(S02E08) This episode, written and directed by Scott Adsit, reminded me of an old Emo Philips joke that you can read here. The gist of the joke is that two people share almost identical religious beliefs, but one insignificant difference is enough to make them enemies. In this episode, a new family, the Posabules, moves in next door to Orel's family. They seem like the perfect neighbors: their kids get along famously, both the men enjoy the album "Non-threatening Negro Comedy Volume 6," and the wives find common ground in their love of organizing detergents. Even when Bloberta goes monkey-crazy because one of her cleaning products is out of place, it's all quickly smoothed over.

(S02E07) Hmmm, some interesting developments here. After watching this episode, I've come away with the impression that Catalina definitely has a thing for Earl. She seemed awfully jealous whenever Wendy (Jenny McCarthy) was around, and when she and Earl observed Wendy and Will get together at the end, she looked very comfortable being around Earl. Whether this situation will develop over time is anyone's guess, but it would be interesting to see how these two would function as a couple.

(S03E04) Is our hero Michael Scott feeling a bit of his own mortality? He was really devastated by the news of his old boss' death, and he could not comprehend why his staff and his manager (Jan) did not feel the same way he did.

I thought Pam was especially good in this episode, especially when making Michael get coffee from the warehouse during his walking down the stairs bit and during the funeral pyre scene where she broke out in song. I guess the fact that she feels liberated from Roy (and Jim, to some extent) is allowing her personality and sense of humor to come out even more.

So far, Oscar, Kevin, and Angela haven't had much luck in determining who is responsible for the missing $3,000. No leads have been generated, and it seems the staffers they've interviewed so far are too apathetic to even attempt to embezzle the money.

(S02E18) In my humble opinion, The Office is hands down the best comedy on television today. Great writing, great acting, great stories--I could go on and on. This episode, the season finale, was, in a word, brilliant. You could not ask for a better way to tie up story lines that occurred over the course of a season while opening up new ones at the same time.

Let's briefly sum up what happened. Dunder Mifflin, led by Michael, holds a Casino Night charity function in the warehouse of the Scranton branch. Michael (played by the excellent Steve Carell) is doing his best to choose a suitable charity after the staff nixes the Boy Scouts. After some interplay, they decide to do something for AIDS patients, so that Michael can prove to everyone that he is a great "philanderer". (Michael's butchering of words reminds me of the old-time comic Norm Crosby.)

At the same time, the flirtation between Jim and Pam reaches a fever pitch when he offers to help her choose a band for her wedding. Just looking at them making eye contact with each other is enough to make you just want to shout at the screen, "Come on! Get together already!" In addition, how funny was seeing Kevin in "Scranton-icity"? The Wedding Singer flashed in front of my eyes at that moment.

Michael also is in a bit of a "love triangle drama" when he ends up inviting his real estate agent (Carol) and his boss (Jan) to the event. Of course, his bravado gets in the way and he looks foolish trying to "balance" both women, but still you root for Michael to find romance despite his boorishness. As we've seen over the course of the season, despite his over-the-top behavior, he exhibits a sensitive, human side that makes you think that deep down, he's a good guy who just needs some understanding.

The latest episode of Everybody Hates Chris, which centered around Valentine's Day, had several laugh out loud moments and more than made up for last week's episode, which, while still good, could have been better.