The Office – Season 4, Episode 4 – Money

Let me first say this: Toby’s so cool – writing and directing this week’s episode. Well, it’s the final 1 hour episode of The Office and unfortunately I’m going to have to call the experiment a failure. As I said last week – the show just doesn’t work in hour increments. Again, 40 minutes would have been the optimal length for this episode. The whole Pam and Jim going to Dwight’s bed and breakfast had some funny moments but as with the pizza boy story last week, it could have been completely pulled out and the episode would have been much tighter.

Still, here’s what I learned from this week’s The Office:

Samantha Who? – Season 1, Episode 1 – Pilot

I heard mixed reviews of this show but I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed the show and even laughed out loud multiple times.

Samantha Who? is the story of a woman who spends 8 days in a coma after a hit and run accident.   She wakes up without any memories of her life to find that she wasn’t a very nice person and decides to change.

What makes the show work is the cast starting with Christina Applegate.  I’ve always liked her as an actress.  She’s one of those people who can simultaneously be sympathetic and kind of bitchy but most of all likable – all of which are necessary for this role.  They’ve also surrounded her with some fantastic TV actors – Jean Smart, Barry Watson, Jennifer Esposito and Sookie from Gilmore Girls.  The pilot was a little too crammed to give the supporting characters much room to shine but I don’t think they brought on a cast of this caliber to have them sit on the sidelines.

The concept is also kind of fun especially as it mixes the present with flashbacks to mean Sam.  There’s lots of good potential and unlike many of the shows this season, there should be plenty of good comedy situations to keep the show running for a while.

Avi’s Episode Rating: B+

How I Met Your Mother – Season 3, Episode 4 – Little Boys

I didn’t love last week but this week the show was back in fine form.  More and more I see the comparisons in tone to Friends in its prime and am truly mystified why this show isn’t as huge a hit.

The show started great with a fun group scene discussing the “but” related to the blind fix-up and highlighted one of the real truisms in life – we all have a “but”, although in this case it focused on Robin’s issues.  I’m still amazed what this show gets away with at 8:00, on CBS of all networks, with one of the best uses of the “shotgun” call ever.  I’m still laughing.

For Robin the “but” with her fix-up was that her date has a son and as we fans know, Robin never wants to have kids.  In her own words she preferred to be the cougar chasing the son later in life than meet him as a little kid.  She also didn’t seem to realize that getting full custody is a win.  As much as it was entertaining watching Robin make friends with a kid, try to break up with a kid and ultimately get dumped by a kid, the best part was the flash forward conclusion.  There isn’t another show that so deftly balances the humour with the “warm and fuzzy” moments and this week’s look at Aunt Robin’s ultimate success with Ted’s kids did so successfully.

The parallel story had Ted and Barney competing for who has the best “game” with Marshall excluded because he won the woman’s league version of the dating game by getting married.  The competition to get the girl started feeling a little too familiar but definitely had some good twists.  Barney pretending that he had slept with her and using the image of him as Sir Edmund Hilary with Ted as the second guy up Everest was pure genius.  Ted was so freaked about going where Barney has been that he ultimately had to dump her leaving her wide open for Barney could move in.  Unfortunately for Barney she wanted to take it slow leaving him with her mean Reggae skills, a dancing Ted and a bet that neither of them won.

Avi’s Episode Rating: B+

The Office – Season 4, Episode 3 – Launch Party

Sorry that I’m late with my look at this week’s Office but as I learned from the opening minutes of the show, watching the DVD box try to go into the corner (something I admit I’ve found myself mesmerized with on my own DVD player), good things can come if you wait for it.

Here’s what I learned from this week’s The Office:

• I will never doubt Pam again. If she says she saw something, I’m going to believe her.
• I should start printing my presentations on colour paper instead of white so they won’t be so bland.
• The brainchild of my brainchild is my grandbrainchild. Cool.
• From now on I’m only going to attend parties with sushi and important people.
• If I ever need a good business cliche to be used in a presentation I will rewatch Ryan’s speech – (“apples to apples”, “flying at 30000 feet”, “don’t want to get into a beauty contest”, “convergence”, “going guerrilla”, “don’t want to reinvent the wheel”, “it is what it is”) – Awesome!!!

The Office – Season 4, Episode 2 – Dunder Mifflin Infinity

Pam still looks great, Ryan still started the fire and this show continues to be the anchor of my Thursday night viewing. The show starts with Toby exposing Pam and Jim (not quite the way he intended).  Toby was great this week and how much did you hate Ryan – even more than before (but in a good way).

If you didn’t see, our favourite Dunder Mifflin couples were on the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly.  3 covers in all.

Without further ado, here’s what I learned from this week’s The Office:

30 Rock – Season 2, Episode 1 – Seinfeld Vision

It’s hard to believe that at this time last season I was panning 30 Rock.  After one episode I pretty much decided not to watch any more.  Boy was that dumb.  Somewhere around the 7th or 8th episode I ended up watching and I literally cried from laughing so hard.  I, of course, went back and watched the ones I missed and was hooked for the rest of the season.  The moral: Never judge a show based on its pilot.  But I digress….

