Thursday night in review

     It's Sunday, and I don't have many interesting stories to relate, but I would like to take this time to review "my shows" (Spoilers follow):

     I am so happy with the turns "The Office" has taken lately this season.  The show has evolved so much since the first two (or three) seasons, and at the beginning of season 5, the show seemed weaker and lacking in usual elements of the show.  For one thing, Michael isn't in trouble with Corporate every 5 minutes as he seemed to be in past seasons, and we don't even know who has Jan/Ryan's former job now.  Secondly, Jim's prankster days seem practically over (except for when he taped wire near Dwight's desk that leads Dwight to climb the telephone pole outside, which wasn't really that funny because (a) it wasn't very original, (b) Dwight and Jim are forced to "team up" more this season and aren't as reluctant about it as would have been in the past (e.g. "Customer Service" and subsequent episodes when Dwight and Jim have to head the Party Planning Committee) and (c) it had been so long since Jim had done anything like that to Dwight that it seems out of character for him now.) now that he doesn't have to try to impress Pam anymore.  The "Is Hilary Swank Hot or Not" debate that took place while Michael and Dwight were checking out the competition at Prince Family Paper was just a lame, uninspired repetition of season 3's "Office Olympics".  I did like Michael's reluctance at turning over the Family's client information, although he went through with it, while Dwight showed no reluctance whatsoever, completely in character.  I didn't laugh out loud much at all during "Prince Family Paper" however, nor had I during, "The Duel". 

     Another problem I'd been having with the show is all the loose ends that seemed to have been dropped throughout this season, like Jan and her baby, whom we haven't seen since "Baby Shower",  and Holly, who left in "Employee Transfer" and hasn't had contact with Michael since.  Pam just dropped out of art school and isn't dealing with the fact that she's completely abandoned her dream.  Meredith's addiction has been made more public than ever before, and yet, although Michael said he would get her to "rock bottom" (citing, "I did it with Jan", which was hilarious) so she would see she that she needs help, but he hasn't made any progress in this endeavor, nor has he even mentioned it since "Moroccan Christmas".  When Kelly dumped Daryl for Ryan via a text Ryan had composed for Kelly, we just saw Daryl walk out to his truck, emotionless.  Since then, we've seen Daryl in the background (e.g. at Michael's "Roast"), and that's it; we don't know what he feels about the break-up, nor do we see what is going on with Ryan and Kelly as a couple now (although, we can assume, it's the same as usual).

     I loved "Lecture Circuit" parts 1 and 2, however, and I look forward to next week's episode.  Michael was his usual offensive but mostly well-meaning self and got called out by Karen on it, Karen and Pam got "closure", something I'd been hoping for in general on the show, with all these loose ends, and Michael is reintroducing Holly as "the love of his life", and it seems he is going to  pursue her further.  I liked Jim and Dwight's efforts as Party Planning Committee heads and their bickering throughout, as well as Kelly's reaction to their gift of an hour of nap-time ("I'm too excited to sleep!"  LOL).

     As for 30 Rock, I love Jack in a love story, and find these storylines much more interesting than those during which he is grasping at straws trying to realize his ambition to be CEO (which was interesting in the first season, but got old during the second, in my opinion).  I love that he seems to have found true love with his mother's nurse!  They seem like a perfect couple!  As for Liz's love life, although she is following the same pattern with Dr. Baird as she had with Floyd (she got Floyd by stalking him into an AA meeting and pretended to be an alcoholic in order to find out his deepest secrets, and then, when he found out that she'd been dishonest with him, they eventually decided to "get everything out in the open" before beginning to date; with Dr. Baird, she opened his mail and found out his interests and hobbies, and dropped hints that she was interested in the same things.  He found out about her dishonesty, and they decided to get everything out in the open before their second date.) However, with Dr. Baird, he seems more "into" the relationship than Floyd had, and he was the one to propose the "getting everything out in the open" and to start over with a clean slate, as he was the one who approached Liz with her opened mail, and proceeded to share his entire life with her on their second date on Valentine's Day.

     I also liked the side plot with Tracy, Kenneth and the blind girl, which seemed to be more reminiscent of the past side plots I've loved and which had been lacking lately.  Where is Jenna, though?  She hasn't been very present in the past few episodes.  I sort of wonder if the actress is working on some other project or has a kid or something, but I don't actually care enough to look it up!

     This brings up the fact that "30 Rock" has become a lot more about Jack and Liz than it has about "TGS", Liz's dealings with her actors and writers, and how the show runs in general.  I don't mind this, as often find the Jack and Liz storylines more interesting than the wacky plotlines that take place on the set, but it seems that the whole overarching plot of the show is being ignored.

     I also watched the pilot episode of "Dollhouse",  Joss Whedon's new show.  I don't have much to say about the show yet, as there has only been one episode and I wasn't entirely sure of what was going on during the show.  So I'll just focus on a few reactions:  

(1) I like how closely the interior of the Dollhouse resembles that of Wolfram and Hart from "Angel".  It would be kinda cool and kinda lame if it turns out that this show really is secretly a crossover from "Angel".

(2)  I don't see how this show is going to last more than a season without changing the entire premise of the show.  We saw in the first episode that one of Echo's personae had a flash of a memory from when she was in her "blank slate" state and saw a girl being tortured in the Dollhouse.  I'm guessing she is going to see/discover more and more disturbing and revealing experiments inside the Dollhouse in her blank state and remember more and more while she is programed as different people.  Eventually, she'll realize what is going on and she'll fight back, with the help of the man she met at the beginning of the pilot (before she was wiped?), who's been searching for her.

     I look forward to next week, though, and to the rest of the season.  I think this show has potential, and I'm curious to see what will happen.

LOL I'm watching "Buffy" and Amy the witch just said, "Potestas" (Latin meaning "Power") to Willow, thus giving her crazy magical powers!  Yeah, Latin 101 material in action!