Grid Effect

Well, we sort of lied at the end of last Friday’s post. But we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave, and at that moment in time, we felt like we were being honest. As it turned out though, work began to increase rapidly and we completely forgot about any sort of promise we may have made.

No worries, however, because from the looks of things, nothing much has happened in between Thursday and today to really warrant a full blown links post for both days. But, we’ll make do with the hand the television industry hath dealt us.

Sad news for anyone who’s a fan of loose morality and exploitation, Kid Nation is set to be taken off the air. And for once, we approve of a decision made by CBS and their entertainment department.

Jessica Simpson (see, I told you we had limited news options) is considering a return to reality television. Is she nuts? Reality television is no place for attractive, talentless, idiot, hack blonds who anger Dallas Cowboy fans beyond all reason. Well, actually, reality television is the place for all of that, but we already have a surplus on her demographic, so maybe she’ll be shunned? Eh, who the fuck am I kidding?

If she isn’t a reality star, then I don’t know who is.

Tim Goodman wants to know why the average television viewer isn’t as bitter and contemptuous as your average critic. While we can’t say for certain, we imagine the indifference is a result of poor quality. Christ, only two series’ we watch were even affected by the strike (The Office which returns in April, and FNL which might actually be a casualty of the lockout), and we write a freaking TV blog. Point being, while many people watch Heroes, they might not be overly devoted to it because it isn’t really all that good. And while they might enjoy tuning in for an hour every week, its absence doesn’t create and irreplaceable void or anything.

If you thought last night’s Wire episode had a different ebb and flow to it, then a possible explanation might be it was the directorial debut for Dominic West (McNutty). While we agree with this sentiment, we certainly aren’t opposed to it. For a season so wildly paced and eccentric compared to its earlier parts, we think a different directorial style is appropriate.

Finally, Office writers fell back into old habits by reconvening at a restaurant to discuss possible script ideas. The pressure is probably immense to return with something side-splittingly funny. Glad it’s not me.

This was weak, back with something exceptionally longer tomorrow.

It looks like we’ll have more material within a couple months. Why is that, you ask? Well, because the strike has, for all intensive purposes come to an end. Depending on which side you listen to, the other side won (not terribly surprising that everyone in Hollywood opts to play the victim card). But still, they can at least move on from all this hullabaloo and get back to entertaining us. In two months time we should be having weekly recaps of The Office, and, ummm, huh; well, maybe additional Friday Night Lights episodes. Well, that’s on top of South Park, which should be returning sooner rather than later.

So for the foreseeable future on Grid Effect, we’ll be recapping Survivor and The Wire. At some point in the next couple months South Park will be added to the docket, followed by The Office and potentially (though unlikely) FNL will be recapped as well. That’s five shows, about the best we ever do on this website.

If you’re a fan of the outrageous as opposed to the realistic, then I have some bad news for you, my friend. It appears Heroes and 24 are both done for this television season. That means no detonating nuclear missiles and no cheerleader that always wears her competitive outfit, even while saving the planet. If these things appeal to you, then 2009 will look much brighter than 2008. Also, if you’re looking for an upcoming schedule of which series’ will return to the airwaves when, then look no further.

The strike cost tinseltown an estimated $2 billion dollars. $2 billion. What is the country spending on the war per month? Doesn’t this have to ballpark it? $2 billion for roughly three months is $666,666,666 per month. Clearly I need to be making friends with these people as opposed to mocking them and their sometimes lazy, pedestrian work.

According to a recent survey — which are never inaccurate, much like exit polls — half of all British men would sacrifice six months for a new plasma. First off, six months is nothing. In the immortal words of George Costanza, “I could do six months on my head”. Secondly, suppose we lived in Britain, if we were to give up sex for six months for anything, it would probably be a pizza, or a cheeseburger, or something remotely edible. Not like the awfulness that is mainstream over there. And thirdly, if we’re giving up sex with just Great Britain residents, it’s not something we’d consider a huge loss. So we’d probably be willing to sacrifice sex in Great Britain for six months for a pack of mentos and a new basketball….But that’s just us.

To be fair, we value a pack of these like most people value their offspring.

For whatever reason, Craig Ferguson is voluntarily suggesting that should Letterman leave his post, that Jon Stewart should be named his successor, and not him. I mean, he’s right, but that’s not entirely the point. Has anyone ever voluntarily given up his opportunity to move up a time slot in the late night game? Christ, even Carson Daly is contending to fill Conan O’Brien’s shoes. And as little as we think of Craig Ferguson, Daly makes him look like Carson. In a way I admire this. He’s content with his position (which is a comfortable one) and doesn’t have an over-sized ego that needs validation, but it’s just so atypical.

FNL wasn’t intended to be a cliffhanger on Friday, which we find befuddling. They knew a strike was looming, they knew how many episodes they made and they knew what would happen in the final episode. So…what was the intention again? Look, we know you’re trying to bait Ben Silverman into extending the series at the expense of your fans, and that is fine, just own up to it. As fans, most of us probably appreciate the effort. But your series is too good for us to think you’re a retard, so just own these shenanigans and we’ll call it a day.

Finally, The Wire gets some award recognition. Along with 30 Rock, the WGA anointed these two programs best writing in a comedy and drama. I guess this is appropriate, writers recognize great writing, and is just another indication that we need to start watching 30 Rock.

Speaking of The Wire, here’s an interview with Lance Reddick and how he almost came to play crack addicted Bubbles instead of the straight and narrow, well-intentioned yet ladder climbing police lieutenant. I wonder if there’s any mention of those Cadillac commercials. Enter into this with caution, he has a completely different voice than what he uses on the series, the only person it seems like you can’t say that about is the one character with the most uniquely baffling accent: Snoop.

That’s all we have for the time being, back tomorrow with — yyyyyaaaaawwwwn — probably more of the same.

Just a few links to continue this dreary two week stint (and counting) on this website. The only television we watched last night was Daily Show and Colbert Report, both of which furthered the ongoing feud between the comedy central hosts and the future tonight show host. We have to say, in lieu of the writers, continuing this running gag is probably the best alternative for both parties. All three personalities were featured on both variety shows, look for Colbert and Stewart to pop up on Conan’s show some time in the near future (They may have already gone on last night, we didn’t bother to find out though).

