, an architect? Is this Survivor or a romatnic comedy?

Despite this new found synergy, Erica, a non-profit fundraiser immediately starts to plot with everyone and they do not get everything erected in time so naturally it rains at night. Again, this episode threw me for a loop, because that usually indicates someones departure, but I can assure you, Erica is still around. Some guy named Anthony, whose job title is “expert witness locater”, he’s is one of my early favorites to win.

Some young lass is really happy about everything matertializing, missed her name but she was quite the little ball of energy. Naturally she’s a student, hasn’t had a chance to let the workaday world devour her soul. Dreamz, I catch the second go around in his interviews, is also a cheerleading coach who grew up homeless. Alright, this is fucking absurd. Now I can’t make fun of him for being a cheerleading coach, absolutely no justice in the world. Anyhow, Dreamz starts ranting and raving while “the gang” is trying to sleep. Naturally Rocky, though one of just many who were agitated with Dreamz, is the only one who is combative about it. This Rocky guy… he is essentially Jake LaMotta. If they ever adapt this season into a movie, we need Robert DeNiro to revert back to his 1980 looks and character to take on the “Rocky” role.

Eventually the entire situation ends itself. I think Dreamz was simply trying to be personable, but didn’t realize he might have been acting a tad erratic for everyones liking, given the setting, and the timing, and-, nevermind, everything about this impromptu decision to be charming was debilitating.

Back from commercials, the team wakes up in the morning and they are finally introduced into to Jeff, who asks them about the arrival and assembling the shelter. Jeff asks everyone about Sylvia being a “natural” leader as a result of her performance in assembling the camp. They all agree to it, which is kind of flawed because she is an architect, making her a leader in that situation by default. She is asked to divide up the two teams.

She starts by dividing all the women, absolutely no idea if she is doing it evenly or lopsided. When she divides up the men, she immediately puts Dreamz and Rocky on separate teams, as they have had the only visible friction. Sylvia, however, is tribeless, instead, she is going to exile island, (what a bitch) but she is immune from elimination. Kind of annoying, really. It probably means she is going to the losing team with the shitty camp, despite the integral part of, you know, leader that she played in assimilating the world class shelter. Damn.

The two team names: Moto, Ravu

The challenge consists of several of the contestants dragging a chariot with teammates on the back to solve some puzzles that spell out numbers that they are to apply to some wheel. Winning tribe gets immunity and the shelter they set up, along with a few gifts that will be in waiting back at the camp. Losers go to a much more decrepit beach, with one pot. The race is fairly close throughout, Ravu is first back to the puzzle, but not by a mile. Ravu gets done with their first number puzzle, Moto finishes there second before Ravu does, Moto is first too finish all three, the two teams go back and forth in who has the lead throughout…. but Moto wins.

Back from commercials, the winning team basks in the glory of being at the real camp they are less than half responsible for even being there. In fact, when you consider that CBS supplied everything, and Sylvia led in the assembly, plus the contributions from teh other nine members… they are only about 25% for it being there. Just sayin’, I wouldn’t feel as if I had earned it, so much as I would feel lucky to be there.

Sylvia is handling her raw deal well. Even her clue says the idol is back at camp, so she has literally nothing to do except avoids the plethora of snakes on the island, which they portray inhabiting the thing like bees to a beehive. Looks like I have a rooting interest for the time being.

On the shit island, Ravu is handling it well, Erica being the lone exception. Clearly she is going home. The tightest alliance formed so far is of Jessica, Earl and Rocky and they decide to get rid of a woman, and that woman is Rita, because Erica is strong, they have some other reason for not voting off the other two women or this gorgeous girl named Michelle because she excels at dangling (is that a real reason?). Anyways, yeah, keep her around.
But another alliance (or meeting of minds, not sure which this classifies as of yet) wants to get rid of Jessica (who is cute in her own right) based on poor challenge performance. Oooh, we already have a rift. Though now I think its Jessica because she says she feels safe with Rocky, and she said “I am glad it’s not me”. I am not sure why she feels so comfortable in an alliance of two other people plus Erica (who expressed interest in wanting to get rid of Rita as well) when there are six other votes left to cast, but whatever.

