The Office

Earlier this week on The Guardian website, columnist Steven Wells literally eviscerated the American version of The Office, writing that the show is "rubbish" and a "dysfunctional and unfunny pastiche of the original." Despite the fact that Mr. Wells' column feels as current as a joke about Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face, he actually makes some good points. When episodes of The Office are bad, they really do pale in comparison to the superior British original.

Sadly, the fourth season was so wildly inconsistent that it only served to fuel the fire for people like Mr. Wells. Too many episodes felt rote and contrived.  read more »

Monday: Prison Break
Shockingly, now into its fourth season, there still isn’t a prison to be found on Prison Break, which only adds to the lunacy of the show. This season has been especially stupid, with Michael Scofield (the whispering Wentworth Miller) leading a band of miscreants on a quest to find something called Scylla. We don't even know or care what that is. The real reason we tune in each week is to see T-Bag, a one-handed Southern gentleman who also happens to be a deranged sociopath. There’s no reason why T-Bag, played with literal lip-smacking gusto by  read more »

Let's say you're a magazine editor and you need to illustrate a special issue about office life: What do you do for art? If you're the editor of Businessweek and you're compiling a special Business @ Work issue in collaboration with readers (a first, according to the magazine's Web site), you just do what New York did in April 2007 with its "Office Life" package and slap Rainn Wilson of NBC's The Office on the cover and in a spread inside. Oh, and you might as well get photographer Chris Buck to shoot him, like New York did.

To justify that cover placement, do a short interview with Mr.  read more »

Russia is getting its own Office! BBC licensed the original British format to the country so they can adapt story lines and characters to its own cultural work-a-day malaise. The original series has been sold to more than 70 countries. Seventy! Ricky Gervais must be rich!

“Russia is an important territory for us,” Ben Donald, BBC Worldwide’s head of sales, told Variety.

How do you say "That's what she said" in Russian?

Lots of entertainment blogs (including us) and respected news sources have been buzzing about Amy Poehler being cast in an Office spin-off. Looks like we goofed. Amy Poehler is ditching SNL to star in a new NBC comedy that will air alongside The Office, and will be produced by Greg Daniels, the creator of America's version of The Office. But, it's not actually the Office spin-off that NBC has been gabbing about since their announcement in April.

All of this Office spin-off business has us dizzy!

Ms. Poehler's show will be "stylistically" like The Office (sorta faux-documentary like), but you won't necessarily see Ms.  read more »

Variety is reporting that Amy Poehler is in "final negotiations" to join the new Office spin-off show. Ms. Poehler will leave a glaring hole in the SNL line-up, but, after seven years, it's just about time for her to move on.  read more »

Speaking of a possible strike, remember last year when the writers went picketing, asking for more compensation for their online work? Scribes from The Office flaunted webisodes they wrote for the show two years ago as examples. Well, they're back (the writers and the webisodes). NBC announced that online shorts featuring characters from The Office will "air" on NBC.com starting July 10.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, the new Web series is called “Kevin’s Loan,” and will follow accountant Kevin (actor Brian Baumgartner) "as he pursues a unique solution to pay off gambling debts." Office cast members Oscar Nunez (Oscar), Leslie David Baker (Stanley) and Craig Robinson (Darryl) will star in their series roles on the Webisodes. Unless the SAG strike happens, of course.

Amy Ryan, the gal who starred as "Beadie" Russell on The Wire, will reprise her role as human resources representative Holly Flax on The Office next season. Ms. Ryan appeared in last year's season finale as a puppy love interested of Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott. "I don't know what they're going to do with the character," Ms. Ryan told Variety, "but as it was written, there's certainly a lot of potential. It's a funny thing to enter a show that you're a great fan of -- and it's nice to tell lighter stories. I love the dark, grittier side of life, but it's nice to take a break from that, put a skirt on and brush your hair.  read more »

