A nitpicky error in the season finale of The Office

When Michael reluctantly gives Toby his watch during the exit interview, Toby says he'll set the watch for Costa Rica time. From what I can tell, Costa Rica is in the same timezone as Scranton.

*sigh* I'm a nerd.

UPDATE: check the comments for the subsequent drama that has unfolded since I posted this.

Blast and wretch! Some TV shows won't be back until Fall - and other news

Chuck, in particular, is said to not be returning until Fall. @!#$$@#! Chuck is the ultimate show for geeks and wanna-be-geeks, such as myself. Brilliant little references to stuff only a geek would know and love (like a mention of "backseat perking" while playing COD4) make this show one of my favorites.

While Chuck my have the summer off, reports are saying that The Office has a script or two almost complete which means it may be coming back sooner than others. Same with 30 Rock. Nice.

In other news, some friends of ours forced us, under duress, to watch the Lost pilot this weekend. Maybe it was the fact that it's been built up so much, or maybe it was that I'd heard enough tid-bits here and there to spoil it but...it was good. Not addictive good, but good. I know Matt will be thrilled to hear I watched it but gnashing his teeth in unholy rage that I didn't instantly become a believer.

In other-other news, I'm quickly approaching my 500th post for The Other Drummer (this is post no. 494). Yay me. My sister in-law said she wants to throw a very exclusive party in honor of the event, but since she's in Idaho at school I'm doubtful it will happen, although I appreciate the sentiment. To that end, gifts and cash donations are always welcome. (I don't yet have a PayPal account, but if you wanted to give me money I'd set one up.)

Jumping back a topic or two, which shows are you most excited to see back on the air? Leave word in the comments.

Chuck image from here.

Writer's strike may be over

According to this article on USA Today as well as some other rumblings around the Internet, it looks like the writer's strike could be over as soon as Monday. Unfortunately, many shows won't be on for another four to six weeks. Lame. I'm having Chuck and 30 Rock withdrawals. Not so much The Office for some reason.

Oh yeah. And that could mean we see an Arrested Development movie coming out within the next year or two. NICE.

Need a an invite to NBC's Hulu.com private beta? Tech Crunch has a few thousand

As was mentioned here, NBC pulled their content from iTunes and started their own web-based streaming video service. It's called Hulu and at the moment it's in private beta which means you need an invite to check out your favorite shows from The Office to Arrested Development to 30 Rock.

Well TechCrunch got an allotment of about 2,500 invites for their readers. As of this posting there are over 2,000 left, so jump on over and get yours by clicking here.

NBC offering free episode downloads

OK. NBC pulled their content from iTunes. The world called them fools. But, were we all wrong? Did they have something better up their sleeves?

Unbelievable! They're going to allow people* to download** their shows for FREE***!






*Only Windows users
**All downloads will automatically be deleted after three weeks
***Episodes are embedded with advertising that cannot be skipped

Apple to NBC: good luck morons

It's official: Apple has decided to not renew their contract with NBC to sell their TV shows through the iTunes music store.

Their reasoning? (Via their official press release.)

Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99.

Sounds like NBC got cocky (which, I realize, is an ironic statement when Apple is on the other side of the equation). Are they going to use a different distribution model?

Someone thinks so. A comment from Digg: "So they're going back to torrents..."

In equally disturbing news, I won't be able to get my fourth season of The Office as soon as each episode airs. Well, there's $30 less bucks in lost revenue for NBC.

The Office Season 4 intro: here's what happened over the summer

Hour-long episodes for the first four weeks! Boo-ya baby!

After seeing the clip, does anyone have predictions about what the first few episodes will be about?

The Office finale predictions

The Office posts have been noticeably absent from this blog, mainly because I haven't been that impressed with season three (I've found many episodes a bit formulaic, and what's with going on multi-month stretches without new episodes??).

That being said, last week's episode was pretty good and clearly set the stage for the season finale this week. First, some background. Then some predictions.

Michael got called by the CFO to come interview for a job.

Jim and Karen are also interviewing for the same job.

Here's what I think is going to happen:

Michael isn't really being considered for the job, but was invited to interview to keep up appearances. Before he gets too far into the interview, he'll down the position out of a sense of honor and loyalty to the Scranton Branch (despite the fact it was never going to be offered to him in the first place).

Jim will really be offered the job. He won't take it though, because he wants to see what will happen with Pam.

Karen, by default, will get the job. Jim, being the good guy he is, won't tell her he was offered it first. Ta-da. Karen is out of the picture, we're even more endeared toward Jim and we get to wait until next season to find out what happens with him and Pam.

Maybe it won't be that simple. They sure shocked everyone at the end of season two, although I can't imagine what they could do that would leave us hanging that much.

What are your predictions?

Unsympathetic

Last night's episode of The Office ("The Merger") was mediocre. It was mainly plot-driven with bits of comedy here and there (such as Michael's "slave" comment and the breast pump). Fine, but not outstanding like last week's.

