Friday, October 06, 2006

My Blog: It's Good. Soooo good. OFFICE, STUDIO 60, SMALLVILLE, and more.

Sweet lord, thank you that the week is just about finito. After much craziness last week, this has been one of those "getting back into the groove" weeks where attempts to return to relative normalcy mean lack of sleep, poor time management, and a general lack of real productivity. Oh well, this should be a pretty laidback weekend, kicked off by a viewing of Scorcese's latest, The Departed. Can't wait for this one, as it's gotten almost nothing but stellar reviews, and looks to be a can't-miss movie that should prove more than Oscar-worthy.

This will be a pretty quick entry, but I do want to mention some good TV viewin' that occured last night.

TV REVIEWS

First of all ...

THE OFFICE

As much as I've been critical of this show on occasion, last night's ep, in my humble opinion, was off-the-charts hilarious. I mean, seriously, I haven't laughed that hard at a TV show since, since ... hmmm ... maybe since the Arrested Development finale last spring. Pretty much everything that Dwight said or did last night had me rolling on the floor laughing (ROTFL for you internet chatroom abbreviation geeks). But yeah, man, the Macbeth-like interaction between Dwight and Angela as they plotted how Dwight could usurp Michael as Office Manager--- just truly inspired comedy. Michael trying to pry the truth out of Dwight via offering him M&M's after a supposed destist appointment ... freaking hilarious. Ed Helms popping up in the Stanford branch, as a foil for Jim who takes his videogame playing way too seriously? Awesome, great casting there. Dwight covertly meeting with Jan at the Liz Claiborne outlet? Too funny. One of my Top 5 episodes of this show to date -- best laughs I've had in a while.

My Grade: A

MY NAME IS EARL

Another very solid ep of Earl. Funny stuff with the sideshow freaks and their interaction with Earl and especially Randy. Ethan Suplee continues to be hilarious, and yeah, sign me up for the Jamie Pressly bandwagon ... who knew she had this level of comedic timing and charisma? Not always laugh out loud funny, but the last two eps have been highly watchable and consistently entertaining.

My Grade: B+

SMALLVILLE

Nice. This was more of the Smallville that I know and love, in an ep that had a high level of semi-whimsical charm, a low level of cheese, and another top-notch performance from Michael Rosenbaum. Even Lana was semi-interesting this week. And yeah, even though the guy they got to play him seems to have the acting skills of an inanimate carbon rod (the same guy who was the lead in the ill-fated Aquaman pilot ...), I admit that I totally geeked out for the appearance of Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow. It's too bad the guy can't act too, because I really enjoyed the way that the Emerald Archer was written, and all the little details that made him instantly recognizable to longtime fans of the character. Having him be an old schoolmate of Lex is a nice twist that fits into the schematic of the show. And man, I even kind of dig the costume, complete with green hood. But yeah, that ending, of Ollie calling his mark and hitting it - even if it was a city on the giant Daily Planet globe - was pure coolness. Any comic fan knows that Ollie is one of the most interesting characters in the superhero pantheon - a liberal hipster who uses his wealth to wage a Robin Hood-style crusade against corporate fatcats and above-the-law bigshots. That modus operandi makes him a perfect fit for the Luthor-dominated world of Smallville, so this should be interesting. The Clark-Chloe-Lois stuff here was a lot of fun as well. My main complaint is with the falling back on a number of lame Smallville cliches ... Lex not being able to remember his time as Zod, Clark walking right into Lex's mansion despite its beefed-up security, Clark saving the day yet again without being seen by Lex or Lana who were of course just feet away from him ... the good character moments shouldn't have to be undermined by this kind of lazy plotting. Oh well, as a whole I really enjoyed this ep - made me smile and look forward to next week's Clark-Ollie team up.

My Grade: B+

STUDIO 60:

Finally saw this week's ep, the third episode of the show thus far. Overall, I love some of the dialogue and character moments, but I have to admit I'm starting to sour on the show as a whole. For one thing, like many critics have pointed out, the actual comedy of the show-within-a-show is pretty lame and somewhat absurd. The "Science-Shmience" sketch had me cringing at how preachy and unfunny it was, for example. Apparently in Sorkin's world SNL-style sketch comedy is more akin to filmed versions of liberal internet blogs or something. I mean, Gilbert and Sullivan, Renaissance humor, Scientology jokes ... this is the content of the fictionalized Studio 60? And people are watching this? I know that Sorkin is trying to make a point about art and commerce, but sketch comedy, above all else, needs to be funny to be successful, and the show needs to reflect that. In addition, the tone of this show is just too heavy-handed. Again, I realize it's all a kind of commentary on how self-important people in the TV business are, but isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black (or something to that effect)? How could a network exec having gotten a DUI eight years ago possibly register as important enough to be a national scandal? It's melodramatic artistic license like that that makes this show slightly obnoxious. Isn't it about a sketch comedy show that airs on Friday nights? As important as any show like that can be to a network, this isn't exactly Lawrence of Arabia-type material here. It's why the moments of levity with Matthew Perry interacting with Bradley Whitford are so welcome. On one hand, I respect this show for striving for intelligence and relevance. On the other, it also really needs to tone things down a notch.

My Grade: B-

Alright ... bring on the weekend. Have a good one, everybody. CYA.

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