Must See TV!

It’s Thursday. The best day of the week. Over the hump. And time to hang out with some of your best, most drama-filled with the perfect amount of comic relief, fickle, always-knows-what-to-say, beautiful friends. I'm talking about Michael, Jan, Toby, Kelly, Meredith, Derek, Addison, JD, Elliot, Turk, Betty, Daniel, Wilhelmina, Liz, Jack, Kenneth, and all their buddies. But it can be stressful as well. Because with all these people vying for your time, it’s hard to please everyone. And everyone is so fabulous and funny and diva-esque that you don't want to miss a beat with any of them!

I wrote a frantic email to my parents this morning:

We have a huge emergency. Must See TV thursday has gone into overload. The Office is "supersized" = 45 min long and Greys TWO WHOLE HOURS (blows my mind) but they....sin of all sins......OVERLAP! could we tape the office (8:36-9:19)? Just be sure that everyone is positioned in front of the tv for Greys at 9 therefore nobody will miss the beginning of greys and wont need to be taped. we need all hands on deck to get this going smoothly.

Responses -

Mom: Have you ever heard of "re-runs"?

Me: our generation doesnt have the patience or capacity to wait for re-runs. we need it new and we need it now.

Dad: Sorry, but I'll be in front of my XM Radio LISTENING to the BuffaloSabres-NY Rangers game because its NOT on Canadian TV because of abreach of international etiquette on the part of US TV Networks!! Butthat is another matter all together......However, I will tape the office......

Mom: Maybe you can tape the game on cassette. What can we use the Beta for?

Me: tape ugly betty on beta. i can wait for that one. its second tier, you can put ER on there too. oh but 30 rock is supposed to be really good and laura is trying to convert me. its at the same time as greys, which is another moral dilemma. what are the networks trying to acheive here?? other then send their audience into a ALL NEW EPISODE tailspin.

I live for The Office. My life IS The Office. And Grey's is important simply for the fact that if I miss it, I will be shunned from my flesh and blood friends. And I adore Tina Fey. And who doesn't love the twisted mind of Alec Baldwin? And I think America Ferrera is a diamond in the rough for my generation. And Zach Braff makes movie soundtracks like the best college radio DJ I know (plus he wrote, directed, AND starred in the life-changing movie that was Garden State for me). And....and....I have dreams about McDreamy (so cliché I think Doc actually threw up a little bit in his mouth when I told him that. Then questioned my fidelity.) And I';m only looking at NBC and ABC!

With the upcoming finale season just weeks away, I feel like these extended episodes are a warm up for the big night when we have to use all technology to our advantage in order to not lag behind as the primetime parade marches on without you. TiVo, DVR, iTunes, old fashioned tape recorder. It seems implausible to even CONSIDER missing the Grey's finale (Will George chose Kallie or Izzie? Will Addison's spin off get picked up?) to see what all the fuss is about with 30 Rock (I heard something about someone's boyfriend moving to Cleveland? Now THAT is funny), yet someone is begging you to change the channel. Its Tracey Morgan. So you have to ask yourself: where does your loyalty lie?

The business numbers don't add up to the stress that is the remote control battle that goes down in homes across the US every Thursday night at 8:00. WSJ says viewer numbers are down per show. But they don't take into consideration that fact that there are 3 time as many shows to choose from now. So they essentially are only including those viewers that have 3 TVs next to each other showing The Office, Ugly Betty, and Survivor (If this person does existes; I feel a little better about my clearly NOT out of hand obssession with the shows)

All this torrent babble about one-dimensional drama is just more of a reason for me to ask, again, what are The Networks trying to achieve here?? It’s like the Clear Channel chaos theory. Whatever show you chose will determine your ultimate fate. Jim and Pam forever or Wilhelmina Mode domination?