So I was going to do my normal “Office” post, but tonight’s episode made me sad. The Michael / Donna stuff, the Dwight / Angela stuff, the Andy feeling hurt stuff – sad, sad, sad.

Seriously. Even though MIchael did the right thing in the end, that was the single most depressing episode of “The Office” I can remember.

But it did make me laugh when Darryl said, “We have a place. A restful location.”

And the good news is that Jon Hamm is on tonight’s “30 Rock.”

I’m hoping there will be a little bit of happy there.

Anybody think that Harry Connick, Jr. will show up again tonight?

No? WELL WHY NOT?

Seriously. I LOVED HIM on last week’s show. I will miss him terribly this week. In fact, I may need a moment to prepare for his absence.

*taking a moment*

Thank you.

All righty. Movie songs tonight. If anybody sings “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” “My Heart Will Go On,” or the theme from “Goldfinger,” I’m leaving the country.

Oh, not really. I will, however, hide my head under the covers. THAT’LL SHOW THEM.

Lee DeWyze – “Kiss From A Rose” – I was delighted with the song selection because I am such a Seal fan. I didn’t like that this was such a straightforward interpretation, though – I wish he’d done something to make it a little more original. He sounded strong on the chorus, but on the whole, I wasn’t wowed. Good but not great.

Michael Lynche – “Will You Be There?” – I know I’ve had some strong opinions about Michael using arrangements that were way over the top, but this was one instance when it worked. I thought the gospel sound of the background singers was great, and even though he seemed nervous, he sounded good. HOWEVER. Like Lee, there was nothing original about it. Just a nice little cover of a nice little song.

Lee DeWyze & Crystal Bowersox – “Falling Slowly” – Well. They’re pretty talented, now aren’t they? Well done.

(Is it just me or do the contestants seem sort of tired tonight?)

(Now that I’ve said that, the codependent side of my personality is going to be very worried about them.)

(Do y’all think they’re getting enough sleep?)

Casey James – “Mrs. Robinson” – The whole thing had sort of a 70s coffee house vibe: the mandolin, the laid-back vibe, the long hair. And while it was a little bit of a sleepy performance (SEE? THEY’RE EXHAUSTED), I liked it. It wasn’t a completely original arrangement, but it was a different approach for Casey, and I enjoyed that.

Crystal Bowersox – “I’m Alright” – First of all, Crystal immediately got bonus points from me for choosing a Kenny Loggins song. Second of all, the arrangement was definitely original, to the point that it felt a little all over the place. I also thought Crystal sounded scream-y in parts (MY WORD I’m hard to please tonight). I appreciate that she picked an unconventional song and tried to put her twist on it, though.

Michael Lynche & Casey James – “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” – Oh. I do not like this song AT ALL. It totally should’ve been on my “do not sing” list at the beginning of this post. That being said, Casey and Michael sounded great together, and I thought the guitars were beautiful.

Best of the night – The duets.
Worst of the night – The sleepy tone.
Should go – The obvious exhaustion (sorry – I can’t let it go).
Will go – Michael or Casey.

What did y’all think?

If you’d like to add your AI post to the Mr. Linky, please leave a link to your specific post and not just your general blog URL.

I normally try to keep my Office-related expectations in check, but when I read that tonight’s episode finds Michael enlisting Dwight’s services as a private detective, I may or may not have developed some very high hopes. It just sounds so promising, doesn’t it?

Let’s see if it delivers.

1. “Stop it. You’re talking about me in morse code.”

2. “Detonator. Detonator? Where?”

3. “I need your ideas for things that Donna and I can do on the weekends.” // “Walk around apple orchards.” // “Eel fishing.”

4. “Do not let your imagination run out of control.” // “Well that’s easy for you to say; you have a bad imagination. I live in a fantasy world.”

5. “How much do you charge?” // “$100 a day plus expenses.” // “I’ll give you $50 – money’s no object.” // “Fine.”

6. “All cases are solved with logic. The only logical way to find out if Donna is a cheater is to seduce her.”

7. “We didn’t have any ice cream. So this is mayonnaise and black olives.”

8. “Helene. MY MOTHER, HELENE.”

9. “Can I feel your pulse?”

10. “Vero Beach? No! Is that on the water?”

11. “So there I am, minding my own business, and Darnell offers me three bucks. All I gotta do is walk by Andy and go like this. Darnell’s a chump. I would have done it for anything. I’ve done a lot more for a lot less.”

12. “I just remembered that I have to go to the bathroom.”

13. “Still no plan.”

14. “There it is.”

15. “I have come to the conclusion that the Sabre corporation may be overlooking certain safety regulations. We’re blowing the roof off! BLOWING THE ROOF OFF!”

16. “I’m the mistress?”

17. “No! The hill’s a trap! Go for the cliff!”

So. It was definitely a little sadder than I expected. But I should’ve known better – because, well, poor Michael. He just can’t win for losing.

What did y’all think?

There’s a new “Office” AND a new “30 Rock” tonight. Or in other words: AN EMBARRASSMENT OF TV RICHES.

1) “I have it on very good authority that in the next twenty years everyone will be speaking German. Or a Chinese-German hybrid.”

2) “That’s what he says?”

3) “If you want people to put the best face on the company, then why would you pick two people who have probably never cut the face off of anything in their lives?”

