Friday, October 09, 2009

maid of the misty eyes

Last night's episode of "The Office" got me choked up for the first time since the movie "Up." Like most viewers, I have become invested in the relationship between Pam and Jim. It was emotionally fulfilling when they found a way to steal back some privacy and romance from their annoying co-workers.

The suspense built as we waited for Michael Scott to be the first to put his foot in his mouth. They caught us off guard when it was Jim who did it instead. Of course Michael proceeded to ram it in up to the knee. Almost every episode makes me think of the quote that Steve Carell paraphrased from Ricky Gervais, "if you don't know a Michael Scott, you are a Michael Scott."

Entertainment Weekly reported that the rehearsal dinner scene was filmed at the Smokehouse in Burbank. My family and I went there with friends for a few celebratory dinners after various events with our kids at St. Finbar School. I also had a few business lunches there with radio executives from Emmis Communications and a nice dinner there with Billy Bush when he was first thinking about moving to Los Angeles.

I recognized the exterior of the hotel from my trip to Niagara Falls in 2007. In fact, I took a picture of the Red Coach Inn because it had the same name as a restaurant my parents used to take us to in Yonkers. It's right next to a totem-like building that could be partially seen on last night's show.

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Friday, September 18, 2009

toot toot yeah retweet

The 287 friends, listeners and spammers who decided to follow my feeds on Twitter in the past five weeks may be disappointed with today's blog post. This afternoon a physician's assistant in training told me that I tested positive for flu and that I should rest. While I was waiting to be seen, I read the USA Today and used my fancy new QWERTY phone to post random stuff on Twitter. I know it's a cop out, but the best thing for me to do tonight is recycle those thoughts. I'll give you a few from last night too.

You may notice in one of the items that I have decided to bring back the eighteenth and nineteenth century abbreviation for et cetera. It saves one whole character, which means something when Twitter only allows you 140 of them. That sounds like something Andy Rooney might say if he were on Twitter. There are a few parodies of him, if you're interested.
  • I'm thinking about doing a #FollowFriday tomorrow but I'm concerned that you'll say "duh, I already know about all those people."

  • Best quote about #theoffice - "If you don't know a @MichaelScott, you are a @MichaelScott."

  • Why is #Survivor in black & white? Are they back in Kansas?

  • What is wrong with me? How did I forget that Pam is pregnant on #theoffice?

  • So there's not another person inside Kevin on #theoffice? That was just gossip? So confusing!

  • My wife remembers from last season of #theoffice that Pam couldn't get x-rayed after getting injured playing volleyball. Aha!

  • Thanks Dave for the Kanye-licious link! RT @RavinDave Hey Frank, check out http://tinyurl.com/m2rec2 I promise you'll get a kick outta it.

  • What the heck.. #FF @celebritydeaths @knoxtweetlunch @FrankStrovel @caswalker @volsHannah @niftykrisha @AllAccess @JohnHudgens @Helen_Keller

  • My wife is sick, my boss is sick and I'm starting to get a runny nose, &c. I'm in the doctor's cough-filled waiting room now.

  • Hey Robert Bianco at USA Today, you used "churlish" twice on the same page (7D) today. Just so you know.

  • This is weird but my favorite part of USA Today is the NFL announcer listings on Fridays. Sam Rosen & Tim Ryan will call the #Redskins game.

  • I wonder if Fox Sports broke up the team of Dick Stockton, Moose Johnston & Tony Siragusa because Goose would say, "thanks Moose, Dick..."

  • Best #NFL announcing teams? Buck & Aikman; Nantz & Simms; and for nostalgia, Enberg & Fouts. Sorry Al Michaels, you're not on my list.

  • Hey @clydetombaugh, may I borrow your copy of Tim McCarver's new CD?

  • According to the student physician's assistant, I tested positive for type A flu, like my wife. It is not the fashionable H1N1 strain.

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Thursday, November 15, 2007

banter wait

A couple of my favorite topics turned up in the entertainment news today. Matt Lauer reassured reporters that the writers strike will not affect NBC's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Every year, he and Meredith Vieira are saddled with a hackneyed script. They say it will be written by non-union writers. They could have just as easily arranged for the script to have been written months ago, well before the strike began.

