Category: TV (Page 437 of 595)

The Office: “Beach Games”

May 11, 2007 / John Paulsen

With just two episodes remaining this season, I was fully expecting the plot to thicken in the Pam-Jim-Karen romantic triangle, but most of the episode was typical, hilarious “The Office.” Here are some highlights of the group’s visit to the beach (and Michael’s Survivor-esque quest for his replacement):

Marilyn forgot to put on her swimsuit top!

Michael: (to Oscar) “I’m just yanking your chain…not literally.”

Kevin leading the party bus in a rendition of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.”

Michael tells poor Toby that he has to stay at the office. As salt in the wound, Pam later tells him that she’ll be wearing a two-piece at the beach. Michael is such a jerk. (I sure hope someday we find out why Michael hates Toby so much.)

Michael: “If you don’t like it, Stanley, you can go to the back of the bus…or to the front of the bus…or drive the bus.”

Michael: “Dwight is an obvious candidate for my job. He has the best sales record in the office. He loves the work. He is, however, an idiot.”

Dwight and Jim’s whole argument about Voldemort (“he whose name should not be spoken”) was classic.

Kelly, when blindfolded, has a fear running into big rocks.

Creed, with his bare hand, can pluck a fish out of the water.

Dwight: (to Angela, after she agrees to sabotage her own team) “If Michael institutes some sort of group hug, stand next to me.”

Oscar: “If either of [Dwight or Andy] are put in charge of the office, I will transfer to Albany; Gil can come if he wants. I’m kind of looking for a way out of that relationship anyway. I think I might try girls for a while. Angela thinks I can cross over. We’ll see.”

Dwight pins Andy in sumo wrestling and screams, “Gryffindore!”

Andy falls into the lake with his sumo outfit on and asks an unwilling Angela to help him.

Michael: “Who’s ahead in points?”
Pam: “I think they’re even. At various times you gave Jim ten points, Dwight a gold star and Stanley a thumbs up. And I don’t really know how to compare those.”
Michael: “Check to see if there’s a conversion chart in my notebook.”
Pam: “I really doubt it, Michael.”
Michael: “Please, just check.”

Michael: (preparing for a fire walk) “The mind has to wrap around the foot.”

Dwight’s f’ed up fire walk was simply beautiful.

That’s all well and good, but at the very end, the show took a GIANT step forward after Pam’s fire walk prompted the following (amazing) monologue:

“Hey, I want to say something. I’ve been trying to be more honest lately and I just need to say a few things. I did the coal walk! I just did it. Michael, you couldn’t even do that. Maybe I should be your boss. Wow, I feel really good right now. Why didn’t any of you come to my art show? I invited all of you. That really sucked. It’s like sometimes some of you act like I don’t even exist. Jim, I called off my wedding because of you and now we’re not even friends. And things are just weird between us and that sucks. And I miss you. You were my best friend before you went to Stamford and I really miss you. I shouldn’t have been with Roy. And there were a lot of reasons to call off my wedding, but the truth is I didn’t care about any of those reasons until I met you. And now you’re with someone else and that’s fine, it’s whatever, that’s not what I’m…OK, my feet really hurt. The thing that – I’m just trying to say to you, Jim, and to everyone else in the circle I guess, is that I miss having fun with you. Just you, not everyone in the circle. OK, I am going to go walk in the water now. Yep. Good day.”

How great was that? It was wonderful to see Pam finally cut loose and make a move on Jim. With just one episode left, and a corporate job in New York hanging in the balance, will Jim once again leave the office? Or will Michael get the job?

I’ll tell you what – I think Karen is the dark horse.

External TV, The Office, TV, TV Comedies

Jericho, Episode 22: The time for talking’s over now, I guess it’s time to let you go…

May 10, 2007 / Will Harris

So the episode begins with the townsfolk of Jericho preparing to take a stand against the invading hordes from New Bern (who looked to already be plenty well-equipped with about a dozen trucks full of men before Phil Constantino said, “Let’s go get the rest of them”), and Heather not actually dead after all…but pretty damned close to it, based on the looks of the car wreck she just barely managed to survive.

What a way to begin the season…but hopefully not series…finale of “Jericho.” I know I’ve said this several times over the past few weeks, but, man, it’s gonna be a damned shame if the show doesn’t come back, given how incredibly good it’s gotten at the tail end of this season. I’m notoriously optimistic, but even so, after this week, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to suggest that the producers have finally found their groove.

