This is what Hulu is good for.

Commercial Free Comedy Day on Hulu means...well...not all that much, actually, since I'm not all that bothered by the commercials on Hulu. (They're rarely more than 30 seconds long. That's not even enough time for a bathroom break.)

Never-the-less, I used my commercial free comedy day to watch Andy Barker, P.I., a show I had never seen before, despite its creator (Conan) or ties to Jane Espenson (one of my very very very most favoritest TV writers ever in the whole wide world). Or the fact that Tony Hale plays the side-kick. Turns out, I was missing out.

I wouldn't call it the greatest show in the history of comedy, but it makes me laugh. Jane Espenson snuck in a reference to Buffy's Doublemeat Palace (which originated in a Jane Espenson penned episode...she's just this side of Aaron Sorkin when it comes to self-referencing, and I love it). Andy says things like "Excuse my French, but I am P.O.-ed." Tony Hale is hilarious. Wally, the owner of the Kebab restaurant, is played by How I Met Your Mother's taxi/limo driver, Ranjit (Marshall Manesh). The jokes range from very broad (Tony Hale trying to unbuckle a seat belt) to just plain smart ("Slaughter Room 5").

And there are only six episodes, so it's completely digestible.

(Plus, Richard Alpert shows up in episode 5.)

Volume 5 and Some Thoughts on "The Writer's Tale"

The Remains of my Lunch, approx. 2:00pm

This is what my desk looks like organized (you should see it messy!), approx. 4:15pm

A (delicious) snack, approx. 4:30pm

Reading The Writer's Tale in my Pajamas, approx. 5:45pm

Picking Up Dinner, approx. 6:30pm

Listening to Doctor Who soundtracks, approx. 10:45pm

I've been reading The Writer's Tale all afternoon, just throwing myself back into the end of series 4 of Doctor Who full force (a feat that would be significantly easier if I could actually watch the end of series 4, but that will have to wait for tomorrow), and I'm finding that, reading these scripts (almost as they happen, as they come in unfinished pieces, interspersed with the e-mails that make up the body of the book) is nearly as intense–possible equally as intense–as watching the episodes.

Not long ago I got to the reunion between Rose and Ten, at the end of the penultimate episode of series 4. Watching it was all giddy joy and pumping blood and bounce-off-your-chair happiness followed immediately by complete terror (as was intended), but I was not expecting the same feeling from the words on the page, not because I don't think that words can carry that kind of intense emotion (they absolutely can), but because I already knew what was going to happen; I've witnessed it several times. I think that says so much about the writing itself, the tiniest phrasings and details:

Far off in the distance, as far away as possible, on a cold and empty ordinary street...

A woman. Walking towards them.

ROSE.

And the Doctor smiles.

CUT to Rose. And she smiles. The best smile.

It's that "the best smile" that gets me. All of the emotion in their reunion is in that smile. Well, the happy emotion...

I'm also adoring this book because it's so much more than just teleplays. Last semester I was reading all of those Buffy and West Wing scripts, and they were wonderful, but there was no sense of the process in them, not like there is with this.

If I hadn't treated myself to this book, I'd never have known that they wanted Kate Winslet to play River Song in "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" (and if they'd gotten her I might have actually liked River Song...maybe) or that they'd hoped to bring Midshipman Frame back for the end of series 4 (and how amazing would that have been?!). It's an insight into the whole machine of television making (at least of British television making...I think a lot of it works differently over this-a-way).

Now, it's 40 minutes till midnight and the end of my self-imposed week without TV. I've got some more reading to do before I queue up Monday's How I Met Your Mother (followed by Wednesday's Lost and then last night's Dollhouse and then after that...well the list goes on and on. Some of it I'll have to save for tomorrow).

Volume 2

Starting to Look Like a Building, approx. 2:30pm


Mammojam, approx. 2:30pm


What I Do at Work, approx. 3:30pm


I Carried This Bowl Around All Afternoon, approx. 3:45pm


Popcorn Shrimp and Fries, approx. 6:15pm


Suitemate Art Project (Work in Progress), approx. 10:00pm

Tonight I finally got to see I Love You, Man. I am trying to think of a movie with a better cast and I honestly can't come up with anything. Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, JK Simmons, Andy Samberg, plus hoards of easily recognizable character actors whose names I don't know. Anyway, it wasn't quite the movie I was expecting, but it was laugh out loud funny, and entirely quotable.

And I'll watch pretty much anything with Jason Segel.

Actually, the same goes for Paul Rudd. I've loved him since Clueless, but his guest-starring role on Veronica Mars a few years ago was one of the few genuinely worth-while things about the third season (along with the Logan Logan episode and anything involving Piz).

I'm also currently trying to forget that, somewhere out there, there is an episode of LOST that I have not seen. And to think that, only about a month ago, I wouldn't have even thought of myself as a fan!