Here’s something with Jeff Probst walking through the new tribal council for the upcoming Survivor season. We didn’t watch it, because any type of Survivor hype strikes us as unsettling, unnecessary and flat out corny, in fact its probably the sole reason we didn’t bother to watch the series for its first eight or nine seasons. Essentially, we’re just posting this as an excuse to remind you that there is a new season starting Thursday, and it can only improve from last season.

Here’s an incredibly misinformed article from The Guardian relating celebrity to American politics. Clearly, and we don’t know how else to say this: this cat has obviously never been to a red state. Anyhow, relative to the article, if we’re picking our nation’s leaders based on their caliber of celebrity endorser, Obama (Clooney and Larry David) beats Clinton (Ted Danson and Barbara Streisand) in a fucking landslide.

Jason Bateman confirms Jeffrey Tambor’s confirmation of his previous declarations. Also, he adds what we already did about the decision lying solely on Mitchell Hurwitz’s shoulders. Jesus, you know, its not like the majority of the cast is struggling post AD. Cera has been in two featured films that have grossed tons of money and critical acclaim, Bateman is regularly in films with large releases, Portia De Rossi is trudging along on Nip Tuck, David Cross and Will Arnett are perennially in pedestrian comedies. All this success and they still want to reunite, that in and of itself is surprising and almost unprecedented.

The one-time president of the Bluth Company.

It’s looking grim for the future of Friday Night Lights. Not exactly news, but when the president of entertainment admits as much, then there is virtually no reason to be hopeful. Naturally, this announcement comes in the aftermath of what is unequivocally their best episode of the season. Whatever, I’m sure they can fill their time slot with yet another hour of Deal or No Deal.

Speaking of our favorite melodrama, here’s an article with writers from The Office, Mindy Kaling (Kelly) and Ryan Koh, writing the synopsis for the final episodes of the current FNL season and the climactic (also comedic) scene of the finale. There are four other features similar to this in the article, with television writers taking over for series’ completely different from their natural skill set, though this is the only one involving two series’ we watch.

Oh, and in case you were really anticipating the end of the writers strike, just settle down. Because even if it ended to day, we’d still have a month long hiatus before a new episode aired. Oh, and the WGA would also like to remind you that a deal has yet to be reached. So yeah, don’t look to drop your new healthy and productive lifestyle just yet.

Since we’ve already done a “What’s On Tonight!” post on, like, four different Thursdays, and given the schedule doesn’t change much at all, we’re going to post some more links. While this isn’t exactly original or all that entertaining, time is of the essence and needs to factor into the decision making here.

Also, it doesn’t look like we’re ever going to see the Breaking Bad pilot due to some domestic issues (not being brought up on charges or anything, its actually more ridiculous than that), So we’re just going to forgo the series entirely and try to catch it when AMC ultimately replays it, which, if the ratings for the pilot episode are any indication, they will most certainly do. So, should anyone catch wind of when this will take place, please let us know.

Mo Ryan, a critic for the Chicago Tribune and probably the series’ most staunch and public of fans, has claimed that FNL has revisited its season one glory after a slow start too season two. While we wouldn’t go even remotely close to saying that, we will agree that the series has definitely improved in the new year. Then again, she gets advanced copies so we’re speaking on different plains here, but I just don’t recall season one ever needing something as contrived or overwrought as a tornado, or a grief stricken coach tackling a player on the field to ratchet up the suspense in season one.

Yet another reason to avoid getting married and having kids: when we inevitably get divorced, my estranged wife can get a court order to drag them onto a reality series to boost her profile. To be honest, I’m fairly impressed with Denise Richards, in a custody dispute with Charlie Sheen, she has made him the class act. How many people can lay claim to that?

One’s apparently addicted to money, the other reportedly hookers and blow, can you determine which is which?

I usually don’t do this because it feels rather invasive and unnecessary; but I’m stretched thin for material, so here are pics of Conan O’Brien’s new estate. Also, it really bares an uncanny resemblance to my summer home, but as a permanent residence? Pssh, I couldn’t fathom living in such squalor. I mean, where would I take guests?

Like I said, we’re stretched thin for material today, so we will inform you that Jenna Fischer is not dating David Spade. Apparently this was believed to be true at some point, which, no offense to David Spade, would destroy the Pam Beesly character for millions of viewers. For all her bravado about standing up for herself and exuding self-confidence, that isn’t synonymous with dating aging playboys with kids out of wedlock (who we consider funny, though past his prime). Man, it must suck being identified as a fictional character.

If you are looking for insight on Michael K. Williams’ performance as Omar Little, then look no further. Though we rarely listen to any talk radio, we do like these interviews with obscure actors and other creative talent that NPR so frequently seems to attain. Also, there are several other audio clips related to The Wire directly underneath the brief article provided.

Speaking of the greatest drama of all time, Clark Johnson, who directed The Wire’s pilot episode as well as the series finale, also directed the series finale of The Shield. We’re certain he appreciates the work and is flattered and all that shit. But really? There isn’t another acclaimed television director who could cover The Shield? Maybe Fred Thompson could take a stab at it, directing an episode of television appears to be the closest he’ll ever get to being the president. (Oh, snap)

That’s all for today, back with and FNL recap tomorrow.

Yawn. Well, unless you watch American Idol or are into the ongoing tale that is the writer’s strike then this week in television has been dire in its lack of versatility. Fucking reality shows, man. Any time they want to get this trash off the air and bring back something at least scripted, if awful, they won’t get any complaints from me. Anyways, here are some links…

Not everyone feels the same way we do, apparently, as FOX’s The Sarah Connor Chronicles took in a little over 18 million in nielsen’s. We haven’t acknowledged the existence of this series since our fall preview and were kind of hoping it would just fade into the wind so we wouldn’t have too. Since, you know, there are three movies available on Netflix that chronicle a very similar story, if not a complete replication. But hey, do not ever underestimate American’s love for familiarity. That’s why restaurants have regular customers and fans have favorite sports teams. It doesn’t explain why everyone cheats on their spouse nowadays, but we’ll take it one loosely based metaphor at a time.

