The creator of the world's most popular sitcom franchise, The Office, should be beyond the reach of critics anywhere. But, Ricky Gervais is preemptively telling reviewers to lay off his new movie, The Invention of Lying.
Gervais doesn't want critics to expect too much. On his blog, he wrote, "Dear critics (everyone), when judging the film, please remember that it is a high concept, PG-13 romantic comedy. It's not Schindler's List or The Godfather."
Ricky Gervais of The Office and Extras fame is going to design a man purse -- but it's for a good cause.
The U.K.'s Prostrate Cancer Charity (part of the Charity Aids Foundation) asked television stars and other celebrities to design a man's handbag for The Manbag Company. Each unique design will be auctioned off to fight prostate cancer.
Of course, Gervais is a funny man and a cool, self-effacing celeb. But, it'll be interesting to see if even he can make something as inherently uncool as a man purse into swag a guy will want to spend money on -- cancer be damned.
Lost fanatics, rejoice! We may still have, oh, more than half a year left before we get cheerfully dumped with a load of new episodes (::drool::), but in the meantime, we have DVD's, abc.com, repeats on SyFy, and YouTube!
Well, technically, we can't get our fix of full episodes on "the Tubez," but the site still provides us with plenty of fodder; fan dedications, clip montages, and music videos galore. Let's face it: people love their Hurley birds, smoke monsters, and everlasting, cancer-conquering romances. And why shouldn't they?
The last few years have been very good for Amy Ryan. She's had a recurring role in The Wire, nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role as a drug-addicted mother in Gone Baby Gone, co-starred in The Changeling and helped Matt Damon find WMDs in the upcoming Iraq-themed action pic Green Zone.
But if you show most people a picture of the veteran actor, who's also been nominated for Tonys for her stage work, they'll just go, "Oh, that's Holly." Ryan's role Holly Flax on The Office not only represented a soul mate for Steve Carell's Michael Scott, but she was surprisingly adept at channeling her inner dork for the role. She has no idea if she'll be back next year, but she I can't imagine Greg Daniels and his minions won't think of some way to work her in again.
Ryan recently wrapped up production of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's first directorial effort, Jack Goes Boating, and was taking a welcome break when I spoke to her in late May. But at least she did something nice for our mid-morning interview, as you'll see after the jump.
This morning, I had a really fun interview with Amy Ryan, who's taking a little time off after a busy couple of years. During the conversation, which mostly revolved around her fantastic guest turn on The Office as Michael Scott's soulmate Holly Flax, I had to ask her the question most Office fans have been wondering about since the season finale: Is she coming back?
Your guess is as good as hers. "They keep that (the plans for Holly) under wraps, if they are indeed thinking of it. There's no plan there." When I asked her if she was under contract for any episodes next season, she said she wasn't.
What is she hoping Greg Daniels and company do with Holly in the coming years? "The viewer in me, the fan of the show, hopes that they (Michael and Holly) get together. The actor in me would love to see that there's still conflict along the way. That's where it's fun."
I'll have the complete interview with Ryan next week.
NBC has been leaking like a sieve for weeks, so other than a few on-the-bubble cancellations, there aren't any huge surprises in their official upfront announcement. The big change is that they're doing two official seasons. A lot of the networks have been doing this unofficially, but NBC seems to be one of the few that is putting a label on it.
Gone:Life, Medium, My Name is Earl, Kath & Kim, Kings, Knight Rider New:Trauma, The Jay Leno Show, Parenthood, Community. New for mid-season:Day One, 100 Questions, Mercy, The Marriage Ref Not reflected on the schedule, but will be returning in the summer:America's Got Talent, Friday Night Lights (which will once again be aired first on Direct TV).
Watch this space for more details on the new shows...
(S05E26) Driving home tonight, I got a text from my wife: "Wow wow wow Office... just wow! Rivals 'Casino Night!'"
That kind of praise has the potential to ruin what would normally be a very good episode, if only because you're prepared for something extraordinary. So far, only three things in my life have ever lived up to the hype: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, sex, and Cadbury Flake bars. Everything else has been kind of a letdown.
I was worried, then, that my wife's words would condemn tonight's Office to be more meh than magnificent. After all, we're not at the end of a grand storyline like we have been the last few season finales -- part of what made "Casino Night" so special was that it was the culmination of two years of Jim's pining away for Pam.
I just didn't think "Company Picnic" would be able to pull off that kind of greatness as a standalone episode ...
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of The Biggest Loser and that awesome Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Cold Case, The Unit, Brothers & Sisters, The Big Bang Theory, House and Castle. And that's just on the major networks.
Over the next two days we have America's Next Top Model, Lie to Me, Lost, Bones, My Name Is Earl, Smallville, Parks & Recreation, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Hell's Kitchen, The Office, Supernatural and even CSI: NY on a special night. And it goes on through the weekend. In an era where ratings are slipping, how can it make good business sense to put all of these finales on against one another all within a few days of each other. I know they've always done that, but I just don't think it makes sense anymore.
(S05E25) About midway through tonight's show, I was prepared to write about how disappointed I was that only one week out from the conclusion of the Michael Scott Paper Company arc, we were subjected to such a throwaway episode.