Producers are cobbling together a writing team for the new Office spinoff, and now an MTV sketch comedy actor has been chosen as the first cast member. Suit up, Aziz Ansari! Executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur hired the MTV writer, executive producer and performer on Human Giant. Mr. Ansari also guested as a racist fruit vendor on HBO's Flight of the Conchords -- and recently opened for the Conchords on a series of concert dates. He is currently in Albuquerque filming scenes for the upcoming Seth Rogen feature Observe and Report. He'll also be seen alongside Paul Rudd and Jason Segel in I Love You, Man. He'll get jokes from a writing team including Everybody Loves Raymond alum Tucker Cawley, Late Night With Conan O'Brien's Dan Goor and South Park scribe Alan Yang, according to Variety. Will Rashida Jones be joining the spinoff cast? Unlikely...  read more »

The biggest hit at Lucky magazine’s “hospitality suite” (swag distribution center) at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, held for celebrities in town for the network television industry’s “upfront” presentations on Monday, May 12, was Guitar Hero III, the music video game.  read more »

MONDAY

Start fresh! That’s what ABC is begging its viewers to do tonight with Samantha Who? (9:30 p.m.). Its rookie run had been going swimmingly until the writers strike. Starring Christina Applegate and Melissa McCarthy (Sookie from the Gilmore Girls), the show returns in the midst of a heated battle for Monday nights.  read more »

Producer Universal Media Studios is suspending regulars on NBC's Bionic Woman, The Office and 30 Rock. Actors will be on half-pay for five weeks, citing the force majeure provisions in their Screen Actors Guild contracts.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:  read more »

MONDAY

It’s only been a week, but the strike has done plenty of damage. Late night TV is kaput. Saturday Night Live, too. (Poor Jonah Hill, of Superbad fame, was slated to host.) But it’s Mondays that may suffer the most. Production of 24 has been delayed, with the possibility that Fox may even hold showing the seventh season until next Fall, in order to make sure it airs uninterrupted. Don’t the networks know that if they postpone 24, the terrorists win? End the strike now. Give the writers whatever they want. Please.

In the meantime, enjoy your last episode of the Big Bang Theory for the foreseeable future. Production has shut down. And tonight’s is the last that they have in the can. Also, Billy Crystal is honored with the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor (PBS, 9 PM). Plenty of comedians who you could have sworn were dead will be on hand to celebrate.

TUESDAY

“From John Langley, producer of the groundbreaking Cops”—uh oh—“comes the next big law enforcement reality series”—oh no—“Jail” (MyNetworkTV, 9:00 PM). Where does Mr. Langley come up with these ideas? It’s really just another dagger into the slow-beating heart of Tuesday nights. What else is there other than House (Fox, 9:00 PM)? And don’t say the Dancing With the Stars results show (ABC, 9:00 PM) …  read more »

NBC is planning a new Office branch! But no worries, they won't be stealing Jim or Dwight away from Scranton.

Ausiello Report at TVGuide.com has the exclusive:

Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock is developing an episode of The Office that would introduce several new characters who would then be spun off into a new series à la Private Practice.

However, unlike Practice, which stole Grey's regular Kate Walsh to anchor the new series, the proposed Office 2 is not expected to include any of the mother ship's core cast. In fact, producers are already casting about for a "name" to headline the potential show.

 read more »

• Natalie Portman pretends she’s important and makes fantastically obvious picks for a charity CD. A Shins remix? No way!
• Nice guy/every-mid-20s-to-30s-something girl’s dreamboat Ron Livingston will break out of Office Space’s shadow and into more dramatic roles in his movies opening this weekend. Damn it feels good to be… Richard Pimentel?
• An interview with Owen Wilson conducted by his bud Wes Anderson will be posted on MySpace at midnight tonight. Synchronize your watches.
• Right afterward, you can see 80-year-old playwright Edward Albee discuss his new works on Channel 13 at 12:30 a.m. and get your culture fix for the weekend. Make sure you watch some dumb VH1 shows and drink a bottle of whiskey right afterward. Good night!