Defending Crazy (Or Stingy) People

30 Rock - The Collection
The Office - Money

Another excellent 30 Rock. The show is so tight now, and packed with zanniness, that a cameo from Steve Buscemi or the re-occuring role from Sherri Sheppard doesn't feel forced (though Seinfeld's appearance a few weeks back did but I'll blame the gazillionaire for that one). Jenna's weight is slowly disappearing, much to her annoyance now that she's a big fat star. Literally. Jack hires a private investigator to look himself up (to keep one step ahead of GE for when they do the search on him when he's up for the GE promotion), and is told to get rid of his cookie jar collection, and Liz tries to work with Angie to control Tracy, but that of course doesn't go exactly as planned.

I would also like to say a big HA I TOLD YOU SO to all those Jane Krakowski doubters last year who kept harping on the fact that she was cast only because she was pretty. Has she not proven her comic prowess (that I knew she had all along) yet?

More on The Office after the jump:

On The Office, Pam and Jim go away for the first time... to Schrute Farms. Not a bed and breakfast owned by Dwight, but a place for agritourism that happens to give you a bed and serve you breakfast. Where playing in poo isn't a fetish but an actual chore. Meanwhile, Michael needs a visit from Suze Orman to yell at him when it's discovered that his finances are in shambles (by Toby no less) which causes him to go into a tailspin (again) and some more consoling from Jan, herself unemployed.

This was the serious episode. If Ugly Betty gets (undeservedly) faulted for being a comedy disguised as an hour soap drama, The Office is really a soap drama disguised as a comedy. And I really don't mind that. Most of the hour longs that The Office have had this year (thanks to NBC trying to milk anything buzzworthy they have) have been a BIT of a stretch. I'll admit that. I won't completely knock down the series for that but most of them have really been half hour long shows stretched into 44 minutes and there wasn't enough substance to really carry it through. Most bloggers seem to have hated this last one the most but I actually didn't mind it since it seemed to deal more with Michaels on going problems (at a deeper level) and allowed us to see Pam and Jim's continued blossoming love (as well as Dwight truly being jealous of Angela who allowed Andy to ask her out finally). Plus, we are re-convinced that Kelly is supercrazy.

So as Michael tries to declare bankruptcy (by literally yelling out "bankruptcy"), I was watching a Canadian cable show called Til Debt Do Us Part while at the gym this weekend (seriously, there is NOTHING on Saturday afternoons, is there?). It's like those SuperNanny (or whatever it's called) shows with a lady with a UK accent that basically reams a couple for bad decisions. In this case, instead of raising kids like monkeys, it's for spending like mad. I love these shows. I love Suze Orman screaming at people for being in debt. It just makes me feel much better that I'm nowhere near in that bad of a situation. Harmless Error says it perfectly: "*I'd like to thank my parents for instilling within me a life-long stinginess." True dat. You all can enjoy your Starbucks but I'll enjoy being nowhere near in debt.