Premiere Watch '07: The Office

I love The Office. I absolutely love it. And I'm glad to have it back. The Season 4 premiere started out with quite a bang! Meredith came out of nowhere! And the camera shot of her flying onto the windshield was fantastically done. Luckily, she turned out to be okay, although you wouldn't necessarily know that from hearing Michael's account, during which he was channeling the Arrested Development's hyper-literal doctor.

But, the night's big news: Jam is finally officially happening. Hallelujah! We've suspected for years that they're perfect for each other, and, wow, were we right! Could they be any cuter together? And the other question is: when are we going to start hating them for being so cute and perfect? I sure don't hate them yet. Give me more Jam!

New Pammy sure has become a force to be reckoned with. She guilted Angela into planning the hospital trip and forcefully told Michael that it is not okay to be naked in your office. Go Pammy! Why do I have the feeling that someday they'll all be working for her?

The closest thing to a complaint that I have is that I don't think that the hour-long episodes of The Office work quite as well as the 30 minute ones. It's hard for anything to be consistently hilarious for a whole hour. That said, I will gladly take every second of The Office that they are willing to give me.

Highlights:

• Kevin saying that Jim and Pam go together like peanut butter and jelly. Um, did he perhaps mean "peanut butter and JAM"?
• Michael: "Yeah, it's only Meredith. Thank God."
• Michael's whole conversation with Ryan, including his admission that he was being negligent and his misunderstanding of "double jeopardy."
• Michael: "I have flaws. I sing in the shower. Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. I occasionally hit people with my car."
• Michael: "I'm not superstitious. I'm only a little stitious."
• Poor Sprinkles! I can't believe Dwight shut her in the freezer.
• Stanley, Oscar, and Creed starting the race and then taking a taxi to a bar.
• Michael's idea to carbo-load with fettuccine alfredo and not drink any water before the 5K.

Premiere Rating: 8 / 10

Season Finales, Season Finales Everywhere!

Grey's Anatomy:
Wow. This sure was one depressing hour and fifteen minutes. Where along the line did the people at Grey's get the impression that in order for a season finale to be good, horrible things must happen to all of the characters. Seriously, not a single person escaped this monsoon of badness. They might as well have had all the characters stand in a row and have people throw things at them :-)

Burke, Steamy, and Addison didn't get the chief job (and they all kind of got insulted in the process); George failed his test; Bailey didn't get chief resident; Alex realized his love for Ava about a half hour too late; George snubbed Izzy (yet again. Get some self respect, Izz); Derek and Meredith careened toward a break-up for no real discernible reason; Burke didn't marry Christina and disappeared; Adele lost her baby.

Actually, about the happiest thing that happened was that Adele losing the baby brought her and Chief Richard back together again...and miscarriages are not happy, folks. And those hikers...why were they even still around? And, better question, why was Derek interrogating them instead of the police? I love that his holier-than-thou attitude now qualifies him to be a detective. Can you tell that the doctor formerly known as McDreamy is on my last nerve?

Oh! Oh! Oh! I almost forgot about him telling Meredith that she should be worried that his flirtation with Bar Slut/Reunion girl/Mere's little sister was the highlight of his week! It is such a shame that Meredith was so wrapped up with the death of her stepmom, her best friend's wedding, and the most important test of her internship that she neglected her duty to entertain Derek! Poor, poor Derek. Perhaps Meredith should hire a clown to follow him around and keep him amused.

And speaking of whiny, middle-aged men....Burke does not get to leave Christina at the alter! The whole thing was his freakin idea!

One more thing that I didn't like about the episode was that the scene where Christina freaks out in her wedding dress looked exactly like Carrie Bradshaw's SATC wedding-dress-inspired panic attack.

Another thing that sucked was that the National Inquirer or whoever published all those Grey's spoilers turned out to be alarmingly accurate... so none of this crappy stuff was even a surprise.

Oh well, let's just hope that next season is better.

The Office:
Jam is on!!!!!!! Does anything else matter?

It's been days and I'm still glowing about "Pam, are you free for dinner tonight?" It's about freaking time, Halpert and Beasley. Now, let's just hope that next season we don't back track on the Jam like we did this year. I mean, honestly I thought Jam was on last year after the hot-office-Casino-Night kiss, but it clearly was not. This time, let's hope it sticks. I do feel a bit for Karen, but clearly Jim and Pam are made for each other...and Scranton (ouch, that part sounds like an insult). And Karen could be a bit of a jerk (telling Jim his hair made him look homeless, ordering Pam to photocopy their sales reports).