At TC, it gets really heavy on the hyperbole. Michelle melts my ice cold heart with an overly charming answer about team morale at the new island. Yau-Man is nervous, Rocky is waffling and Erica is still pissed. Rita says she would be surprised about being voted off, along with the other two people Jeff asks. He doesn’t ask Jessica the same question, which makes me wonder. Vote goes:
Luki
Rita
Jessica
Yau-Man
Jessica
Jessica
Jessica

Her ouster is probably warranted based on performance, but the shallow side of me (and the shallow side is 90% of what counts in reality TV) really wanted to see Jessica last a couple more episodes. In her parting words, she is magnanimous for the most part, despite claiming she was backstabbed, despite the three other people that agreed to not vote for her, didn’t vote for her. It has to be rough being the first person voted off these shows.

Previews look promising, that’s all I’ll say. I’ll get to who’s on which team sometime next week, becuase right now it doesn’t matter.

Well, that was a distinguishable episode of The Office last night, wasn’t it? Not a single, solitary second in the actual Dundler-Mifflin building after the pre-credits scene. Has that ever happened before? Actually, I am surprised Phyllis’ wedding was shown onscreen, much less an entire episode being devoted to it. It was like one of those dream sequence episodes of The Sopranos, you’re not sure if you are on the right channel, or if you even like what you’re watching, but it’s there, and you end up waiting in the wings to see if there will be some sort of explanation.

On the relationship front, Roy totally capitalized on Pam’s lonely wedding despair, that’s two references to Wedding Crashers. Does he have any idea about her feelings towards Jim? Certainly doesn’t seem that way (Could he be that unaware?). Never the less, he couldn’t have pulled off the “reborn earnest guy” role any better than he did. I am waiting for one of the forum posters at TWoP to call the writers misogynistic for having Pam leave with Roy, which is bound to happen.

Speaking of which, If the TwoP message boards are any indication, then the bulk of the audience is upset with the handling of Jim and Pam’s non-relationship. Personally, I don’t think the writers could be handling it any better. This is a comedy show, having them separated due to extenuating circumstances constitutes humor. Having them snuggle and gaze longly into each others eyes at office parties does not. Not to be too indignant, but if you’re watching this show for developing relationships, then it’s for the wrong reasons. I would redirect your viewership to Friday Night Lights for such content. It’s the best dramatic series on television in a decade. Because the writers for The Office didn’t sign on to write the quintessential relationship comedy, this isn’t Friends, I am actually surprised the Jim-Pam aspect of the show domiantes it as much as it does.

Either way, it’s part of the show and warrants discussing. It looked encouraging for our two desperate hearts at the start of the reception. Jim complimented Pam on her unique dancing style (Jim echoed my sentiments here, I was really hoping to see Pam dance, similar to that of the Diwali episode as it was fucking adorable. Maybe at the next Office religion oriented celebration). But fell flat starting with Jim and Karen slow dancing, then Roy reminding the audience why Pam went for him in the first place.

Afterwards, Jim was really forcing his adoration with Karen, especially after watching Pam and Roy leaving early. He seemed pretty detached in his “In a totally non-hypothetical, I am glad I’m still with Karen”, and I would believe it if he wasn’t so smitten with her 90% of the time. By the way, Karen looked psychotic bobbing around on stage, essentially the antithesis to how I would categorize Pam’s dancing. It was like the dancing equivalent of her taking joy when she viciously and mockingly killed Jim in “Call of Duty” back in Stamford.

Ultimately, another enjoyable episode with more physical comedy than we are accustom to seeing:

-Michael dragging the wheelchair as a means of pouting and drawing attention to himself.

-Ryan batting the bouquet away from Kelly (Second favorite moment of the episode).

-Creed switching the cards on the gift (Handily my favorite moment).

-The Pavlonian dog experiment with Dwight, the computer alert and the altoids.

Also, a surprisingly long list of noteworthy quotes:

“Since I pay her salary, it is like I am paying for her wedding, which I’m happy to do.” -Michael

“You look as beautiful as the Queen of England.” -Dwight to Angela

“We usually marry standing in our own graves. It makes the funerals quite romantic, the weddings are a bleak affair.” -Dwight

“I bought a ticket for Grizzly Man and walked into the wrong theater, after an hour I figured I was in the wrong theater but continued waiting, that’s the thing about bear attacks, they come when you least expect it.” -Dwight

“Agreed. No fingers will be laid on Phyllis.” -Michael

“You look at her, and she’s kind of matronly today, but I swear to god, back in high school her nickname was Easy Rider” -Michael

The only downside was Michael’s egregious behavior. Seems like Jan would have been with him to provide some sort of levity, and I am not sure why they had him revert back to the invasive, socially unaware hethen. I mean, he never stopped being that, but recently he seemed deterred from last nights brand of behavior. It was kind of distracting, which I guess is the point. But I had forgotten about it.

