What a terrific episode.

Anybody know what the turnaround time on an episode of The Office is? If the strike were settled tomorrow, when would the next one be broadcast?

Just as I was thinking that 30 Rock was the best show on TV it puts up a very average episode tonight.

Any good recommendations for movies this weekend?

2 I haven't seen a movie in a while, but here are the movies I plan on seeing within the next week or so in a theater near me, in order of preference:

American Gangster
No Country For Old Men
Dan In Real Life
Across The Universe
Lions For Lambs
Bee Movie

I can probably be persuaded to see Fred Claus as well.

Also, A Christmas Story starts playing in a theater down the street from me this Saturday. I've never seen it in a theater, so I might check it out.

Very funny episode of The Office tonight. Dare I say one of Michael's top 5 episodes. The rest of the characters didn't have a whole lot of substance, but Michael avoided being annoying for once and came across as even more genuine than usual.

30 Rock was okay, not as good as recent episodes. A little too much emphasis on Jack's storyline. There were a couple quotes that had me in stitches though (can't remember 'em off-hand).

Scrubs and It's Always Sunny will have to wait until tomorrow though.

2 American Gangster was a very entertaining 157 minutes, but I wouldn't call it "must-see".

No Country for Old Men is supposed to be excellent, but I haven't seen it yet.

I'm intrigued by Southland Tales due to my intense love of Donnie Darko, but the reviews make it seem like it's Richard Kelly's Elizabethtown (lots of good ideas, totally unfocused).

I laughed quite a bit at 30 Rock. Enjoyed it a lot. Laughed out loud more than I did at the Office, though the writing on the Office, with Michael, was subtly brilliant.

Jim is really taking an ego beating lately.

3 - The only one of those I haven't seen yet is Across. I'd say your list is pretty much in the right order - just don't bother with Lions for Lambs. I might see No Country before American Gangster. Dan was the most fun.

I am a huge fan of the Office, and last nights episode was great, but I have a problem with the over the top character Michael Scott has become. A lot of this comes in comparison to the original Office and the boss on the show, but I just have a hard time believing someone who consistently acts like Michael would still have a managerial position or would have avoided a good sock in the face.

But Michael wasn't over the top Thursday. He was a guy who just realized that his personality and abilities had peaked. He knew he didn't have much of a future. But he was still trying to do the right thing. But he didn't know who for.

The drive back to Scranton with Michael and Jan was well done.

6
Really? I thought the middle eastern bit was about as obvious as could be. You knew where it was headed the minute it started. Now if he had been a terrorist, that would have been different.
Nothing made me laugh this week. The pants, the tryst, the hair, the terrorist. The voiceover at the beginning of Earl made me laugh more.

Well, specifically his treatment of Toby and the inappropriate things he said in the deposition. It is one thing to be socially inept, but it is another thing to be a complete ass/jerk

I did feel horrible for him last night. What an awful thing to go through, and it is perfect that he still wanted to go to dinner with Jan after all that.

8 - Of all the episodes to pick on Michael being over-the-top, this seems like the least likely. He was subdued the entire time.

Michael is a good company man, a good salesman, and exceedingly flawed overall. How does he stay employed? When the chips are down, he comes through. Don't underestimate the significance of that.

9 - "he was still trying to do the right thing. But he didn't know who for." Well said.

11 - His treatment of Toby is another story. It has no bearing on his staying employed. Whether Toby will someday sock him - well, you've seen Toby. You tell me.

10 - It was still a fun ride for me.

I think if a Manager consistently treated an employee like that or made consistent blunders with top-level management, than he would eventually be let go.

The sad thing is that Jan's report hit it right on the head. He belongs in sales.

13

Yea, I am hoping that one day Toby will tell him off, and just let him know that he is trying to be a friend to him. But, Toby is quite meek.

Here are the real members of the International Table Tennis Hall of Fame:
http://www.ittf.com/museum/Hof/HoF.html

Did Dwight use any of these names or did the writers just make up names?

The Table Tennis Museum is in Lausanne, Switzerland.

15 - It could happen. The show's not afraid of being bold. But this discussion has gone on as long as the series has been on. It seems clear that Michael has value to the company, even as a manager. Jim's 15 minutes in Michael's office, dealing ineffectively with the birthdays, seemed designed to back that up.

Meanwhile, perhaps you have been more fortunate than me, but I've seen people in high places make huge blunders and still stick around.

19

You are correct. I have been more fortunate in that way.

The more I think about it, though, it would take some employees in the office to file complaints about Michael, and I don't know if any of them would, other than Angela.

I am still a bit surprised that Jim hasn't sat down Michael one time to say, "hey, when you act like this, it makes people not want to be around you" or something to that affect.

20 - I don't think Michael can change his stripes all that much, even if he were told to.

Toby has displayed the file of complaints about Michael. It's an entire drawer stuffed with paper.

He likely doesn't act on any of them. He really only got worked up over Michael outing Oscar.

Toby laughing during the Ryan character was hilarious.

I'd like to see the Office do an episode where Creed is so busy doing his blog, his work suffers, and show all the different boss breaker screen savers he uses to hide his obsession. In particular I'd love to see the spread sheet with sales items not related to the business show up and have Michael engage him in a conversation about the spreadsheet and be clueless that it is just a screen saver.

Dwight's table tennis heroes are indeed real table tennis stars although not all are in the table tennis Hall of Fame.

Scrubs - another decent episode, but I'm still waiting for the quality of the first five seasons to come back

It's Always Sunny - pretty dang funny, I love it when they're plotting against each other. Plus, Charlie's dance was classic.