Poor Michael. Now he's stuck with crazy unemployed Jan living in his condo. Seriously, though, was Jan always this nuts and we just didn't realize it because she wasn't around that often and compared to Michael, no one is crazy? Or is it new? Because I never realized she was this deranged. I mean, dating Michael was certainly a tip off to some sort of mental instability...

And how cool was the "game changer"? (I love that The Office has stolen that terminology from the overly self-important Losties.) Ryan the temp is in charge! Good for him. See, getting that MBA does pay off.

And, of course, the episode was funny:

• Dwight's reign of terror, complete with soil lectures and "Schrute Bucks" (and now, thankfully, we know that the correct ratio of Schrute Bucks to Stanley Nickels is the same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns).
• Pam getting to be the secret Assistant to the Regional Manager for a morning.
• Creed's "blog" a.k.a. a word document with a URL address typed at the top.
• Michael calling his decision to take back the bigger-breasted Jan "emotionally magnificent."
• Jim wanting to see the U.N. building while in New York and saying the last time he was in the Big Apple was a sixth grade field trip. Now that is just too freaking cute.
• Andy working in a little more Cornell bragging. I'm never going to be able to take anything involving Cornell seriously again :-)
• Oh and Beasley so totally pulls her comedic weight. Her "Maybe I'll find my own Karen" monologue ending with a slightly panicked "I'm not gay!" proclamation was adorable.

But, of course, what really matters is that Jam is on! Did I mention that?

Ugly Betty:

Ok, since when does UB get its plotlines from Days of Our Lives? It kind of seemed like they wanted something big and splashy for the finale, but couldn't quite come up with anything, so just threw in every somewhat trite storyline they could think of. Did Santos really need to be shot in a random convenience store hold up? Did Amanda suddenly need to be Fey's daughter? Did Henry's ex need to be knocked up? And, um, didn't Gilmore Girls do that whole storyline in season two? And didn't they do it a heck of a lot better?

Random question: Even provided that Alexis is so stupid that she didn't realize that after putting out a hit on Bradford, his car might not be the best vehicle to use to take her brother to the hospital, why, why, why does taking Daniel from the Mode office in midtown Manhattan to a hospital require her to drive on a very twisty road through a secluded forest? Are there not hospitals in Manhattan? Because there totally are.

Extended Weekend Recap

The Office:
This episode was fantastic. Give me super-sized Office any day of the week. I could watch a 3 hour episode of The Office and not get tired of it. Heck, I would work at Dunder Mifflin if I could :-)

Highlights:

• Jim making blindfolded Karen step over imaginary "big holes" during the egg race.
• Dwight and Ryan getting into a fight during the egg race.
• Oscar's decision that he'll transfer if Dwight gets Michael's job and his boyfriend can come if he wants to, but if not, he was looking for a way to get out of that relationship anyway.
• Stanley taking Jim out during the sumo wrestling contest.
• Michael looking for someone to replace him with the charisma of "a Hope or a Bynes."
• Pam working up the guts to set Jim and everyone else straight. Good girl, Pammy!

And one of the highlights of this entire television season:

• Andy Bernard falling into the lake in his sumo outfit and floating way! Freaking hysterical. I still laugh just thinking about it. What was he even trying to do, anyway? I hope someone found him and pulled him out of the lake eventually.

Grey's Anatomy:

Thatcher is out of control. Does he really blame Meredith for this? Meredith? Not the chief or Bailey, who were the people actually in charge Susan's care? And it was real supportive of everyone else to just stand around and let him yell at Meredith, when they know he's already smacked her? Geez. Somebody help the poor girl out.

Oh, and add Derek Shepherd to the list of TV characters who need kicked in the face. Geez! Is he seriously mad at Meredith for not telling him about her test disaster? Literally, all the poor girl could do was sit in the waiting room staring straight ahead. She was not in the state to function properly--that's why she couldn't take the test in the first place! Everyone else who cares about Mere looked around the hospital for her to see how she was. Derek is incapable of that? He's acting like such a loser. Cowboy up, McDreamy, for God's sake.

Suddenly Addison's mantra of Derek "emotionally checking out" of their marriage months before she hooked up with Steamy seems to be ringing true. Also now appearing to be prophetic is McVet's warning to Meredith that Derek would hurt her again. Ugh. Bar slut/Reunion girl can have him.

Traveler:

I was so excited about this show (I've been looking forward to it for a year now) and I keep forgetting to watch my tape of it! Oops. I am glad to see that Trey Atwood in a role where he's not attacking Marissa Cooper.

Without a Trace:

Worst. Season. Finale. Ever.

Desperate Housewives:

I actually enjoyed this episode! (Well, at least the first half of it.) Yea! Susan was funny, Edie had some funny moments, and Gaby's comment that marriage to Susan might make Mike miss the coma was great. But then came the Lynette storyline. Ugh. She kind of deserved that bump on the head. Cancer, though, definitely not good. At least Bree's coming back next week! Yea!

