As Toby Keith Said…

…I Wanna Talk About Me. Here’s the write-up of my Millionaire appearance in the Townsend Harris Classic. (I’ll be honest, I think I look pretty damn good in that picture there.)

Top 5: Seinfeld Episodes

Honestly, it was very difficult coming up with only 5 episodes that I enjoyed – I had a short-list of about 10 shows, and had to whittle it down.

Seinfeld is great for the reason that it has a minimal if not nonexistent story arc from episode to episode, and as a result, you can watch really whatever episode you feel like watching at a given point in time. And I do that often – preferring my favorites and weeding out the not-so-good ones. Most of my favorites (and as a result most of this list) are the silly and absurd episodes, because they’re just guaranteed to make me laugh every time. Here are my Top 5:

5. “The Millennium” (Season 8, Episode 20)

“Babe Ruth was nothing more than a fat old man with little-girl legs. And here’s something I just found out recently. He wasn’t really a sultan!” – Steinbrenner (Larry David)

This episode has a somewhat sentimental side to it – Kramer having to choose between his friends Jerry and Newman when it comes to millennium parties (Kramer wants to hold his own, but Newman’s party has been planned “since 1978″ and is bound to be better – but Newman refuses to invite Jerry) – but most of it’s just ridiculous (Jerry’s position on the speed dial, George trying to get himself fired by destroying the one of the Yankees’ Commissioner’s Trophies, getting strawberry stains on Babe Ruth’s jersey, and streaking the field in a body suit, so he can be the Director of Scouting for the Mets), and that’s something I love.

Stuff I Dislike: Michael Scott

(Image by Flickr user Kumar Appaiah.)

Let me start by saying I don’t hate Michael Scott. He’s generally well-meaning, he cares about his employees (well, some of them, anyway), and in the end he runs a branch of Dunder Mifflin that pulls their own weight while still having a strong esprit de corps. But when he (and the man who portrays him, Steve Carell) leaves tonight on The Office, I probably won’t be crying or anything. If anything, last week’s episode, “Michael’s Last Dundies,” felt like a nice send-off episode with that wonderful “Seasons of Love” quasi-rewrite the office did for Michael, and was the most emotional. This week I doubt I’ll have the same reaction.

I’ve never really loved Michael Scott, largely because of the main show structure utilized on The Office. This structure generally begins with Michael doing something kind of stupid, with another character (generally Jim, Pam or Oscar, although at times it’s a recurring character like David Wallace or Charles Miner) countering him. After being downsized or upstaged (or both), he sulks and acts like a child before finally learning the error of his ways. It’s just been done so many times by the show’s writers and is simply grating from its very use.

Even with the character himself, though, I’m not a fan. He’s incredibly bumbling and uneducated, and when the series began he tried to be comedic but ended up being insulting (this was especially the case with Pam). He tries to be everyone’s friend while at the same time not being especially nice to folks like Kevin and Toby (the latter of whom Michael has a stupid vendetta against because Toby reported to corporate and not to him). Simply put, I don’t think he’s a good boss. However, he is good at heart (though at times misguided, impulsive, and just plain childish) and I hope that in our fictional universe of Dunder Mifflin, he has a good life in Colorado with Holly.

Top 5: Awesome TV Workplaces

I kind of doubt that Dunder Mifflin (or, at this point, Sabre) shareholders get that high a return on investment. (Image via Wikipedia.)

(Ed. Note: I know I missed the Stuff I Dislike post, though it kinda goes better tomorrow anyway. Also, I’m scrapping the Top 5 Favorite Ballparks ’cause I think this post is cooler.)

Being a fervent watcher of television, I’ve often hoped I could work at the places portrayed, with the characters portrayed. Since virtually all the shows I love (one exception being Seinfeld) take place at workplaces, I can pick and choose which places I would want to work. Here are my Top 5 TV workplaces:

5. Dunder Mifflin, Scranton Branch (The Office)

I’m not totally sure if Dunder Mifflin would be a great place to work or a horrible one. I mean, nothing ever seems to get done. I think with Michael Scott gone (more on that tomorrow) it’ll be easier to operate, but if there’s anything they have down in Scranton, it’s camaraderie.

New Podcast Is Up! Yaaaaaaaay!

This week’s theme is Seinfeld! Next week is the postal service! E-mail me questions/comments/quemments/suggestions for future topics! I love exclamation points!!!!!

In this week’s podcast I mentioned the TBS Seinfeld website and Crackle (the latter of which released an app where – holy crap! – you can watch Seinfeld on your iPhone or iPod). Also, once again, this podcast (specifically round 2) wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of GrabTube.

