TVSquad

(S04E14) I performed tonight in Hartford, CT. Coming out of the comedy club, a woman who wasn't at the show checked me out. I heard her say helloooooo in a guttural way, like I was a really good looking guy. A few seconds later, though, once she got a better look at me, she said, "Never mind." Then, she and her friends laughed for as long as I could hear them.

Apparently, I'm only good looking when someone is looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

I bring this up not to inform you that I'm unattractive -- my blogger profile photo does a better job of informing you of that than I ever could -- but rather because I didn't think I could be any more depressed than I was after that comment. I honestly thought their derisive laughter was going to be the low-point of my evening. Then I watched tonight's Office finale...

Melora Hardin, who plays Jan on NBC's The Office, recently opened up to TV Guide about her character, office romances, "Miley-gate," and The Office finale. Here's a few tidbits from the interview:

• About Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Hardin says that she's acting like a normal fifteen-year-old and "I think it's more a question of her handlers protecting her image."
• Melora Hardin also talks about her new movie (which her husband wrote and she directed) called You. It's a coming of age story about a father and daughter. Hardin, her husband, her parents, and her children are in it.
• Hardin admits that she herself has had an office relationship. Her husband! She met him at a wrap party, "So I guess you could consider that an office romance, being that wrap parties are part of my office setting."
  

NBC announced today that webisodes for The Office and Heroes would officially premiere on NBC.com starting in July. Seems like all that chit-chat that led to the WGA Strike cease-fire is finally showing some results.

The Office webisodes will premiere first in early July and will focus on Kevin's gambling issues and how he plans to pay for his debts. We got a taste of his competitive side in this past week's episode when he started betting on holes at the golf course. The summer series will also feature Stanley, Oscar, and Darryl. This is the second series of webisodes for The Office, which premiered The Accountants back in the summer of 2006.

As we told you last week, RedEye is in the middle of their annual Best Character on Television tournament, and now we're into the second round. It looks like some strong favorites have emerged, while some fan favorites have been voted off the island.

That wouldn't include Don Draper from Mad Men (who lost to Jermaine and Bret from from Flight of the Conchords), Morgan Grimes from Chuck (who lost to Michael Scott from The Office), or Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood. He actually lost to Herbert from Family Guy. That has to be embarrassing.

"This is man is an impostor. Do not do business with him. This is not Dwight Schrute." --Dwight to Jim

NBC has released a sneak peek of The Office's season finale called "Good-bye Toby." After Thursday night's stellar episode, I'm psyched for the finale even though I tend to be underwhelmed by one-hour Office episodes. How about you? Ready for next Thursday?

In the scene, Jim reprograms Dwight's phone to forward to his own. Dwight reacts...well, exactly how you'd expect him to. It's pretty hilarious. I love the Jim-Pam-Dwight dynamic. And I love any time Jim pulls a prank on Dwight. My favorite prank had to be when Jim sent Dwight a fax from "future Dwight" telling him not to drink the coffee.

I put the video after the jump. I also put the two-minute recap of last Thursday's show just in case you missed it. The Office's one-hour season finale is Thursday May 15th at 9 p.m. ET / PT.

(S04E13) Remember that movie The Chase? Okay, you probably don't, but believe me, it exists [link NSFW]. Anyway, Charlie Sheen takes Kristy Swanson hostage, and over the course of the movie some major league Stockholm Syndrome kicks in (like, really major league: they do it while he's leading the cops on a high speed chase). The lesson of the movie is obvious: if you kidnap the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she'll eventually fall in love with you.

I bring this up because I'm becoming scared that I might have lost perspective on The Office. I've sincerely loved every episode that has aired since its return from the break. Now, here's the question: is this because the writers spent the entire strike doing brain push-ups? Or is it because The Office is Charlie Sheen to my Kristy Swanson? My (glowing) review after the jump...

With just two episodes left in the current season of Saturday Night Live, fans are eagerly awaiting news about the final host. Yeah? No? Just me? All right.

Well, Me, good news! We knew Shia LaBoeuf and My Morning Jacket would be taking on the May 10 episode in what will most likely be another youthful crowd-pleaser, but here comes word that the final episode will be hosted Steve Carell and musical guest Usher. Yeah, that ol' dream team. Both LaBoeuf and Carell will be on their second hosting stints and, if their first times were any indication, they will deliver strong performances. I mean, assuming the writing does justice to their comedic talent.

If you haven't noticed lately, Angela on The Office has been doing her acting while hiding behind papers, desks, tables, etc. That's because she was very pregnant while filming the last few episodes of this season.

Today, People is reporting that she gave birth to a baby girl! Angela and her husband, TV writer Warren Lieberstein, named their daughter Isabel Ruby Lieberstein (so cute!). The baby was born on Saturday. She was just about average size, weighing in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces (average is about 7 lbs for a newborn). The Office co-star, Jenna Fischer, was there for the birth, as was Angela's mom, Bertie. No word on how the labor and delivery went, but it sounds like everybody is fine.

