I so want to be mad at NBC for screwing up The Office last night and going over (damn it!) . . . but then they go and renew Friday Night Lights, so I can't.

Thank you, NBC, for bringing us another year of the Dillon Panthers.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose.

If you aren't watching FNL, you should be. (And this is from someone who HATES football.)

Am I the only one who was pretty disappointed with the 30 Rock season finale? That must have seemed funnier on paper. Or something.

But The Office was hilarious. It never disappoints.

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Oh, Office! How I missed you. {{{hugs it}}}

Angela's reaction to the fight was the best part of the episode.

I think I also have a crush on the Law Stylist. Anyone else? Floyd (he has a name!!) is all kinds of adorable.

Thank you, NBC, for renewing 30 Rock. Yea!!

And Thomas Jefferson flipping off the Maury crowd was the best part of that episode. Where do they come up with that stuff?

So The Office was on last night.

Michael was a jerk, Pam and Jim pined for each other, and Dwight was weird and funny. And none of these things are spoilers, because they apply to every single episode. But for the people who don't want to read about how Michael was a jerk, I offer a cut tag.

( There are too many people in this world. I wish there was another plague. )

. . .

I am still loving 30 Rock. I really only like the Liz/Jack stuff, but that's enough to love.

( This would have worked on Ugly Betty. )

It's very sad about Anna Nicole Smith. But nobody is actually shocked at her death, are they? C'mon now. In her last ET interview, she was barely coherent. And looked like death warmed over. Pun intended. It was only a matter of time.

The SAG Awards were a big old snoozefest, weren't they? I kept waiting for a big surprise, but it didn't really happen.

Okay, Little Miss Sunshine winning Best Ensemble Cast over The Departed was sort of a surprise. I haven't seen LMS, but I can't imagine a better overall cast than The Departed. Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen were the minor supporting characters, y'all! President Bartlet and Jack Donaghy! I guess I'll have to see LMS, but I'm afraid it can't possibly live up to expectations now.

How great is it that the cast of the Mary Tyler Moore Show (RIP, Ted) gave the Comedy Ensemble award to The Office? Did y'all see John Krasinski totally chatting up MTM herself right there on stage? Heh. The Office folks must have been so excited. I know I would have been. I need to go find the photos to see who posed with MTM because you know they were all getting photos backstage.

One thing I did like was the bit between Steve Carell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. One Day at a Time. Heh.

Speaking of the '80s, Marky Mark and the Fresh Prince are nominated for Oscars! Not to mention one of the Bad News Bears not named Tatum. Next year I expect a nomination for Vanilla Ice after he shows up as a heroin addict in a gritty indie film by Joe Carnahan.

Seriously, though, Marky Mark? Whoda thunk it? He was great in The Departed, but he was fortunate to be given such a colorful role. Matt Damon had the bigger, tougher, and more subtle role and he's getting ignored in favor of the praise for everyone else. The entire cast was superb, really and it's too bad The Oscars don't have an ensemble category.

Note to Forest: Now that you've won a couple of awards, you might want to think about preparing a speech next time. Just a thought. Still love ya though!

Why don't they just re-name every awards show this year The Helen Mirren Show and be done with it? Give 'em all to her already.

Julie Andrews is awesome.

Okay, Office fans. I have three questions for you:

1. Can this show get any better?

2. How much is Angela going to make Andy suffer? When I saw Angela's face, all I could think was Oh, Dear. [/Phyllis]

3. What do we think about Jim's "confession" to Karen? Is Jim a liar? 'Cause his definition of a "crush" may be different from mine. But I don't want to call him a Big Fat Liar because he is JIM. ::sigh::

You can pay me back later for the makeover.

ETA: And how awesome was that photo of young Jim&Dwight? What a great team they were! A well-oiled sales machine. Heh.

Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

Why was there a Thursday night with no Office?

Damn NBC.

Happy Office day, everyone!

And it's super-sized, if you hadn't heard.

JIM!!!!

Newsday says this about tonight's episode:

Grade/overview: A+. One of the best "Offices" ever. Instant classic. Brilliant. Enough said. Now, if only people will just start watching.

What, people aren't watching? I thought NBC considered it a decent-sized hit.

And thanks to nm973 for these photos from GQ. Yum!

Mindy Kaling talks about Diwali. (Spoilers for upcoming episodes.)

It's probably safe to say that Thursday's episode of "The Office" will feature a television first: No other American comedy series has ever had the Hindu festival of Diwali.

That's so cute that her real parents played Kelly's parents. For a doctor and an architect, they did a pretty good job as actors. She is quite fair.

As much as I loved Jim singing (the Indigo Girls! eek!), my favorite part was Angela. I love her constant disapproval of everyone and everything.

I'm vegetarian - is there *anything* vegetarian?
It's *all* vegetarian.
::annoyed sigh:: I'll just have some bread.

Video clip of the Diwali song. (Aka Michael doing his best Adam Sandler impression.)

JIM!

He is like salt. Even a dash of him does wonders.

Please come back to The Office. Or at least call more often.

For all you Supernatural fans, I have appreciated your pimping and I do enjoy the show. Unfortunately, my TiVo has been crying uncle and I have dropped it from the season pass list for now. The stories are simplistic, the writing pedestrian, the dialogue on-the-nose, sometimes to a ridiculous degree. ("You're not dealing with dad's death! You found a substitute!")