Recap of last night’s Survivor premiere later today.

Wow, that was a lot of confrontation compiled into one episode. I don’t think a network drama has ever portrayed racial tension so aptly before. With the exception of Mac, there were no real villains, no right answers and a litany of regret and misunderstanding, but managed to couple the intense drama with the humorous annual powderpuff game.

The episode opens with Dillon routing their opponent in their first playoff game. Afterwards, Assistant coach Mac is drilled by a couple reporters about the quarterback issue on the team after Smash threw a TD completion to Saceran on an option play, the reporternoted that Smash played quarterback in JV (What?). Instead of giving the simple answer, that they were maximizing the teams talent. When they were forming this team, the coaching staff didn’t feel like they were losing much at quarterback from Smash to Street, when Street was tragically injured, Smash was already comfortable and productive at running back, so they decided to begin grooming Saceran. He goes into some stammering explanation about Smash being a natural athlete, then after further extremely presumptuous and suggestive questioning, in an attempt to explain Smash’s physical tenacity relates him to a “junkyard dog”, and that’s why he isn’t at quarterback.

It is proven later in the episode that Mac is something of a racist, but in this situation he was caught completely off guard (randomly questioned about race within his team) in a moment of jubilation (fresh off a convincing playoff win) and verbalized some (at the very least) sub-conscious beliefs. Ultimately, what he was trying to say is that Smash excels in the trenches, he moves the ball exceptionally on the ground and while he would be a decent quarterback, he is an even better running back. One could say the same thing about Riggins. So given the inarticulate presentation of Mac, while I do not condone the comparison, and resent everything that Mac stands for in terms of social politics, I do not think he was trying to be divisive or disparaging in this regard.

After a series of perceived injustices and condescension, Smash, at the behest of Waverly, goes from trying to ignore the entire situation and for the sake of the team to forming a walkout with all of the other black players on the team. There was one poignant moment in a bank with his mother in which they are turned down for a loan. Smash begins to lose his temper, and his mom grabs him by the arm and quells the situation by explaining, “Look around you, look at all these eyes on you, waiting, expecting you to do something violent, to become that junkyard dog of Matt McGill’s”, and the camera pans around the bank, all white spectators, most of which leering because there was a slight eruption, but can be interpreted one of a million ways, especially from Smash and his mothers perspective.

On a much, much, lighter note, the writers for FNL have decided to incorporate an annual powderpuff football game into this script, and as a result of skipping PE classes, Tami forces Julie and Tyra to participate in it. Riggins ends up coaching one team and Saceran the other. Lyla, as one would expect, is participating as well. The two coaches pick teams which we are privy to the first few. Saceran picks first, he turns around to pick Julie, who is seated with Tyra behind him on the bleachers (all the other girls are standing at center court), but he gets a little flustered and murmurs, “uh, I’ll pick, uh, Tyra, please”. Riggins turn, he asks the group, “does anyone know how to chop block?” Some girl timidly replies that she does, and that is Tim’s first pick. Matt sheepishly makes his second pick. Then Riggins, just to piss of Tyra even further, says, “Lyla, get over here.”, which draws a unison “oooohhhh” from the crowd. Saceran finally makes Julie his third pick.

The distinguishing personalities are really highlighted in the practice and game scenes. Riggins has an authoritative presence, while Saceran has a passive one. Lyla does exactly what she is told, while Tyra rebels and Julie is dismissive. Despite their faltering relationship, Saceran manages to talk Julie into playing quarterback, to which she hesitantly agrees, but is sure to get in a “You’re pathetic” as she does. Her and her father almost immediately recover from an argument about her skipping classes after he discovers she is playing QB in the powderpuff game. He teaches her some tricks of the trade, and Julie ends up bonding with both men in her life after this supposed “punishment”.

A few other points too mention:

-Street was invited to a tryout in Austin for the national quad rugby team after returning to school, his inability to perform an incision in biology class coupled with this invite motivates him to re-dropout and simply get his GED, much to the chagrin of Lyla.

