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NBC Thursday Night Finales

Written by sdettorre

It’s that time of year again. No I’m not talking about Britney Spears being pregnant or American Idol narrowing down its playing field, I’m talking about something much more serious. I’m talking about waste management people…and that affects the whole damn planet, which is why I’m here to announce my candidacy for Sanitation Commissioner. Either that or talk about what time of year it really is, the time for TV series’ season finales.

The two season finales that I recently watched were My Name Is Earl and The Office. In the coming weeks The Simpsons, Family Guy, Grey’s Anatomy, 24, The OC and The Sopranos will all wrap up their seasons too. So will a bunch of other shows but I can only write about so much with all my other activities going on (watching TV, playing MLB 2K6, running for Sanitation Commissioner and so on). For this week’s column I’ll break down the two shows that, along with Deal or No Deal, have made NBC a relevant competitor in the Nielsen Ratings again.

My Name Is Earl
Premiering in September, My Name Is Earl has been a weekly can’t-miss program. The premise of the show is basically “what goes around comes around”. Earl, played by the great Jason Lee, led a life in complete opposite of the golden rule and did unto others as he damned well pleased. Then one day Earl bought a lottery card with a stolen $10 bill and hit the $100,000 jackpot. After he won he ran into the street and was promptly hit by a car sending him on this karma journey to undo every wrong he ever did. The season played out with Earl crossing items off his list that he felt were misdeeds against others. His list included acts like burning down a hot dog stand, not paying his taxes, stealing a police man’s badge, and faking his own death to break up with a woman. Along with Earl making amends the show sometimes showed what happened to the person of his misdeeds as a result of his actions. The rest of the cast includes Earl’s brother Randy (played by Ethan Suplee, the same guy who ended up going to Ithaca because Tom Green told the greatest story ever by a college tour guide), his ex-wife Joy who is played by Jaime Pressly (no need to explain who she is), Catalina the maid at the hotel Earl and Randy live at, and Joy’s current husband Darnell/Crab-Man (played by the rubber band guy in the old Office Max commercials). This cast of characters helps, or hinders, Earl as he attempts to right his many wrongs.

In the season finale, Earl made up his mind to give the money he won from the lottery to the guy who he stole the $10 from in the convenience store since it was with his money he bought the ticket with. Also, on the security camera he saw the guy intended to purchase the same ticket but realized he had no money. Randy was very much against this idea but Earl did it anyway. As a result, the Hickey Brothers were forced to eat moths and chip crumbs, got booted from the hotel they lived at and were forced to sell their El Camino. After the guy who Earl gave the money to changed his life he realized he couldn’t have the money and eventually gave it back to Earl. He came to this realization after being hit by a bus. Earl took this return of his money to mean one thing and one thing only, that karma wants for him to have this money so he can go about correcting every wrong he’s ever done and so there will be something new in each week’s episode. Because if he lost his money and couldn’t afford to fix his errs then NBC is without a show. I look at it to also mean one thing and one thing only. And that is on TV comedies (not in real life of course) it is always funny when someone gets hit by a moving vehicle.

The Office
If there is a funnier show on TV I haven’t seen it. The Office stars the very funny Steve Carell and a cast of complimentary characters. There’s Kevin the fat guy, Dwight the kiss-ass, Pam the girl-next-door assistant, Jim the young guy who seems a little lost and is also in love with Pam even though she’s engaged, and Ryan the temp, among others. Ryan the temp is also a writer for the show. He’s about 26 years old. It’s worth mentioning I think. We could be witnessing the Mozart of situational comedy here and I suggest we enjoy it while we can.

The 2nd season of The Office concluded with a Monte Carlo night in the warehouse of Dunder Mifflin, the paper company where The Office is set. Michael (Carell) thinks he’s playing two women off one another but was discouraged when he found out they would both be attending the festivities, thus hating on his player ways. He put Dwight on patrol to make sure the two women never came face to face. He told Michael they were both there as he was standing in between them making the introductions. Having Dwight watch your back is as foolish as marrying a low-life backup dancer with two kids and no financial prospects and then procreating with him. Twice. Michael actually ends up playing them off each other fairly well, which is right up there with the U.S. beating the Russians in hockey in the 1980 Olympics as far as miracles go. Personally I think he chose poorly in going with his realtor over his boss. Jan, the boss, is attractive, financially set and recently-divorced so she’s probably on the rebound. Looks, money and emotional insecurity…now there’s a triple threat.

Speaking of decisions to be made, at the end of the episode Jim finally told Pam that he loved her. She, being engaged, replied that she couldn’t do anything about it and valued his friendship. Jim then said he didn’t want to be her friend, a fantastic line by the way. Pam left and Jim was tearing up. Allow me to say for those who may be unfamiliar with this unrequited love that Jim felt for Pam. Think Ducky and Andie in Pretty in Pink, Seth Cohen and Summer in the 1st season of The OC, or Jason Mellon and Valerie Desmond from Back to School and you have three solid examples of how Jim felt about Pam. He even followed her into the office and laid one on her. She kissed him back as the show went to fade. This might be a greater love story in the making than Denise Richards and Richie Sambora. Of course there is that small matter of Pam being engaged to a guy who could use Jim as a javelin.

But that’s what Season Three is for. See you in September.

If you’ve got something to tell me, let me hear it at tvdinner90210@yahoo.com