Watch This: “History Will Be Made”

(UPDATE: I wrote this yesterday, and then this happened. Perhaps these ads are some sort of premonition.)

For the past two years, the NHL has been branding television coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (easily both one of the longest championship series in American sports and one of the most fun) with the tagline “History Will Be Made.” They’ve produced some fantastic commercials under this umbrella, each with a line of “History [does something]…History Will Be Made,” including what can only be described as real-time creations of advertisements (basically one big moment from each day of games – last night’s was Brian Boucher coming up big in goal for the Flyers, which you can see below). I guess you can say that “History Can Be Made at Any Moment.” (Sorry, these things write themselves.) Here are a few of my favorites:

As promised here’s the one from last night’s Flyers-Sabres game, as “History Answers the Call.”

Yesterday’s featured Brandon Dubinsky’s game-winner against the Caps – “History Finds A Way.”

I, for one, love the fan-made one as well from Sunday’s game – “History Can Be Ugly.”

Another great fan-made video, featuring the 2003 Ducks’ championship run:

Top 5: Shows Cancelled Too Soon

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With all the hullabaloo going on about Charlie Sheen, one thing has gone to the wayside: the crappy and generally unfunny show Two and a Half Men is still on! I’ll be honest, I don’t understand what’s up with that. In its place could have been one of these 5 shows, which were pretty good but came around at the wrong time.

Before we begin with #5, though, as promised a brief riff on Firefly and Arrested Development: both were great shows, but I wouldn’t say either of them were cancelled too soon. Firefly has the strongest case of the two, but even then at least fans were assuaged by Serenity, which provided closure for the series. Arrested Development got three great seasons – a number few great comedies reach before falling off anyhow – and they’re probably getting a movie too. The best this bunch of shows has in order to bring closure or continuation to the series are some comic books. In any case, onward with the countdown!

ABC, killer of good television. (Image via Wikipedia.)

5. Commander in Chief, ABC (2005-2006)

While this show certainly had its issues, I think the real problem for this show was timing. ABC picking up this show, starring Geena Davis as the first female president, MacKenzie Allen, in the shadow of The West Wing pretty much made it look like a clone, even though it had a lot going for it on its own – two great principal characters in Allen and Nathan Templeton (played by the pretty creepy Donald Sutherland, who, according to the Wikipedia was an Expos fan until they moved), and a somewhat compelling storyline. The real problem was that they never really got past the “she’s a female president” storyline with anything else meaningful. Near the end of the show, when we got to see the makings of an Allen presidential campaign, I hoped that we could see what it would be like for the first Independent as president to run for office. That was a much more interesting storyline for me, but alas, we never got to see it.

Today’s Millionaire: Jamie, Part 2…and Me!

UPDATE: Transcripts were just put up and here they are: here’s Jamie’s, here’s mine.

Just like for yesterday’s show, here are today’s Millionaire games, including my appearance. Once again, they were recorded on my iPod, so it’s kinda crappy, but this time it’s less crappy ’cause I was recording it off a large flat-screen. Like earlier today, these videos’ll be up for 14 days before they go private.

First, the continuation of Jamie Bond’s game…

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, my game:

A short little commentary after the jump.

Yesterday’s “Millionaire”: David Guzman and Jamie Bond

So the first two folks I met competing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire had their shows air yesterday, and for the occasion, I recorded the games from the TV with my iPod. Therefore, the recordings are really crappy, but they’re something, at least. (You can see David’s and Jamie’s game transcripts if you want right here and here.)

Here’s David’s game:

And here’s part 1 of Jamie’s (part 2 airs today):

I’m going to keep these up on YouTube for two weeks before going from unlisted to private; the same goes for my game today, which I will record and upload.

Required Listenings Top 5: Current TV Theme Songs

(Ed. Note: This is sort of an off-shoot of a 4-part series I did on TV theme songs, which you can see here, here, here, and here.

Also, due to the time, I’m moving Thursday Trivia to tomorrow.)

Recently, over on - dpecs., I noted how there’s an imbalance of TV theme songs across networks – namely, ABC, whose craptastic themes has increased by one with the premiere of the show Mr. Sunshine, which has a theme song that’s five seconds, at most. But there are some really good theme songs, which I’ll be covering here.

The main rules for this round of theme song ranking are as follows: it has to be a current show on air in the US, and it has to be an original song, specifically for the show – meaning shows like How I Met Your Mother, House, and all the CSI shows are disqualified. (And yes, since Hawaii Five-O is a cover song, even though it is specifically for that show, it is also disqualified.) So let’s get to the Top 5 current TV theme songs with…