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May 10, 2007

HEADS-UP: Scranton ‘Office’ party

officeparty.JPGGet yourself to Scranton on Saturday, May 19.

That’s the day the Pennsylvania town is kicking off Office Fest 2007, in honor of the NBC comedy set in their industrial-era burg of 75,000.

Cast members Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) and Angela Kinsey (Angela) are coming in to meet-and-greet, sign autographs, and party on a parking garage.

But if you miss it, there are plans afoot to stage a full-fledged convention -- yes, a la “Star Trek” -- this fall.

Turns out Scranton is seeing an uptick in tourism from fans of “The Office,” who drive hundreds of miles to visit real places the show mentions. Town fathers and mothers are hot to exploit this newfound fame. They drew thousands last December when star Rainn Wilson (Dwight) appeared at the Mall of Steamtown.

Gas up, people. Just 120 miles west of Manhattan.

December 19, 2006

CHRISTMAS TUBE -- The Office, The Simpsons

The countdown is on in earnest now, and stations have added some goodies to the holiday menu.

The Simpsons (7 p.m. on WNYW/5)
– Yuletide yuks all week. On Tuesday, Dec. 19, Bart gets caught shoplifting. On Wednesday, Gary Coleman shows up. On Thursday, the Christmas tree burns down. On Friday, the school gets snowed in.

The Christmas Box (late Tuesday night at 3:30 a.m., Thursday at 10 p.m., TBN)
– Richard Thomas stars in TV movie from the 1990s bestseller.

office steve blog.jpgThe Office (Thursday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m., NBC/4) – Instant-rerun of last week’s “Benihana Christmas” classic. One hour. [NBC photo, right.]

Masters of Illusion Christmas (Thursday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m., WNBC-DT 4.4)
– You’ve gotta have the digital subchannel to catch this seasonal magic special with disappearing trees and more. (On NYC-area digital cable: Cablevision Ch. 110, Time Warner Ch. 732, Comcast Ch. 249.)

These shows and dozens more have joined the massive listings at the Christmas Tube category links to the right. Keep checking back!

December 08, 2006

The Best 'Office' yet

Bummer that “The Office” wasn’t on last night as NBC opted to air a two-part “Earl” episode instead.

But I needed to get my Dunder Mifflin fix, so I popped in a DVD of next week’s episode, which the folks at NBC mailed out earlier this week hoping to generate publicity. I know I’m jumping the gun here, but let me say this special one-hour episode may be the funniest “Office” yet.

It’s a one-hour Christmas-themed episode. Now, I know one-hour (well, 43 minutes sans commercials) sitcoms usually suck (except for the Keith Hernandez “Seinfeld” episode back in ‘92) and Yule episodes leave me with the taste of sour eggnog in the mouth.

But this one is a winner in both categories. I won’t divulge too many details save for Michael has a rude shock in his love life and we get to hear stick-in-the-mud Angela singing “The Little Drummer Boy karaoke-style. All this, plus the shameless product placement that this show revels in, this time for Sandals in Jamaica and Benihana.
office steve blog.jpg

What has made “The Office” so great this year — its third year — is that the show has pulled off the somewhat difficult trick of adding characters (when Stamford merged with Scranton) who actually enhance the show rather than cluttering it up. Andy (Ed Helms) may be the funniest butt-kisser in TV history since Eddie Haskell, while the extremely hot Karen (Rashida Jones) has deftly upset the show’s most delicate story line, the Jim/Pam tango.

Hey, I’m even gonna watch this episode again — when it airs at 8 p.m. Thursday night.

If you can't wait, check out this promo.