Watching Sitcoms

I apologize that I haven’t been blogging lately. Between illness and the holidays, things have just gotten away from me. But I’m here today, so enjoy. *giggle*

One interesting thing that has happened recently is that I was approached to assist as a judge for the Hulu Awards. These are new, created by “The Hulu Man.” Here’s a link to his blog, The Hulu Review. There are many categories and a whole plan for how and when we vote, which I’m not even going to attempt to explain. If you’re really interested, you can read all about it on his blog.

I was just really honored to be asked to be a judge. And it’s been fun.

Right now, I’m going to be putting some polls on this site for anyone who is interested in taking part in the Hulu Awards, too. This first poll is for the final vote for Best Comedy TV series, and the nominees are: 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Office, Saturday Night Live, and The Simpsons.

I’m pretty sure I’ve spoken about most of those shows on this blog at one time or another. As for me, my favorites are Arrested Development and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of course, anyone who has read this or any of my other blogs for any length of time, must be aware that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my all time most best favorite show ever. Ever.

So, and I’m not trying to sway anyone’s vote or anything like that, if you are going to vote in the poll (and please do), I think you know which show deserves your vote.

I’m so excited cause Big Bang Theory will be back on Monday, September 22, 2008. Finally a sitcom I can watch and talk about instead of all these other shows I’ve been reviewing, cause, well, I have to talk about something, right?

Not only is Big Bang Theory back starting at 8:00 pm ET, but CBS is also following with the season premieres of How I Met Your Mother, Two and Half Men and the series premiere of Worst Week. I know where I’ll be Monday night.

This is actually a big week for the sitcom, as Wednesday night, September 24, marks the season premiere (also on CBS) of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8:00 pm ET, and the series premiere of Gary Unmarried at 8:30 pm ET. They are joined on Wednesday nights by the already started Til Death at 9:00 pm and Do Not Disturb at 9:30 pm on FOX.

Then on Thursday, September 25, we have the season premiere of My Name is Earl on NBC at 8:00 pm ET, followed by another new episode of Earl at 8:30 pm ET, and then the hour-long season premiere of The Office at 9:00 pm ET.

I know people keep saying the sitcom is dead, and maybe that’s true of the good old fashioned family sitting in the living room with their TV dinners watching together kinda sitcom, but perhaps there’s a new form of situation comedy for now.

Another new show that’s premiering this week, which is not a sitcom, but I wanted to mention anyway, is The Mentalist, which airs on Tuesday, September 23 at 9:00 pm ET on CBS. Apparently, its the story of a former fake psychic who uses his heightened observation abilities to assist the police in solving crimes. Can you say Psych, anyone?

My research hit a little snag with NBC in that their website made it a little hard to find a page for each show that just had words I could read. Everything was a video, which might work great in some cases, but for me it doesn’t. I want things all written out, like what the show is about, who’s in it, and when it airs. Plus, I’m doing this while my husband watches TV next to me, so I often have to turn the sound off. Although, there was an interesting looking vid with Zach Levi of Chuck talking about all the new shows on NBC this year. I may go back and watch that when I get a chance.

Anyway, I did find out some stuff about new sitcoms on NBC and I can only find one. I did see references to several other new shows, however, and some new shows coming in 2009, but I’m not concerned with those right now.

So, the only new sitcom I saw this Fall for NBC was Kath and Kim which premieres on Thursday, October 9, 2008, at 8:30 pm ET. This is based on an Australian comedy of the same name. In our version, Kath (played by Molly Shannon) is sexy divorced mom to Kim (Selma Blair). Kim, also recently separated from her husband, returns home hoping to go back to being the spoiled princess she was growing up. Mom has no interest in that, as she is finally finding time for herself.

Maybe this will be funny, but I’m not a big fan of Molly Shannon. I might give it a chance. We’ll see.

As for returning sitcoms, there is 30 Rock (back on Thursday 10/30 at 9:30 pm ET), The Office (Thursday 9/25 at 9:00 pm ET) and My Name is Earl (Thursday 9/25 at 8:00 pm ET).

It looks like lots of good stuff is coming our way for Spring, now that the strike is over, both new and returning. I’m still sifting through them trying to decide which, if any, of the new shows I want to add to my increasingly full TV schedule. And which of the returning shows I want to continue to watch.