The tension of Hawkins being traced by Thomas Valenti provides a nice counterpoint to the Jericho / New Bern warfare, and, also for the first time ever, Hawkins’ wife actually contributes something to a discussion rather than just moaning about what an awful husband she has. The tank finally makes its reappearance, and – finally! – the U.S. Military rears its head! Oh, wait, never mind, check out the flag. This might be the military, but it ain’t the US Government…or, at least, not the same one that was around in those lazy, hazy pre-bomb days.

External Entertainment, External TV, Jericho, TV, TV Dramas

American Idol: Three Left Standing

May 10, 2007 / Mike Farley

Once again, even though there were just four remaining contestants, we were tortured with a full hour of fluff last night on “American Idol.” Even Ryan Seacrest admitted as much. After announcing that in addition to Barry Gibb, Pink would also be performing, they cut to those stupid interviews of fans outside the farmer’s market. “I like Blake…I like Doolittle….I like Lakisha….Jordin is the best!” Yeah, whatever….we know everyone is going to like different contestants….that’s going to happen when 45 million votes are being counted.

Then Pink sang her new single, “Who Knew.” It was a pretty good song and her voice sounded great, although there seemed to be a problem with the sound. But I’m not sure what it is about Pink. I just can’t look at her…I think she looks so much like a dude that deep down I think she really might be.

Then the final four sang a group tribute to Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees, and it was pretty decent, though these things are getting old.

Finally, they started getting to business at around 8:40 central time. Jordin was the first sent to safety. So we were down to Lakisha, Blake, and Melinda.

Then Barry Gibb sang “To Love Somebody,” and while you have to respect the guy, you know everyone in America was thinking about how much better Jordin sounded the night before on the same song. But props to Barry, that dude has really cranked out some hits over the years.

Then Melinda was safe….I mean, we all know her and Jordin will square off in the final anyway. So it was down to Lakisha and Blake. And more on this, after the break.

Okay, we’re back. Blake is safe, Laksiha goes home. Simon predicted it, Randy and Paula predicted it but didn’t say so, I predicted it, and I think even Lakisha predicted it. She was already rehearsing how not to cry and sing at the same time. Anyway, it was a great journey for Lakisha, and she’s mighty talented. But she just didn’t have enough gas to compete with the two other women left standing. And Blake, he’s toast next week as well.

Two more weeks of fun, people….

American Idol, TV

The Man Behind the Curtain

May 9, 2007 / Jason Zingale

Holy crap, did that just really happen? I’m completely speechless, since it seemed Locke would be one of the few survivors who’d actually make it to the final season. Of course, it’s only a gut wound, so it is possible that he’ll still live, but the sheer fact that Ben shot him point blank in cold blood definitely made for one hell of a cliffhanger. We certainly know that he’s capable of it (especially after learning all about his childhood on the island), and when you think about it, he was only protecting his place among the Others.

It’s funny to think that with only ten minutes left in the episode, I had already written the first line of the blog. It read: “Is it just me or has Locke officially regained his status as the island’s baddest badass after tonight’s episode.” It was in reference to Locke just beating poor Mikhail (who we learned didn’t die because the pylons weren’t set to lethal levels) to a pulp; and right in front of all the Others, no less. I don’t know what it is, but the Others seem to really respect Locke, and Ben is obviously threatened by that notion.

And so when Ben takes Locke to see Jacob (at the latter’s request, despite Ben’s assurance that “This is not a man you go to see. This is a man who summons you.”), it seemed like something (anything!) was going to go down. I just didn’t know what. When they arrive at Jacob’s place, Ben begins talking to an empty rocking chair with no visible person in sight. Locke thinks he’s simply being jerked around by Ben, but then things get all crazy ghostlike and Jacob speaks a few words… that Locke can actually hear. This doesn’t please Ben at all – since he led himself to believe that he was the only one who could communicate with him – and so, after shooting him in the stomach, Ben forces Locke to tell him what he said. It was two simple words: help me, which, coming from Locke, only made it all that more appropriate. Here’s hoping someone does, or I’d expect some serious backlash from the fans.

The rest of the episode was dedicated to Ben (in flashback form, of course – thank you kind sirs), and we learned quite a bit that helps to understand the man we all thought we knew. First off, he’s the son of an asshole. After his mother died while giving birth to him in the middle of the woods, his father (Jon Gries) takes him to the island where he’s been given a job as a janitor. Yep, that’s right – Ben’s father is Roger the Work Man, the dead guy that the A-Team happened upon in the blue VW van earlier in the season. Anyways, in between working a shitty job and drinking a lot of alcohol, Roger doesn’t find much time for his son. He constantly forgets his birthday because, as he puts it, “it’s kinda hard to celebrate the day you killed your mom.” Ouch, that hurts.

