television

The Office Is Closing

The Office Is Closing

After 9 seasons, NBC’s The Office will close its doors for the final time tomorrow. Some of you have never seen the show. Others watched the British version and didn’t like the way it translated to American English. Others may have watched until Jim and Pam got together and then stopped, while many others may [...]


To Reward Yourself or Benefit the Many

To Reward Yourself or Benefit the Many

This episode contains spoilers about tonight’s episode of Survivor. If you don’t watch the show or have already watched this episode, please proceed. Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, I watch Survivor. I love games, and Survivor is the best game on TV. A very interesting moral and strategic quandary occurred on Survivor [...]


Love, Fights, and The Office

Note: This contains spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Office. If you don’t watch the show, I think you can still connect to what I’m going to say below about relationships. This has been a weird and interesting final season of The Office. The boss has been gone for almost the entire season, Oscar had an affair [...]


My Greatest Fear #36: That the Awesome Guest Star Won’t Become a Series Regular

My Greatest Fear #36: That the Awesome Guest Star Won't Become a Series Regular

Recently, something terrible happened on New Girl. Olivia Munn left the show. Granted, she was only in three episodes, but I love me some Olivia Munn, so to add her to one of my favorite shows made me a very, very happy man. But I was also a nervous wreck during those episodes, because I [...]


The Great Debate: The American Office vs. The British Office

The Great Debate: The American Office vs. The British Office

The final season of The Office began last week, so I thought that it’s a good time to post a poll about the age-old question: Which version of The Office is better, the American version or the original British version? If you’ve watched both versions, please vote in the poll below. We’ll debate in the [...]


I Heart New Girl

I Heart New Girl

I didn’t believe in New Girl. And I was wrong. So wrong. Unfairly, I assumed that the show was purely a showcase for Zooey Deschanel’s whimsical cuteness. So I didn’t watch it at all during the season, despite my trust Entertainment Weekly lauding the show’s creativity and humor. But I wanted something lighthearted to watch about a month ago, [...]


Can You Be Judgmental About Judging?

Can You Be Judgmental About Judging?

I haven’t been a paying member of Match.com since January, but I’ve left my profile up because it links to my blog (always trying to find ways to get new readers in on the conversation). Pretty much every day Match will send me an e-mail saying something like, “She’s interested in you, and you have [...]


Movie Contrivance #14: I’m Pregnant

Movie Contrivance #14: I'm Pregnant

People tell other people they’re pregnant so often on TV and in movies that it’s no longer a surprise. It’s officially a contrivance. In movies, the revelation that someone is pregnant always happens when something crazy is happening, and the pregnant person isn’t reacting as they normally would, and then they say those fateful words: [...]


The Best Hour of Television I’ve Ever Seen

The Best Hour of Television I've Ever Seen

I’ve seen every episode of The Sopranos, Lost, The Wire, Dexter, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones, some of the most polished hour-long television dramas ever. That said, last night’s episode of Mad Men was the best-written scripted hour of television I’ve ever seen. Those shows all have much in common. Sure, each one [...]


The Future of Live TV

The Future of Live TV

Think about the last time you watched live TV. I’d bet good money you were watching one of the following types of programming: a sporting event a season finale the news I’m probably missing one or two items for that list, but in general, in a world of DVRs and TiVo and Hulu and Netflix, [...]


Contrivance #11: Friends with ‘Fros

Contrivance #11: Friends with 'Fros

Today I was watching the 49ers decide that they had no interest in going to the Super Bowl when I noticed a person in two different commercials who seemed familiar. Rather, he was a type of person, not the same exact person. The type of guy I saw in both commercials was a guy with [...]


Who Should Rachel Have Ended Up With: Ross or Joey?

Who Should Rachel Have Ended Up With: Ross or Joey?

If you like this entry, feel free to check out my Kickstarter campaign for a board game I invented called Viticulture. If enough people pledge, I might be able to be convinced that Ross and Rachel are right for each other. During yesterday’s sanction on avid commentors, I got more comments off the blog about Ross vs. [...]