Sitcom-wise, here’s what to expect and when to expect it:

Sunday, March 2
Unhitched on Fox - 9:30 pm

Friday, March 14
The Return of Jezebel James on Fox - 8:00 pm

Monday, March 17
The Big Bang Theory on CBS - 8:00 pm
How I Met Your Mother on CBS - 8:30 pm
Two and a Half Men on CBS - 9:00 pm

Monday, March 18
Miss Guided on ABC- 10:30 pm; regular time Thurs, 3/21 at 8:00 pm

Monday, April 2
Samantha Who? on ABC - 9:30 pm

Thursday, April 3
My Name is Earl on NBC - 8:00 pm

Thursday, April 10
30 Rock on NBC - 8:30 pm
The Office on NBC - 9:00 pm
Scrubs on NBC - 9:30 pm

Monday, April 14
The Rules of Engagement on CBS - 9:30 pm

Other shows, new and returning, starting tonight, Sunday March 2:
Oprah’s Big Give on ABC at 9:00 pm
Canterbury’s Law on Fox at 9:30 pm
Here Come the Newlyweds on ABC at 10:00 pm
Dirt on FX at 10:00 pm; Second season premiere

So have fun watching something new and, hopefully, interesting for a change!

This weekend, I took a Benylin day. Well, I didn’t really take any Benylin, but I was just so tired and achy and sick feeling, I decided I deserved a couple of days to rest. So I stayed home Sunday and Monday, all warmly wrapped in blankets, sleeping and watching DVDs. Since I had the time, I gave in and watched another ep of The Office. It was Business School (ep 16 from Season 3) and I watched that particular episode because Joss Whedon directed it. And you know how I love Joss. I mean, really, really love him. I kept thinking that if Joss is a fan of this show, I must be missing something.

So I saw it and I’m not gonna say I loved it or anything but it wasn’t as bad as the eps I saw from the first season. I mean, the parts with Michael behaving like an embarrassing jerk were still unwatchable for me, but overall it was OK. I did like seeing that Michael was the only one from work that went to see Pam’s art show. I mean for a jerk, he can be a nice guy.

I did, however, enjoy Jim pretending that the bat bit him and convincing Dwight that he was turning into a vampire. Of course, I’m also a huge vampire fan, and being that it was Joss with the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer association, it made me like it even more. But I’m pretty sure that a bat bite will not turn you into a vampire. Well, at least Joss never told me if it does.

The Office, Steve Carell, Joss Whedon

Well, I finally did it. I sat and watched an episode of The Office. OK, so I didn’t really watch the whole thing, but I did watch part of it. See this is what happened. We were all sitting around and decided to watch the first season. So we’re watching the pilot ep, and the other people with me (my husband, my mom and my friend) were all laughing at stuff and I sat there thinking “what’s so funny?” Then I started to cringe a little, cause it just got more and more embarrassing and I hate to be embarrassed or to be around people who are embarrassing.

I don’t know, maybe if it had a laugh track it would take away some of the awkward feel. I just got more and more uncomfortable and finally, I left the room. I did come back when they put the second ep on, but again, I kept hiding my head so that I wouldn’t have to look at all the embarrassing and uncomfortable stuff they did. I wanted to watch it. Really I did. I wanted to see what people think is so funny, but suddenly, I just wanted to get away from it.

Maybe I’ll try it again. Someday, when The Office is on, I’ll sit quietly, all alone, and watch it. It’s possible that it was made more embarrasing for me by the fact that other people were in the room. I’ll give it another shot. Someday.

But honestly, I don’t get what people think is so very funny about it.

The Office, Steve Carell

I’ve been trying to keep up with what’s happening with the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) Strike. It’s only been a week, and already some sitcoms (just after the late night talk shows) are feeling the impact, which is sad.

One affected adversely is The Office, as Steve Carell is also a writer for the show. It makes me think I should go get the DVDs and start watching it. I know I’m weird. The show is off and now I wanna watch it.

I’m particularly unhappy about The Big Bang Theory, which I am really enjoying so much. I hadn’t realized that sitcoms were missing from my life until I started to watch it this year and now . . . I’m losing it so soon. Other stopped sitcoms include Back To You, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and ‘Til Death. So what if I never watched them. Someone did, I’m sure of it.

Desperate Housewives is done and the premiere of 24 has been postponed. I believe I read somewhere that Lost was good, as all the eps had been written, which makes me a bit more happy knowing I have that to look forward to. Although some actors won’t cross the picket lines to shoot, so who knows.

The only up side I can see is that many shows go on a hiatus over the holidays for other programming anyway, so maybe we’ll all be too busy roasting turkey and making cookies to realize what’s gone until January. A girl can hope.

Writers Guild of America Strike, The Office, Back To You, Big Bang Theory, 24, Desperate Housewives, Lost