TV: Potpourri

I keep reading about TV shows that are now available through various sources "on demand." What I need now is for somebody to offer the opposite of on demand -- call it "no demand" -- where I can require certain TV shows not to be available through any source. Like Still Standing. Or According To Jim. Or Freddie. God damn Freddie.

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Spoiler for last night's season finale of The Office:

That final moment between Jim and Pam is the most amazingly romantic thing I've seen on TV all year.

Now Dorian is going to call me gay. Again.

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Apparently, I've given up on Gilmore Girls, have I mentioned that already? I recently complained about the lackluster season the show was having, but I had no plans to stop watching. Because whatever its shortcomings may be -- hey, Lauren Graham. Sold. But there was a good month there where I wasn't watching any TV (that's the Tom version of not watching any TV, which means only catching up on recorded programs maybe once a week), and my TiVo, full to burstin', had to have space cleared off it to make room for new shows. I didn't intentionally delete any Gilmore Girls episodes, but it was one of my lowest priority shows, and eventually TiVo made the decision for me. Poof! Gone. First one episode, then two, then -- well, pretty much the whole season from the time I wrote that last post up until now. Actually, after the first few, I just removed the show from my Season Pass list.

And I'm ambivalent about it. In some ways, I'm like an obsessed comic book fan ("I hate Grant Morrison's X-Men! I'm only buying one copy!") with my TV shows -- I keep collecting them even after I stop liking them, just so I can say "I've got the complete set!" I've seen every episode of Gilmore Girls up to now, which makes me want to keep seeing every episode until the show is over. But if I haven't been enjoying it -- and I really haven't been -- why should I bother? So, I'm a little disappointed I missed the end of this season, but it turns out I'll live. Whether I try to catch these episodes in repeats, or via DVD rentals, or whether I even tune back in for next season -- still up in the air. Maybe I'll just let TWoP fill me in on what happened.

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I caught some of the That '70s Show retrospective, or whatever you want to call it, last night. For a long time, that was a damn funny show. It's a shame this last season has sucked so much. (Speaking of sticking with a show when you're not liking it...) But when you lose the two funniest people on the show, and replace them with the two unfunniest people you can dig up, that can happen. But back to the retrospective: I see Ashton Kutcher is returning for the final episode -- but no Topher Grace? Really? Wow, that's a mistake. Please tell me he's going to make a surprise appearance, because otherwise, that's a really shitty way to end the show. Donna's going to end up with that dumbass (as Red would say) Randy? And as far as Fez and Jackie are concerned -- oh my GOD who cares. There have been a lot of funny and enjoyable relationships on the show, but those two match-ups are the least interesting by far. No, okay, Hyde and the stripper was the least interesting match-up ever. Man, was that gal an awful actress. She makes former guest star Jessica Simpson look like Dame Judi Dench.

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Seriously: god damn you, Freddie Prinze, Jr. God damn you straight to hell.