The Pranksters will Wear Fedoras!

The title is possibly my favourite moment from last night's 30 Rock because it was so random and surreal - and fun of course! But my TV week has been more about my two favourite office-set shows: Better Off Ted and the Office.

Better Off Ted is definitely my quote of the week:
Ted: You know, I'd like to believe after everything I've done for this company over the years, they'd show me a little more loyalty than this.
Veronica: Yes, I know it's hard to accept that giant companies don't care about people. I know how hard it was for me when I first realized it... when I was 8.

Although I feel there should also be an honourary quote of the week for this:
Lem: Did you disable the camera?
Dr. Bhamba: Did you disable your stupid-question filter?
Lem: I thought I did

Those are just a couple of the reasons why I'm in denial that Better Off Ted may be cancelled. Please ABC don't cancel this brilliant show, give it time to find its audience!!

I've caught up on the Office and have to say that I disagree with what a lot of people have been saying about this season. I've been hearing from a number of people that they're not enjoying this season of the Office. That it's become too cringe-worthy. Less humour, more realism.

Well, I marathoned the episodes from February to this week's and I'm happy with this season and here's why:

- I like when we're shown why Michael became a manager in the first place. He's a really good salesman - we're reminded that he got all of the Scanton branch's clients as well as how successfully he's been able to steal Dunder Mifflin's clients (of course the Michael Scott Paper Company isn't making a profit - but that's the side of Michael that doesn't make for a good manager). Plus, we see Michael be the ultimate salesman: getting Dunder Mifflin to hire back him, Pam and Ryan - an impressive feat.

- I like that David Wallace taking Michael's company loyalty for granted totally backfired and caused him to realize that the company needs Michael (despite how ridiculously inept he can be at times). As someone who works in an office, I find Michael's character pretty realistic, sometimes the people who are good at certain jobs are total idiots a lot of the time (come on people, stop hitting "reply all" for sensitive emails).

- We get to see Pam take another brave step and try something new. Not just leaving Dunder Mifflin, which is huge, but also trying out a new position as a salesperson. I cheered when she made the first sale for the Michael Scott Paper Company. It's just really great to see Pam continuing to challenge herself - it's awesome personal growth. I'm excited to see her in this new position at Dunder Mifflin.

- It was really fun to see Jim not being the boss' favourite. It was just a nice change of pace. And I must say I love how Jim managed to use his pranking Dwight skills for good so that things would go well for Pam and Michael.

So, the Office continues to work for me and I think here's the main reason why: you need to watch it as a drama that happens to have really funny moments and situations. Meaning that you're invested in the characters and their growth and challenges, and also entertained by the humourous and satirical situations that frame it.

Mutual break-up of the week: Lawrence Taylor being eliminated from DWS. I've never seen someone that happy to leave the show, and I think we were all happy to see him go.

This Week in TV

I have decided to try and resurrect this blog and commit to posting each Friday with brief thoughts, reactions and links to various things TV from the week. I read lots and lots of TV sites, articles, blogs and new pieces that I figure it might be fun to share the things I glean from that.

-- If you are a fan of Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies, you will be happy to hear that ABC is finally airing the last few episodes of these shows:
* Daisies' final three episodes will air Saturdays, May 30 to June 13 at 10pm
* Eli Stone's final four episodes will air Saturdays June 20 to July 11 at 10pm
* Dirty Sexy Money's final four episodes will air Saturdays July 18 to Aug 8at 10pm
Yeah, I know, the popular Saturday 10pm slot! Well, at least we'll finally get to see the last few episodes. [Source]

-- In less happy news: It does seem likely that the wonderful Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles will be cancelled. I continue to hope this isn't true because the second season ended so awesomely! Plus I just love Summer Glau as Cameron (even more than *gasp* as River on Firefly).

-- Should you not have heard about where a particular House actor will be working now: Here's a neat interview in which Kal Penn talks about his decision to leave and work for Obama's administration and also the exec-producers talk about the decision to have Kutner kill himself.

-- Are you freaking out that House may be going down the Grey's Anatomy hallucination sex with a dead person route? (And whoever thought that that would become a trend?!) Well, the exec-producers reassure us that "It would never be a dead ghost sex love triangle thing like on [Grey's]" [Source (which contains spoilers for other shows, so beware if you click!]

-- What do Southland, The Unusuals, and Castle have in common? Well, aside from the obvious of them all being cop shows, it's actually that they all have wealthy people who have chosen to become cops (and in two of them are trying to keep their wealth a secret). Also, there is basically identical back stories of why characters on The Unusuals and Castle became cops. It's gotten to the point where I'm getting confused between everyone's stories on all these shows. I love Nathan Fillion on Castle, Benjamin Mackenzie on Southland and Amber Tamblyn on The Unusuals being back on my TV, but I may only stick with Castle - it's the most fun. I wish Amber Tamblyn was on something as smart as Joan of Arcadia.

-- My favourite new show: Better Off Ted. Funny, satirical and smart. Last week's episode dealt with the issue of institutional racism so well. I wish I could find a good clip of that but youtube is failing me, so instead I'll give you a promo for the show which captures how great it is: Better Off Ted teaser.

-- My favourite quote of the week: From Hurley on Lost: "That was Luke's attitude, too. In 'Empire', when he found out Vader was his father, instead of putting away his light saber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually. But at what cost? The Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc, and everyone got The Ewoks. It all could have been avoided if they had just, you know, communicated. Because let's face it: Ewoks suck, dude."