Well, hello there!

Two quick things, which I was tempted to tumbl, but that would feel like a betrayal, you know?

Anyway, via El Sam, more good news! (Also, the line, "just to remind everyone --[the new show] is not a spinoff of 'The Office,'" [Michael Shur] said. "It is a spinoff of 'MASH' called 'Seinfeld II.'" has been making me giggle all day.)

Also, my train of thought, having read this article:
1) Well, clearly that headline is going to be ripped in about 30 seconds...
2) wait, hasn't that already happened in Law and Order? Why is reality so behind the times?
3) This article is basically giving those prone to illegal activity a How-to guide, right? Give someone your metrocard for the afternoon (or night, or whenever the optimal hours for criminal hijinks might be), then go and commit whatever crime you want to commit, then get your card back and claim it as your alibi!
4) This will be ripped from the headlines by the end of the year (or, at the very least, this is a crime scene that will be investigated...it's sort of science-y! They'd love it!). Mark my words.

The Debates

So, I've been saying for a while now that the debates could go well in two ways for Obama: The Kennedy way, and the Bartlet way.

I think the Kennedy way is more likely--he'll stand there looking dashing and tall and young, ready for the New Frontier, and McCain will look very much like, well, like Nixon, only older and creepier and generally worse. Undecideds will be swayed based on looks alone.

The other way, the more exciting way, is significantly less likely, seeing as, you know, it's fictional. Basically, in the fourth season of The West Wing, for those of you who never made it that far, Bartlet goes up against the dumb, folksy Governor of a Southern state (Florida, not Texas, but the parallel was pretty damn apparent). The whole reelection campaign struggles for weeks and months, trying to figure out how to make Bartlet seem more likable, trying to figure out how to beat "Gov. Richie" at his own game. They eventually realize that this is an idiotic tactic--Bartlet may have folksy, grandfatherly instincts, but he is, at his core, a brilliant, Pulitzer-prize winning economist and professor. He is, in other words, an elitist. So, they go with their strengths, and just intellectually overwhelm Richie in the debates. Bartlet crushes him so thoroughly that Richie actually gives a prelude to his concession speech as they shake hands once the sparring is over. Now, obviously, that rapid conclusion was simply a way to expeditiously end that particular plot point, and it was cathartic fantasy for people still reeling from Gore's loss (ie, the entire audience of The West Wing), but, I mean, the parallels to the current situation are pretty shockingly clear.

So, yeah, while I would settle for Obama winning a beauty contest on Friday, what I really want to happen when he steps out on that stage is for him to not worry about being seen as "an elitist" or "celebrity," and instead, just utterly trounce McCain. I mean, so completely and entirely that even the most backwards, ignorant people in the country have to admit that, yeah, this is the guy for the job.

I'm not the only one who's seen the parallels.

I generally have no feelings one way or another about Maureen Dowd, but really, she's in my Top Ten right now...there is absolutely nothing I can imagine preferring to stumble across in my never-ending quest to avoid work:
A fictional dialog (written at the behest of Dowd), between Bartlet and Obama...written by Sorkin himself. It's a little shaky at first, but once he hits his stride (along with his familiar notes), then Bartlet really gets going...and man, I hope non-fictional Obama is listening. And that the Richies/McCains/Palins are all shaking in their respective boots.

Poor Tina!

"But then my kid saw [Palin] on TV and said, `That's Mommy!'" [Fey] said.

(Huffington Post)

I guess this is the only thing I ever write slash think about...

but this is the greatest sentence I've read in a while:

"Once her baby (gender unknown) arrives, Poehler and husband Will Arnett head to Los Angeles to shoot her new NBC sitcom, created by The Office's Greg Daniels and Mike Schur."
(USA Today)

Weekend Plans!

This was just dumped in my box, along with a handful of manuscripts I'll inevitably have to reject in a week or two.
405 minutes? I can do that in a weekend, no problem. Won't even break a sweat. (although, I guess, too be fair...there aren't too many people who break into a sweat while forcing themselves to, um...sit.)

Testing My Faith

I mean, there's an extremely high probability that I'll see this, no matter what, but all the same, Aaron Sorkin, you seem pretty determined to stay away from things you're actually good at writing about, slash, things that are actually interesting...
Now, all the same, I am curious to see what he'll do...will it be a RomCom? A Thriller? A...gripping political drama? (okay, I don't have a link for that one...) I guess we'll just have to wait and see, as Bartlet might say, what's next.

UPDATE: Err...I guess it's going to be about the founding of Facebook? (it would probably help if I read more than the first paragraph of articles I link to...) I suppose that's closer to a gripping political drama than any other Facebook angle could be...

Um...

I'd watch it; no question.

Breaking News!

Watching trailers (while at work) with no sound, while compulsively clicking away from that particular window on the off chance that a VIP should walk by, is an incredibly unsatisfying activity.

This, of course, hasn't stopped me from spending the past half hour or so doing just that.

So Much for Dodging a Bullet...

Oh NBC, this is a poor, poor decision. Why would you not just take the out you gave yourself and leave it at that?

(thanks, Elsa!)

Sorry, Obams!

Such a good day for TV news!!!

First: The Office spin-off is a) now going to star Amy Poehler, and b) is no longer being considered a "spin-off," but is instead just a thing being done by some folks who used to do (still do?) some stuff with that show based on that English show...which, really, is a huge relief. I still hope Karen Fillapelli makes an appearance, though..

Second: The new FOX show, Do Not Disturb, which I hadn't given any thought to one way or another until maybe five minutes ago, beyond the fact that I have vaguely positive, Stand By Me-related feelings about Jerry O'Connell, is now...well...high up on my Remember to Watch list. Apparently, it's being directed by Jason Bateman, and Abraham Higginbotham is one of the writers. Allow me to say, "!!!!!"

So yeah. While I don't really pretend to know a whole lot (or, some might say, anything at all) about this industry, I guess it makes sense that a lot of the new shows coming after the Writers Strike (should that be capitalized? Should there be an apostrophe floating around there somewhere?) are coming from people who have a good track record (or at least, a track record at all). I assume, since there a) wasn't as much material available, and b) there wasn't as much time to vet new pilots, the networks felt safer going with shows that had some Name Brand Value attached...I mean, I guess that's shitty for people trying to break into that world, but, really, if it means more Office, or more Arrested Development, or more Buffy, or more Lost/Alias (by way of Dawson's Creek, no less!), then really, I'm all for it.
Of course, I've been burned before (I'm looking at you, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Aaron Sorkin!), but yeah. I'm pretty excited. Old is the new New!

Good news day.