Some Commercials Still Work

Some commercials still work. Kinda. When I say they “work,” I mean that I don’t fast forward by them. I mean that I actually watch some commercials. Because they’re entertaining. Because they move me. Because they make me feel something–pride, joy, nostalgia. Something. Do they make me want to buy products? Hardly ever. Although I [...]


7 Burning Questions About the Show “Community” for the Benefit of People Who Don’t Watch “Community”

7 Burning Questions About the Show "Community" for the Benefit of People Who Don't Watch "Community"

I asked my friend–and fellow lover of the NBC Thursday-night comedy “Community”–to answer a few completely unbiased questions about the show. Below is the Q&A. On a scale from 9 to 10, how awesome is the NBC show Community? 11, obviously If you could give birth to a baby tomorrow, which character on Community would [...]


Contrivance #9: Walking Away in the Middle of the Conversation

Contrivance #9: Walking Away in the Middle of the Conversation

Trev sent this contrivance to me a while ago, and I’m going to reprint it verbatim since he said it so well (with paragraph breaks for added drama): In TV and movies, scenes always end with one person walking out of the room or just not saying somethng important. This NEVER happens in real life. [...]


Entourage Ends

Entourage Ends

The HBO dramedy Entourage ended tonight with a short but sweet series finale. I won’t go into details about what happened, but I will say that everyone grows up in different ways. I’ve been watching the show on and off for 7 years, many of those years with a few good friends when they used [...]


Contrivance #4: Before the Plane Departs

Contrivance #4: Before the Plane Departs

Warning: I’m going to stomp on sacred ground in a few paragraphs. That’s right. I’m going to badmouth Friends. But before I get there, let’s talk about Garden State and She’s Out of My League and any movie where the protagonist makes a last-second dash to the airport to tell the girl he loves her. [...]


Would You Appear Naked on TV?

Would You Appear Naked on TV?

I mentioned last week that I’ve been watching this show called True Blood. I also saw a movie called Friends with Benefits this past weekend. The common theme between the two? Both have nudity. The nudity in the movie was brief–a quick glimpse of some buttocks. In True Blood, there’s full nudity–mostly female, but some [...]


Pet Peeve #36: Dream Sequences

Pet Peeve #36: Dream Sequences

I have recently been smitten with an HBO show called True Blood. It’s gritty, sexy, Southern, entertaining, and actually asks some really interesting questions about how supernatural creatures would interact with the real world if they were “outed.” I’ve also discovered (this was a while ago), that like The Notebook, True Blood is an excellent [...]


5 Management Lessons from Michael Scott

5 Management Lessons from Michael Scott

With his departure from The Office last Thursday, Michael Scott leaves behind a legacy of bad management and good humor. I think the show will be just fine with him gone, yet his final episode episode moved me to tears. In honor of him, I’d like to ignore the myriad of poor leadership tactics he [...]


The Eagle

The Eagle

By now I’m sure you’ve heard from your grandmother on Facebook or a quirky uncle via forwarded e-mail that there’s a live video feed of a bald eagle nest in Iowa. (I’m hoping the video will go meta someday and feature a bald eagle watching a video of humans watching the live feed.) It’s fascinating [...]


The Best TV Episodes of the Season…So Far

The Best TV Episodes of the Season...So Far

This list only includes show that I watch (and not even all of those shows–I love Modern Family and The Event, but neither have singular episodes that apart from the rest). Feel free to add your favorites to other shows (or these shows) in the comments section. Mad Men: Mad Men has moments of humor, [...]


Survive This

Survive This

The CBS show Survivor is currently in its 21st season, and I continue to be an avid viewer. I think I’ve only missed one or two seasons, and the producers continue to surprise and delight me every year. One of the things the show does to mix things up is create special parameters by which [...]


A Summer of Sopranos

A Summer of Sopranos

This past summer, I decided to watch the Sopranos for the first time. All 6 seasons via Netflix. There was no other TV on, and I figured I needed to experience the critically acclaimed show. Plus, I love mob movies, especially Goodfellas. If you haven’t watched The Sopranos, feel free to read without risk of [...]