- Tyra’s mom, if she isn’t already, will be sleeping with Buddy Garrity before the season is over. This development just increases Tyra’s seething hatred for Lyla. As of now, Lyla has slept with her estranged boyfriend, her dad gets routine lap dances from her older sister and her dad is about to start laying the wood to her mom. Might explain her seemingly unjustified disdain for Lyla and that hit she laid on her in the powderpuff flag football game.

-Landry returned in rare form as the referee for the powderpuff game. Not only giving coach Taylor a penalty for stepping across some line, but signaling the winning TD right in Riggins’ face. Good to have him back, that Landry.

Thoughts on The Office and Survivor tomorrow.

Good morning, new The Office and season premiere of Survivor: Fiji tonight. While I work on last nights FNL recap, here are some links to tickle your pickle…

Here is a guide to still enjoying Lost as there fanbase seems to be dissatisfied with the current season. They should have made something like this for The Sopranos last year.

David Faustiino, better known as Bud Bundy has filed for Divorce from his wife that he married in 2004. I had no idea men were allowed to initiate divorce in California, maybe they never do because they get screwed in family court so frequently. Anyways, it seems like a ploy to get his name in the headlines and maybe find some work. The last time I recall seeing him in anything was an Entourage cameo in “The Review” at Jessica Alba’s house party.

Here is some relationship advice from Sarah Silverman that you probably don’t want to heed.

I’ve already ranted enough about the general malaise that is Superbowl commercials, but doesn’t it seem like every year, everyone complains about how bad they were relative to its predecessors? If memory serves, common consensus in the media and public is that we haven’t had a good Superbowl commercial in ten years.

Was Prince’s halftime show really that impressive? There is not a chance it was better than U2’s in 2002, but I wouldn’t know because I didn’t watch it on Sunday. It’s remarkable Prince still has mainstream appeal after the number Chapelle did on him.

Here’s some good news, Jennifer Esposito is set to join the cast of Rescue Me. I have my reservations about whether her acting style will blend with that of the cast, though I did like her in Crash. Either way, it’s more eye candy.

At least Patrick Waterburn is honest with himself about the likely fate of Rules of Engagement.

I’ll try to complete the Friday Night Lights recap today, it all depends on my work schedule. Have a pleasant afternoon.

Extras has never been concerned about pandering to its US audience, and I can appreciate that. It was created in London by two Brits and originally aired on the BBC. So my qualms aren’t with the series, just my lack of understanding. While I think this was the worst episode of Extras I have seen in the series’ short history, it still had its moments.

The issues relating to British pop culture are my problem, I suppose. It seemed like I missed the humor in the majority of the punchlines on Sunday night, particularly at The BAFTA’s. It would require a bit of setup, and if there was a method of cluing the American audience in on his British references, I would be all for it. But that would probably detract from the focus of the episodes, simply rendering it a bad comedy, as opposed to a good comedy I am occasionally in the dark about.

If Gervais and Merchant decide to create a third season, it would be appreciated if they stopped harping on how simplistic the lions share of British television is, the ineptness of fans of such television and as a result, how unrespectable Andy is. I am sure Gervais has endless examples about how British television is mired in mediocrity (We could do the same here), but when Gervais keeps forcing the issue, it starts to make Extras as monotonous and repititive as the brand of television that he is mocking.

With all of that said, Chris Martin was absolutely hilarious tonight. The episode peaked in His five minute cameo in the opening minutes. He has a reputation regarded as something of a pompous rock star, whether or not it is true I have no idea. But at the very least it was good to see him have fun with the sullen aspect of his public image. Honestly, I can’t imagine what Gervais or Merchant says to these people to get them to parody themselves like this, but its an enviable trait by most TV producers, I’m sure.

While this episode was underwhelming, and missed its mark on several occasions, I have seen next weeks episode (already posted On Demand) and it more than compensates for this one’s shortcomings.

My apologies for a second consecutive late post. This one relates more to my boss being in Vegas so I showed up to work an hour late as a result, rather than a post Superbowl hangover. In my lethargic stupor last night, I actually managed to watch Rules of Engagement, a new CBS sitcom that I learned about while watching the game on Sunday (It appears the network self-promotion still works on me).

