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Despite the fact that most contemporary sitcoms try to set themselves apart from your daddy’s STUFFY and OUT-OF-TOUCH old shows with their manipulative laugh tracks and their cheap-looking sets by filming handheld on location and using a cast of writers/executive producers, The Office boldly reminded us last night that these self-aware shows, behind their post-modern gimmicks and their mockumentary tropes, are still sitcoms after all. They did this by partaking in the noble tradition of the Flashback Montage episode, a technique used in such classic shows as Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, Small Wonder, A Different World, and Designing Women. What happened, Office writers? Did you all decide you needed to take a nap at the same time?
Of course, with Dunder Mifflin up for sale, this episode could suggest a reset of the series, a look back before everything changes. And fair enough, the show could probably use it. But still. Watching a Flashback Montage episode of a sitcom feels like watching a millionaire collect a dividends payment. It’s not that the millionaire didn’t earn the dividends according to the rules of the game, but it still seems kind of cheap and undeserved. Don’t get me wrong, the episode was still TBS Very Funny (TBS, now showing reruns of The Office on Tuesday nights at 10/9C), but it is 2010. Supercuts are for YouTube, Hollywood. Make a note of it.
Luckily, the other Thursday night shows were not Flashback Montage episodes. Or were they? No, they were not. Or were they? The debate rages on. In the comments below.
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Lutz! Truffle Shuffle him!
“I just don’t have the heart to tell them what happens to Kurt in 1994.”
I’m not saying “jumped the shark” quite yet, but I’ll bet it isn’t too much longer and the Office team will be looking out their window and seeing this:
im SICK and TIRED of these CRUDELY animated SHARKS eating my CRUDELY animated PLANES
Where did you get that advance .gif of the final scene of Lost?
OK so I thought wettrew was an internet genius, and had somehow found footage of Ryan from the office on a plane and cut it with the Sharks in Venice scene.
The gif is from this movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Shark_Versus_Giant_Octopus
I’ve not seen it, but it is supposed to be utterly terrible except for that gif-ed scene.
hahah… upon closer examination of this Academy Award winning movie, I noticed it starred Debra Gibson, Lorenzo Lamas, Sean Lawlor (?), and Stephen Blackenhart (Brando’s son)!!! Thank you Wettrew!
Oh and by BTW it will be on tomorrow January 23, 2010 at 12:30 pm on the SyFy station.
This is potentially my favorite of the SciFi, excuse me, SyFy Channel movies. It’s so great.
I just assumed the Office did that as one more little “fuck you” to NBC in a week full of them.
That could be, but it came off as more of a fuck-you to NBC’s audience.
The 30Rock writers can see the future. “This is my friend Crispus Attucks. I can’t be racist because I have a black friend.”–Scott Baio, 2010.
The only thing that kept me going through The Office clipstravaganza was the idea that maybe this was the way they would announce it’s ending.
Seeing Kenneth the Page get his first mean line (‘I would…n’t') blew my mind. It was like when Lost showed Libby in the mental institution. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….
i just can’t believe the office would do a clip show after having at least a month off. really, writers? on the bright side, john krasinski directed the episode that’ll air in two weeks. i’m interested to see how well he does.
ahhh! rogue italics!!
30 Rock was great because it felt like everyone got at least 1 funny line.
Who else is fucking tired of that dick Snitterman?! I mean, I bet he is the one behind this whole Conan/Leno thing. RIght?!
Dale Snitterman was the guy that gave Leno the 10PM spot in the first place. And greenlit “Kath & Kim”. And cancelled “Scrubs” the first time. And he keeps renewing “Law & Order” and all of its crappy spin-offs…
The TWSS clips on The Office left me very satisfied.
nice try!
Sadly, that was what she said.
Favorite joke of all night was Lutz ordering Subway, because lets face it, Subway is The Worst.
The Shell by me has good hotdogs!
“Clip show, clip show, oh my god it’s a clip show!”
“We’re sorry for the clip show. Have no fear we’ve got stories for years.” – Closing credits song, The Simpsons, circa a long time ago
“I need to re-foliate.”
I absolutely DIED when Aziz said that
The Office clip show was a weird bummer. It’s great to see ‘Doug’ getting work and all, but I would have settled for a rerun. Was Krasinski in the show at all this week other than the flashbacks?
I’m pretty sure he voiced those Carnival Cruise Line ads that kept playing.
indeed.
Also “It’s like handling raw chicken”
Ugh, that clip show. I would be OK with The Office as we know it ending, and instead we just have a camera following David Costabile around for the rest of the series.
I AM SO MAD AT THE PEOPLE WHO WRITE AND PRODUCE A TV SHOW AND GIVE IT TO ME FOR FREE
Also, yay, Richard Dunn on Kimmel.
