Thursday Night TV

Didn't catch Smallville, cause I was watching NBC comedies. And I'm idiotically off to a midnight Spider-man 3 screening after this, so I'll be half dead all day at work tomorrow. And the movie probably won't be as good as Earl, Scrubs and The Office, which we'll get into after the jump.

My Name is Earl: I didn't pick up a smell-o-vision thing, so all the numbers on the screen were quite distracting. Earl picks up with his three part plan to become an adult. After getting his G.E.D. last week, it's off to work loading and unloading trucks at an appliance store. He gets the hang of it quick enough that he's wondering how he could spend his life doing something so easy, so he sets his mind to becoming a salesman. He makes it, but in the process the dock workers hate him for trying to be like one of the "junior college intellectuals" out front, and the guys out front hate him for being a docker.


I feel dense for not noticing that all the famous guest stars (Chelcie Ross, Charles S. Dutton, Sean Astin) were all in Rudy, but that worked out great, cause when Dutton came along to give the "Six-foot-something, a hundred and something" speech, it was both uplifting and hilarious.

The other plot was Joy finding out she really might be going to prison after all, so she gets everything ready for her to be gone, but instead of prepping for prison, she was preparing to flee to Mexico. I'm guessing that's where she'll be for Jaime Pressly's maternity leave. They really spent most of the effort on the smell-o-vision and the Rudy parody (which was excellent), so the random jokes didn't get as much attention. The only one that really stuck out was Randy saying "Someone said Wednesday is hump day. I don't see any ladies around, so I'll watch your back and you watch mine." But the parody was well done enough, making the joking reference but in a loving way, that this was a really great episode.

The Office: Beware the full disagiliation! Which sounds like it has something to do with the guy who flashed Phyllis, but it's something else entirely. Dwight's determined to catch the pervert, and comes up with a photo lineup of penises, including his own. He also tries to require the women to dress extremely conservatively and not wear makeup. Oh, and the number on the flyer is 800-984-3672, and the message is kinda funny (though it was tough for me to get through).

Michael's reaction is one of the more assholish things he's ever done, actually, laughing at the idea that he'd flash her instead of Pam or Karen. But at least he recognized that he crossed a line, and decides to make up for it by having women's appreciations day. Which quickly turns into an awkward field trip the mall.

Apparently his relationship with Jan is also completely messed up sexually, and she pays him to do crazy stuff. Pam and Karen, who'd been bonding a lot lately, disagree on what he should do. But he decides to break up with her, then changes his mind, then accidentally does it anyway. Best parts:

• "Phallus?" "Phyllis, sorry. I've got penises on the brain."
• "He would not have wanted me to see Jim's... wow I am saying a lot of things"
• "Sleeves down to the wrists, button up collars, muted colors... nobody dresses like this."
• "I am the expert, I will conduct it, I know the crap out of women."
• "I wouldn't want to be in an office relationship anyway."

Scrubs: Elliot says yes, and Keri Russell is still around, looking great, which is nice. J.D.'s happy for her, but everyone is expecting him to take it hard and he doesn't understand why.


Everyone's fantasizing about what it would be like to be married to Elliot. Dr. Cox kills her, Janitor's was his usual insanity, in Turk's he cheats on Elliot with his Latina maid (Carla, I'm not usually a fan, but she was looking fantastic in this fantasy), Kelso's is just like his current marriage, Carla's fantasy involves making out with Elliot, which is awesome.

Turns out Keri Russell's the last single girl from her college sorority, so J.D.'s trying to take advantage of her potential newfound desperation. He keeps breaking the macking rules though, so she shoots him down. When she finally asks why he's working so hard to get her in bed, he realizes it's because he really is upset about Elliot getting engaged. And his fantasy about married life with Elliot was just being happy. I guess we were about due for that to come back. Best parts:

• "You ordered some Dorian?" "What?" "Oh, that's my last name."
• J.D.'s trip to a weird mermaid Narnia with goat-Turk.
• Whoa, you can't go to boobtown. That, my friend, is a gated community.