The show kicks off with a great scene of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey discussing the highlights of the summer TV season including MILF Island (25 hot moms, 1 caring prostitute MILF and 8 boys, no rules) and America’s Top Pirate.  But that’s nothing compared to SeinfeldVision where Seinfeld is digitally inserted into all of NBC’s shows.

Unfortunately also over the summer, Liz broke up with Floyd, Tracy’s wife threw him out (who knew freaky deakys could also do data entry) and Jenna put on a bit of weight doing Mystic Pizza the Musical.  No need to worry about Tracy though, Kenneth agreed to be his “office wife”.  In other stories Cerie is still engaged and planning her wedding.  By getting Liz and Jenna to be bridesmaids she got a twofer – bridesmaids and “something old”.   Classic.

As has been promoted for the last bunch of weeks the episode primarily revolves around Jerry’s dislike of the SeinfeldVision concept, unless he could be inserted into Lost.  Now that’s a show he likes.  If Jack doesn’t stop SeinfeldVision from airing Jerry’s going to buy NBC.  Fortunately Jack’s got a couple of days to come up with alternatives and as we all know, there are no bad ideas when it comes to brainstorming (I’m an innovation guy, I know).  As with all things Jack it comes down to negotiation and I have one thing to say – Al Rokker in a Bee costume.

The rest of the show had Liz walking around in a wedding dress and I need to end this review on two important notes:  it is my fondest desire to one day go to Grenarnia and as amazing as this show is I’m with Jack – this is going to be a great year.

Avi’s Episode Rating: A-

The Office – Season 4, Episode 1 – Fun Run

How great is it to finally sit down and watch a new episode of my favourite show. I’ll tell you how great by doing what I always do when I review The Office, share what I learned. So without further ado….

Here’s what I learned from this week’s The Office:

• If I buy milk for my wife, I might get credit for making breakfast.
• Don’t click on Internet offers for celebrity sex tapes.
• Beware office detectives who like to ask “Are you kidding me” or repeat what you say in the form of a question.
• The duties of the Chairman of the Party Planning Committee are extensive and far reaching so don’t volunteer if you aren’t prepared to make sacrifices.

How I Met Your Mother – Season 3, Episode 1 – Wait for it….

I love this show.  As my regular readers know I generally don’t watch traditional sitcoms but this one has something unique.  In addition to having one of the best ensemble casts on TV, it’s one of the few shows that is able to make me laugh out loud one minute and give me the “warm and fuzzies” little tear in my eye, the next.

Picking up right from last season we are treated to Barney’s attempts (“Cirque de so-laid”) to pull Ted out of his post-Robin funk while his beard grows.  Of course, it just takes Robin’s return from Argentina with new boyfriend Gael or Gail, played perfectly by Enrique Iglesias, discussing the joys of windsurfing to compel Ted to try and win the breakup war.

And don’t think just because Lily and Marshall are married that we aren’t going to like them anymore.  Between Lily’s quick recovery from her comment on how the girl “never marries the hot guy” to their double date with Robin and Gael where both end up falling for him, we find new ways to love this great couple.

Meanwhile, who is Ted’s rebound girl – Mandy Moore – who I have had new appreciation for since her work on Entourage a couple of seasons ago.  Here she’s a tattooed throwback (1994 Courtney Love) who calls Barney a nerd and verbally spars with him throughout the episode.  I really wonder how this show gets some of the jokes through the censors at 8PM.

The show concludes with one of the great apologies of all time from Barney and a reminder of why Robin is so cool as she makes Ted feel better about his comparison to Gael.

As I’ve said many times, this show is just like welcoming back old Friends (in the first few seasons).   Lastly as much as I like Ari Gold I have to say that Neil Patrick Harris was robbed.

Avi’s Episode Rating: A

Curb Your Enthusiasm – Season 6, Episode 3 – The Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial

This was a great week for highlighting the irksome minutiae of life that this show does so well and I feel Larry’s pain.  I too have sat in a pissed off state waiting for Sample Abusers at ice cream stores (perfume stores not so much but I assume it would hold true).  I know it seems petty but I really agree that it’s an abuse of the unwritten law of samples or as Larry says “the unwritten rules of society”.  Other violations that I could sympathize with include being unwilling to take money from someone’s shoe (my wife has done that to me before), the workman who spends time doing something else “on the job” and still billing by the hour as well as the “line wait” where one moves faster than the other and when you switch your’s slows down.

But given that this is Curb Your Enthusiasm, you have to expect Larry to do some things on his part to balance out the scales of injustice.  Like taking flowers from Ida Funkhouser’s roadside memorial (more than once) to give it to the Sample Abuser headmaster so he can get his houseguest children into a fancy school as well as to Cheryl and Loretta.  Of course, he gets caught by Funkhauser and has to not only make it up to Cheryl with some perfume but also steal back the flowers.  This next round with the headmaster goes as well as the first with making a long story short, Larry screwing up Jeff and Suzie’s interview for the school.  In 6 seasons I don’t think we’ve seen Jeff lose it on Larry like he did this week which should be an interesting plot point for the next few episodes.  To make things worse, Larry then steals the perfume for Cheryl from Ida’s shrine.  Fortunately he has the $50 bill from Funkhauser’s shoe to use as a distraction at the funeral.