Ellen Degeneres beat out Oprah as America’s favorite television personality. This is probably the result of openly siding with a political campaign, but my guess is Oprah could give a fuck if you like her or not. If she wants to get away from you, she has like two miles of land separating her abode from the nearest street. If this were medieval times, you couldn’t even reach her house with a cannonball. In other words, she could put Gravel in office and tell the rest of us to piss off.

Everyone’s favorite communism indoctrination machine for children is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. If you aren’t aware of the Smurfs as being just that from your childhood, we suggest you go back and watch an episode or two, the themes aren’t all that subtle. Personally, I’m just disappointed that we didn’t see any Smurfs in “Imaginationland”.

Do you see Papa Smurf? He has everything but a fucking cigar in his hand.

Barak Obama, whose on record as saying The Wire is his favorite series on television, has now included Omar as his favorite character, but is quick to dismiss his criminal lifestyle. Does anyone that watches the series, then mentions a favorite character, actually condone the actions of that character? Sure, there are some: Lester, Daniels, Bunny, etc. But if someone is partial to Stringer or Marlo or Snoop or Omar, is anyone actually suggesting they admire their lifestyle? This is the problem with contemporary politics, you have to convey obvious points about your favorite fictional on screen characters that are obvious.

This is either a clip from Reality Bites or Jon Stewart is interviewing Conan O’Brien on his old show. It’s virtually impossible to distinguish the two.

Disappointing story about Chad L. Coleman (better known as Cutty on The Wire) working in a grocery store and unable to find acting work as a result of the strike. He seems content with it, but we’re not. Someone who turns in a performance that honest and uplifting (difficult to do on such a series) should have roles thrown at him, instead he’s punching a clock.

Chile is entering the fold by becoming the fourth country to import The Office, just to make sure Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant can buy their own jets instead of having to share one. They are the first South American country to create a David Brent and could open up a whole network of possibilities for Gervais and Merchant to export their fifteen episode series too.

Alright, we’re going to wrap it up here. There is plenty of news worth mocking and maybe we’ll get to more of it later in the day, but right now were tired and somewhat depressed about the current headlines, so we’re going to cut our losses and actually do some Grade-A paper pushing.

We here at Grid Effect we’re particularly enamored with the past year in television and film, but in most instances the two mediums at large cater to an audience we simply can’t relate too. For every No Country For Old Men and Flight of The Conchords there’s ten Evan Almighty’s and five Big Bang Theory’s, not to say we always scoff at the commercial pieces, we love Grindhouse and The Office, but those are two exceptions. While these both have their shallow characteristics there is still an emphasis on originality and characterization, the same cannot be said for their mainstream counterparts.

Given this is a TV blog, at this time of year we like to recognize series’ that might otherwise go unrecognized, regardless of how trivial and irrelevant the recognition actually is. We’ll countdown 10-6 today, and finish 5-1 on Monday. To read about last year’s best series as donned by this blog, go here and here.

First off, lets take some time to acknowledge the series’ we excluded, including Entourage, Rescue Me Nip Tuck and Survivor. The latter of which had secured its place on the board until this dreadful last season. And we tend to think that producing the worst season out of fifteen warrants barring you from any top ten lists. Rescue Me and Entourage, last year ranked 10 and 8, respectively fell off completely this year for a variety of reasons.

That’s pretty disappointing when two of the series’ on last year’s list weren’t even up for consideration (AD and The Wire). Each had their moments, but neither series seems to have a clue as to where they are going, and are just meandering around for the networks while they still grab decent ratings. And Nip Tuck’s absence shouldn’t come as any surprise.

10) Weeds
A bit of a sham because we haven’t even seen their most recent season, but the first two were good enough that we’re going to take the liberty of saying we’re confident in the product. A series about ultra-liberal potheads for ultra-liberal potheads might seem like a cliche given the current Hollywood environment, but this series produces the goods with great performances from Kevin Nealon as Doug Wilson, and Mary Louise-Parker and Justin Kirk as Nancy and Andy Botwin. A comedy as much as it is a family drama, this series produces great bits of dialog and plot development like no other sitcom to date. And trust us, had we been privy to season three, it would be much higher than #10.

You know it’s good when we haven’t even seen this year’s season and still have it ranked.

9) Flight of The Conchords
As quirky as it is fresh (the antithesis to Juno in that regard), FoTC follows the lives of two aspiring yet hopeless New Zealand musicians in New York. They get into mostly self-inflicted misadventures and handle all of them with a bumbling beta-maleness that can only be accurately described as impotent indifference. This would have earned a higher spot if it wasn’t for the all too frequent uncomfortable musical bits, but with Bret, Jermaine, Murray, Mel and Dave all churning out consistent comedic bits, the place as worst best series we actually saw in full in 2007 seems appropriate.

Friday Night Lights
God we hate putting this series so low. The first season was probably the best network drama we have ever seen. The exposition on a small Texas town and its football team couldn’t have been less imperfect. But this second season, with its uneven episodes and murder plots and surplus of adult-child relationships, we couldn’t rationally put it above anything else left. It has a glimmer of hope that they can get back on track, but they’ve effectively ruined Landry (probably the best peripheral character from season one) and taken several characters down paths I’m not entirely interested in nor do I find them to be as organic as the first seasons conflicts and resolutions. Right now, Taylor Keitsch and Scott Porter as Riggins and Street are saving that series.

7) Curb Your Enthusiasm
Surprised we decided to rank it this high given the frequency of letdowns for their first season in almost two years. But the last three or four episodes (starting with whenever Cheryl left Larry) completely redeemed the season’s initial outpour of implausibility. We suppose this speaks to the longevity of Larry David and his capacity for comedic development, but really we’re not so sure we aren’t putting it on here solely for the last minute of the season. They need to return for a seventh so we can see that final sixty seconds elongated.

6) The Office
Fell a couple spots from last year, though still remained strong despite all our incessant nitpicking. We like to hold great series’ to a higher standard and not resort to the old, “it’s still better than anything else on television” defense. But in all honesty, it is. Even the best 30 Rock episode, which is a highly respected and critically lauded series, doesn’t produce as many great moments (comedic or otherwise) as does the worst episode of The Office. So, for all the unnecessary declarations of love and relationship quarrels, we’re still placing it here at number six.

Back with the top five series of the year on Monday.

