Kate Flannery, The Office
It's the Office drunk again! Hey, remember my weekly blogs? I have been AWOL this season. But it's Christmastime at Dunder Mifflin and the redhead in the corner is about to embark on a journey, in this week's "Moroccan Christmas."
This episode was so much fun to shoot. Angela and Phyllis have some major power struggles, and Dwight has a little business going. Yup, one of the most rewarding episodes for me, personally. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, I am so grateful. Steve Carell and I ...
read more
Patricia Arquette (Medium), Donald Trump (Celebrity Apprentice)
Just days after unveiling "Phase 1" of its plan — which in part brought back Friday Night Lights and set a start date for Nigel Lythgoe's Superstars of Dance — NBC has followed through with the continuation of its midseason tweaking.
Of most immediate important to many of you, I imagine, is the return date — Feb. 2 — for Medium, which will air Mondays at 10 pm/ET. There, it will cap a night featuring fresh episodes of Chuck (which returns with a 3-D episode) and Heroes (which will be launching its new "Fugitives" volume).
The other headline here is ...
read more
Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski, The Office
Question: Watching The Office, as Jim showed the camera the engagement ring he bought Pam a week after they started dating, I was cheering (literally). But after the initial excitement wore off, I realized I was left with a sense of dread — a "what are they going to do to break Jim and Pam up" type of dread. It feels like the TV audience has been conditioned to think the worst when our favorite couples are on the brink of happiness. Maybe I am still jaded by the whole Gilmore Girls debacle, but it seems the only way we know a couple is safe from contrived roadblocks is when the show is near its end. That just isn't fair to the audience or the characters. My question is: What do you think of this latest development on The Office? Clearly Jim and Pam have issues they are not dealing with (both are working in underachieving jobs without trying to step out into careers they actually care about), but there doesn't seem to be anything realistic that could ruin this relationship that writers ...
read more
Kate Flannery by Eric Charbonneau/WireImage.com
Just as fans of the original version of The Office learned about the existence of the industrial town of Slough, where the U.K. series was set, now everyone knows about Scranton, Pennsylvania, where employees of the U.S. version report to work. In fact, thousands of fans of NBC's hit half-hour comedy ventured to northern Pennsylvania this weekend for the first Office convention, which runs through Oct. 28.The event began Friday morning on the Today show, with Al Roker introducing the University of Scranton cheerleaders. Throughout the town, local businesses, including but not limited to those that have been featured or referenced on the series, made the most of the influx of visitors, setting up special booths, hawking souvenirs and inviting fans to revisit memorable scenes from the show.While cast members such as Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson and Jenna Fischer could not make it to the convention, Dunder-Mifflin is being well represented by Kate Flannery (aka Meredith), Creed Bratton (...
read more
10:03: Seacrest asks Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos to stop shanking the seat fillers. This is just sad.10:04: Hiro from Heroes is introducing Tom from MySpace. This show just gets odder and odder. A voiceover is telling us about pods. I think it's an ad for this Current website? Did I get that right? It's no Facebook, but it must be somethin', 'cause now Al Gore is on stage and getting a standing O. I'm not entirely sure anybody else knows what the hell is going on, either; they just like Al.10:07: Al's wife looks a lot like Jane Fonda, only without so much plastic surgery. Al looks sorta sweaty. How far away was he seated? Or was he a victim of the solar panels on the red carpet?10:07:30: Joely Fisher is pulling off pastel yellow. Not easy to do. But she's another victim of too much spray-on tanning. Brad Garrett compliments her dress by saying she "just made Charlie Sheen's to-do list." Why isn't he hosting this thing? Heck, why isn't she?10:09: Time for one of those random sor...
read more
The Office box art courtesy BBC Video
The original U.K. version of The Office is now and for the first time being offered through Netflix and Vuze.com.... Extra's Mario Lopez will host the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, airing live on NBC Aug. 24.... Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, who birthed Eddie Murphy's daughter in April, secretly wed beau Steven Belafonte in June, it has been uncovered.... Bruce Willis' new mystery honey has been ID'd by Page Six as 1998 Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal. Oh, how the ladies love the chrome dome!
read more
NBC's Emmy-winning comedy series The Office will join the TBS lineup this fall — with repeats, people, repeats — it was announced on Thursday. "The Office is not only a top-notch sitcom, but also one of the most relatable comedies on television," says Ken Schwab, senior vice president of programming for TBS and TNT. "It's a wonderful addition to our lineup, and we’re thrilled to bring it to our audience of comedy lovers."That's what she said![Crickets] OK, the joke doesn't really work in this instance.UPDATE: NBC's My Name Is Earl is also TBS-bound, though not until fall 2009. As for The Office, to those fearing "burnout," the cabler will only air two episodes a week (back-to-back) for the first two years of the deal.
read more
"Casual" game publisher (what does that mean, sleeveless shirts are OK?) MumboJumbo has licensed the rights to NBC's The Office and the likenesses of its "employees," for the purpose of a humorous, low-tech game in which players steer bobblehead versions of the Dunder-Mifflin gang through assorted tasks and pranks. According to Variety, the Office game isn't bound for next-gen systems (e.g., Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) but rather Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PCs. Yes, nothing screams "Turn me into a video game!" like a documentary-style comedy about a small-town paper company.
read more
Ricky Gervais
I was asked to write an article about television — American television, the best TV in the world. I felt I had nothing to offer, no insight of any value; the prospect was too daunting. So I decided to plug the second season of my HBO comedy series Extras, about struggling actors trying to make it big. Here's how I made it.
Work on Season 2 of Extras [premiering Sunday at 10 pm/ET]started straight after Season 1 finished in August 2005. I moved to new up-market offices in central London, and after decking it out (which included building a recording studio for our podcast) and putting up some pictures, cowriter and costar Stephen Merchant and I started chatting about plotlines, scenarios and characters.
Despite numerous trips to America, several awards ceremonies, and the fact that I only work between the hours of
read more
Question: I was mad when Everybody Loves Raymond beat Arrested Development for the best-comedy Emmy last year (I think Desperate Housewives siphoned away votes from AD), because an Emmy win might have helped AD stay on the air, and Raymond was already out to pasture in the fields of syndication. This year, I find myself rooting for AD to win despite its cancellation, in part because I feel that a postcancellation Emmy win is a righteous humiliation for Fox on behalf of every great show they ever axed, and also because anything that builds momentum for a potential AD movie is a good thing. I know The Office is the front-runner now, but I have a feeling it will get plenty more chances at the Emmys for years to come. Does the late, lamented AD have any hope of winning the trophy?
Answer: Slim to none, I'd guess. But with the Emmys, it's always a guess. In Arrested Development's favor is the fact that it has won before, and the industry clearly loved it to the very end. Otherwise, a show
...
read more