Jimmy Kimmel ends his show each night with a tongue-in-cheek apology to Matt Damon. Now that Matt has been chosen as the Sexiest Man Alive, People Magazine asked Jimmy what he would have done had he been chosen instead. I'll bet the magazine is second guessing their decision.

I also read that NBC will be auctioning off some props from "The Office" and "30 Rock," both of which were very funny tonight. Let me know if "The Office" was just as funny for those of you who haven't already given several depositions.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

hey dummy!

A scene from last Thursday's "30 Rock" has been replayed over and over on our DVR. My wife and I had to hit pause and watch the therapy scene again before we even finished the episode. We showed the scene to our son when he got home. He liked it too, once we had explained the "Sanford and Son" references. Over the weekend, my wife showed the scene to her brother a couple of times too. Thanks to a link I saw posted on Frank Strovel's blog, my wife can now share the video clip with all her friends.

To jump off on a quick tangent, I'm loving the HD DVR. Especially now that we're getting a ton of HD channels. An article in today's Variety will bring you up to speed.

Another Thursday night comedy was celebrated in Scranton over the weekend. Whitney Matheson's Pop Candy blog has photos and a full recap of "The Office" convention.

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Sunday, March 25, 2007

five unrelated paragraphs

Like me, the writers at Entertainment Weekly noticed the extra seven minutes worth of "American Idol" that we'll get on Tuesday. At least I got it posted the day before they did.

Scott Weiland trashed a room at Burbank's nicest hotel, The Graciela. I stayed there once. The service was top notch. The staff gave me some free deodorant to replace the antiperspirant gel that the TSA wouldn't let me carry on the plane at the time. Staying at The Graciela was a rare treat. Usually I stay at the Safari Inn, which has been used as a filming location in several "C.S.I." episodes including one that aired only a few weeks ago.

A long time ago I mentioned something about radio stations named Froggy or K-Frog, etc. Froggy 101 in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is now capitalizing on the use of their bumper sticker on "The Office."

My post about the Seattle Times Peeps Contest prompted my sister's husband to send me an article about the Washington Post's Peeps Diorama Contest. It may be the beginning of a trend. The St. Paul Pioneer Press is having a Peeps Diorama Contest too.

Michael Crawley emailed me to ask for a plug for the Detroit Dave benefit concert this Thursday night at the World Grotto. Michael says:
The lineup includes Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere, The Labron Lazenby Trio, Scott Miller, Dave Landeo, Karen Reynolds, The Macdaddies, RB Morris and Hector Qirko, Matt Woods, Tall Paul and The Bearded. Also slated is a special reunion of Crawdaddy, with the four original members: Rick Wolfe on bass; Steve Brown on drums; Michael Crawley and “Detroit” Dave himself, hopefully. All proceeds go to help Detroit Dave with medical bills and daily living expenses.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

on and office

"If you don't know a Michael Scott, you are Michael Scott." Those words of wisdom were delivered by Steve Carell at the William S. Paley Television Festival on March 2. Carell acknowledged that Ricky Gervais had originally said the same thing about David Brent, his character in the British version of "The Office." Fans of the American version will be treated to recut episodes this week. Check out the NBC press releases for the details.

The Museum of Television & Radio has started posting photos and video clips from this year's festival. I hope they will also post some clips from the "Heroes" and "Dexter" sessions.

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

could sell paper to a tree

Tonight's episode of "The Office" was brilliant, as usual. I really enjoyed seeing the way the sales staff closed their deals. It's good to remember that while Michael Scott is a terrible manager, he is an excellent salesman. We learned more about the Dwight/Jim dynamic too. They have a tag team approach to sales. One of the best laughs came from how a makeover helped Phyllis and Karen.

As a former California resident, I got an extra kick out of the episode. I watched it in HD which made it easier to focus on the exterior backgrounds as the characters drove to their sales calls. Although the show is set in Scranton, it's filmed in and around Los Angeles. I spotted some palm trees, one of which was visible from the Dunder-Mifflin parking lot. It felt like Michael and Andy were driving around in my old neighborhood. I had the same feeling last night while watching the characters on "In Case of Emergency" drive around in the Valley.

When I first moved to California, I immediately felt at home in Burbank even though I had never been in the city before. It has to be because I grew up watching so many TV shows and movies that were filmed there.