We’re at work today and not entirely certain if we were supposed to come in. You could hear a pin drop it’s so desolate in here so we’re assuming we could have stayed home. But no matter, when we have a blog to entertain ourselves with.

Between the holiday season and the strike there has been jack shit on television as of late. On Friday night we got one more Wire special. This one entitled “The Last Word�, a sort of overview of what the fifth season themes will be. It was entertaining and insightful without being filled with spoilers, so that was a quality half hour. Other than that, we’ve taken to rewatching the first season of Mad Men and haranguing those who don’t watch it or The Wire (we get very elitist and self-righteous when we’ve been drinking).

So, yeah, it’ll be similar to this until FNL and Nip Tuck return, and even then we’re struggling for material because we’re not really into either of those series’ anymore. Otherwise we’ve got The Wire on January 6th and a strike with no end date in sight. TBS does have their annual 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story on the horizon here so things could be worse, it could be a days worth of Deck The Halls. See, there’s always a silver lining.

Onto the short but sweet links…

The WGA fully intends to picket the Golden Globes, which will effectively kill the buzzes of everyone in attendance. Nothing like being the scourge of Hollywood I would imagine. Something tells me that if you fuck with George Clooney while he’s getting his drink on, labor strike or no labor strike, there will be repercussions. We cannot even fathom what Sean Penn is capable of (we really liked both Michael Clayton and Into The Wild, by the way).

Dwight Schrute, or Rainn Wilson, or, if you’d like, the store clerk from Juno (tremendously overrated, by the way) will be following in Sarah Silverman’s footsteps to host the Independent Spirit Awards. If it weren’t for their quirky, untraditional choice of hosts, it’s probably the most obscure show during awards season.

Letterman’s sought after exemption was turned down by whichever governing body handles such matters. Not that we’re surprised, it seemed like an odd scheme to actually be able to pull off, especially in the public eye. With labor strikes I doubt its common for someone to be able to work because they were popular.

A rare acknowledgment of American Idol’s existence: Ruben Studdard was recently dropped by his record label. Despite winning the contrived game show, his sales have been poor at best and downright inexcusable at worst. This doesn’t come as a surprise, either, we’re pretty convinced you have to be female to experience any commercial success after Idol. And if there is an exception to this, please let us know.

We’re sensing a trend here.

In the grand tradition of cable channel Christmas marathons for syndicated series’, here’s a comprehensive list of virtually all of them, should you find yourself with nothing to do on the holidays. I, for one, see nothing abnormal or depressing about watching endless hours of Flip That House on TLC.

Denise from Survivor has donated Mark Burnett’s money to an AIDS charity. Regardless of what anyone says, I think this totally redeems her, and I’m not being sarcastic in any way. We’d be happy to donate someone else’s money to needy charities so multi-millionaires can write off the donation.

And finally, we know all of you were concerned about this, but David Chase has won his lawsuit. Yes apparently the courts decided that introducing a series creator to people doesn’t qualify one to receive co-creation credits. Shocking, I know. Anyway, at least now we can all sleep at night.

That’s it until the 26th, merry Christmas (for those easily offended) and happy holidays (also for those easily offended).

Kind of a bereft manner to go into an unexpected hiatus on, maybe the writers did this on purpose to leave us without any closure on so many subplots (of which we have to acknowledge in this series, despite it being a comedy). We’re vindictive enough here, we probably would have done the same thing.

None the less, it felt like a vintage, season two Office episode. With the Michael storyline somewhat insular and the rest of the office involved in a B-plot, with a heavy focus on Pam and Jim (in a good way) mutually interacting with their coworkers. We haven’t had one of these in a while.

Let me just say that while the Michael’s testimony at the deposition was hilarious and entirely unrealistic, it was almost unbearable to hear the contents of his diary read aloud, and even more disturbing that his girlfriend would offer it as evidence. Regardless of how much she think it would inoculate her of any fault and help win her lawsuit, given how simpleminded and easily manipulated Michael is, she had to know (and in fact did, hence she brought it with her) how embarrassing the contents of it would be for her supposed beau. At least the stenographer wasn’t asked to repeat its reading.

The comparison to that odd picture he accidentally forwarded to everyone in the office is neither here nor there, since technically they weren’t dating, and ultimately it was an accident. Not that she was aware of that to begin with, but over the course of their courtship I’m sure it’s been explained and accepted. Usually I don’t let this sort of nonsense bother me, but the understanding that Michael may have “got what was coming to him” seems a bit absurd.

The intolerance is visceral.

Still, when Michael knocked over Toby’s lunch tray, I laughed. Just like I did during the “that’s what she said” confusion at the deposition. Somehow then manage to make Michael seem utterly soulless and borderline inhuman, then turn him into a sympathetic character. Probably because he’s mostly well-intentioned, set aside when it comes to Toby, in which case his hatred is completely bizarre and comically unexplainable. The entire plot thread was one of those quality Office “moments” when the dramatic tinge of the episode nicely compliments the comedic.

The B-plot had me in stitches. Particularly with Kelly, who might be one of the better peripheral characters, and her instigation/intimidation of Pam about their boyfriends respective ping-pong skills. The confrontation at the bathroom entrance, the smack talk vs. trash talk explanation (”I hear Jim has to take steroids just to watch baseball”) and the improvisation of that fake punk/pop song after Jim lost yet again to Darryl were all quality moments. The fact that this was final straw for Pam was comical in it’s own right. How does anyone let Kelly get under their skin?

Also, Rainn Wilson took a backseat in this last episode for a good while, but it was a fucking clinic, both for Rainn and for his character. See, Dwight is something of a ping-pong aficionado and his understanding of the game and its history is uncanny. This, of course, was exemplified in his display at the makeshift table that Pam set up in the conference room, and in the battle royale with him and Mose. Dwight’s shock that Jim would try to sell paper to a company employee, as opposed to just realizing that Jim lied to him, suspended disbelief a little too much, but I’ll let it slide because of everything that it accompanied.

On technical note, this was the second week in a row Michael left the office alone to the minions, anyone else sensing a pattern? I am sure Steve Carrell loves working on the series, but if he had the opportunity to focus on films, make ten times more money and work on his own schedule…well, who wouldn’t take advantage of it? If he wants to devote all his time to making sequels and campy family flicks like Dan in Real Life, well, I may understand it, but I don’t have to like it. Besides, while I like his role on the series, its not entirely necessary. I think it can sustain its momentum without Michael Scott. And, if the series creators think otherwise, its been a great run, no shame in hanging it up after four (three and a half?) seasons.

