"Has anyone seen that movie Tron?"

Here I am, rock me like a hurricane.

And in answer to this post's title, I say: "No, no, no, no, no, yes ... I mean, no."

Man, this week has been like one of those weeks in college with 5 papers due and no sleep and lots of late nights and Pepsi and pizza and stuff.

First of all though, SHANA TOVAH to all my fellow members of the Jew Crew. Hope everyone had a happy Rosh Hashanna and a sweet new year.

I did attend services this year at Temple Emanu El in Burbank, and it was definitely a kind of surreal experience to be going alone to a strange synagogue on Rosh Hashanna. But at least I did get to do some much-needed praying, because you know how it is, sometimes I gots to pray just to make it through the day. I did bump into the very kind Grodsky family, whose Passover seder I partook in thanks to their generosity back in April. They were nice enough to invite me to their home again for a post-services lunch, and though it was a little weird suddenly being forced into a social situation with a bunch of strangers, including the temple's rabbi and cantor, it was a nice time, and hey, it was something different, that's for sure.

Unfortunately my Rosh Hashanna eve, usually a time to do nothing at home and bask in the glow of a big meal and another Jewish holiday gone by, was spent frantically working on an application of sorts for the primetime programming assignment at NBC. I won't go into details, but it's just funny and weird how writing this relatively short thing became this huge endeavor. I felt so out of practice in terms of writing something on a deadline - it was definitely a college flashback moment. And it was just like old times, with a bottle of soda on one side and a bag of chips on the other - the accessories needed to help will myself to get the application done before it was due the following day. Yeah, it was definitely a sign that I'd been out of school for over a year now.

Otherwise I've had a pretty light schedule at work. Been working the Tonight Show and Ellen. Saw Paul Walker on both shows, heard the same story about his encounter with a Portuguese Man O'War both times. Saw My Name is Earl's Jamie Pressly on Leno, and also the Drrty Girl herself, Christina Aguilara, on Ellen, performing a souldul melody along with piano legend Herbie Hancock. Saw George Clooney today on Leno - his new movie about Edward R. Murrow and the Joe McCarthy hearings looks pretty interesting - I've always been really intrigued by that particular historical era, especially the effects of McCarthyism and the media's response to it. Also saw Blue Man Group on Leno today, always cool, though their performance was a bit lacking this time around. Still, the musical highlight, and biggest surprise, for me recently was definitely a performance by American Idol's Constantine a few days ago, who did an awesome rendition of Queen's legendary Bohemian Rhapsody, backed up vocally by the cast of We Will Rock You - the Queen-based musical which I can testify kicks lots of ass. I am not an American Idol fan, but this was a really great performance of a classic song.

Basically I'm just going with the flow at work until I hear anything about these assignments. Until then I'm just trying to enjoy it while I'm here.

TV REVIEWS:

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Hilarious episode. Super Dave Osbourne as Jeffrey Tambor's doppledanger! Scott Baio with the self-deprecating humor! Steve Holt! Charlize Theron! Tobias is a combination analyst and therapist - an analrapist!!! Genious I tell you, genious! Watch this show, please! My grade: A

MY NAME IS EARL: Best episode of Earl yet, in my opinion. Good mix of humor and plot, best laughs of the series so far, and the cast is really starting to shine. The quality and sharpness of the writing still has some catching up to do with the great premise and awesome cast, however. My grade: B+

PRISONBREAK: Hot damn, that was some intense action. This is easily the best new show of the season, with an awesome cast, the most evil, vile villains on TV (that white supremicist redneck guy is FREAKY). Lots of cool action, great character moments. Of all the FOX shows that are going ot be preempted by baseball, this is going to be the hardest one to miss. My grade: A

GILMORE GIRLS: Man I love the characters on this show, they are just so real and well-developed. That being said, I hate Logan and I can't wait for next episode when the grandparents side with Lorelai and lay the smackdown on that preppy jerk. Yeah, I am pretty sucked into this show, good ep this week, they are really building things up well. My grade: A -

THE OFFICE: This may have been the darkest episode yet, and I like it. Rain Wilson is just kicking all kinds of ass as Dwight on this show, and he is easily becoming the standout character here, providing the best lines and biggest laughs. You honestly start to feel bad for Steve Carell here, which is a step forward in giving him as Michael some depth. The Jim character still annoys me though - so far Jim-Pam is no Tim-Dawn. My grade: B+

SMALLVILLE: I fully expected this episode to revert back to last season's suckiness after the awesome season opener, but lo and behold it was pretty good. Darn good even. The Lex versus Clark stuff here was really well done, and it's cool to see the antagonism between the two really develop. I can't believe how much less annoying Lana is now that she's rid of Jason and all that witch crap. Plus, some cool supervillains. My grade: A -

and finally ...

LOST: Okay, rant time. Now let me first say that yes, I am as hooked on this show as anyone. I can't deny that it has great characters, great production, and a mystery that keeps me coming back every week and eagerly anticipating each new episode. And yes, I understand that the writers must keep many things mysterious - nobody wants everything spelled out all at once. And I give them credit - this ep explained A LOT about the island's nature. BUT ... What the hell? Do they have to write the characters as morons for the sake of keeping things mysterious? In the wake of the big revelations about the island, is anyone talking about it? No, they are having philisophical debates about wheter to push a freaking button! It reminded me of that Ren and Stimpy episode where Stimpy can't decide whether or not to press the shiny red button that may or may not cause the universe to implode. Basically, while it was cool to see the Rsident Evil-style video explaining ever so vaguely the history of the island, the coolness of this was negated by a ton of things going on here that were just frustratingly moronic. It seems like the Lost writers are trying to channel Ray Bradbury and do these vague science fiction morality plays. But sorry guys, you are not Ray Bradbury - you can't have your characters seriously investigate the island one episode and then, when confronted with the answers, just act like nothing important has happened. The whole thing with "the others" is just stupid. Why doesn't anyone ask who these others are and where they come from? It's also kind of insulting that they are making the other group of survivors, in reality just ordinary people, look like these weird island savages just to make them seem dangerous. And the flashbacks this ep were kind of pointless as well. As much as I think that Terry O'Quinn may be the best actor on TV today, this ep's Locke-centric flashbacks just didn't have the punch or the pure greatness of earlier efforts like "Walkabout." As for the video ... sure, I was enthralled like everyone else, and I of course echoed Locke's sentiment that "we're going th ohave to watch that again." But come on, an "incident" happened? Please, explain. I don't know, it just feels like we are being jerked around here, and the writing of the show is reflecting a constant need to just throw stuff out there rather than set up a consistent and solid plot. But yeah, I am hooked, so I'm with this show for now. But damn if it isn't one of the most frustrating shows I've ever watched. My grade: C+

No Veronica Mars this week as it was preempted by baseball ...

Speaking of which, GO RED SOX.

Tommorow:

It's an NBC Page trip to Knotts' Scary Farm! A fright-tastic time is sure to be had by all, even if I'm sure to be pretty tired by the time we enter the gates after a long day of pagedom.

Continuing with the theme of getting into the Halloween spirit, I leave you with a question to ponder: Addams Family or The Munsters? And why?

I gotta go with the Munsters. Why? One word: Grandpa.