TV Tidbits

No, not another book review, but instead a few TV notes on this Thursday:

I realize this is yesterday’s news by now, but NBC renewed Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office for next season, and it seems like Perfect Couples may not be back. I can only assume this blog played a large role in these decisions. If only we can get NBC to move Community ahead 30 minutes in the rotation. On a semi-related note (or distantly related), Hulu.com is having a best in show bracket and the final four has Community (which has trounced the competition so far) squaring off against Chuck, and House (which defeated Mad Men last round) taking on Dexter. On a more depressing note it looks like Mad Men Season 5 might get pushed back until later this fall or even 2012. Nooo!!!! The withdrawal symptoms have already begun.

A few quick comments on tonight’s The Office: Blogs are out?! At least that’s what Ryan said, but hopefully he’s wrong. Either way, I’m usually a couple of years behind the trends, so I’ll be blogging long after it’s gone out of style. And even though I thought it was a good episode overall, what was with the proposal? Michael setting up a ton of candles and the sprinklers going off? Thumbs up. The entire office standing in the kitchen with candles taking turns proposing to Holly? I almost threw up in my mouth. And why would Holly and Michael leave their jobs and home in Pennsylvania to go take care of her parents and not just bring her parents to Pennsylvania? I mean, besides the fact that this was how they are writing Michael Scott off the show?

And finally, Mrs. and I don’t always agree on what to watch on television, but most of the time we compromise and watch what she wants. But one of the shows we both enjoy is Chopped on The Food Network. So of course we’ve been watching Chopped All-Stars (where they’ve taken 16 contestants, ranging from old The Next Food Network Star losers, to The Next Iron Chef losers, to Food Network stars, and some of the Chopped judges). The first two episodes of Chopped All-Stars haven’t disappointed. In the second episode four Food Network stars squared off against each other and Mrs. said it was her favorite episode ever. It was pretty amazing to see how much better the professionals were than the average contestant on the show. The judges, who are usually pretty critical (part of what makes the show great) were fighting each other to praise the dishes. The first episode pitting four former The Next Food Network Star contestants featured the funniest moment ever on the show (I guess I’ll throw a spoiler alert out there if you intend to watch). On the show we’ve seen contestants run out of time, either not getting all of their food on the plates, or just flat out forgetting to use a mystery ingredient. But in the appetizer course of the first Chopped All-Stars episode, one of the contestants took it to a new level, leaving out not one, not two, but THREE of the mystery ingredients off the plate. What?! Just throw the crap on the plate, this is a competition. I could make something in 30 minutes that only involved an egg. Hey, at least it was good for a laugh.