Monday, January 17, 2005

Fun for the Whole Family!

Yes, it's true that I went off for a romantic weekend trip to Palm Springs with my lovely Penny... and all my Inlaws. But I swear, I was thinking about you the entire time I was gone. Despite it being a "family vacation" Penny and I still managed to squeeze in some sex and drugs. Alas there was no Rock and Roll to complete the three-headed fun monster. It's still fun to get baked with Penny's family. Although after the fourth time they forced me to do Ali G, Borat and Bruno impressions for their stoned amusement I was able to come up with a subtle way to excuse myslelf and go back to my room.

Me: "Oh Christ. I don't want to have yet another Ali G conversation, or do any more "hilarious" impressions for you stoners. I'm going back to my room."

Normally I'm quite happy to keep people entertained for hours while feeding my fragile and hungry ego, but I think impressions are pretty low on the comedy totem pole. Plus I am not some wunderkind impressionist. The situation just reminded me of that old proverb. "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king."

So I gave my father in law a copy of the first season of The Office threw down a smoke bomb and made a hasty, ninja-style exit.

Help me out here. In this country we make sitcoms and do 22-24 shows a season. Yes that's a bit much and the quality of the shows does suffer a bit, but here I am watching The Office laughing at the brilliant performances and clever writing and I'm excited that there are a full two seasons to enjoy. Then I get to the sixth episode and bam! The season is OVER! WTF?

This is a hit show! A big ass hit show, worldwide... and they only ran for 12 episodes? There has got to be some happy middle ground. I understand going out while you're still fresh, but that's like a pro athelete retiring after his 12 match. I'm going to go into The Office withdrawl. I only have 2 episodes left to watch. I think I'll need some methadone or at least another decent Britcom to help me detox. Whatcha got?


6 comments:

la nadine said...

i too only have 2 episodes left to watch, as well as the xmas specials. and i too am searching for some sort of the office methadone program to help me ween off the junk. i can't go cold turkey. i'm not strong enough. i just need a hit, man, just one hit.

Di Gallagher said...

Wasn't there only 11 or 12 episodes of Faulty? Yet it's practicly a religion.

Best of Mobil's Jipzee Cab said...

At the other extreme..the original American TV sitcoms prior to the mid 60's did 39 shows a year (3 series of 13 weeklies) and showed only the best of the lot for reruns).

kranki said...

la nadine: I'm afraid the last two episodes of the office left me feeling sad. Those xmas specials had better be funny and upbeat. Where do I get hold of those?

Yes, I know the Brits think if they make 18 episodes of something that it's a staggering number. Lazy. No wonder the sun now sets on the British empire. First they underestimated the Zulu warriors then they lost their vast empire, now they can't be bothered to write a few extra shows each season.

I bow to your knowledge of pre-60's TV. I didn't think there was anything I had left to learn about TV. 39 episodes?! That had to include a great deal of duds. But back then there were only three channels so people were desperate. Did I Love Lucy do 39 episodes? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Desci said...

Kranki, the chirssie specials are soooo good. I promise you'll love them.

Two other good Brit comedies are Little Britain (sketch-ish) and The League of Genlteman. The latter, is the ultimate in surreal comedy. SO good.

kranki said...

I have ordered The Office Christmas specials. They are on the way. Joyous.