FNL recap later, at its regularly scheduled time.

We’re not saying that this episode of The Office was shorter than any other half hour episode that we’ve seen over the course of the series, but when we wait until halftime of the Pistons-Bulls game to watch it, fast forward through the commercials and the episode was over before the 3rd quarter started; well, it barely registered on the radar as something we did last night. Still, we can’t complain about perceived limitedness anymore.

Length issues aside, it was a damn funny episode. Naturally we always assumed Dwight would naturally and gladly follow in Michael’s footsteps, just slightly more authoritarian if he ever was promoted to regional manager. “Survivor Man” suggested his rival is better fit for the position, and when you compare what Michael has in common with Jim and Dwight, he has much more with the former. About the only thing Dwight and Michael share is an undying loyalty to Dundler- Mifflin. Based on the final scene, it appears Michael’s passion for mass paper sales was learned and not ingrained upon employment, as it clearly is with Dwight.

But Jim’s sudden transformation with the party planning almost made me actually sympathize with Michael for a half hour, and realize that maybe its not him but his petty employees. Of course, to say Michael isn’t petty is a gross understatement, but at the very least it opened up the very real scenario that these people aren’t exactly tolerable or innocent when it comes office conflicts. Considering he’s always had somewhat of a condescending attitude about him, it was good to see reality smack Jim in the face, if entirely depressing. It doesn’t seem like anyone ever has intentions of staying somewhere like Dundler Mifflin for 10+ years, being told its almost inevitable is never comforting, even for the audience.

“Gee, thanks for the heads up, sweetheart.”

I also appreciated the fact that everyone realized how flawed Jim’s plan was from the beginning, but let him make his own mistakes. The only time Jim seemed aware of it was with Pam’s suggestive suggestion that they resolve the problem in the conference room. The final scene seemed like improv, don’t know why, possibly because both characters had their guard down, and their was less awkwardness. Maybe since they were bonding and it wasn’t overly dramatic (like it usually is when Jim takes Michael seriously), and therefore felt slightly less rehearsed? We never thought Michael would be one to admit that his “that’s what she said” joke rarely had any context, and Jim getting in on the act never entered my mind as a possibility, but there it is, and it was entertaining to watch.

The Survivor Man parody was well-orchestrated. But since we’ve never seen the series (we’re only aware of it) it reminded us of Into The Wild what with him having Dwight dropping him off and exhibiting some concern for him really took us back to the sometimes overwrought but definite risk-taking film. Also, for whatever reason, this reminded us of “The Fire” episode, in which they play desert island and Dwight says one of the items he would take with him is a survivor’s manual with a hole cut in it.

The story itself was somewhat needless. Steve Carell wrote this episode, apparently his first since the infamous “Casino Night”, and since he is the central character and he can’t entirely write himself out like Mindy Kaling (Kelly) or Paul Lieberstein (Toby) essentially did earlier this season. But it just seemed so far-fetched, once again, even for Michael to be so reactionary about being snubbed on the Dundler Mifflin camping trip. It also seems “far-fetched” isn’t really an appropriate term anymore, given that this degree of abnormal behavior is the norm this season, and it doesn’t ruin the episode for us, but man was it distracting from the office plot.

Highlights, they are immense:

-Michael chuckling at the concept of Phyllis rock climbing.

-Michael referring to Ryan’s camping trip as “Broken Mountain”, probably a little too “indie” for him.

-Dwight’s arsenal of weapons hidden all over the office. Particularly the samurai knives behind the water cooler.

-Loved the montage of quick cuts of Michael’s office party antics. Given Jim’s penchant for pranks on Dwight, I could see him devolving into this if he stays another ten years.

-”No…I think it’s a great idea” -Jim, after Pam asked him if he thought the communal birthday parties was a good idea.

-Creed’s insistence about the cake is something I’d figure he’d flip out about. This exchange had me in stitches:
“I want pie. A peach pie.”
“A birthday pie?”
“I want a nice cobbler”.

-”1, 2, 3, okay, everybody, so basically we shouldn’t do it”. -Jim, after asking to see a show of hands about the new birthday party concept.

-I mean, its a cake Toby, come on.” -Jim, adapting more of Michael’s persona than he’d be willing to admit, though I’d agree with Jim about.

-”Hey Andy, I have…some calls to make” -Jim’s dismissive to probably his least liked person in the office.

-”Michael’s a man of great death and passion, I’m not sure what he’s searching for out here…(pulls eggs out of birds nest) Lunch”. -Dwight, definitely quite frightening this episode.

In all, it was a quality twenty minutes. The foreshadowing of Jim’s character is eerily memorable, and has me questioning everything we thought we knew about the characters. Toby can be unlikable, Creed can be demanding and confrontational, Jim can be contemptuous and everyone else can be childish. If they were going to exhibit drama in this series, we’d prefer it be of this brand than relationship oriented.

FNL and It’s Always Sunny recaps later today.

Didn’t watch Nip Tuck last night, though we did see American Gangster and, while it was certainly an entertaining flick and revolved heavily around symbolic gestures about American capitalism, and told the story of two profoundly unique individuals, both stories were so riveting that they could have been broken down into two separate films, each about the same length as the two and a half hours we saw last night. There were just too many leaps of logic for me to be awestruck with it, which is what I was preparing for given the talent involved (Crowe, Denzel, Scott and Zallian). If forced to give a rating at gunpoint we’d go with a 7/10.

Onto a special WGA strike version of the links…

Doesn’t it seem like they could strike and not picket?

Here’s what we’ve been looking for! A succinct yet detailed synopsis of how virtually every series will be effected by the strike.

Several showrunners, presidential candidates and actors were out picketing/speaking out with the WGA recently, still probably means little to nothing in terms of getting a new deal, but it’s a small moral victory at least. When Marc Cherry backs you, then the world will know your struggle.

