also, we really truly do want a talkback for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...I wrote you a really sweet email about it...

This will be the first 30 Rock I have intentionally missed.

I had a better time watching Kenneth and Jack on 30 Rock tonight. Their storyline was tight, man. The goofy tetherball set up had me worried at first but they pulled off a progression that was completely satisfying.

Wonder how much the WB paid for that 'anywhere in Metropolis' set that they can reuse over and over again.

Oh and they're getting Welling out of those damn check shirts and jeans...jeeez..

But tonight's episode gave me this strange sensation that I've never had watching an episode of The Office before: I felt like I *was* watching just another sitcom. The plot where Kelly sabotaged Jim and Dwight's sales numbers because they didn't go to her party--that felt like it could have been lifted from an episode of Friends. I am really worried that whatever was once special about The Office is starting to wear off.

That said, this was not the worst episode I've ever seen. Kelly's immediate "I was raped" defense was both funny and in character for the woman who manipulated Ryan by pretending to be pregnant. The dynamic between Angela and Andy is funny, if only because the two actors do such a great job of not having the slightest bit of chemistry with one another. The practice phone call between Dwight and Jim and Michael was carried by the three actors' delivery.

I thought there was something of a missed opportunity with the Jim storyline. What if it actually were true that Jim's smug self-importance had been turning customers off? Now that he has Pam and doesn't have anything to be depressed about, he does seem like kind of an asshole as he constantly makes snippy remarks about everyone around him. I wouldn't mind a storyline about how a lot of the others in the office don't particularly like him. It could be an interesting direction to go with a character who thinks he's cool and likeable, but might actually just be Michael Scott fifteen years earlier.

Jim's character just worked a lot better when he wanted Pam and couldn't have her and mocked everyone and everything around him just to make his situation livable; Pam's character worked a lot better when she was a mousy and unassertive doormat who wasn't confident enough to get what she wanted out of life. Of course, keeping that dynamic going year after year without changing it would have gotten tedious, so what are the writers going to do? Spreading the heartbreak to Michael and Dwight is probably a good move, but their characters have become so broad and outrageous that it's hard to really feel for them the way we used to for Jim and Pam. I would hate to see the Office go off the air, but I also definitely see the wisdom of going out while you're still going strong (see Lost) instead of wearing out your welcome and making people forget what they ever liked about you (see The Simpsons).

the phake phone call was great, classic Jim/Dwight. They need more of that. And Creed. Does it seem to anyone else that they're kinda ignoring a lot of the secondary characters this year? They do little with Creed, Stanley, Phyllis, Temp, or Oscar anymore. I guess they'll do some next week, but I miss the old days were all the action took place in the office and thus everyone had the chance to chime in. When it's Michael and Holly moving or Pam and Jim bluetoothing, that aspect is lost.

I will be so upset if Pam actually questions how much she loves Jim. I want to see Mad Men Harry get closer and closer to Pam as a friend, come on to her, only to have Pam cold reject him instantly.

Or better yet, how about a man who actually ONLY wants to be Pam's friend and not cause conflict?! That would be novel! But probably too anti-dramatic for the regular audience...

Friggin' chimps. You haters roll around in the dorito-pocked bowel-droppings of a lupus-ridden Rosie O'Donnell. Go shove a yack spleen up your shit pipe while sniffing Dom Deloise's unwashed taint after a quarter mile run through the Sahara.

You all disgust me. I despise you with the burning, white hot heat of a thousand suns, you misery-loving gaggle of flea-infested tick splooge.

As mentioned the sales call with Dwight, Jim and Michael.

The selection of Schrute Farms for the wedding site.

Kelly's I was raped comment.

Jim talking to Pam and pissing Dwight off.

Andy arguing with Jim about his mug.

Jim discovering that everyone in the office got a stupid face mug.

I don't know, for me I have loved these characters for so long, that I find them hilarious for some of the subtle little things. The episodes may not be as laugh out loud as they have been in years past, but one of the major complaints from last season was that they were getting far too outrageous and ridiculous, i.e. driving into a lake cause the GPS said so, dressing up as Super Mario plumbers to prank Utica, etc.

And mraig, they pretty much did the "people are tired of Jim's jerkiness" in the episode where he takes over the office in Michael's abscense and tries to combine the birthday's and everyone freaks out. It was brilliant cause it not only showed how Jim could be headed on his way to being Michael, but also how utterly insane some of these office people are.

Michael ends up with Jan and gets a new job as senior sales associate with another company (presumably selling a dying technology, but yet more exciting than paper)

Jim takes the reigns of the Scranton office and realizes he has become like Michael, but is okay with it. Pam is a little depressed that her art career never took off, but stays at home to raise their twin boys. Life is good until Dunder Mifflin goes under, and Jim is forced to get a job working for...wait for it... Michael Scott at his new company

Dwight ends up stealing Angela from Andy, they marry, have a brood of kids, and ultimately start up a new community similar to the Amish, only the people are allowed to sleep around, listen to heavy metal, and read Harry Potter.

Angela supports Dwight by opening up a Kitty farm on the Schrute property where she sells kittens to Petco.

Andy enters politics and becomes a high ranking New England senator, and lives out his dream as an upper crust WASP enjoying the privaleged north-eastern snobby lifestyle.

Ryan gets his big break working for an investment company, gets arrested for fraud, but this time is hired as a CEO of another large company, then is fired for poor performance but gets a huge golden parachute.

The rest of the cast pretty much lives out their days until the closure of the Scranton branch, at which time they all part for differing opportunities.