4) “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

5) “Did somebody order a hooker over here?”

6) “I can’t think of any CEOs, any race.”

7) “I could be the Indian Julia Roberts.”

8) “I get hit on all the time…. In my 20s it would have been annoying. In my late 20s I find it really flattering.”

9) “911, hello. Scranton Strangler’s in the house. INSIDE THE HOUSE.”

10) “Sometimes it makes financial sense to lose money.”

11) “I was after your money.” // “Well, the joke was on you.” // “Yes it was.”

12) “Why don’t you just move the M&Ms?” // “WHY DON’T YOU SHUT UP?”

13) “Most printer sales are done over the phone, Miss Boobshirt.”

14) “Sometimes my bangs cover it.”

15) “I’ll slap you in the face with a rainbow.”

16) “For hobbies? Yoga, belly dancing, snake charming, lying on a bed of nails…”

17) “She suckered you, too. Was it the cleavage?” // “And the shoulder cut-outs.”

18) “Oh. You’re still here. I have your baguette.”

19) “Thank you, Dwight. I’ll never forget everything you’ve done for me. Because I never forget anything.”

20) “I DID DO IT.”

The first half seemed a little slow, but the second half picked up and made me laugh a bunch (lots of Kelly = always a good thing).

What did y’all think?

The songs of Shania Twain?

Sounds good to me. We’ll sit back and relax and pretend like it’s 1998 all over again.

Here we go.

Lee DeWyze – “You’re Still The One” – Well I wasn’t at all prepared for that. At first I thought it was going to be a little weird, but it turned out to be a nice alternative spin on a country song. It wasn’t my favorite performance of Lee’s, mainly because he seems to do his best with rock stuff, but he did a great job with it.

Michael Lynche – “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing” – Oh my word – I loved his version so much more than the original. I’m so glad he kept it simple at the beginning, and I really liked the falsetto at the end. Reminded me of some old-school Luther – and that’s never a bad thing.

Casey James – “Don’t” – It’s funny, but I feel like that’s the first time in this whole competition that we’ve really heard Casey’s voice. And Casey? Can sing. Loved the raspiness in his voice, loved the way he connected with the audience, loved the way he just sat there and sang his heart out. I thought it was great.

Crystal Bowersox – “No One Needs To Know” – Crystal always sounds good, but I would’ve never picked this song for her. It’s a little too flirtatious or cutesy or something. Plus, the arrangement was way too slow and borderline folksy. It just didn’t do her justice.

Aaron Kelly – “You’ve Got A Way” – The beginning was fine, but things got pitchy about half-way through the first verse. He sounded great on the last note, though. He mainly just needs some consistency; he still doesn’t seem comfortable and confident on the stage. But tonight was his best so far, I think.

Siobhan Magnus – “Any Man of Mine” – I know that the judges liked it, but I didn’t. I thought she seemed a little hesitant during the first part of the song, and I thought the screaming at the end was way too much. There were moments in the chorus when I thought she sounded better than she has in awhile, but on the whole it just didn’t strike my fancy.

Best of the night: I have no idea.
Worst of the night: Siobhan
Should go: Siobhan
Will go: Siobhan

What did y’all think?

If you’d like to add your AI post to the Mr. Linky, please leave a link to your specific post and not just your general blog URL.

It seems like it’s been about four months since there was a new episode of “The Office.” I can’t even remember what happened last time. Was it Andy and Erin at the dump? Did I miss one when I was out of town? Oh, wait – it was the one where they all went to a bar, and I watched it online because we had a Weather Event that merited live radar coverage for 45 minutes.

See? It’s all coming back to me now. Give me five minutes, and I’ll give you an exhausting, rambling account of past TV and weather events. It’s my spiritual gift.

Anyway. Let’s see what our friends in Scranton are up to tonight.

1) “Is that the program where all those puppets live in the barrio? Love that show.”

2) “If it wasn’t for secretaries, I wouldn’t have a stepmom.”

3) “I knew it existed. And I chose to let it die.”

4) “Yummmm yummmm yummmm yummmm yummmm.”

5) “They’re making fun of cookies. I get that. But in some way it feels like they’re making fun of me.”

6) “Would you mind if I listened to my book on tape? I’m kind of a bookworm. It’s a novelization of the movie Precious, based on the book Push by Sapphire.”

7) “I’ll have what she’s having!”

8) “I was just warming it up.”

9) “I think we can all agree that Angela is not so great.”

10) “I should probably get involved in this, but I think my energy is probably better spent on the Cookie Monster issue.”

11) “What? I was just slow-clapping your no-nonsense decision making.”

12) “Everyone here knows that I can’t and won’t keep a secret.”

13) “Take it up with the chief of police.”

14) “You are throwing up for the wrong reasons.”

15) “Sometimes the heart doesn’t know what it wants until it finds what it wants.” // “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

16) “I gotta take this bad attitude, and I gotta go home, and I gotta adjust it, and I hope the suspension does that.”

17) “…humbly taking your hand, upon which I kiss to show my contrition.”

18) “What’s your real name? Lionel Frankenstein?”

19) “I think I have to be on my own a little bit, like that girl Precious, in Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.”

20) “At least somebody made her happy on Secretary’s Day.”

What did y’all think?