Lost only has eight episodes complete for their pending season. Considering how plot heavy the series is, that could be an issue. The American audience is fickle and they like things to happen quickly and abruptly with their television, otherwise they get bored and eventually disinterested. No show embodies this mentality more so than Lost. So if they have an engorging hiatus mid-season, that could really cut into their viewership.

Sounds like the The Office is just collapsing in light of this strike, as I’m sure many series’ are, this series might not survive it given all the film careers the cast is certainly seeking.

Further evidence of Jon Stewart genuinely being a “good guy”: He’s paying his writing staff out of pocket for two weeks. This reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Apu kept giving his wife really extravagant gifts for Valentine’s Day, and every other husband in Springfield resented him for it because there wives felt comparatively under-appreciated. Congrats, Jon, on making your fellow late night counterparts who probably make ten times as much money as you look like self-involved louts.

Leno has decided to picket with his writing staff and is playing the humble man, Steve Carell is doing likewise, not sure if this is earth shattering or anything, but there it is.

With an excess of newfound time on his hands and a bevy of new material, Larry David has reportedly been contemplating doing two more seasons of Curb. This, in a currently downtrodden industry, is some good news.

And finally, over 32 million people watched me lose a large quantity of money on Sunday during the Colts-Patriots game. That is the power of the NFL my friends, its like a fourth branch of Government. One question to ponder for the rest of the day: Why does the Orlando Sentinel give a shit about this?

Back tomorrow with Survivor and South Park recaps.

As assumed after last week, the half hour format is officially the preferable format for this series. We’d rather get a half hour and want more afterwards than get a full hour and be relieved when it’s over. This episode, finally, gave some of the characters story arcs that didn’t involve the other people in the office that they always commiserate with.

The episode was written by Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor), who’s other credits on the series include “Diwali” and “The Injury”, the latter of which also put Jim, Dwight and Michael in a car together for Dwight to have an MRI after sustaining a concussion. I guess she discovered a winning formula, because these three characters in a car together seems like a series in and of itself. It’s also a testament to the writing that it can be done twice (albeit separated by two seasons) and still hilarious situations can manifest from such an isolated setting.

Though we will concede that having Michael and Dwight threaten and attempt to burn the place to the ground (with homemade bombs and all) was a little over the top, but Jim’s flummoxed expression that his coworkers could be capable of potential homicide justified the entire premise. Especially his reaction to discovering they’re going to Utica (I know it’s a real city, but it sounds like a prison from the future or something), the dismay he registered when he found out he was eventually going to run into his bitter ex-girlfriend is pretty much how anyone would react. It seems like Jim’s character enjoys working there, even more so that he works with his girlfriend, his boss is incompetent and undemanding, and his coworkers are eccentric; but things such as this or the Yankee swap Christmas episode or the Michael crashing his party really seem to frustrate him. Essentially anything that effects his personal life.

The B-story with “The Finer Things” club was probably funnier than the main story, which is rare since the three main characters weren’t involved. But between Oscar’s line, “Aside from having sex with men, The Finer Things club is the gayest thing about me”, to the wardrobe, to everyone’s intentional (Andy making his plea to join) and unintentional (Kevin rocking the vending machine, Phyllis microwaving popcorn) and unnecessary (refusing to use the microwave in the kitchen because it wreaked of popcorn) interference with their meeting, I was in stitches. It’s the first time I can recall actual humor deriving from the side characters themselves, without any involvement from the three male leads.

Whatever gets you through the day

In fact, everything at the office was top notch. Stanley’s bluff at going to Utica (not sure why Karen agreed to go along with it, or if she didn’t know he never intended on leaving) had me wondering why he hadn’t pulled something similar before. It almost resulted in his boss and coworkers being arrested for theft and/or arson. It would’ve probably fast tracked him to regional manager of the Scranton Branch, since it effectively would eliminate all the competition.

Other highlights:

-The quick cut from Jim protesting the trip to Utica, to him dressing up as a factory worker explaining the lesser of two evils motivation.

-Dwight and Michael’s overly detailed radio call, and they’re contrasting advice for Jim after the industrial copier fell on them, then Michael pleading with him to take Karen to a hotel room, “Just lie on top of her and think of Stanley”.

-Michael’s fruitless attempt to convince Stanley to stay, and Stanley’s stoic repeating of the word, “money”.

-Michael, proving he can only be persuasive when selling paper, after berating the top salesman on the phone from Utica.

An enjoyable, chock full twenty-two minutes, and we feel like we’re forgetting plenty. If this is the quality of product that they continue to put out this season, then it will be the strongest yet. Of course, that’s not possible, since they can only have Jim and Pam apart from each other for so many episodes. Much like a politician, a sitcom still has to cater to its base to ring in the viewers and hopefully gather some new ones. We’re pleased with the result here, however, and its good to see the writers are still on top of their game, even if they decide to strike.

FNL and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia recaps later today.

Another well spent two hours of television last night. Survivor, I can’t ever recall a season like this, where people idiotically make the wrong play, then accidentally make the right decision trying to backtrack. Their are now four members of the original Zhan Hu, and if they have any sense at all, they’ll attempt to recruit Jean-Robert or Courtney to at least even the numbers, because James is obviously jumping ship. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was as jaded and depraved and hilarious as always, I could probably do without a reappearance from Mac’s dad, there isn’t really any comedy extracted from anything he’s involved in.

To the topic at hand, however,on The Office we’re back to the half hour format and it is well suited. I use to advocate for extending it to an hour, but it did seem a little overextended, and while I didn’t hate any of the episodes, plenty of them seemed uneven and forced. I’d rather walk away from the television wanting more after a half hour, than being relieved when its over after an hour. And, this is somewhat self-indulgent, but it’s far easier to recap twenty-two minutes than it is forty. When they feel the need to have Michael deliberately and intentionally drive his car into a lake, then you know its time to draw back a little.

