A Night of Finales

Summer beckons. My beach bag, filled with suntan lotion, beach towel and pool pass has waited in the back of my closet as fall turned to brittle winter. But hello to summer means goodbye to some television favorites for the season. Tonight is season finale night for NBC's comedy Thursday lineup (at least the part I watch).

Parks and Recreation: Rock Show

Airs tonight on NBC at 8:30pm EDT/9:30pm CDT

The casts are off Andy's legs. What better way to test them out then to perform at a gig. Leslie tries to balance out her personal and professional life while everyone on her staff heads out to watch Ann's boyfriend shred the guitar.

The Office: Company Picnic
Airs tonight on NBC at 9:00pm edt/8:00pm cdt

Is the photo above a spoiler? Story: It's a warm and muggy day in Scranton. Thunder rumbles in the distance as fear quakes across the corporate park. Jim and Pam, driven to madness by Michael's neediness, poisons his cup of morning milk and sugar. He gasps his last breath. They frantically try to cover up clues to the murder. They cackle. He is dead. The fearsome annoying master is dead.

Not in this episode. It's just Michael dieing inside after finding out Holly and AJ will be at the company shindig entitled "Company Picnic". There will be twists of ankles and Michael trying to win back the affection of Holly who has moved on, while Michael grits his teeth and calls AJ fattie to cut him, even though he's totally rocking.


Even if the Nashua couple goes down in flames, I'm still shipping AJ and Ms. Flax. They are so fricking cute. It's like a Jim and Pam redux - Nashua version. Also, it's nice to see Rob Huebel and Amy Ryan back, with the hope of seeing them again next season.

30 Rock: Kidney Now!

Airs tonight on NBC at 9:31pm edt/8:31pm edt

When we last left Jack, his newly discovered biological father Milton dropped the kidney bomb: he needed one. Oh joy! He has a son with a spare kidney! The look on Jack's face could crush a truck. In tonight's episode, Jack tries to help his new dad without going under the knife by rounding up a bevvy of celebs for a benefit show to get Milton a new organ. Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige, Clay Aitken are summoned under duress to perform in the feel good show of the year.

Meanwhile, now that Liz is enjoying the fame of the new "deal breaker" catch phrase, Jenna forces her to go on a trashy talk show to promote it. Tracy is invited by his high school to speak at graduation, but Kenneth has to help him overcome his embarrassing school memories.

It's been a real treat to see Alan Alda as Jack's dad. I'm holding out hope we have a Colleen sighting tonight just to see Elaine Stritch. A finale without Elaine is like, as Black Adder once said to Queenie, "... a broken pencil. Pointless".

So goodbye old season, and hello summer time. These shows will return when the calendar flips the page to September.

Sneak Peak for The Office Season Finale

NBC has provided some glimpses into this Thursday's season finale of The Office entitled "Company Picnic". Looks like Charles Miner is back to being a total ass to Jim, and Jim takes the assery in stride - until he's pushed by Miner into a firey rage of fiendish anger as the demons from hell soar from Halpert's mouth onto Charle's head with bloody vengence, feeding on his eyeballs - oh wait. Maybe not. But that would sure look good in IMAX. The real IMAX.

Meanwhile, Dwight's an idiot. Kevin cannot play volleyball, and Jim and Pam's adorableness in the afternoon sun is making me sleepy. So sleepy. Turn it up a notch, writers! Or better yet, hire me. I've got some ideas.

Seeing Amy Ryan return alongside Rob Huebel who plays AJ "The Boyfriend" is enough to make me all light and fluffy happy like a cloud. Just a quick look and I already like these two as a fictional couple. I'm going to go further and rattle some windows here. I don't want Michael to win Holly back. He doesn't deserve her. Or she doesn't deserve him, or however that bizarre Scott saying goes.

I know...I know. All Office fans are rooting for for a reconciliation between the former HR Rep and Michael, but after his behavior of late, Scott has pretty much fallen out of favor with me. Of course, the writers will provide an attempt to show us how much Michael and Holly are "soul mates", much along the lines of Jim and Pam, but I'm not buying it. Besides, we've been down this road before with the future Halperts, having already witnessed Karen getting hurt as a price for the wonderous union of Jim and Pam (which I cheered despite really feeling Fillipelli's pain.) Let's not see another innocent significant other fall wayside to the whims of the writers who think they are giving us a satisfying coupling in Michael and Holly. In the writing world, it's kind of lazy. Michael has been a less than sympathetic figure this season for me to want Ms. Flax to run into his arms.

But if Michael does end up with Holly one day, I hope it will be due to Michael having spiritually grown. If Michael can just see himself the way others see him, he'd be more settled. If he could only be more sensitive to the situations of others, not care how things relates to him or how they can make HIM feel better, then he might stand a chance in holding onto Holly in my mind. I also hope that if they do unite, it's in the last season of the show, and that it's a result of an organic progression whereby Holly and AJ just naturally break up. I don't want their love to be blown asunder, but if Michael and Holly are made for each other, then let it be...but let Michael travel down that lonesome road all by himself for a while. Let him earn it. However, he might be a more complicated soul than that.

But for now, I'm "Team AJ". I love me some Rob Huebel (Human Giant, I Love You Man) so there is a wee bit of a soft spot for the boyfriend who wants to build Holly a house. I mean... Come on! He's awesome. But if the writers make him a d-bag, I will be heading into the summer like an agitated wasp, and I will sting...oh boy will I sting.

Yay Rob Huebel and Amy Ryan!

There's supposed to be a "twist" in Thursday's episode that will make us freak out over the summer. Spoilers show it could be a Jim and Pam moment caused by an injury at the picnic. So many speculations are being chattered about, so I won't spoil anything here, but could it change the course of The Office? Is the "twist" about Michael? I'm exhausted. Whatever.

The Office "Company Picnic" airs this Thursday on NBC at 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT.

Spread the Love of Jim and Pam

The long overdue on-air promotion for the new season of "The Office" aired last night , and has the Office blogosphere up in arms at the beauty of the thing. Season Five premieres on September 25th at 9am with an hour long episode entitled "Weight Loss". It will be the first time we actually see summertime for the Dunder Mifflin-ites. The crew in Scranton embark on some crazy branch competition on who drops the most pounds. (Do I smell a "The Biggest Loser" tie in?). As per the promo, it appears Team Scott will be doing some yoga under the instruction of Ms. Flax. She also seems to be Michael's BFF as seen in a sympatico hip hop sign off "a-wicka-wicka-wicka". Oh, Holly. How I love you. You make Michael human. Please stay. Tell Jan to take her lab baby and move out of town.

Pam will be away at Pratt, and we'll see eight weeks of this in the first episode (in between what I presume are eight commercial breaks). There has been some controversy on whether or not an internship is involved here. Paul Leiberstein has used the word "internship" while describing Pam's time in New York which freaks out every fan to kingdom come. An internship isn't going to classes at Pratt, it's going out on the field and working for school credit. So, if there is an "internship", does that mean Pam stays in New York longer than originally planned? I will be one pissed off bunny if that's the case.

But no matter. The promo flashed our couple embracing. Jim lunges in, Pam gets swept off her feet. A talking head shot seems to deliberately show Pam's hands so we fans get the cryptic signal that there is no ring, and therefore the engagement we are hitching our hopes on has not yet happened. But seeing Pam in her dorm room, in Jim's embrace, as his photo rests lovingly on the desk that holds her art supplies, and doofus glasses and printer and notes from Halpert filled with encouragement, it is heart warming. But New York is going to open her mind up to so many things. Why would should go back to Dunder Mifflin as a receptionist? We have two weeks to ponder this. Two weeks!