I do get the Jensen Ackles love and Dean is HOT, and I'm sure I will pick it up again in rerun season because it does have a certain style and charm. Love the music and the car. And Dean is HOT.

I'm also dropping My Name is Earl, at least for now. It really suffers by being paired with The Office. I find myself watching The Office again before I have any interest in watching MNIE. Not a good sign.

VM, BSG and The Office are the only shows that don't sit on my TiVo waiting for me, and Studio 60 is a keeper. I'm already two weeks behind on Lost. Something has to go.

I don't remember ever complaining about too much good TV before. Why do they cram all the good shows into one small time period and then give us months of nothing to watch? The TV business needs an overhaul of some sort. If the good shows were spread out over the year, they might find a lot more viewers.

I have the strength of a grown man *and* a little baby.

It has a six-foot cord so it can't come after us.

I might need to find a Dwigt icon.

But Jim needs to come back, and soon. JIM! Please come back.

Jim needs to return to Scranton. And soon.

He's like salt. He makes everyone better.

Please come back, Jim.

Have I mentioned that I am so happy to have The Office back in my TiVo lineup?

Entertainment Weekly has posted its review of "The Convention" in the TV Watch section and talks about how important Jim is to the show: not just his relationship with Pam (although that is the heart of the show), but also with Michael, with Dwight, and with everyone else too.

Jim is the show's salt — he makes everyone else seem just a little better.

JIM! Please return to Scranton and soon.

Everyone else has already said everything there is to be said about the big premieres last night, so I'll keep my reactions brief.

The Office is just as good as I remembered. JIM! How I missed you.

Grey's Anatomy is just as bad as I remembered. I wanted to give it another chance to win me over, but it just is not good. Not as good as it should be or could be, anyway. The cast is great, but they can't overcome the schmaltzy, half-baked (or is it overdone?) material.

OMG, BSG makes the cover of the new EW!! (Thanks to wisteria_ for editing out the S3 spoilers, so the link is spoiler-free.)

I love that BSG made the cover of EW, but why can't they do the same for Veronica Mars? VM needs the press coverage even more than BSG. Now more than ever. Please, don't tell me they don't have enough issues to spare a cover for VM: Lost has been on the cover how many times already? Too many, that's how many.

For fans of The Office, there is a new promo for season three on the NBC website that focuses on Jim and Pam.

(Thanks to nm973 for the direct link! NBC doesn't make it very easy to find, and I can't find it from The Office page.)

It doesn't have any new footage from S3, but it covers most of the highlights (and lowlights) of the Jim and Pam saga from S2. (Major spoiler warning, because the big scene from the S2 finale is included.)

It's possible that NBC may be airing it on TV, but I haven't seen it. Has anyone else?

For all fans of John Krasinski aka Jim Halpert . . . was everyone aware that he is in the movie Kinsey?

Obviously it's in his IMDB credits, but I had no idea he was in it until I saw the movie on HBO this past weekend.

He has a small role, but it's quite amusing. ( And yes, his character talks about sex, like everyone else in the movie. )

In case you have missed out on The Office and have been wondering what all the fuss is about, NBC is airing a four-episode marathon tonight of early season two episodes.

Don't worry about catching up on old S1 episodes, because continuity is not that big a deal. Just jump in whenever.

That's what she said.

[Edited to add: athenacqd has reminded me that the finals of the National Spelling Bee are also airing tonight on ABC, at the same time as The Office marathon. This is the first time that the National Spelling Bee has ever aired on network TV, so that's kinda cool. So if you've seen The Office, check out the Spelling Bee. Luckily my TiVo can record both.]

In other news, today is the official start of the 2006 Hurricane Season.

Here's a tip: if a mandatory evacuation is ordered for your county/city/neighborhood, please leave. I know it's a hassle, I do. It's a huge pain to spend eight hours on the interstate for a trip that should take about three hours. It's especially frustrating when you get home to find no real damage other than a few broken branches. I've been there. Many times. But please, for the sake of all that is holy, get the hell out of Dodge. If not for yourself, then for your family and friends.

And if you have young children, this shouldn't even be up for discussion really. I know several people who learned this the hard way, so please don't let that happen to you.

So, The Office. Season finale. "Casino Night."

( It's Afghanis. No, it's Afghans. I think it's Afghanistanannies. )

While I work on my dissertation-length reaction to the VM finale, I have managed to watch some other TV and lo and behold, I actually have comments.

Can I actually talk about something else other than VM? I know. Shocker.

( American Idol. OMGWTF??!! )

( The Office. And okay, I do mention VM also, so who are we kidding here. And various other shows get a mention, like GA and such. General TV chat. )

I actually watch Lost too, but I have absolutely nothing to say about it. I think everything that can be said about that show has been said. Many times over. I like the show, but it just doesn't inspire me much anymore, if it ever did. But I'll keep watching, probably until the bitter end. (Alias, I'm looking at you. Bitter. End.)

I'm sort of an expert in Photoshop, so everything turned out fine.

I loved last night's episode of The Office. Aka Conflict Resolution for Dummies.

( Cut-cut-cut. You both cut, and I cut for mediating it successfully. Behold the Photoshop talents of Michael Scott. )

Hooray for my new Jim icon! Thanks to J for helping.