TV in print

I had a good TV week last week. “24” was awesome, I took a break from “South Beach,” “The Office” was hilarious and I finally caught a new episode of “Will and Grace.” But sadly the week ended with the Seahawks losing the Super Bowl thanks to terrible officiating. Not since the fourth season of “Six Feet Under” have I seen TV so depressing. And not since David Aceveda from “The Shield” have I seen a jerk like referee Bill Leavy.

“24”
This week, Jack Bauer tried to tell the White House that the president’s chief of staff was working with the terrorists, but got arrested and detained. Meanwhile, the chief of staff admitted his involvement, explaining his complex plan to set off nerve gas in Central Asia so the U.S. would finally have evidence of WMD in the region. Also, Jack admitted to Audrey that he still loved her, which was like a teardrop in the ocean of drama that is the rest of the show.

“American Idol”
Why don’t some of these singers start bands? It’s not like “American Idol” is the only way to get noticed as a singer. One girl last week had a perfectly good rock ‘n’ roll voice, but the judges told her she “shouldn’t sing.” Why couldn’t they just tell her her voice wasn’t right for “American Idol”? Another guy sang a screamo song for the judges, but he obviously just auditioned to piss the judges off. The final audition was this grey-haired guy from Vegas who did a killer version of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” And when the judges asked for another song, he launched into a Ray Charles number, twisting and slapping his legs like Joe Cocker.

“Love Monkey”
This show is supposed to be about an A&R rep who’s a huge music geek, but he gives out The Essential Bob Dylan as a gift. Those Essential discs are the kind of things your relatives buy you when they hear you like a band and they don’t know what album to buy. Shouldn’t a music geek have a favorite album by Dylan that he gives to everyone? Like, say, Highway 61 Revisited? Oh, and the singer-songwriter the main character is fighting to keep on his label will bore anyone who likes music to tears.

“The Office”
Apparently the only reason this show is getting such a push from NBC is that people keep downloading it onto their iPod. And although I can’t figure out why you’d want to watch anything on that small of a screen, I’m glad this show is still on. Last week, Steve Carell accidentally encouraged the warehouse workers to start a union, destroyed the warehouse by driving a forklift, and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt to talk “guy talk.”

“Will and Grace”
Last week, Will ran into his dream guy, played by Taye Diggs, on a trip to L.A. to look at colleges with Jack’s son, while Grace pretended to be Kathy Griffin, charging $10 a pop for autographs. Also, Karen snuck into a sorority and convinced a girl that “condoms are only for when he’s ugly.”