‘The Office’ Season 4 review

“The Office” Season 4 (2007-08, NBC) – Jim and Pam are still cute, but “The Office” went wrong by giving too much screen time to Worst Boss Ever Michael and henchman Dwight. The dinner party, where we get an inside look at the horror of Michael’s home life with Jan, was particularly harrowing, but not in a

Ricky Gervais’ old ‘Office’ humor still lands in ‘Life on the Road’ (Movie review)

Following up on BBC’s “The Office” – which aired back in “Two Thousand and cough-cough” (actually 2001-03) – Ricky Gervais finds there’s still plenty of room to pound the joke into the ground in “David Brent: Life on the Road” (released last year in the U.K., and now available on Netflix). Although there are some viewers who

John’s 10 favorite TV couples of all time (Commentary)

In a double dose of weak sauce, Entertainment Weekly’s writers recently chose “Friends’ “ Ross and Rachel as the greatest TV couple of all time, and readers responded by choosing some random couple from “Glee” (which, research reveals, is actually still on the air). Over at his blog, my buddy Seth Stringer upped the standards

Where have all the epic season finales gone? (TV commentary)

For as long as I can remember, TV has served up an epic season finale or two every May. In recent years, up until 2010, there were the season-enders of “24” and “Lost.” Before that, we had “Buffy” and “The X-Files,” just to scratch the surface.

Refreshingly sunny people of ‘Parks and Recreation’ are more enjoyable to watch than ‘Office’ mates (TV commentary)

I’ve tried to stick with “The Office,” but I’m just not laughing lately. I thought the show was funny and somewhat original (although it spun off from the British version, it developed an American voice) when it premiered, but now it strikes me as depressing and tired. Another Matt introduced me to an alternative, though: “Parks

5 random observations about current TV shows (Commentary)

1. “10 Things I Hate About You” recently returned, and it hasn’t missed a beat from its run last summer. Although it more openly admits to being aimed at all ages, “10 Things” is treading the path paved before it by “Lizzie McGuire” and “Zoey 101” — two other shows about teenagers with humor for adults. For