The big reveal was that Jim is now dating Karyn. (Well, that and the fact that Creed is fast with a camera.) I don't know if we're supposed to be feeling sorry for Pam, but I'm certainly not. I haven't really liked the way her character has developed this season and lack of communication/chemistry between the two for so long means any hopes I had of them getting back together have disappeared. He laid his heart out there, she shot him down and now I'm supposed to feel bad for her? Sorry chica. I'm rooting for Karyn.

The Office...rocked

Last Thursday's episode, "Branch Closing", was awesome. It completely redeemed last week's. My favorite part, by far, was Jim sending Dwight faxes from himself...from the future. Hilarious.

Stay tuned for this Thursday's episode: The Merger.

The Office...sucked

I can't believe I'm writing this but The Office last week (Diwalli) really blew. I'm a die-hard Office fan but...wow...it stunk. It seems there were a lot of things started but nothing resolved. (Pam's text message to Jim, for example.) And what was with the whole drinking game thing at the Stamford branch?? Not only did it not contribute to the plot at all, but it kind of tainted my perception of Jim's character. The small glimpses we have of the Stamford branch are usually gems within the show. Not last week. I kept waiting for something to come of it but...nothing. Even Jim falling over in the bush was predictable.

The episode was also noticeably lacking in talking head interviews. Overall, I don't think I laughed once...even when I watched it again later.

I've heard talk of the it serving as a sort of an "Empire Strikes Back" episode where it acts as a foundation for everything to be resolved this week. Perhaps, but it sounds like this week's episode is pretty significant in and of itself.

I suppose we'll find out in about ten minutes.

Looking forward to 9/12

Apple is holding a special event scheduled for the 12th, it's enough to make me wet myself with giddy anticipation. It's pretty obvious by this invitation that iTunes is going to start carrying full-length movies. I'm not interested in that unless it comes coupled with a new media distribution system for the home. However, the idea of new iMacs (23 inches of LCD beauty), revamped iPods and this article, about the apparent up-and-coming announcement of the iPhone make me tingle.


In addition, The Office Season 2 DVD is released that day with four discs, something like eight hours of deleted scenes and 17 minutes of bloopers. (And the bloopers aren't going to be lame like some you find in Bonus Features. Word on the street is that they're going to be hilarious.) I can't wait.

The Office Webisodes

NBC has produced The Office Webisodes for those thirsting for more Office goodness between seasons two and three.

The premise is this: there's $3,000 missing and the accounting department needs to find it. They're going through a series of interigations with each of the "lesser" characters to find out who stole it. They've hinted that they think it's Michael, but I'm sure it's not. (For one thing, they can't fire him.)

Creed, on the other hand, is a self-declared thief with an apparent criminal history (when he had his security badge photo taken he turned sideways for a profile shot after the initial picture was taken, as if getting mugshots had become habit).

So there you have it. I think it's Creed.

You can check out the webisodes here.

The Office Season 2 DVD

I was reading Jenna Fischer's myspace (no, I do not have a life) and aside from learning a lot about her favorite sandals, she mentioned they recorded the DVD commentary for season two and it will be out in September.

Here's the link to the blog article (in case you too lack a life).

UPDATE: Additional research has revealed that the DVD will be released September 12th and is a 4-disc set. Amazon has it available for preorder for $35.

Missing The Office

Last night I had a meeting that was, unfortunately, scheduled at 8:00. Alas, I was to miss a new episode of The Office. Fortunately, Apple is marvelous and I consoled myself in the point that I could download the episode this morning on iTunes and watch it on my iPod at the gym.

What, ho! I awake this morning and THE NEW EPISODE ISN'T AVAILABLE!

I mourned for a bit, and then the ol' brain started spinning. Why wasn't it available? What could cause such a fallacy?

Here are three theories:

1. Someone fell asleep at the wheel and it just didn't get done. The most likely scenario, but also the most boring.

2. B.J. Novak read my blog from yesterday, felt threatened, and retaliated.

3. Apple is planning on some kind of significant upgrade to their video content/distribution for their 30th Anniversary this weekend and are holding off on releasing anything new until it's launched.

Update: It was finally put up at about 10:00 this morning. (It was actually put on iTunes before I wrote this. But I needed to blog about something today.)

I swear I just saw B.J. Novak

I was concepting with an art director across the street in a hotel lobby (we have to do that now since there isn't a concepting room here anymore) when, I could swear, B.J. Novak (the intern, Ryan, in The Office) walked out of the elevators and past us.

I instinctively did the "Hey, I recognize you from somewhere" head nod, but didn't realize at first who I was, or thought I was, looking at. I told a doubtful Ryan to take a look. He at least confirmed the incredible likeness.

What sealed the deal for me though was that when "B.J." walked out of the building, I noticed he was wearing a new Puma hat (and, as you can see from the picture, The Office gang recently signed an endorsement deal with Puma).

Granted, I have no idea what he would be doing in Salt Lake and at that specific hotel, but I'm pretty darn sure it was him.

What would I have done if he'd walked back toward the elevators instead of outside? Eh. Probably asked if it was him, and if it was have said, "The show's great. Keep up the good work." Nothing too exciting, but I'm not really the stalker type.