Did anyone else freak out when Parks & Recreation showed that Leslie Knope lives in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’S HOUSE?!?
That was INSANE. It’s also the same layout of the house that Justin Theroux rented with Brenda on Six Feet Under.
Yes! I thought I was the only one who saw that! This is why I love Videogum. You nerds are the best.
Too be honest, I really laughed hard at every bit of “Computron” (our virtual helper). But I was SO MAD at the hard-core phoning it in. I was furious! Then laughing at one of the three jokes! Then angry again! I should’ve taken my meds, I guess… But they didn’t even pick good clips! They were all promo clips from heavily rotated NBC commercials!
Point: this is the same bullshit that Scrubs pulled in the season where I filed for divorce with that show. Fuck you, The Office. You have officially failed to convince me that you could run with Ricky Gervaises concept. I was willing to give you a million chances, but you’ve done it. It’s over. I quit.
Community gets better and better every episode. “I’ll pull out the break-up form…”
Community is my favorite show on TV right now. Man I love Troy. Donald Glover is SO GOOD. MORE PEOPLE NEED TO WATCH THAT SHOW.
“If I wanted to bring a tray of deviled eggs, but didn’t want to share them with anyone… could you guarantee the fridge space?”
This is how you eat it!
I love Community. Especially since I thought they were going to avoid the Jeff-Brita relationship. I thought that it was more progressive and had settled on having 2 characters of the opposite sex who are just friends without exploiting the possibility that perhaps they’re soul mates.
But no. Last night, Brita starts catchin’ feelins. DO NOT WANT.
“‘Tea For Two’? But there’s five people up there!”
SCENE: “Community” writers meeting
Writer 1: Well, it worked on “The Office,” didn’t it?
END SCENE
It’s totally realistic though. You think someone sucks, hang out with them and they like you, but you keep turning them down and they find someone else. And then you’re like, “Shit, there goes my attention.” It’s TOTALLY what happens and it is definitely what a character like Britta would do in real life.
Last night was one of the best episodes since the Christmas and Halloween ones.
Office clip show = woof
OK so I thought wettrew was an internet genius, and had somehow found footage of Ryan from the office on a plane and cut it with the Sharks in Venice scene.
BANKER: I’m wondering if you’ve ever witnessed any language that could be considered sexual harassment?
TOBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wf2pP7T0Y
BANKER: So you would describe your relationship with your manager as…?
TOBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sbYv6JrP1A
BANKER: So, tell me about Dwight.
TOBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edxjxVZw1KM
BANKER: Pranks?
TOBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pw_eX97TUw
BANKER: Andy Bernard sing a lot? Or..?
TOBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfJ4SDRNvy8
____
WGA CARD, PLEASE.
The sad thing is, I’ve already seen those videos before. So it was like, double-disappointment.
Computron experiencing…emotion
“If I wanted to bring a large number of deviled eggs but I didn’t want to share them with anyone else…can you gurantee fridge space?” ~ Ron Swanson
Oh also Fuck Yes to the crazy end of Community that took an awesome left turn at Beau Bridges!!!!
Did the auditor/accountant person look familiar to anybody else? I could IMDB, but I’d rather get some good guesses as to what else he’s been in.
Damages, some phone commercial where his daughters suggest he should date a grandma, ect ect probably.
David Costabile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0182345/
Flight of the Conchords, The Wire
Gracias, monsters.
So, I work nights, and almost always have to watch the Thursday night lineup on Friday mornings/afternoons, but with the hiatus I had gotten out of the habit and essentially forgot that these shows had started to air again.
So I was sitting here trying to think what I would do with my morning, thinking I’ll keep reading the book I’m working through (Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitterage, btw guys. It’s great.), but first I’d check my email, see if there’s anything funny on Videogum and HOLY FUCK THURSDAY NIGHT TV IS BACK.
So, anyway, another morning saved from literature by Videogum.
That is my story.
Parks and Rec killed it last night!
THIS IS HOW YOU EAT IT!
Parks and Recreation and Archer were the two best shows last night. I thought that the 30 Rock ep was pretty poor except for any of the scenes with Lutz in them.
Archer is getting hella(?)-good, though:
“That kinda racism right there is why I can’t wait to see tiny little Chinese boots on your white-ass necks!”
“This one actually seems kinda gay.” “Maybe that’s because our penises are touching.”
I loved finding out that Leslie Knope is a hoarder.
“What do you need this birdhouse for? Can we get rid of it?”
“I might need it.”
“What about this one?”
“Well, if 2 birds come along…”
Impeach
George W.
Ashington
I want that shirt!