TVSquad

As I mentioned before, I recently completed my summer project of watching the entire series of The West Wing from start to finish. After using a month or so to cogitate, I decided that while the show feign realism, it didn't quite achieve the mark.

Many of the events I refer to occurred after creator Aaron Sorkin was ousted from the series. I take that as more than coincidence.

Major spoilers for the show follow after the jump, so if you haven't seen it yet, turn back now.

Alan Alda returns as Jack Donaghy's dad tonight on 30 Rock for the show's season finale, "Kidney Now." The plot finds Jack trying to put together a benefit concert for Alda, who is in need of a kidney. That, of course, means the ep will be loaded with appearances by famous musicians.

Guest stars include Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Clay Aiken. The clip below reveals some shocking truths about some of these famous crooners, including Aiken's relation to NBC page Kenneth Parcell.

(S03E21) "Liz Lemmon, I may hug people too hard and get lost at malls, but I'm not an idiot" - Tracy Jordan

Maybe Jack Donaghy is right. More family does mean more aggravation. The search for Jack's real dad yielded a plot based on Mama Mia (apparently, I've never seen it, and I'm pretty sure I'll die that way) and an appearance by TV's most recognizable liberal – Alan Alda.

Don't get me wrong. I love Alan Alda. I was looking forward to seeing him on the show. He was great. But imagine ultra-conservative Jack's heartache when he found out that Hawkeye Pierce was his dad. The look on Jack's face when Alda stormed out of his office and cursed in Yiddish said it all. And I'm pretty sure Jack never imagined himself living out the plot of an Abba musical. Liz Lemon seemed pretty excited about it, though.

Well, it's official. Yesterday, ABC announced their new line-up for the eighth season (!) of Dancing With The Stars. And, as usual, the names chosen range from weird to ... even weirder (really, David Alan Grier?). Not that we necessarily disagree with the producers' choices, but we'd like to take a moment to suggest seven potential choices of people we believe to be fully primed for a spot on the dance floor.

Listen up, DWTS producers. Season nine is just around the corner, and Alan Alda is probably waiting by the phone. (...In our wildest dreams, that is.)

(S02E08) I like it when old friends of the main character show up for a visit. Generally, because they inevitably give out some personal information. For example, it seems that Michael has had a fondness for yogurt for some time now. The other tidbit was that Michael didn't have such high moral fiber back when he was working for the government. I'm willing to bet it was the reconnection to his family and friends that brought him back from the dark side.

The other thing that visits from old friends bring us is cool guest stars. Tim Matheson doesn't work near enough for my tastes and to see him turn up as a douchebag ex-coworker of Michael's was fun.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to take you into the world of how a writer of TV-related items thinks during his day. After reading about Jerry Seinfeld's new role as pitchman for Microsoft's Vista operating system my mind didn't turn to thoughts of how Jerry has become a corporate shill and will do anything to get his mug back on television. Nor did I think about the many pluses and minuses of Microsoft Vista. No, what I reflected upon was the fact that Jerry is not the first high-profile television personality to promote a computer.

That, in turn, brought me to YouTube and its glorious library of video history, from which I was able to cull a few examples of those other big-time TV folks who expounded on the glories of those new-fangled personal computers. New-fangled, you question? Yes, because these examples all come from the 1980s: the dawn of the personal computer era. Here are five examples of our favorite stars promoting the dickens out of their Commodore, Atari, and Texas Instruments computers.

When I was in college I heard my favorite author of all time, Kurt Vonnegut, give a speech that included a quaint (and wrongheaded) defense of snail mail. He went on and on about the wonderfulness of buying a stamp and putting pen to paper -- all that stuff that makes sense when you're dealing with your thirtieth Erectile Dysfunction spam of the day, but which falls apart the second you want to send a picture of your cool new scar to all of your friends at once (or similarly important things).

Well, here I am at thirty about to do what Vonnegut did at my college. A silly and wrongheaded argument for something that I know in my heart we're all better without. I always knew I'd follow in Vonnegut's footsteps as a writer...

For anyone I owe money to (friends, family, phone company, etc), you might just have to wait several months if they keep releasing these damn complete series DVD sets.

It's not official yet, but TVShowsonDVD is reporting that a box set for M*A*S*H is on its way November 7. The set will include every episode on 36 discs, along with the original Robert Altman-directed film, and two discs of bonus materials including a trivia game and a 30th Anniversary cast reunion. Throw in a special collector's booklet and you have the ultimate Christmas gift for the 4077 fan on your list.

Hopefully one of them is me.

That's the revelation in The New York Times today, that Arnold Vinick was supposed to win the election last night on The West Wing, but after the death of John Spencer, they decided to have Matt Santos win the election, thinking that fans wouldn't want to see Santos lose both his running mate and the election.

Some other tidbits from the article: the cast filmed their last scenes together on March 31, the last episode will be broadcast on May 14, and Martin Sheen is going back to college (at age 65)!

Let the debate begin, readers. Would you have rather have seen a Vinick win, regardless of how or why that happened, or did The West Wing have to end with a Democratic victory?

It's good to see her back with another acting gig. Garofalo will play a media strategist for Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits, who is running against Alan Alda for President). She'll only appear in three episodes, but she should add a much needed kick in the backside to the show.

[via TV Tattle]

• All the hot and cool things EW is looking forward to this summer (and fall...and winter). 
• Some TV-related people and things on the list: Jon Stewart (and The Daily Show dvds), Alan Alda, Jimmy Smits, Felicity Huffman, Kristen Bell, Rachel Bilson, Hugh Laurie, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Profit on dvd, Supernanny Jo Frost, and Jessica Walter.
• Some TV-related people and things not on the list: Nancy Grace.
• A lengthy essay from Stephen King on the media circus that was the Michael Jackson trial. It's not online, unfortunately, but worth reading.