I am – Hercules!!

NBC returns from repeats tonight with its strongest comedy block in many a year.

Some notes on “The Office,” which launches its sixth season tonight in hilarious form:

* The episode gets a lot funnier after the first act.

* 6.1 begins with Michael, Dwight and Andy acting like nine-year-olds, practicing what they claim to be parkour. NBC doesn’t forward HD screeners so we’ll have to wait to see if Ed Helms did his own stunts.

* I deem Helms the episode’s MVP.

* We pick up on “the last day of summer interns,” which suggests Pam’s been knocked up for a while.

* Kelly Erin is still the Scranton branch’s receptionist.

* “We have not told people about Pam’s situation,” allows Jim.

* We learn big news about a member of the Scranton branch’s staff. (Hint: not Angela.)

* We learn Kevin in unlikely to win big on “Wheel of Fortune.”

* Michael begins making up gossip to further his very weak-minded agenda.

* Andy’s reaction to the rumor Michael makes up about him is really funny.

* Many of Michael’s rumors got laughs out of me, but the one he makes up about Dwight was my favorite.

Outtakes from the series’ 100th episode from last May, “Company Picnic”:

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Some notes on tonight’s “Parks and Recreation,” which gets off to a strong second-season start:

* Despite the fact that Anne and Andy are no longer a couple, “Everwood”/“OC” vet Chris Pratt has been added to the title sequence.

* Andy’s storyline has taken a pretty funny turn.

* Leslie becomes a hero of Pawnee’s homosexual community and the scourge of Pawnee’s anti-homosexual community when she accidentally marries two male penguins.

* While it’s not cool to say the word “Basterds” on CBS at 7:30 p.m., it’s totally cool to depict two male penguins having sex on NBC at 8:30 p.m.

* Offal is flung, but not by the penguins.

* Leslie is surprised to learn The Bulge is Pawnee’s gay bar.

* “They might die, but it would be so cute!”

***

NBC launches tonight also a revival of “SNL Thursdays,” which was the network’s top-rated scripted series last autumn. I think only six live episodes have been ordered, but if it somehow does as well as it did during the election year I suspect “Community” or “30 Rock” could be bumped to another night.

If “SNL Thursdays” doesn’t beat NBC’s sitcoms (and who knows what’ll happen now that it has to compete with “Survivor,” “Bones,” “FlashForward” and “The Vampire Diaries”), well, we’re only three years from another election.

“SNL Thursday”: 8 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
“Parks and Recreation”: 8:30 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
“The Office”: 9 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
“Community”: 9:30 p.m. Thursday. NBC.

To anticipate the question, “30 Rock” returns Oct. 15.

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