First off, is it just me or is Jim turning into a some codependent pathetic boyfriend? Really, I kind of enjoyed it when he was single and feigning off advances from Amy Adams. This entire “I can’t get into a car with Meredith” rap could get really old, really quickly. She doesn’t owe you anything yet is offering you a ride home, some gratitude might be in order. It seems out of sorts what they’re doing to his character. Not that he’s a total prick or anything, but I never saw him as someone that morphs into a smug douchebag after “getting the girl”. Maybe it’s my misread of character, but it was unexpected. Clearly that scene profoundly rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyhow, the creation of the “local ad”, actually turned into something commendable. It was far better than the ad corporate had planned and actually elicited a sweet reaction from the ensemble cast. For whatever reason, it’s gratifying to see Michael actually pull something off, probably because Ryan being such a dick over the phone and allowed himself to be talked into a corner by his former boss. Which, if you can’t go toe to toe with Michael Scott and hold your own, then you probably aren’t sufficiently qualified for, anything, really. It’s good that they keep these moments few and far between.

Who amongst us wouldn’t love to see ourselves fly in a video game?

Ed Helms is really a silver lining in this series that rarely seems to get any credit. His unbeknownst rivalry with Dwight is a good pairing. Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms play off each other brilliantly, especially in the escalating “oh D” exchange. Speaking of which, is that video game he was playing real? Normally I would assume it isn’t, but this series is one for its pop-culture references, so I’m kind of assuming it is. If so, Jim’s line, “No, there are definitely losers involved” was pretty apropos. I mean, not to disparage those who play it, I’m as bitter and jaded as the next blogger, but never has it dawned on me to create a idealistic virtual likeness of myself. At least they were self-deprecating with Jim, as he created his “Second Life” character to be a Philly sports writer with a guitar strapped to his back.

Other highlights:
-The group singing

-Kevin being labeled “Kool-aid man” in high school.

-Stanley’s reaction to everything in every scene he was in.

Probably the best episode of the season. And if they can keep up at this pace, then I can finally begin looking forward to this series as something enjoyable, as opposed to something necessary for this website.

IASIP and FNL recaps coming later. We only work in acronyms around here now.

These Thursday’s are really taking a toll on my retnas. And I wake up too groggy to articulate a detailed post for any one episode of television last night. So because I’m running in a bit of a hurry today and it’s entirely too time consuming to thoroughly write about both comedies plus an additional post about Friday Night Lights, I’m just going to turn this post into an overview of all of last night’s series, but still write a full recap next week for Survivor and the season finale of Mad Men. I feel like this is appropriate, considering The Office wasn’t exactly a comedy last night and IASIP was just the web episode on MySpace that’s been available for the past two months.

First off, however, Mad Men ended its inaugural season as strongly as they opened it. Though it appears as though I spoke too soon about the cause of Peggy’s weight gain, since she’s pumping out kids like a God damn house finch now. Seriously, I suppose given the lack of education about the times, Peggy could have gone through nine months or so of pregnancy, and not realized a person was growing inside of her, but it seems unlikely. All I can say is, this was just an all-around bad episode for Pete, who not only has a child he’s unaware of, but also has to work alongside Peggy for the account given to him by his father in-law with the promise that Pete would impregnate his daughter. It’s the least comeuppance he should have to endure after, you know, failing to successfully blackmail his boss.

Still, it looks like the Draper marriage is on the rocks, and Betty’s actions were vexing, though completely warranted. I’m actually surprised she had the foresight to communicate to her husband through her shrink. Seriously, to discover your therapist is reporting everything you air in private back to your spouse is some humiliating shit. I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot, can you imagine the repercussions for everyone involved if the same thing happened to Tony Soprano? Heads would roll, baby.

On Survivor, well, lets just say that while I enjoyed the episode I hated it all at the same time. It seems the common consensus is to only enjoy Survivor when everything you want to happen goes according to plan. And while I understand everyone’s displeasure with what transpired, it really isn’t so distressing. Did Aaron get completely had by some random game “twist” and two shortsighted, otherwise irrelevant little girls? Of course. But this isn’t so much more unjust then having players mutiny for no apparent reason.

One thing I can’t understand, is how were James and Aaron so incapable of pointing out the gaping holes in their logic? Not before the challenge, but certainly after PG and Jaime obviously through it? For instance, what if the merge is at eleven, or nine, or any number other than ten? What then? Because those two nitwits and there virgin accomplice isn’t any match for any three contestants on Fei-Long. Speaking of which, is anyone surprised that the guy virgin is being led around with nary a protest by a woman who’s willfully ignorant to his best interest? Neither are we.

Of course there are plenty of other oversights on there part. For instance, even if they are lucky enough to merge at ten, putting there grand scheme into effect, what happens when Frosti and Sherea opt to align with the other five members of Fei-Long, instead of the original three at Zhan-Hu? It’s not like Sherea was really identifying with anyone there, what is her incentive to return? So she could join a group of four other individuals, go to a tie in the first tribal council after the merge and hope to stay? If I were her, and though I can’t stand the woman, I would stay with the Fei-Long alliance, and by the time they’d have to vote anyone out, at the very least Jean-Robert would go before her. This is all speculation, but speculating is all PG and Jaime are basing their entire game plan around.

Really, the very least those bitches could have done was vote out the participant asking to leave and keeping the one that wanted to stay. This is about as irredeemable as it gets for any Survivor contestants I’ve ever seen, the twist works assuming you’re not dealing with complete schmucks. Though I will agree it put the four swapped players in an unfair position.

Remember when I said The Office was delving too much into the dramatics? Well, they went full throttle with the melodrama last night. And to be honest, I kind of enjoyed it. I have always gone into an episode of The Office expecting to laugh, but when they’re constantly walking the line between drama and comedy, it was more disjointed and uneven than anything. This episode proved that when the series commits to dramatics, it’s actually quite rewarding. Especially when what little humor there is, is actually derivative of the story. The two highlights were Dwight knocking Jim’s stuff onto the floor after Jim confided to him over “lost love” while he was moaning, followed by Jim and Pam’s rapturous glee; and Dwight saying about Mose’s bad dreams, “He hasn’t been the same ever since the storm” followed by one of Jim’s obligatory reactionary stares at the camera, both admittedly had me in stitches.

I’m really, really disappointed this wasn’t in last night’s episode.

Otherwise this episode had virtually no material worth discussing. I found Michael’s financial woes tedious and boring, and regardless of how she might have recovered, Jan was pretty scornful tonight. Also, if we’re going to be taken on an excursion to Schrute’s Beet Farm, then we need more Mose. If you’re looking for more insight, go here.

