I'm going to get straight to "the rundown" of Thursday's shows -- TWO new episodes of "The Office" and the premier of "Parks and Recreation".
First, the second episode of "The Office." This episode totally reminded me of the early days of three8six.com. No, the people who work on the Web site do not work on a poker table and share a computer and work in a glorified closet. (And please don't make that suggestion to anybody.) I'm talking about the clip that Ryan was watching on his laptop -- the Montgomery flea market guy! That was one of the first "web junk" clips we ran on the site. "Montgomery. Flea market. It's just like, it's just like ... a mini-mall!"
The close quarters at the Michael Scott Paper Company (click the link to check out Michael's Web site) made for some hysterical situations -- overhearing each other's conversations, hearing people going to the bathroom. The stuff with Dwight and Andy wasn't bad, either. How about Dwight singing in German? Priceless. And I loved how Toby ended their jam session. Jim's distribution list was funny, too. He and Charles are just never gonna be on the same page.
"Who would've thought the thing that would save this company would be work ... and pancakes." Ha!
The first episode was pretty good as well, though I liked the second a little better. It seemed like some of the best scenes were the ones they showed in the previews: the one with Michael making the huge stack of french toast and the shot of Michael wearing his robe and nothing underneath it. BUT, I thought it was awesome that they brought back Vikram.
And how about "Ahhh, the hooker's here!" when Pam showed up at Michael's door? Ha ha! Or the look Stanley got from Charles when he was doing the crossword puzzle during the meeting. And Kevin trying to answer/transfer the calls. And Michael's Nana rejecting him. OK, the first episode was really good, too.
"Parks and Recreation" was good for some laughs, too. It's done in the same format as "The Office" and has a lot of potential. I already liked Amy Poehler, and I think this show works well for her. Since it's going to be on right before "The Office", I'm going to have a tough time not calling the Rashida Jones character "Karen" (her Office character).
Since you've read to the end of this, here's the video Ryan was watching on the laptop. Direct from Montgomery ... flea market!