My Name is Earl: Given the bland nature of the prison storyline to start this season, I was happy to see that this ended up being a flashback episode which showed how all of the primary characters came together and it was a result of Frank, who was played by Michael Rappaport. Rappaport is an actor who I never cared for, nor found funny, so kudos to this show for giving him a role that changed my opinion of him. From what I've read, the Frank character will be around for a few episodes, as will Alyssa Milano, who will play Frank's former girlfriend. With an addition like that, there may be hope that this whole Earl is prison thing may finally begin to perk up.
30 Rock: Last week's episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld was just all right, so I was pleased to see that the show was back on its A game this week. All three of the storylines delivered numerous laughs: You had Jack once again battling it out with his nemesis Devin Banks (played wonderfully by Will Arnett), you had Kenneth trying his best to get Tracy to rekindle with his wife, and you had Jenna continue to deal with her weight issues. Highlights included Tracy's music video for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", Dr Spaceman helping Jenna with her weight, Devin putting Jack's heart to the test while Jack put Devin's gayness to the test, and Liz using her ham napkin (aka her unused wedding dress) to prop up her Blerg furniture. The lone disappointment this week was that we didn't get to see enough of the writing staff. But having a large cast full of funny people is far from a serious problem. They'll all get their chance to shine throughout the season.
The Office: The hour long episodes still feel excessive to me, but this week's episode was certainly an improvement over last week's uneven effort. Certainly the highlight this week came from Dwight's attempt and eventual success at outselling the new online service offered at Dunder Mifflin's new website. Part of the enjoyment was watching Dwight and new crony Andy be over-the-top in their obnoxiousness as Dwight battled the computer. But the other joy came from Jim and Pam's wonderful prank where they began IMing Dwight pretending to be the computer come alive.
We also had plenty of romance in the air as Andy did his damndest to woo Angela now that she's on the market again, while it appears the beginnings of a love connection were forming between Kelly and Darryl. More on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Michael is having all sorts of problems. Jan wouldn't come with him to the website's launch party in New York (I absolutely loved Michael asking Jan if she would mind if he took Carol instead). Then Michael learned he wasn't invited to the party in New York. This completely set off Michael and led to him kidnapping a pizza boy after he wouldn't honor his coupon. Michael really appears to be in a downward spiral since the beginning of the season and I'm worried to see where rock bottom might be for him.
Other highlights included Stanley's dancing to the website's music, Phyllis trying to use different tactics to stand up against Angela, the cold opening with everyone's attention diverted to the floating DVD screensaver, Kevin's concern over getting the right Angelo's pizza, and Jim and Pam's rooftop date.
Survivor A lackluster episode after a strong start to the season. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter for failing to score points in Fantasy Survivor from this week's episode. Some bad intel caused my downfall as the commercials misled me to think both tribes were both voting someone off and TV Guide showed a picture of Dave to make me think he would still be around next week, hence why I didn't put any points on him. Misleads aside, Zhan Hu really dropped the ball here by voting him off. Sure he was annoying as all hell, but he was also essential to their daily living, while Sherea provided absolutely nothing for that tribe. The challenges weren't very interesting, mainly because they weren't very competitive. BTW, what was up with that wacky animation during the immunity challenge? Unless they're trying to trick me again, next week the tribes will be reshuffled, which should hopefully provide a little more balance into what has been a rather lopsided competition thus far. One final thought...why does everyone keep trusting Todd. He sure seems sneaky to me, yet everyone keeps making alliances with him and giving him clues to the hidden immunity. And everyone that gives him information ends up getting voted out. If I was the rest of the castaways, I would be looking for ways to eliminate him sooner, rather than later.
CSI: This week's episode was one of those hauntingly disturbing episodes that this show seems to excel at. All sorts of creepy crimes were believed to or actually did occur including pedophilia, double homicide, and exorcisms. I thought Lost's Michael did a good job as the reverend/former sex offender. Although, it still wasn't clear to me at the end whether he had given up his former transgressions or not. I thought the way they determined the girl had been involved in the murders was a little too neat and tidy, not to mention circumstantial, but given how much they had to do to get to that point, the rushed finished was probably necessary. They could have had more time, but they opted instead to do a B story involving new CSIer Ronny Lake. Conveniently paired up with the soon-to-be-gone Sara, she appeared, character-wise, to be the complete opposite of Sara, which is more than likely intentional on the writers part. I'll wait a few episodes to pass judgment on her, but my initial thought is that she doesn't seem like she'll fit in too well with the rest of the regulars. Also, the beehive Grissom found will be returning in future episodes. From what I've read, it will be his pet project for the season. I guess he needs something to take his mind off Sara.
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