And finally, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was damn funny, but since its been available to the public for some time now, and since I haven’t watched it in well over a month, more than a paragraph sounds like too much effort. But yeah, damn funny. I really never thought we’d see Mac’s love tranny again. The series isn’t big on continuity, and we’ve gone well over a full season without a reappearance (he/she was featured in a late season one episode). This was another episode in which Dee took it on the chin. First by not fully fitting the killers “type” of victim as “young, attractive, blond”, then by finding out she’s been leading on a psychopath. Again, she needs to find some female friends, and not that creepy Artemus, whose almost as unsettling as the McBoyles. Definitely a quality episode, a vast improvement from last weeks.

Recap of last week’s Friday Night Lights later today.

Thankfully this is mercifully the last post of the day/week. We need to buy jeans and eat a burger with guacamole on it from Red Robin. A day of rest is in order after last weekend, and we can’t think of a better way to spend it than to buy denim pants for the first time in two years and stuffing our faces with peculiarly concocted hamburgers. But, to the subject at hand…

Damn, melodrama is abound on this comedy, definitely a lot to like though. I suppose if they’re going to have another relationship triangle, which I am adamantly opposed to, an Andy-Angela-Dwight triumvirate is about the best they could do. It has the potential to be ostensibly funnier than Roy-Pam-Jim. For the most part, it was handled light-heartedly, with little sadness, sans Dwight, who evoked more pity from me than Jim ever managed to do. And pity from me is fairly unnoticeable. It consists of an utterance of something like, “poor bastard” before I’m distracted by my roommates dog, who’s in one of those cones.

Andy, putting forth way more effort than she is actually worth.

The Jim-Pam thing has really been put on the back burner, which I’m somewhat surprised by. It counts for two of the four leads on the series, and for the most part they’re an afterthought. We got them sitting on the rooftop, debating who has to go with Michael to New York (apparently the tie always goes to the girlfriend, which is something I don’t adhere to, which probably indicates why I’m currently single) and pulling a halfhearted prank on a depressed Dwight with a 5 o’clock shadow. That’s it. In the entire hour. And that I can handle.

The whole Michael storyline was just weird, and creepy. And deviated even more from the reality than rolling his car into a lake. I mean, I enjoyed him misinterpretation of the chatroom party, as well as his and Dwight’s excursion to New York for Sushi, but the entire thing with the pizza delivery kid was lost on me. While the kid was wrong, there is absolutely no chance in hell a pizza delivery boy is taking that much of a stand over a coupon, nor do I think the entire office sits idly by while Michael holds someone hostage. But there was little to laugh throughout the course of this episode. Though his rejection of Ryan’s newfound leadership just might break him.

Some highlights:

-The pre-credits scene.

-”I’m not going to sit around and cry about it, I did that in the car”. -Michael

-John Krasinski signing his actual name to Meredith’s cast.

-Dwight’s entire scene with Kelly and Darryl

-”Its caused a lot of unpleasantness between Dwight and Angela, who are both already prone to unpleasantness.” -Pam

-Angela abusing Phyllis, then Phyllis throwing a wad of paper balls in her face.

-”What is a Jim?”

-”I did so well last week, that corporate gave me two plaques in lieu of a pay raise.” -Dwight

Not to go out on a limb here, but the hour long format might not be suited for this series. Not to say last weeks episode wasn’t funny or anything, it certainly was. But there was too great of an attempt to make the characters either likable or unlikable. Namely, with Ryan.

Personally, I didn’t really see the need to turn Ryan into a villain. He never struck me as a contemptuous character, at least not beyond anything we couldn’t relate to. In the earlier seasons, the most despicable thing he ever did was not offer Jim back his original desk when he returned from Stamford. Now he’s a full blown dickhead, and something felt off about it. Power corrupts, certainly, but he went from passive yet quick witted to pompous and subliminal.

Really, I can only recall two different occasions when we were supposed to despise a character: Andy, when he was in Stamford and before his implosion in Scranton; and anytime Champ Kind shows up (can’t think of his character’s name on this series, sorry). The former was introduced as a villain of sorts, or at least someone we could laugh at (as opposed to with), the latter is just a dipshit. But this transformation is something new to the series, and I suppose if it was going to happen to anyone, it would be to the character that went from Temp to corporate in less than two years.

With that said, there was some decent story lines this episode, both dramatic and comedic. For instance, I can’t recall a time I was made to sympathize with someone who murdered somebody else’s pet and it actually worked. Honestly, who else is Dwight (or Angela, for that matter) going to find that’s willing to tolerate their eccentricities? Dwight’s projecting on the trip to hand out gift baskets was one of the redeeming qualities of this episode and I find this couple so much more entertaining than Jim and Pam. It’s a minority opinion, but watching two people be “cute” with one another isn’t the reason for DVR’ing this series. At least it didn’t overrun the episode, and doesn’t look to be a dominant plot All The Time.

It’s always a tryst with these two, and the explanation of “garbage” is tantamount to genius.

Toby was the almost forgotten highlight of this episode. Is there a more likable character who always gets shafted? Whether it’s in relationships (a seemingly ugly divorce, Pam, whatever else off camera) or in work (seated next to Kelly, a psuedo-boss who rivals him for no real reason), Toby never seems to come out on top. The comedic timing and blunt disbelief he often exudes in dealing with Michael and Dwight do make him a suitable foil.

Speaking of Michael, the writers might need to tone him down a little. Driving into a river because a GPS instructs you to? I know he’s a little quirky, and often idiotic, but nobody knowingly drives a car into a body of water unless they’re attempting suicide or trying prove an elaborate point about technology, neither of which Michael is capable of. It just struck me as beyond the realm of possibility.

Line of the night actually goes to Phyllis, which is unexpected. When she walks up to Jim and Pam to say, “Just so you know, Pam, that when a sales call comes in, you still have to randomly direct it, not just give it to whoever you’re sleeping with at the time”, first my jaw dropped (because where did she ever find the gall to say that) and then I burst into a eye-watering laughter; because that was damn funny.

Definitely some worthwhile, memorable scenes. But something seems lacking, or excessive, and if I had to guess, I’d say its the half hour extension. Initially I thought it could be regularly stretched into an hour (Last paragraph), but it seems I was wrong. And when I’m wrong, no one is more surprised than me.

A post on a desperate South Park premiere later today.