Since it's Thursday, I will not mention any Wednesday shows. Or Monday shows.

My DVR will not get backed up if Brandon Webb throws strikes.

I'm still watching it, but just had to comment - I love the Office dearly, but it cracks me up when they have a driving scene (i.e., tonight's driving from Scranton to NY) and it's so clearly the greater LA area (with mountains in the background) - they're not even trying! Or maybe it's part of an inside joke. Still, a very good episode. Love the IM joke.

Wait.. it's still going. What's with all the hour long episodes?

Ah, it would help if I'd read the rest of the previous chat! Never mind.

And now it's Mad Men! I'll never get any work done at this rate, TiVo or no.

I will make sure never to break up with my notary.

Sub-par outings from both "30 Rock" and "The Office" this week. The first half of "The Office" was very good, but much like last week, I felt it sort of came off the rails when Michael went over the top. I think these hour-longs are too much. It was better shorter and tighter.

I was disappointed by "30 Rock" largely because Will Artnett was back, and I loved his work last season. (Or rather, last week, when I got around to watching the first season on DVD.) But it just didn't really bring the funny for me. I can't put my finger on an over-arching reason why -- the jokes just weren't very good.

The secret of Don Draper was something that I thought would have happened. Although I'm not sure how all the VA benefits would work out and getting a new SSN and such.

It made more sense than the Armin Tanzarian/Seymour Skinner switch.

And the rest of the show was great. I will have to tell people I work with that whoever they are is just what room they are in.

8. Yeah, it was pretty good. Seeing Don in a panic was really interesting. We saw it a little bit when Sterling had his heart attack, but the facade completely crumbled in this episode, very nice recovery by him though. I'm not sure if I buy Bert's reaction to the revelation though.

Also, I think liking this show gives you cool credibility, in fact, it is probably much cooler to like this show than Pushing Daisies.

Flatter Office than usual. But I can't read past comment 8 because I haven't watched Mad Men yet.

9
Thank you. I feel much better after reading that.

Angela would have said yes if Andy's a cappella group had somebody singing bass. If you haven't got somebody singing bass, you're doing it wrong.

I actually thought 30 Rock was pretty funny this week, even if it got a bit sillier even than usual. I agree with the above - The Office would have been good for a 30 min episode, but I grew tired of it after that, felt really stretched and pointless. The web competition and IM running gag was enjoyable; the pizza thing, not so much.

I think that there was one good thing about the pizza thing, and that is that I love it when Kevin gets fired up about something. Like with Pam & Jim in the season premiere and the difference between the pizza places this episode.

The Office this week was a tale of two episodes:

Episode 1 (1st Half): This was great! Dwight vs the Computer got me cracking up. The DVD Video screensaver was a signature moment. Meridith's "cast signing" is such a hoot! Michael not realizing the VIP party was an online party is so him, and very funny. Anyone notice the potential hookup between Kelly and Daryl?

Episode 2 (2nd Half): Not as good. I don't know how kidnapping a minor is funny. Kevin helped carry some of it, but despite that, it was more squeamish than funny.

The last five minutes were kind of confusing. Some random DM guy went up and gave kudos to Michael's "webcam greeting." Is Ryan as hated in other branches as he seems to be over in Scranton?

15
I can't imagine anyone would like Ryan with his attitude.

16- His dealer probably likes him. Unless his business book cliché-spasm really wasn't chemically assisted.

It hasn't been mentioned, but I really enjoyed Phylis's demonstrating techniques for dealing with difficult people.

-So, how do you feel about the fact that the banner says, "Lunch"?

-I feel angry. Angry at you. Angry at you for doing something stupid. Angry at me for believing you could do something not stupid.

-I'm so sorry to hear that. That must be awful.

-It is awful. You've made this day awful.

18
I've tried those techniques when dealing with angry people at work.

It tends to make them more angry.

19
Angry customers, not employees I should mention.

I've always found that laughing at people who are angry works best. It does make them angrier, but usually they go away for deep seething. The other option is hitting, so you have to be careful in guessing which sort of an angry person you're looking at.

Being big helps, too.