OFFICE!! SUSPECT!! NORM!! CHUCK!! WHO!! SMALLVILLE!! SURVIVOR!! SUPERNATURAL!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Season six of “The Office” dealt with the collapse and absorption of Dunder Mifflin, the reveal of Pam’s pregnancy, her wedding to Jim Halpert (one of the highest rated things on NBC last season), Michael and Dwight dating two members of the wedding party, Andy continuing to circle Kelly Erin, Oscar’s love for one of Daryl’s men, Scott’s Tots, Jim’s demotion, Daryl’s promotion, the birth of the new Halpert, and Sabre’s flame-spewing printers. Yes, I think the series has had funnier seasons, but I also think Dwight Schrute keeps this series worth tuning in for. Loved his outrage at being accused of using store-bought fertilizer. Loved the fates he designated for the others in his spinning class. COMMENTARIES: * “Niagara.” Series mastermind Greg Daniels and director Paul Feig. * “Niagara.” Producer Randy Cordray, assistant director Kelly Cantley, production designer Michael Gallenberg, editor Claire Scanlon, script supervisor Veda Semarne and producers’ assistant Mary Wall. * “Murder.” Daniels, writer-producer Daniel Chun and actress Ellie Kemper. * “Secret Santa.” Kemper, Scanlon and writer-producer-actress Mindy Kaling. * “The Delivery.” Daniels, Chun, writer-producer Charlie Grandy, director Seth Gordon, and actress Jenna Fischer. * “Happy Hour.” Writer-producer-actor B.J. Novak, director Matt Sohn, actress Angela Kinsey and actors Oscar Nunez and Brian Baumgartner. OTHER EXTRAS: * “Secret Santa” extended producer’s cut (29:43). * More than two hours of deleted scenes from every episode except “Secret Santa,” “Sabre” and “The Whistleblower.” * “Welcome to Sabre” (:59). Christian Slater is your host. * “Season Six Bloopers” (23:49). One of the funniest I’ve seen. It elicited many tears. * “The Podcast” (9:21). Sabre’s Gabe, jealous of Oscar’s popular blog, works to increase his own Internet presence. Creed reveals he lives in a tent with a woman made of old soup cans. Grandy directs from a screenplay by Wall. * “Promos: Canada Games” (2:05) Michael, Dwight, Jim and Pam discuss the 2010 Olympics. * “Parks And Recreation” episode: “The Hunting Trip,” scripted by longtime “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” writer Daniel Goor. * Beneath the discs are the faces of the cast members pressed into a photocopy machine, looking much like Zod, Ursa and Non.

Season six comes in both DVD and Blu-ray.

A 2000 British Film Institute poll picked “Prime Suspect” as the 68th British TV series. (It fell between “Civilisation” and “The Likely Lads.” The number-one on that list, for the record, was “Fawlty Towers.” “Cathy Come Home” was number two. “Doctor Who” number three. “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” number five. “Brideshead Revisited” number 10. Time Magazine picked “Suspect” as one of the 100 best series of all time from any nation. James Poniewozik’s explanation:

The title of this British series may have referred to the targets of crime investigations, but the chief person of interest was always detective Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren). A cop with a drinking problem and unstable relationships, Tennison was better at chasing down killers than her personal demons. The series, created by writer Lynda La Plante, dealt with the special challenges Tennison faced as a woman officer—in one season, she has an abortion, which is neither condemned nor treated as a social statement—but not by making her a paragon. Tennison could be curt, volatile and simply unpleasant. But her weaknesses also made her empathetic and intuitive. Acted with daring and honesty by Mirren, Tennison made strengths of her weaknesses.

“Suspect,” which ran between 1991 and 2006, indeed focused on Tennison, a detective chief inspector of Scotland Yard. Only four female DCIs were employed by the London Metropolitan Police in 1991. Don’t let the size of the box fool you. It ran seven extremely (by American standards) short seasons, around 200 minutes each (except season four, which was closer to 300).

Persons Unknown is from Christopher McQuarrie, writer of “The Usual Suspects” and Remi Aubuchon (currently writing “Stargate Universe”). What I saw of it (perhaps four or five hours) was not nearly as good or as smart as “Usual Suspects.” It was, in fact, shockingly dopey and directionless. And I think NBC aired it during the summer (and eventually summer Saturdays) because network execs felt the same way. SPOILER. Here’s what I think happened in the final episode. Hottest brunette prisoner Janet Cooper escaped, then was imprisoned in a San Francisco hospital, then escaped from that hospital, then collected her daughter. In a board room filled with people in suits, an old guy with long white hippie hair complained that the lady in charge of the prison town was doing some kind of shitty job. Janet was then recaptured with minimal effort, as were all her fellow prisoners. The end. For those who insist there was never any intention to continue “Persons Unknown” beyond this year, here’s what showrunner Aubuchon said:

I’ll be honest, we did shoot it with the idea of it being an on-going series …

And I think what became the series finale bears this out.

1966’s “It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” which finally hits Blu-ray today, continues to prove funny and moving and a remarkably durable 25 minutes of animation. And it boasts that miraculous Vince Guaraldi jazz score even jazz-haters love.

After Norm Macdonald’s firing from Weekend Update by Don “I Know Comedy” Ohlmeyer, the comedian in 1999 co-created (with “Drew Carey Show” co-creator Bruce Helford) ABC’s “The Norm Show” (aka “Norm”), which cast Macdonald as a hard-living ex-NHL player whose compulsive gambling and tax evasion forced him into five years of court-ordered community service as a social worker. Sam Simon, showrunner on “The Simpsons” during its first few seasons, directed several of the earliest “Norm” episodes. It had a laughtrack. The box art features Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”), Artie Lange (“Mad TV”), Ian Gomez (“Cougar Town”) and Nikki Cox (“Las Vegas”), but the show also starred at various times Max Wright (“Buffalo Bill”), Faith Ford (“Murphy Brown”) and Kate Walsh (“Private Practice”). Tom Smothers played Norm and Artie’s dad in one of the last episodes. It was a silly show. Norm once tricked his boss into hiring his Wiener Dog as office help. In its first two seasons it did well sandwiched between “Two Guys and A Girl” and “The Drew Carey Show” on Wednesdays. For its third season “Norm” was consigned to ABC’s 9 p.m. Friday Death Slot between “The Trouble With Normal” and “Madigan Men,” where it perished.
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