All in all, a truly classic episode that you have to watch to get the full effect.

Avi’s Episode Rating: A

Avi’s Fall Preview 2007 – Monday Night

Wow! Is Monday just packed with TV goodness.  Here’s my network by network, show by show breakdown of what I plan to watch on Mondays:

ABC

9:30 – 10:00 – Samantha Who? – A great cast of  likable TV veterans including Kelly Bundy, Barry Watson, Jean Smart and Jennifer Esposito and a pretty neat concept of a horrible person who gets amnesia and tries to change her life makes this show sound promising.  I’m not sure there’s enough meat on the show to last a few seasons but given its pedigree I’m definitely going to give it a try.  (Starting October 15th)

CBS
8:00 – 8:30 – How I Met Your Mother – One of the best sitcoms on TV.  Rather than go into detail of my love for all things Robin Sparkles I’m going to paraphrase this from Entertainment Weekly’s article that I think perfectly captures the awesomeness of this true mash-up show:

The chummy New Yorkers of Friends, hanging out in the bar from Cheers .  The experimental structure of The Office with the comfort of a laugh track.  The pop culture references of Gilmore Girls and the random in-jokes of Arrested Development.  The sweetness of The Wonder Years and the overstuffed pace of Seinfeld and The Simpsons.  Even a mystery for the Lost fans.

On top of that one of the best ensemble casts on the airwaves.  If you haven’t watched go rent seasons 1 & 2 and get ready for some great slap bat sessions.  (Starting Sept. 24)

8:30 – 9:00 The Big Bang Theory – I stopped paying attention when I saw it was from Chuck Lorre the creator of Two and a Half Men.  Nerds living next to a hot girl.  It’s getting some good reviews even from people I know hate 2 1/2 but I’m on the fence whether to give it even a single viewing.   I guess I’ll decide on September 24th.

NBC

8:00 – 9:00 Chuck – This show has gotten great buzz from the critics so I’m going to have to give it a try.  The premise as it reads – computer geek downloads government secrets into his brain and is chased by bad guys – sounds incredibly silly but so did university student turns spy (Alias) and high school girl solves mysteries (Veronica Mars).  I read the show was very well received by my fellow comic geeks in San Diego so I’m going to definitely check it out. (Starts Sept. 24)

9:00 – 10:00 Heroes – One of the standout shows from last season and I expect great things from the new season and new cast member Kristin Bell.   (Starts Sept. 24)

10:00 – 11:00 Journeyman – I liked Vorenus’s understatedness in Rome and it will be interesting seeing him carry this story of a time traveller solving Quantum Leap like problems but within a larger story arc.  It’s a good fit with Heroes and compared to the other Monday at 10:00 shows like CSI Miami (yuck) or the Bachelor (bigger yuck) it’s a no brainer which one wins the time slot for me.  (Starts Sept. 24)

Fox

8:00 – 9:00 Prison Break – I pretty much decided at the end of last season that the show had gotten way too stupid and gone on far longer than the premise should allow.  This year they’re in a Panama jail and I’m not sure I care if they stay there for ever.  Still, I’m this invested I have to watch at least a couple of episodes to see if it can recapture some of the fun of the first season.  But 2 episodes to change my mind is more than generous.  (Starts Sept. 17)

9:00 – 10:00 K-Ville – As much as I don’t think I need to watch another cop show, this one stars Anthony Anderson who was just fantastic on The Shield and takes place in New Orleans after Katrina.  It may be a bit too real for some viewers (it films on location) and frankly may be difficult to watch at times but I applaud the creators for ignoring controversary to tell stories in a town that 2 years later has fallen off the front page but still is dealing with the aftermath of the diaster. (Starts Sept. 17)

The CW

8:00 – 8:30 Everybody Hates Chris – I’m still behind in this show and haven’t seen most of season 2 but I do recommend it.  (Starts Oct. 1)

8:30 – 9:00 Aliens in America – Family with geeky son takes in an exchange student from Pakistan and hilarity ensues.  It isn’t the show that instantly jumps out for me but the early pilot I saw (before they recast the father role) actually was pretty entertaining with a mixture of laughs and sweetness.  The lead, Justin, is just great as is the mother who I instantly remembered from Caroline in the City.  I’m not sure the enjoyment will endure but it gets at least a few viewings in my schedule.  (Starts Oct. 1)

Bottom Line:

Here’s what I’m going to be watching:

8:00 – 9:00 – Chuck

9:00 – 10:00 – Heroes

10:00 – 11:00 – Journeyman

11:00 – 11:30 How I Met Your Mother

I’m going to record: Samantha Who?, Prison Break, K-Ville, Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens in America

I’m on the fence about The Big Bang Theory.

I absolutely will not be watching:  Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, 2 1/2 Men, Rules of Engagement, CSI: Miami, Girlfriends or The Game.