Before her baby was born, Kinsey blogged about letting the public see her little darling. She said she's "on the fence" about a photo shoot for a magazine. On one hand, she says, it's a neat scrapbook item for them. On the other, it may be too much of an invasion of privacy. We'll just have to wait and see how she feels about it now that Isabel Ruby is here.

Holy frik! We've only just started to embrace the return of our shows after a shortened strike season. Now, they are almost over. In the next few weeks all of our network favorites will say good-bye for the summer to be replaced with reality shows, reality game shows, reality soap operas, and Regis on primetime (again).

Needless to say, I'm a bit depressed. As I am sure you are as well. But, we will do our duty and press on. Thusly, we here at the sprawling lakefront offices of TV Squad (you choose the lakefront) have compiled list of when your favorite, and not so favorite, shows will be saying good-bye for their summer vacation. As usual, taking the fickleness of the networks, these times and days can change at a moment's notices. We will try to update you of those changes as quickly as our little fingers can type it out.

So, with a leaden heart, here are your season and series finales.

Who saw last night's episode of The Office? Were you mesmerized as Dwight swindled Andy into taking a lower offer for his Nissan Xterra? Were you jealous and wished that you could do the same thing? Well now's your chance... sort of. Although, by the time this auction is over, you may have some issues flipping it for a higher price like Dwight did.

Our sister site Autoblog stumbled onto a great find earlier today - the actual SUV used in the episode "Did I Stutter?" is up for auction on eBay. The Xterra in question is owned by one of the studio hairstylists on The Office. The car had been used as a prop car - the car Andy "owned" on the show. Hoping to capitalize on the car's newfound fame, the owner has put it up for sale. To entice Office fans, some extras (not furnished by the dealer) are included:

(S04E12) Jay Black couldn't be with us today because he was called away suddenly. Something about not leaving the table until he'd finished all his vegetables but he didn't like asparagus and yet that didn't matter he can sit there all night if he has to or until the asparagus evolves arms and legs and jumps off his plate and leaves on its own. So he figured since my name is the closest to his, maybe we could get away with this last minute pinch hit.

I got an episode that won't necessarily go down in the annals of time as an Office classic, but does bring us back to the core of the show: the office. The episode takes place entirely in one day, entirely in the office, and virtually every cast member gets pulled into one storyline or the other. For me, this is when The Office is at its best, when its presenting us barely controlled chaos. Offices are constantly bustling with activity productive or otherwise. Tonight's episode captured just that, and very well.

Creed has a new album. No, I'm not talking about the former Christian rock band with the lead singer who can't hold his liquor -- I'm talking about Creed Bratton, the actor. He's the guy who plays Creed on The Office.

His co-star, Jenna Fischer, posted about his album on her MySpace page. Of course, I had to listen. Creed's character is the dirty guy who liked the old Dunder-Mifflin social media webpage where pedophiles congregated. What kind of music does he make? Well, it has a lot of guitar. There's a folk/rock sound to it that reminds me of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Creed is actually a well-known musician. Before he was an actor, he played for about 10 years in a band called The Grass Roots. They had about a dozen hits before they broke up in 1975. This new album is his third solo album. You can listen to it (and buy it!) at CD Baby.

(S04E11) Writing Office reviews for TV Squad has certain perils. For instance, if I write a negative review of an episode that the vast majority of our readership enjoyed, I am treated to dozens of emails asking me which kind of poop is it, exactly, that has replaced my brain (for the record, it's lhasa apso poop). When I complain to my wife about these comments -- I handle criticism about as well as Steve Martin's son from Parenthood -- she says I'd be better off just writing a positive review of every episode. For some reason, positive reviews don't seem to warrant the same vitriol as negative ones.

Now, while I might cheat on my taxes or steal from the elderly, I would never sell out my integrity when it comes to television blogging. If an episode is bad, I promise you I'll write a negative review. Unfortunately for my integrity, however, it doesn't seem like the producers of The Office plan on airing a bad episode any time soon...

There's an interesting little blurb over at Digital Spy about NBC's TV Box. The network is currently working out distribution deals in up to ten European and Asian countries, building their global video-on-demand service. They don't detail exactly which shows will be a part of the package, other than a mention of both current and past series being involved.

That's all fine and dandy, but the interesting bit comes from something NBC's Belinda Menendez says. Apparently, the big shows, like Heroes, may be available before they are broadcast for an extra price. And that leads us to the question in the post title.

For the sake of argument, let's assume this all works out for the peacock bunch in Europe and Asia and they make it a global policy. Would the prospect of getting Thursday's episode of The Office on Monday be enough to let those sticky Donaghy fingers into your wallet?

It's been a number of years since I've seen the original version of The Office, but a certain scene from last night's episode of the American version immediately reminded me of Ricky Gervais' classic.

Remember that last night Pam, out of pity for Michael, set him up on a coffee date with her landlord, who she thinks is really nice. So when the landlord -- who Jay called "a stunningly plain woman" in his review of the episode -- showed up, Michael let out a disappointed groan. A huge feeling of déjà vu came over me, and I realized something: this was the same reaction David Brent had to his stunningly plain date on the British version. Now I just had to find out in which episode this happened.