TVSquad

So yes, George Clooney was indeed on ER last night.

The episode, overall, was very good. The banter between Carter and Benton was great, and it was great to see Eriq LaSalle again, and the way they reintroduced Doug and Carol into the plot was really well done and didn't seem forced or stupid. The show deserves points for that. It didn't work 100% though. Here's what I loved and what I didn't love about the episode.

It's the day after the big (and often controversial) Evel Dick Donato first place win on Big Brother 8, as well as his daughter Daniele's second place win. Together, they won $550,000. Not chump change for sure, but I'd like to see this show increase its grand prize to a million like other reality shows of its ilk.

Julie Chen interviewed both Dick and his loving Evel Spawn on The Early Show -- the CBS website has an extended version of that interview available online as well as the initial interview itself.

But the kicker is a set of video interviews with all of the houseguests posted by the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles. Those took place in the yard before the wrap party and include such treasures as Amber telling us she taught America it's okay to cry. Yeah, right. [A tip of the hat to commenter OrkMommy for the link to the CBS backyard interviews!]

Alan Sepinwall brings up a good point on his blog today (yes, two days in a row with Alan. What can I say, he's good): Why is Michael Scott, Dunder-Mifflin's favorite goofy manager, still being portrayed as the sad lonely clown? In last night's episode, not only do we see Michael lamenting the fact that both his old boss and the bird died alone, we also see Pam give a bird eulogy that essentially told Michael that he still has people who love him. But here's the interesting thing: doesn't Michael have a girlfriend?

Sure, Jan isn't that happy with Michael -- though I contend that she still likes him a little, considering she warned him of Dwight's traitorous ways in last week's episode -- but isn't he still dating Carol the real-estate agent (played by Steve Carell's real-life wife, Nancy Walls)? It makes me wonder if the writers are subtly trying to tell us that things between Michael and Carol aren't going that well, or they just simply forgot about that detail. Writers are human; they can forget. And they can also "conveniently forget" things to service a plot; Greg Daniels worked on a show that did that all the time in The Simpsons. So what do you folks think? Are we going to see Carol again? Let me know in the comments.

The Brady Bunch (and The Partridge Family) were weekly rituals in my house when I was a kid. My sister and I would get a huge bag of candy down at the corner store and come home and watch both shows on Friday night.

So it was interesting to see what Cousin Oliver, aka Robbie Rist, is up to these days. As fans of The Brady Bunch know, he was brought on to the show later in its run to add something to the show. I don't know, maybe a cute factor or just shake things up a bit. But all he did was annoy fans, and many people see this as a big "Jump the Shark" moment. Even Rist himself says he has that web site to thank for renewed interest in his career.

Check out what Rist looks like now. Quite a change.

[via TV Tattle]

(S07E18) Now this was the type of episode longtime West Wing viewers were hoping for. If you had asked me what should happen in the Leo's funeral episode and who should be in the episode, this is what I would have done. The montage at the beginning of the episode showed everyone getting ready for the funeral - President Barlet, Josh, Toby, C.J., Donna, etc - and then showed all of the people at the church. Sure, it was jarring not to have Sam there (Rob Lowe isn't back yet), but you really can't complain when you have Mallory, Nancy McNally, Carol, Margaret, Hoynes, Russell, Joey Lucas, Danny and everyone else. Nice touch having Toby stay in the church til everyone leaves and Charlie offering to walk out with him.

I was a little afraid they'd rush though the Leo memories and shove in the whole Santos plot, but that didn't happen. You had to show what was going on with the Santos plot (life does go on after all), and it was a nice balance of the old and the new.