The premise of the show is there is one worn down, semi bitter, middle-aged couple, who befriends a young, optimistic recently engaged couple that have a still single friend with no intentions of tying the knot. So yeah, it’s pretty much like every other couples oriented sitcom. The older couple of Jeff and Audrey (played by Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price) essentially hold nothing but contempt for each other as they offer advice to their nubile counterparts. Jeff never portrays a positive image of marriage to Adam (Oliver Hudson), and the concept, much like all of these shows, is the marriage is drains the life out of the husband and the wife is a preening harpy with little regard for how miserable she is making his life, mainly because she thinks he’s an idiot.

Needless to say, it’s a tired concept and offers up little in creativity, but Warburton gives a stellar performance playing Jeff. Most will remember him as Putty from Seinfeld as the king of the deadpan. He is almost as strong in this series, but unfortunately his performance isn’t enough to save it, it’s too redundant and I do not see much changing in ways of content. Despite Jeff’s obvious dismissive tone, Adam is constantly probing him with hopeful questions when clearly Jeff is never going to reply with anything encouraging. The entire dynamic is Hudson setting up Warburton for jokes, its like a poor mans Abbot And Costello.

The women on the show (particularly Audrey) counters her husbands protests or disobedience with threats of withholding sex or emasculating jabs about his manhood. Again: nothing new. Her protege, Jennifer, played by Bianca Kajlich delivers little else. She does pull off one decent line when at an art gallery with every main cast member, her husband sidles her while she is looking at a painting, he offers up some pretentious explanation about the deeper meaning of the painting she has been observing, and she replies, “I think a monkey got into the paint”. Why do I remember this one line so vividly? Because it was the only delivery that made me even grin from either female lead.

Which brings us to Russell, played by the David “I am in this for a paycheck” Spade. Russell is supposde to be the wild card in this show, he is what separates Rules of Engagement from being a carbon copy of Til Death on FOX. The leave little to the imagination of Russell’s attitude in the pilot. It opens with him berating Adam for getting engaged. And ends with him lying in bed with a dingy waitress (who moved from New York to Ohio to be an actress) that he met at the art gallery while on a date with Jennifer’s friend. While the waitress rambles incoherently post-coitus, David looks at the business card the blind date gave him and has a contemplating look in his eye, until the waitress arrives back in bed from getting a glass of water and they agree to one more round of sex.

I am not sure how much longer this series will be on the air, but they either need to put some heightners in Spades shoes or rethink the female casting decisions. He had face time with four different women last night (Jennifer, Audrey, the waitress and the date) and was eye to mouth with all of them. Jennifer and Audrey do not matter as there is no romantic overtones between him and the two, but is it feasible all these women are approving of him as a sexual partner if they could post him up in basketball? It’s nitpicking, but it was so noticeable I feel like it warrants mentioning.

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Which admittedly, isn’t saying much; but between Warburton’s delivery, and Spade always has decent potential (despite his diminutive stature) I would classify Rules as an above average sitcom. Does that mean I will continue to watch it? Of course not. But there is a certain type of American who enjoys this brand of television, for better or worse, I am not that type. So if the humorous studies of the disparities between men and women is your thing, I would recommend it. If you regularly read this website, I wouldn’t go within a mile of CBS on Monday night, because odds are the only time you tune into CBS are for Survivor (new season begins on Thursday) and/or sports.

More on Sunday night’s Extras later today.

Sorry for the delay. I guess that’s the consequence of The Superbowl: late blog entries. Anyways, I am sure you are all thrilled to be back at work, currently I barely have the mental capacity to write anything at all, so writing something of substance is totally out of the question. Luckily for me every network bows down to the magnificent ratings power that is the NFL title game, and I have yet to watch last night’s Extras, so there is nothing new to discuss.

So let’s talk about Superbowl ads. My memory is a little foggy, but the people I was watching the game with clearly enjoyed the one where the two were playing Rock-Paper-Scissors for the last Bud Light. In yet another play on the inanity that is the paper beating rock, the guy who picked rock whipped one out at chucked at the guy’s forehead, probably killing him. Until he protests the result, “I threw paper”; without skipping a beat, his potential murderer retorts, “I threw a rock”. The second commercial than had some fanfare was the one witht he four women sitting in the car, and dozens of men begin to remove their clothes and molest the car, while the four women look on in horror, at the end a caption reads, “Guys just can’t seem to keep their hands off it.” Little can be derived from this other than the people I watched the game with are idiots.