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

great scott

"The Office" wasn't on tonight. At least NBC didn't leave us high and dry. We got an hour's worth of "My Name Is Earl" instead. Next week, we'll get an hour long "Office" episode. I think I might be more excited about "The Office" Christmas party than I am about my own office Christmas party.

Thanks to Perry Simon's AllAccess column, I stumbled across a TV industry blog on the LA Times site that I may have otherwise overlooked. Help curb your "Office" withdrawal symptoms by reading about the show's writers who have found themselves acting on the show. Terry Morrow's recent interview with Rainn Wilson is worth a read. I may also spend a little time blogrolling some "Office" sites.

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

gone tubing

It's becoming more and more common to rush to the Internet after watching our favorite shows on TV. Last night's episode of "How I Met Your Mother" revealed a secret from Robin's past. She was a teenage pop star in Canada. Most of her music video was seen on TV but the MySpace page for Robin Sparkles has the uncut version. Similarly, last Thursday's episode of "The Office" showed part of Michael Scott's "Lazy Scranton" orientation video. The NBC website has a longer version. "The Office" site has so many deleted scenes that it's almost like getting DVD extras with every episode. I often come across links to cool videos during the course of my day but I can't watch them at work. I don't always remember to look them up again when I get home. My wife has the same problem. She asked if I had seen the Office/Sexyback mashup video that we had both heard about. I finally watched it and it was well worth the four minutes of my time. Can you recommend any other funny Internet videos to watch over the long holiday weekend?

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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

random updates on recent postings

My lucky guess about Jim and Pam on "The Office" looks to be partially accurate. This week's episode is entitled "Branch Closing" and the following week's is called "The Merger." Right after the broadcast of this Thursday's episode, NBC.com will offer a "producer's cut" of it with some extra scenes and footage.

Local deejay Gretchen did turn up on the Ralphie May special. I
f you TiVo-ed it, you can see a close up of her sitting in the audience at about 23 minutes into the show. The Tennessee Theatre looks great on TV. More specials should be filmed there.

After I mentioned John D. Becker and the Oregon Catholic Press, I remembered that the new anchorman at WBIR was also named John Becker and that he had moved here from Oregon. Was he any relation? I sent him an email through the station's website to find out. He replied promptly to say that he wasn't related to John D. but hoped to somehow claim a relation to Boris.

Because he retired his own blog, my friend Bean sent me an email so I could be the one to tell you about International Save Pluto Day. Mark your calendars for February 4, 2007.

I saw a commercial for a video game at the movie theatre while I waited for the early screening of "Borat" to start yesterday. The ad showed scenes from a fairly violent game called "Gears of War" while a soft, sad song played. It was "Mad World" by Gary Jules, which I wrote about when it was used on an episode of "C.S.I." Several people have found their way to my site after searching for information about that song.


There were long lines at my polling place today. I think it was partly due to voter turnout and partly due to the amount of time it takes to dial through all the choices on the eSlate machines.
Now that it's Election Day, the political telemarketing calls will finally stop. There are things I do like and don't like about each of the U.S. Senate candidates which made my decision in that race difficult. What about the company they keep? Over the past weeks, I've picked up the phone to hear famous voices from both parties urging me to vote for their man. Would I rather vote for the candidate endorsed by Phil Bredesen or the one endorsed by Laura Bush? Hmm... still undecided. How about the one endorsed by Bill Clinton or the one endorsed by Rudy Giuliani? That could be enough to sway me.

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Saturday, November 04, 2006

put on your saris

On Thursday, Mindy Kaling and Greg Daniels were interviewed on "Fresh Air." I rarely listen to NPR but I was punching buttons in the car looking for anything that would hold my interest when I happened across some people discussing my favorite TV show, "The Office." I had to unload some groceries from the trunk and get them into the fridge but I didn't want to turn off the radio. I ran into the house, grabbed a portable radio, tuned it down to the non-comm end of the dial and stuck it in my back pocket. As it turns out, all I really had to do was wait a few hours for the audio to be posted online. While clicking around the NPR website, I saw something about a Charles Addams biography that looks interesting.

In next week's episode of "The Office" Jan tells Michael that the Scranton branch will be shutting down. Of course, that can't happen without ending the series. Maybe they'll close the Stamford office instead and Jim will move back to Pam, uh I mean Scranton.

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