Here's what I would have written: "How many times can we see Michael be disappointed that no one wants to join him in his crazy shenanigans? This is a 'go-to' plotline that I wish they would stop going to!" I would have then nodded solemnly at the screen, content that I had proved once again that blogging about TV is the most important job a person can have.
But before I had the chance to craft the rest of that review, something awesome happened. Like most awesome things, it started with two hot girls dancing with each other ...
NBC hearts Mindy Kaling, the actor-writer-producer who plays the insecure Kelly Kapoor on The Office. The network has offered her a deal to create and star in her own NBC series. And who could blame them?
Kaling's a talented writer who has penned some great Office eps, including "Golden Ticket," "Diwali" and "Frame Toby." She's also a memorable character actor. Kelly is a great character, and I won't soon forget her brief appearance as Paul Rudd's ex-girlfriend in The 40 year Old Virgin.
Kaling will continue to appear and work on The Office next season while developing the new show. She's currently kicking around ideas.
For a while there I thought The Office was meandering a bit. Over the top situations, some episodes (especially the hour-long ones) that weren't particularly funny, plot developments I didn't like. But it's been really good again lately. I thought the whole "Michael Scott starts his own paper company" arc was going to be a disaster, but it turned out to be funny, interesting, even important. Here's a clip from the recent "Casual Friday" episode. It features the Dunder-Mifflin gang talking about whether or not failure is an option.
(S05E24) I liked this episode a lot, so the following criticism is an admitted nitpick:
To my knowledge, this is the first time we've seen a "casual Friday" on the show. We've had several episodes take place on Fridays, and the cast always dressed normally.
I can't stand when shows do this. To revolve a plot around something that we haven't seen previously and probably won't ever see again ... it just feels so sitcommy.
Don't get me wrong, it was funny (especially when Meredith's boob, butt, and "other" fell out), but I expect more from The Office than common sitcom tropes. What's next? A laugh track? Replacing John Krasinksi with Dick Sargent? Finding out that Michael Scott is really Armin Tamzarian? Blech.
Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest. Now, on to the rest of the review...
Here's another reason to love Adult Swim. Cartoon Network's late night brand -- home to some of the best animated fare on TV, like The Venture Bros. and the awesome G.I. Joe Resolute -- will begin airing the original BBC version of The Office starting this summer.
The network will air both seasons of the British comedy, produced by Ricky Gervais, plus the Christmas special. This is great news for U.S. comedy nerds dying to introduce the show to their friends (and don't feel like buying all three DVD box sets). Hopefully they'll air it in between Aqua Teen and Tim and Eric -- and not at 4 a.m.!
I love this show, and I love the NBC version. I won't even try to compare the two here, since the NBC version has evolved into such a completely different show. But there's one thing the NBC version is missing -- Ricky Gervais. I'm aware of Gervais' producing role on the show, but I've always wanted to see him make a cameo as David Brent -- the UK version of Michael Scott.
(S05E23) About half a dozen episodes ago, I started to worry about The Office. They had several episodes in a row that really didn't do much for me, and that's not something that has ever happened with this show before. So when I heard that Michael Scott may be quitting Dunder Mifflin, I was dubious. It seemed like a cheap stunt that wouldn't amount to much. Instead, we ended up with some of the best episodes of the season.
I have loved everything they've done with The Michael Scott Paper Company: From putting Pam in sales, to bringing Ryan back, to having Michael actually manage to wrestle away some of Dunder Mifflin's clients. Of course, it couldn't last forever, so it's no surprise that it had to come to an end tonight.
The creator of the world's most popular sitcom franchise, The Office, should be beyond the reach of critics anywhere. But, Ricky Gervais is preemptively telling reviewers to lay off his new movie, The Invention of Lying.
Ricky Gervais of The Office and Extras fame is going to design a man purse -- but it's for a good cause.
Lost
The last few years have been very good for Amy Ryan. She's had a recurring role in 
This morning, I had a really fun interview with Amy Ryan, who's taking a little time off after a busy couple of years. During the conversation, which mostly revolved around her fantastic guest turn on 
NBC has been leaking like a sieve for weeks, so other than a few on-the-bubble cancellations, there aren't any huge surprises in their official upfront announcement. The big change is that they're doing two official seasons. A lot of the networks have been doing this unofficially, but NBC seems to be one of the few that is putting a label on it.
(S05E26) Driving home tonight, I got a text from my wife: "Wow wow wow Office... just wow! Rivals 'Casino Night!'" 
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of The Biggest Loser and that awesome Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to 
(S05E25) About midway through tonight's show, I was prepared to write about how disappointed I was that only one week out from the conclusion of the Michael Scott Paper Company arc, we were subjected to such a throwaway episode. 
NBC hearts Mindy Kaling, the actor-writer-producer who plays the insecure Kelly Kapoor on The Office. The network has 
There weren't a lot of surprises at 
(S05E24) I liked this episode a lot, so the following criticism is an admitted nitpick:
Here's another reason to love Adult Swim. Cartoon Network's late night brand -- home to some of the best animated fare on TV, like The Venture Bros. and the awesome G.I. Joe Resolute -- will begin 
(S05E23) About half a dozen episodes ago, I started to worry about 
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