How freakin' good is Mad Men? I tell ya.

I'll tell you a bit later.

How freakin' good is The Office? I tell ya.

The GPS on my last rental car told me to drive into a parking lot full of logging trucks instead of going up a road to Mount Hood.

That has to be a top 10 episode of The Office.

Hooray! My first screen jam post.

There were actually multiple signature moments in tonight's Office Episode, especially Jim's big comeback:

"I guess [Ryan] Can't get any woman he wants."

---

Ryan's plan must have worked: I just saw an commercial for the new Dunder Mifflin Infinity after the show was over.

6 There was so much gold in that episode, who knows where to begin? The entire technology thing was great, Kelly and the fake pregnancy, Toby's deep denial, the lake, gift baskets, Jim hearing about Ryan's life and shrugging it off, "Garbage" the cat. I'm forgetting tons of stuff.

And Creed. Oh, Creed, how I adore you, Brah.

And now I can agree with 1

I'm going to miss this show once it's done.

I heard a joke last night.

It was funny.

I was not much of a fan of the season premiere of The Office. I thought the writing and performances were below the norm for this series, and the episode paled in comparison to the season premieres from the last couple of seasons ("The Dundies" and "The Gay Witch Hunt"). However, any fears I may have had that The Office might be heading for a slump were thoroughly extinguished last night. What a great episode. The old school vs. new school tension between Michael and Ryan was very well developed. And even though he doesn't get too much screen time, Toby is one of the show's underrated strengths. I've got a good feeling that another season of unparalleled excellence awaits us.

I did a quick post at Season Pass:

http://weblogs.variety.com/season_pass/

The next time I get dumped, I'm totally going to ask to be friends. Plus a little extra. Also, I love you.

I've decided that I have one huge problem with Mad Men, the dialogue is just way too quiet. Regardless of how loud the volume was, there were still parts that I failed to hear, and then the commercials would be incredibly loud. Come on AMC, improve the sound quality. Also, I think I may hate Pete more than I'm supposed to, but we'll see.

Can't comment too much on The Office since I missed chunks at a time. How in the world could my mother-in-law's and mother's birthdays be on the same day?

When I meet with my boss later today, I'll be sure to say "Later skater" as I'm leaving.

14- I hope you'll dye your hair with toner from the company printer first. Really commit to it.

I love watching the Office when Michael is not in it. I literally get squeamish when he's on screen and my emotions collide with wanting to turn off the show to wanting to hear just how stupid he is going to be.

I thought Toby's actions were perfect.

No cat can take out a Raccoon. None, not even a Maine Coon.

I'm so glad 30 Rock is back.

13 - My wife's and my sister-in-law's birthdays are the same day.

Are they twins? Or married to different brothers?

The Office was excellent. I was just surprised that Michael didn't play Jason Phillips at first base to spite Ryan.

Jon's sister-in-law could be married to his brother.

Man, the Office was fantastic last night! I thought it was leaps and bounds better than the season premiere. My only problem is that these hour long episodes still feel like two-parters put together. While it's not a huge issue, I guess I was hoping for those episodes that were literally "bigger"(like "The Negotiation") instead of having it "end" at 30 minutes.

Oh, and not a lot of chatter about 30 Rock here? How was it? Ugly Betty is the preferred poison in my house so I'll have to catch up later.

19 - Was that in doubt?

20 - They are, in fact, two episodes put together. But I think they go together pretty seamlessly.

I thought 30 Rock was amusing but I still don't think it's as good a show as what follows. (No, not GA.)

19 21
Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son.

Far as 30 Rock, this was my first try at watching the show in earnest. I thought it was pretty good, and "Seinfeld-Vision" is a great idea! It took shows I wouldn't usually watch and made them instantly better. However, "Milf Island" is not on my DVR list right now.

30 Rock goes well between "Earl" and "The Office", so I think I'll be sticking with it.

19. Yeah, that's what I meant by "married to different brothers." But Jon's sister-in-law could also be his wife's sister, and if sisters share a birthday, it could be because they're twins.

Jon was vague. I was obnoxious.

Somehow, my DVR forgot that it should record 30 Rock. Boo. But I enjoyed The Office and Earl.

Has there been any "Chuck" chatter over here? I've liked the first two episodes, but I'm not sure how long it will be before the title character's "deer in the headlights" bit wears thin, and turning him into a real James Bond type is just too implausible (even for the genre).

Earl has been awful so far this year.

Is Scrubs coming back or are they done?

I never saw any comments here about Still Standing but my wife and I loved that show and miss it.

26

Hey TC. I was a big Still Standing fan too in its day.

Running in its time slot today is a fun new show called "The Big Bang Theory".

I think BBT insanely silly, but pretty funny. Boy was I surprised to see so many others enjoying the show on other forums as well.

Earl awful? Perhaps. I must admit, they're running out of ideas.

Scrubs will come in about three weeks.

27
I've enjoyed BBT so far. The laughtrack is off putting but I can deal with it. The one actors cadence is interesting and I like it.

jon, as you might know...i live over here in China. not much to watch on TV around here but i can get DVD's of just about any TV show. Plus i usually pick up stuff when i'm back in the States (will be back in Oxnard in 2 weeks). Can you make some recommendations of quality shows I should be picking up? I'm not familiar with some of the shows you're mentioning (Mad Men? Cavemen?)

I'll be looking for season 3 of the Office. Was thinking of picking up Battle Star Galactica and perhaps Grey's Anatomy. I've got the Sopranos but what about other dramas? Wire or Prison Break better? My girlfriend is Chinese, she watches these to help her English so Deadwood is out, ha ha. We like comedies and she loves Seinfeld. we're going through all the Curbs right now...

So, would be great if you could recommend the best stuff out there and maybe indicate if it's been released yet or not. If not, i'm still likely to get it over here anyway. It was interesting to watch Lost and see thunderstorm warnings running across the screen, LOL

other readers here feel free to suggest for me, thanks.

regards
will

The Wire vs Prison Break? No contest. Go with The Wire. It is absolutely fascinating. Prison Break I watched about the first 15 episodes. It just got stupider and more far fetched with each episode to the point I would have gouged out my eyeballs had I watched another episode.

Although "The Wire" is better than "Prison Break" by a mile and a half, it would be very hard to follow for a non-native speaker of English.

"The Wire" really captures the feel of the street. Which is not easy to pick up.

I already erased this week's Office from my DVR, but I noticed on the dry erase calendar behind the accounting area (Angela's desk) that on one of the days it says "Ryan to cover phones". It seems that prop was leftover from Ryan's temp days.

I do like that they have a Ryan Howard supervising (albeit from afar) a Pennsylvania office. Next we are going to find out Creed's full name starts with Apollo Creed.

Great episode.