TIM LONG: And it grows into a powerful, emotional climax, where Moe has to decide whether his best friend lives … or dies.
AL JEAN: meh
TIM LONG: His best friend's a talking bar dishrag.
AL JEAN: Sold! Long, you've done it again!

As far as sitcom endings go, the series finale of The Office was a masterstroke. It wasn't a total feel-good hugfest (some characters, like Stanley, will always hate Michael), but the goodbyes with Pam and Jim were very moving. It also offered the possibility of redemption for several characters, like Daryl possibly…

The show's gone downhill, but I disagree with some of these reasons, and don't think they really caused the show to go downhill.

Even Maude Flanders?

The actor who plays Stanley has a career as a hip-hop artist to look forward to: http://www.youtube.com/watc….

I liked how the writers in the commentary passed this episode off as a tongue-in-cheek commentary on our perceptions of and attachments to beloved characters in long-running television shows, or something like that. In truth, it was just a retarded storyline.

This was the one of the worst episode I've ever seen in the history of television sitcoms. I can't believe a group of professional comedy writers thought it was worthy to be aired. It made me nostalgic for the Will Ferrell arc last season. It didn't make any sense. How does Dwight not understand how an auction works,…

Aside from Dwight hiding weapons, all of those examples are from after the show's prime.

Michael Bay had values that were… different. He just wanted to tell a story, a story about mutant alien turtles, and you slick small-towners took him for all he was worth.

Season 3 has just has many out-of-office settings (Diwali, Phyllis' wedding, shopping mall, Benihana, the beach, happy hour at the bar). That's not what causes The Office's slope.

Ownership is a major reason why I hope physical media doesn't completely go away and replaced by streaming. Think of the "Disney Vault", the practice of deliberately withholding media from the public to increase interest. This has become pretty irrelevant thanks to physical media, and how easy it is to get used DVD's…

But if you don't stick it out, you might miss out on some great programs that had initially shaky runs. With streaming, people might watch the pilot of Parks and Rec or The Office, decide "it sucks" and not continue with because there are so many other shows. With blind purchases or DVD delivery, they're probably more…

I kind of felt that way, like getting stressed when my bookshelf started filling and wondering if I needed to buy a new bookshelf. But it's sort of balanced out by the satisfaction of being thoughtful about what's in my DVD/book collection. When I first graduated from college and had disposable income, I was very…

Yea, season 5 does pick up towards the end, which is the one thing keeping it a step above seasons 6-7 (as well as the presence of Dunder Mifflin Corporate and David Wallace). IMO, the bulk of the season is pretty mediocre, and has much of the problems of the following seasons, while I mostly loved season 4.

I think the biggest drop-off in quality happened early in season 5. It started off very promising, with Pam pursuing art school and some potential actual conflict in Jim/Pam's relationship. Then Pam suddenly gives up her art dreams for some reason, never mentions it again, and becomes kind of smug and bitchy. This was…

I thought people go into management because it has fewer hours. My manager is out by 4, while us programmers are in late.

It's a rare tradition, in this day and age, to read any good news, on the AV Club front page.

GB2 only failed to live up to the high bar set by the original. If a GB3 came out and it was terrible, people would probably be praising GB2 as a fine film.

That was actually the same episode that turned me off from the show for good, as well. And I had been watching since 1989 when I was 6.

For some reason, I misread the title to mean there were several spinoffs of 24 that were produced but never ended up airing.