Flash-forward many, many years, and after dropping off some rations at the Pearl station, Roger attempts to rekindle a relationship by spending some long-awaited father-son time. It’s Ben’s birthday, again, but instead of nagging his father like previous years, he goes a different route, snapping on a gas mask and pulling the pin out of a gas grenade while the two are sitting in the VW van. Roger dies a very, very painful death, while Ben returns to discover most of the Others dead by the same means. It appears he was part of a coup to wipe out all of the weaker Others (joining Richard, the new Other we met last week), and this is how he rose to power within the camp.

Meanwhile, as Ben protects his leadership position by offing the one guy who the Others respect more, Sawyer returns to camp with evidence of Juliet’s treachery. It turns out Jack already knew about the raid (as Juliet told him a day before), but that didn’t exactly make the rest of the camp trust him any more. Not much happened past that, but it’s definitely an excellent catalyst for what looks to be yet another jaw-dropping finale.

External TV, Lost, TV

American Idol: Final Four Compete

May 9, 2007 / Mike Farley

Last night’s “American Idol” featured the final four contestants: Melinda, Blake, Lakisha and Jordin. And the guest mentor was Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, giving the finalists a wealth of great pop material to choose from. Some of the song choices were weird, but some of them were perfect. It was not a night where anyone completely pulled away from the pack, but it likely has given us an indication of who the final two will be.

On to the recap….

MELINDA DOOLITTLE
Melinda sang “Inside and Out,” and made some comment about being the first solo artist to attempt that song. Um, wrong Melinda, Feist did it on her first major label album, and it’s an awesome cover. But that’s beside the point. She started out kind of slow and boring but it got better throughout the song. Randy said it was solid, Paula said her vocals were “spot on,” and Simon said it wasn’t incredible, and that it was like a backing vocalist performance. Ouch. Then later on, Melinda took on “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” and the second half of the song was nothing short of spectacular. Randy said it was much better than the first performance, Paula said she’s still waiting for that huge performance from Melinda, and Simon said the second half of the song probably put her in the semi-finals. Folks, Melinda isn’t going home.

BLAKE LEWIS
Blake started with “You Should Be Dancin'” and did lots of his trademark beatboxing. It was a cool arrangement but something got lost in the shuffle–namely, Blake’s vocal ability. Randy said the beatboxing didn’t work this time, Paula said it was pitchy, and Simon said it was “unique but terrible.”
Then later, Blake did “This Is Where I Came In,” a more obscure Bee Gees song and one on which he could go nowhere but up from the first performance. Randy said it was better, but that even with minimal beatboxing he just needs to tone that down, Paula said Blake is a “contemporary rebel,” (uh, whatever), and Simon said it was completely tuneless and that Blake didn’t have a good night. Yes, he will be in the bottom two for sure.

LAKISHA JONES
Lakisha started off with “Stayin’ Alive” and it was a bit of a different arrangement but I thought she did a good job. Not great, but good. Randy said Lakisha didn’t need to change the arrangement so much, Paula said she took the tempo down too much, and Simon said Lakisha was back to her shouting again and that it was “scary in parts.” Later on, Lakisha sang “Run To Me” and it was, again, just pretty good. Randy said it was much better than her first song, Paula said Lakisha is “still a champ” (again, what?), and Simon said it was better than the first song but that he thought both Lakisha and Blake were vulnerable. Yeah, pretty much.

JORDIN SPARKS
Even before Jordin took the stage for her first song, “To Love Somebody,” I had a feeling it was going to be awesome. And it pretty much was. Randy said it was the best vocal of the night so far, Paula agreed, and Simon said it was the best song choice and best performance of the night. Later on, Jordin sang “Woman in Love,” a song recorded by Barbara Streisand. It was very good but not as good as the first performance. Randy said it was pitchy and not her best, Paula agreed, and Simon said it was “old-fashioned and pageanty” but that, well, Jordin is only 17. The judges seem to be amazed by that fact every week, but it bears repeating. Jordin is only SEVENTEEN. And she’s probably going to be battling Melinda on the next to last episode of this season.

So you already know my bottom two, if there is one: Blake and Lakisha. But if there’s a bottom three, throw Jordin in there too. My choice for heading home tonight is Lakisha, if only because all of the little girls voting for Blake all these weeks will continue to do so. Plus, both of them have been at the bottom before. Regardless, this is a competition between Melinda and Jordin, and has been for weeks….well, at least until we all breathed a sigh of relief when Sanjaya was kicked off.

See you all tomorrow with the results….