(S06E14) A clip show? Really?

After being gone for six weeks, and teased by the no good louts at the NBC publicity department that we were getting a "new Office," we get handed a clip show. Not cool.

And... and... when was the last time you saw a sitcom do a clip show, anyway? Friends, maybe? I thought in this new era of "creativity" in the sitcom world clip shows were more mocked than embraced.

Ok, ok. Enough bitching on my part. I guess this will be the shortest Office review ever, because there wasn't all that much new material to talk about.

(S06E04) During last Festivus I mentioned the secret constitution that the networks have to regulate their industry. This is the document that says the Regis Philbin robot must have a full check-out every six months and that one network or another must produce a musical-based drama every twenty years or so that will fail right off the bat. I'm hoping that, after watching this week's 100th episode of Family Guy, the networks add a new amendment to their constitution: clip shows will no longer air before special episodes or series finales.

Call it the Seinfeld Amendment for simplification. Before the series finale of Seinfeld NBC aired a one-hour retrospective featuring classic scenes from previous seasons. This got the viewing audience all hyped up to see an exciting and entertaining finale. Then, as we all know, that last episode was a huge suckfest that disappointed millions. If they had not aired the retrospective before the last show perhaps the anger surrounding the episode may have been lessened.

(S06E11) When I interviewed Bill Lawrence in January, one of the things he made a point of mentioning was how he and his writers like to try to avoid standard sitcom clichés when they can. "The one thing we're adamant about here is you can't do old hacky sitcom stories unless you do them and do a twist on them so it's not the same old story," he told me.

Nothing is more hacky in sitcomland than the clip show, is there? Up until now, Scrubs has avoided doing one, and I'm guessing it's because Bill and his writers probably didn't know how to do one in a unique and funny way. Well, apparently they came up with something. Unfortunately, it wasn't really all that unique. But it was a little funny.

Beginning on December 11th, TV Land will host a week-long tribute to over sixty years of television's greatest "quotes and catchphrases." That's five nights of talking head, clip show goodness covering cartoons, news programs, game shows, long-running series, commercials and historic live events.

If you want a sneak peak, you can look at the entire list online. The list is pretty wide-ranging and up-to-date. A few that made the grade - Jon Stewart's "Here it is, your moment of Zen." The Walton's "Good night, John Boy." The A-Team's "I love it when a plan comes together." Larry Sanders' "Hey now!" Not all the choices make sense. Paris Hilton's "that's hot" may not deserve a place on the same list as Edward R. Murrow's "good night, and good luck," but what are you gonna do? The American pop culture vernacular is a mysterious beast.

(S06E03) The Simpsons has done more than a few clip shows in its almost two decades of existence, and while these looks back at past episodes usually tend to be the least favorite among fans for obvious reasons, I will say that at least the episodes are framed in such a way as to still make them worth watching. Besides, you get to see some great scenes from past episodes. It's like a slideshow that's not quite so boring, you know?