But on a larger scale, I can’t recall enjoying a single commercial and I haven’t for at least ten years. One, because they’re commercials. Two, there is so much expectation for them that they often fall flat. As little as ten years ago, Superbowl commercials were regarded as secondary. A reason you could feed to your disinterested significant other who may want to engage in some other activity when the game is on, “You can watch the commercials” was always a great persuader. Any other day, such a suggestion might be misconstrued, as it sounds more like a chore than entertainment. But before the internet over-saturated superbowl commercial hype, they were worthwhile. Now we have anticipatory articles, review articles, contests, debates, news segments, and a million different people interpreting dozens of commercials a million different ways. I can’t think of any other faction of a media event that is blown out of proportion like this. Now the significant other prepares for the commercials more so than you do the game (which admittedly, can have it’s positives alongside its negatives).

And not to completely kill everyones buzz, but ultimately they are trying too push a product, when that is the main objective the room for creativity is marginalized (such is the problem with the majority of studio films nowadays. They are more interested in extracting the money out of your pocket than telling a great story). I just have a difficult time getting all in a huff over a few predictable quips conjured up in some ad execs office that are meant to brainwash me into buying a razor, a soda (At some point it can’t be worth the investment for Coca-Cola to keep pumping these out) or a car.

Again, I wasn’t exactly the bastion of sobreity last night and I didn’t make a point to watch all of the commercials (I missed the heralded K-Fed ad), but therein lies the problem: I didn’t really feel a need to. There is some backlash worth noting, it appears Superbowl commercial hype is now counter-productive. At least with me… and that doesn’t really matter because I do not have any money to buy shit with anyways. So just disregard all of this.

Someone needs to make a plea to NBC and Gary Daniels for Office episodes to be extended to a full hour. Last night serves as fitting evidence for the case to be made, it had a wealth of material, an underused cast and only thirty minutes of air time (twenty two after commericals).

So what did the network and the show do? They completely removed Andy and Oscar from the episode with no real explanation. Coinicdentally, they would probably have the best material for an episode that revolved around strippers. Andy, being the boorish dolt that he is would probably provoke everyone. And Oscar, being the lone gay man in the office, his presence alone would extract hysterical reactions from Michael, Dwight, and subsequently, Jim. But this is all hypothetical, as I have said the word “would” three times in this paragraph.

The material used in it was fantastic, that’s why I think the series would thrive in an hour long format. Watching the episode with my roomate, when little ad came on about going to NBC.com for deleted scenes, his reaction was, “That’s it?!” Though it was internal, I had the same reaction, tilted my head up to look at the clock and responded, “apparently”. I know it would be a break from the mold for a comedy, and would resemble the British version even less than it does now (though I think the producers are so fargone from attempting to pay homage to its predecessor that I hardly doubt this is a concern anymore), but it would generate more money for the network, the cast and crew on the show and kill an extra half hour for me on Thursday night. Everyone wins.

As for the episode itself, Michael’s overreaction to getting a lapdance, then calling his girlfriend/boss to report that he had a stripper at work for Bob Vance’s bachelor party was probably the most ill-advised decision ever, though it was influenced by the stripper herself with a elementary school lymiric, which Michael interpreted as sagwe advice because it rhymed. I’ll be surprised if no one voices a complaint about the stripper be dehumanized, but hopefully everyone realizes that Michael and Dwight are more pitiful and hateful.

Pam and Karen saw whatever firendship they had deteriorate with Karen’s probing about Jim and Pam’s history, followed by Pam’s unearthly awkward response to it. Pam was all kinds of uncomfortable this episode, with Karen and beforehand when offering advice to Jim about getting eight hours of sleep as opposed to six, and him replying, “great advice Beasley”. At first I thought she was trying deter him from those late night conversations with Karen (hence why he is tired), but she was actually desperately fishing for something (anything) to talk about.

In television and film women often use the “I don’t know what I want” card, and I always felt it was insincere. More of a ploy to keep multiple men chasing them that they may or may not have actual interest in rather than genuine emotional uncertainty . But Jenna Fischer really did sell this well and made it seem earnest. Now She appears to know eaxctly who she is aiming for, but the recent development is actually is quite disconcerning for me, I prefer too maintain my cynical view of the opposite sex, and I don’t appreciate pop culture or some charming character on a TV show tampering with that perspective.

