TVSquad

Poor Buffy. You'd think that with a life-threatening job like Vampire Slayer, she'd at least get a break once a year, on her birthday. No such luck for Buffy, but great luck for the viewers; we get really meaningful episodes, with significance to both the story arc and insight to the characters' motivations. Buffy's birthday episodes have been some of the strongest of the series.

Season One
These is no birthday episode in season one, since the series began as a mid-season replacement.

Season Two, episode 13, "Surprise"
In this episode, the Scooby Gang throws a surprise party for Buffy, but that is only one minor surprise in an episode filled with significant surprises. We learn that Jenny Calendar is actually "Janna of the Kalderash Gypsies" and that her people were the ones who cursed Angel's soul. Oz gets his surprise when he finds out that vampires are real and that Buffy is the Slayer.

Most people have a song or two that strongly reminds them of their college years. Mine is "Anything, Anything," by the relatively obscure '80s alt-rock group Dramarama. I just love the abandon with which frontman John Easdale sings the chorus, especially at the end of the song: "I gave you candy/gave you diamonds/gave you pills/I gave you anything you want/hundred dollar bills/I'll even let you/hear the songs I want to sing/I'll give you anything, anything anything..."

Anyway, apparently, Ellen DeGeneres is also a fan; in fact, "Anything, Anything" is her favorite song, and she asks her DJ to play it during every commercial break. So for her 50th birthday, the DJ surprised her by bringing out Dramarama to play the song live. You can see the video after the jump (be patient - it takes a while to load).

Thank God You're Here, an improvisational show in which celebrities must walk into the middle of a scene and try to ad lib their way through it, will air on NBC April 9, but you can check out a few clips of the show on YouTube right now, courtesy of NBC. I've placed a scene with Tom Arnold after the jump for your harsh judgment.

While I'm a huge fan of improv, having seen more than a few Second City performances, not to mention both the British and American versions of Whose Line is it Anyway? (the British one is better), I have to say that, based only on these short clips, Thank God You're Here lacks the cohesiveness and professionalism that made Whose Line so enjoyable. When I watched Whose Line, I knew the performers were professionals and could handle anything, but watching Jason Alexander and Tom Arnold struggle through their scenes just pulls me in too many directions: one moment I'm laughing and the next moment I'm worried the actors are just going to freeze up.

I think the show will be worth a look, but something tells me it won't be the most consistent comedy on television.