Thursday Night Line-Up

Two TV Shows premiered tonight, and being the resident tv critic (just got promoted today!), I thought I'd save you the trouble of deciding which one you'd rather watch by making the decision for you. This will hopefully be the beginning of a long list of decisions I will be making for you. For example, if your name is Paul Hewson, you have decided to leave your wife Ali and find a new love, oh, say in row B, seat 107 at the MCI center on October 19, 2005 when you will jump off the stage and propose to said person in mid-air...(I don't have all the logistics in place yet, but the hard part is over.)

But I digress...

"The Office" on NBC: Takes a perfectly good British comedy and "americanizes" it, with hopes that the new version will be just as popular as its already successful, no-need-for-a-second-version, counterpart. Admittedly, I only watched about a minute of this show, but I can tell you that it's not worth your time. It's a total rip-off (even the same office relationships) minus the British accent (always a bonus) and the good actors. Sure that guy from the Daily Show is funny and was one of the best things about "Anchorman", but he is no Ricky Gervais. So stick to the original on BBC. And NBC, if you're just recycling British sh*t, then why did you reject my perfectly good script about an Iranian girl growing up in the U.S. who finds it difficult to fight street crime and run a ballet school for blind boys at the same time?

"Life on a Stick" on FOX*: Wacky kids who work at a hot dog joint, step-siblings, parents who have sex in the garage, teen angst: this show has all the ingredients of a hit! What could be funnier than teenagers who get really angry at their boss and decide to fry his office supplies in a vat of oil?..or..parents who don't know how to punish their kids because they had them when they were teenagers? Seriously. Name something funnier. This is the critic's pick of the week (That one critic. Yeah, i know you know i'm referring to myself. If that makes you uncomfortable, then you're not alone).

So there you go. Yet another decision has been made for you**. No more panicking on lonely Thursday nights (standing in front of the TV in your bathrobe, eating peanut butter out of a spoon because you're too broke to buy bread) wondering what show could possibly uplift your spirits for half an hour and make you forget that yours is not a charmed life.

*Not sure about this, but I made an educated guess judging from the name and premise of the show.
**If you need other decisions made for you, feel free to ask. Especially if your name is Paul Hewson. We have a lot to talk about.