Pam might have some, well, not worthy competition. But obsessive, at the very least. That stare down Karen was giving Jim, followed by that march to his desk for a prolonged hug, then the stomping right back to her desk without saying a word had to be a little unsettling for him. While Pam is portraying herself as disinterested by asking Ryan to set her up with “one of his business school friends”. Seems like she is taking a page out of the Tyra Collette playbook and letting him know that she has options.

Quotable Quotes:

“Shut! Up! Angela!” -Meredith, after Angela protests that Michael hire a male stripper. Ten times funnier because it’s only the second line I remember Meredith having. The other one from the christmas episode being, “No thanks, they’re to sweet”, after Kelly offers her a margarita.

Dwight: What do you prefer? Brunette or red head?
Jim (Still keeping his head down, motionless): Blond.
Camera pans to Karen, then to Pam, listening on with heightened interest. That’s some great self-awareness on his part.

“Jennifer Garner portrayed a stripper on Alias. One of her many aliases.” -Dwight, after Jim asks him if he has ever seen a stripper.

“Hey, um, stripper, can I ask you a question about… women?” -Michael

Again, good episode, but we need an extra thirty minutes before “That’s it?” becomes all too familiar.

I can honestly say that last night’s Friday Night Lights was the best scripted episode of dramatic television I have ever seen from any of the four major networks. There wasn’t a single setback, and (with the content of this show, it’s hard to avoid) never teetered on turning into an after school special.

If you are wondering what/who the title is referring to, well it is none other than Matt Saracen, whose endless quest to spend some quality time with his much deserving girlfriend is constantly being interrupted by football players, his coach (her dad), radio personalities, and what one would assume to be the most detrimental to Julie: rally girls. After being kidnapped outside of an Applebee’s by his teammates, strong-armed by the local radio blowhards and his coach for a local television appearance, the rally girls “rally” all of the players together for a late night booze-fest and a calendar shoot for “charity”. Who is buying this calendar? Probably no one, other than wishful male high school classmates. Anyhow, it leads to Julie temporarily ending their relationship.

One interesting development from this is Julie and Tyra developing a budding friendship. Either Tyra will turn her into a boozing lesbian or Julie will convince Tyra to become a nun, either way it should be interesting. I mean, we are like, ten minutes into this development and we have already learned that Buddy Garrity is not only a strip club patron, but Tyra’s sister’s best customer.

In the football world, Coach Taylor is letting the situation with Smash effect everything around him. After an incredibly poignant talk with Tami, who always seems to know exactly what to say and when to say it, motivates Taylor to attempt looking at the situation from Smash’s perspective, and acknowledging how counter-productive this particular coaching tactic is. It leads to one of my favorite scenes in the series, eerily similar to that of Bodie and McNulty at the courtyard in the season four finale of The Wire. Smash tests clean in his first drug test (probably because he was consistently being worked like a mule this episode) and Taylor agrees to let him play.

On the new front deriving from last week, the marriage front, Lyla is understandably having her doubts about tying the knot before graduating from high school. Before (or perhaps because) such feelings are recvealed, however, Jason pre-emptively lauinches a nuclear bomb into the Garrity household, informing Buddy and his wife that the two are engaged after Buddy dismisses the notion of professional murderball as a career prospect. I beleive his exact words were, “And when I make the national team I can take your daughter with me, we just got engaged… that’s right, picked out a ring this morning”.

Tis’ not wise to draw the wrath of Buddy Garrity

Riggins, who was breeching supplemental character ground before this episode, needs a legal guardians signature for a speeding ticket, for which he seeks out his father, Frank. Who at first, comes off as a jovial, recovering alcoholic, seeming almost improbable that he is/was an absentee dad at some point. He ends up finding him, looking just for the signature, and ends up spending a two days at his house which included a round of golf under no uncertain terms: Riggins wins and his dad has to attend his playoff game. His father wins and Riggins won’t give his locale to the women looking for him. Well, his father is a stickler throughout the match and he ends up winning. Needless to say, it leads to what I imagine is yet another falling out between the two, until Frank makes an impromptu appearance just as Tim is running out of the tunnel for their playoff game.

We see Smash bust out the tunnel dancing and flayling around, similar to that of the little kid whom he likened himself to in the scene with Taylor. What’s my one complaint? The only significant character left out this episode was Landry, since he is in the show by association with Saracen, it is logical that we never saw him, as a result of football dominating the kids life. Never the less, I like the character.

Next week involves some sort of racial divide involving that bitter assistant coach.