Brothers and Sisters:

Tearjerker. Even though little William died, I think Tommy and Julia made the right choice to not having one twin's kidney transplanted into the other baby. Kidney transplants in premature babies have got to be extremely risky. This way, at least they still have Elizabeth Walker.

I think my other favorite part was Kevin taking down the guy who wanted to blackmail the Senator.

Unfortunately, there were no drunken secret-spilling scenes. Maybe next week.

Sweeps!

Television Sweeps is my favorite holiday. What other holiday is so awesome that it happens four times a year? And last night marked the beginning of May Sweeps 2007 (although yesterday was definitely still in April...I don't get it). I do tend to enjoy February Sweeps better than May Sweeps though, because with the May episodes comes the dreaded realization that these episodes are the last ones before another long, starved summer. But Sweeps are Sweeps and I'm still crazy excited!

Ugly Betty:
I honestly didn't make it the whole way through the episode yet. I watched the first half, and then took one look at Jim's Dwight impersonation and had to switch channels. It didn't help that I'm completely sick of Betty, Daniel, Hilda, Amanda, Willie, Alexis...... What I did really enjoy from last night was the flashback to Betty's anti-prom. Betty's pre-braces teeth were hysterical! They were gigantic! I laughed every time she opened her mouth--it didn't matter what she was saying.

The Office:
Jim's Dwight impersonation was fantastic. "Question! Which bear is best? False! The black bear." Oh, Jim Halpert, marry me. Please.

The first half of the episode was hilarious, especially the scene with everyone in the conference room: Pam intentionally prolonging the discussion about Michael's abbreviated speaking taking up extra time; Michael calling Ryan "sweet cheeks"; Andy's Dick-Van-Dyke-it's-a-jolly-'oliday-with-Mary-esque British accent followed by Jim's "I'm definitely going alone."

My only complaint is that I need some more Jam...as soon as possible. It's been almost a year since the kiss at Casino Night; it's time to make something happen, Beasley.

Grey's Anatomy:
"You're my penis fish." Wow. Just wow. If that doesn't become the next big TV-inspired catch-phrase, I don't know what will. It certainly could compete with, "Save the cheerleader. Save the world," by way of originality and versatility.

I do have to admit though that I am getting a little sick of how almost everyone who walks into Seattle Grace has one of the most bizarre medical conditions known to mankind. Conjoined adult twins, a pregnant man, a lady turning to stone, etc., etc., and now a penis fish? The O.C. was definitely on to something when Seth visited Seattle Grace and Dr. Roberts was called away because someone who appeared to be gorged by a unicorn was just brought in :-) Sigh. I miss The O.C.

Anyway, I realize that these medical conditions do/could actually exist, but the chances of all these people walking into the same hospital in the same city? Not good. And I find Grey's penchant for the absurd all the more unfortunate because I think that some of the most memorable and well written and acted patient stories are the more normal ones. The lady from Roseanne who was dying and gave her daughter life instructions comes to mind.

My other complaint was that this Addison stuff seemed to come on a bit fast. She had quite the day, what with finally ridding herself of Steamy, hooking up with Alex, getting 'dumped' by Alex, and deciding that she needs out of Seattle. Yikes. Very productive. Meanwhile, Christina and Burke, Izzy and George, and Meredith and Derek are all doing basically the same act they've done for weeks. Speaking of Derek, he is on my last nerve. He needs to suck it up. Yes, Meredith didn't swim, but she's changed. That's what that whole third part of the three-parter was about! He better watch it or pretty soon he'll have a new nickname like McWhiny or McMopey.

30 Rock:
Congrats to Tina Fey, etc. on finishing up a very solid first season! Tonight's episode was good--not my favorite ever though. The highlights for me were:

• Kenneth purposefully falling down the stairs so the EMTs would give Tracey a ride
• Liz and Frank (I think that's his name) asking the blond girl to dance in front of the band for like 10 minutes and then Jenna running up, saying, "I hear you're looking for people to dance in front of the band!"
• Tracey listing "having to brush your own teeth" as one of the pitfalls of not being famous
• Floyd marching the squirrel past his webcam while talking to Liz

I also found some uncomfortable similarities between the scene where Liz and Jack were yelling at Kenneth and Alec's now-legendary phone call with his daughter.

I'm bummed that Liz and Floyd are packing it in, but I guess the show is best when Liz is a romantically pathetic workaholic. And it's hard for a girl to complete with 'the Cleve'... I'm excited to see what Tina, etc. will have in store for us next season. (Yea for a good, quality show getting renewed!)