TVSquad

"Obama Quest: The Legend Begins": I guess the political comedy world has decided that the go-to digs on Barack Obama will be about the pressures of his golden boy image. Unfortunately, I can't say my middle school days were spent quite the same way, dealing with people making fun of how awesome I am. There are definitely worse ways to be mocked, is what I'm saying. Anyway, Mr. Obama has made his way to the Middle East for the first time, providing the Daily Show graphics department with the opportunity to make the most freakin' epic clip to accompany the report. Awesome. This trip also gave the media a chance to eagerly await a major cross-cultural faux pas. As it turns out, Obama has fangirls and fanboys all over the world.

(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...

(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.

Hey, Viacom, don't screw this up. After being hated by YouTube-visiting Daily Show fans everywhere, Viacom is taking a big step in making up cool points. Starting today, Viacom will have every minute of the Daily Show, dating all the way back to the first episode in 1999, online at DailyShow.com. Sorry, Craig Kilborn lovers, it's just ol' Jonny Stew and his crew.

Of course, this move is probably less about pleasing the fans and more about the mad cash that Viacom will make in advertising. Hopefully the ads won't be too intrusive on the videos and folks will be able to watch their favorite "This Week In God" without being bombarded with Lars and the Real Girl imagery.

I'm talking about the American version of the show. I'll put the answer to this question on the second page, but it's actually pretty easy to figure out. Just remember that The Grass Roots was a band in the 1960s and 70s (that leaves out 98% of the cast right there, they're too young) and that it was all male (that leaves out Pam and Angela, even if they were old enough). I think you've probably figured out who it is by now, but that doesn't make the video after the jump any less amusing.

He's the one on the left in the striped sweater.

Not too long ago I told you about a funny short from Funny or Die featuring actor/comedian Ed Helms (The Daily Show, The Office) as a zombie who's just trying to live a normal life but facing all the trials and tribulations that come with being one of the walking dead.

The last two chapters of his saga are up on the site, and I've also placed them below for your viewing pleasure. In the second segment, Glenn the Zombie tries the dating scene, but apparently normal women are too good to be seen with someone whose flesh is falling off their bones. In the third and final installment, Glenn shoots some hoops and decides that, as hard as it may be, he's happy with who he is.

I'll admit that these videos weren't exactly laugh-out-loud funny, but I don't think they're meant to be (although the final scene of chapter three cracked me up). Helms plays the character perfectly straight, which is part of the overall charm.

You think you're so great, don't you? Yeah, I'm talking to you. You there with your non-rotting skin and your oh-so-civilized way of not eating the flesh and organs of the living. Maybe it's time you stepped out of your comfort zone and learned a little about your fellow man (or, more precisely, your walking dead man).

Ed Helms (The Daily Show, The Office) tries to put a human face on the zombie by showing us that the living dead are not that different than us. They have jobs, friends, play the guitar, absent-mindedly pick decaying flesh from their faces -- well, I guess there are some differences.

At any rate, if you want a good laugh, and also maybe even get grossed out a little, the video is below.

First off, it was a great episode. Dwight shooting Roy in the eyes, all the Toby/Michael stuff (Toby is truly one of the great characters on TV right now), and Ed Helms returning at the end (which I didn't see coming) were all really funny moments. But I'm wondering: was the show really "supersized?"

Oh, I know it was longer. It started at 8pm and got over at 8:40, so it was longer in length, but didn't it seem like there were more commercials than usual? And what about that 4 minute long commercial for 30 Rock? Sure, they increase the length of the episode by 10 minutes, but 4 of those minutes are for an extended promo for another one of NBC's shows? It seemed to be shoved in there and was rather distracting.

Remember when NBC had a slogan for their repeats, "If you've never seen it, it's new to you!" I thought it was actually pretty much true, if a sneaky way to sell reruns.

Now they're going one step further. Next week the network is going to show two repeats of The Office. But instead of just airing them as they aired before, they're going to be recut into an hour-long episode, mixed up a little bit and with deleted scenes added to put in a whole new subplot that you didn't see in the first airings of the episodes. They're dubbing them "Newpeats."

Sunday's edition of the Newark Star-Ledger had a good article about the relatively new phenomenon of online-viewable deleted scenes, and how show-runners have been utilizing them. Alan Sepinwall, the paper's TV critic, spoke to Greg Daniels of The Office, Jason Katims of Friday Night Lights, and Ronald D. Moore of Battlestar Galactica, about how they've been able to throw in little plot or character details in the deleted scenes, knowing that the fanatical viewers of each show will see them on the web.

OK, I think I have just about exhausted all of my press tour material. But I got a few quotes here and there which I really wanted to include somewhere, even though they weren't enough to merit their own posts.

So, here are five random quotes from my week in Pasadena, presented for your amusement:

1. "Yes. It's called 25. It's like 24, except there's one more." - Chris Rock, when a reporter asked him if he was working on a new show. One of the other reporters actually responded to this by asking, "Are you serious?"

Imagine this scene: an early-evening party in a hotel lounge area. Half the people there are reporters; the other half are actors and producers from NBC shows. To give you an idea: Ali Larter and Hayden Panettiere of Heroes were there; Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, and Melora Hardin of The Office were milling about; Meredith Vieira was bonding with reporters; and Shane West, Linda Cardellini and Parminder Nagra of ER were talking into tape recorders (Parminder's nickname is "Mindy", by the way). There were others there, but those are the ones I remember.

Then there was Ed Helms. He was also at the party to represent The Office; but, unlike some of the other cast members, he wasn't exactly a veteran of press events like this. So he sticks by the bar, chatting it up with a friend (heck, I'd do the same thing if I were in his place). He happily but guardedly starts speaking to a small group of reporters (including me) who wanted to find out what it's like to be the guy who made Dwight Schrute likable. Then, all of a sudden, one of the women listening in starts to slowly slink to the floor.

A new report from Nielsen Media Research shows The Office is very popular among people who own DVRs. While the show only gets a national average rating of 3.7, it gets 8.7 with DVR owners. We already know that it's hugely popular on iTunes and now is NBC getting an idea of how we watch television: when we want and where we want. It should be interesting to see whether this Nielsen data about DVR owners changes the way networks choose their programming -- or at least maybe it'll change the way networks decide to cancel programs. After all, The Office would've been dead if it weren't for iTunes. What shows will DVRs save from termination?

Jon Stewart and the gang returned after a two-week break (riding high from his two Emmy wins, I suppose). "We wanted to come back on a day that felt, y'know, funny." Of course, the first news was regarding the controversy over the inaccuracies of ABC's 9/11 mini-series, "because, as you know, nothing is typically more accurate than a made-for-television movie." I loved the montage of Bush's Stages of Grief (denial, anger, anger, anger, Hanukkah, acceptance, denial).

I'm worried about The Daily Show.

As most fans of the show know by now, this is Rob Corddry's last week; he's leaving so he can concentrate on his new Fox sitcom The Winner, among other projects. He's the last of the three "Big Cs" -- Corddry, Carell, Colbert -- that helped bring the show into its own in the early part of the decade, perfecting their particular reporter roles to the point where the humor came as much out of their characters as from making fun of the news or profile subject. Colbert was the poorly-informed smug guy; Carell was pathetic, and Corddry was the Masshole. High comedy all around. And now, he's taking off, just like the other two Cs before him.