Friday night was surprisingly about Egypt, hockey and politics – quite a strange mix.
8:00/9:00 – Back to MSNBC tonight, watching the coverage of the unrest in Cairo, as the other options were a game show, a nanny, a chef and a repeat of NCIS LA. Caught the end of Chris Matthews, who was actually calm for once, before watching Lawrence O’Donnell. But with Egypt deep into the night, the coverage has gotten repetitive and I found myself switching to Versus when I remembered the NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft was on.
I flipped it on the All-Star draft about a third of the way through, and surprisingly it is kind of interesting. When I first heard the concept, I thought it was a bit odd, but watching it unfold, it’s a little more interesting. It doesn’t quite have all the tension-filled drama of the NFL draft since its only for an exhibition game, but still interesting to watch since they are having fun with it. I actually think this is a concept Major League Soccer should really look into now, only I would make the draft a fan selection thing with some kind of contest to select the fan captains.
I continued watching primarily the draft, flipping back to MSNBC during the breaks, wrapping up with The Rachel Maddow Show’s final half-hour after the final picks.
10:00 – Closed the prime time viewing with Real Time with Bill Maher, who was great as usual despite the idiocy of some of the Republicans on the show. Couple real stupid things tonight like the cliché “Americans know how to spend their money better than the government” despite the fact that when the average person spends their tax cut money it goes to technological gadgets and crap made by foreign companies. At least when the government is spending the cash, it’s going back into the American system, even if it is wasted in the bureaucracy in some places. The other nutball moment came with the denial of evolution. Sure I can side that maybe science can be argued (though not likely) that climate change isn’t what liberals think it is, but evolution… c’mon.
The best part of the show, though, was by far Bill’s final New Rule. His comparison of socialism to the NFL and the irony in that the Tea Party idiots love the American game, which is so much what they despise politically. The metaphors and descriptions of the NFL and its opposite, MLB, to societal political policies was brilliant, especially the stunning and completely true comparison of the Steelers and Pirates.
Catching Up on Demand – The opening to The Office with a quick cameo by Ricky Gervais, the creator of this and the original British version, was hilarious. Was a hint to the future? As for the seminar story, it was kind of lame with the exception of Kevin’s collapse and Kelly’s business bitch character. I have to say, of all of Michael’s girlfriends on the show, the current is really the worst as far as enjoyable to watch. The concept is good, but Amy Ryan as Holly just does not really work for me.
The storylines of 30 Rock, however, completely made up for the flat episode of The Office. The disaster idea was funny, with the exception of the British line by Robert De Niro, who made a funny cameo. He’s a master, but that line just didn’t work although the joke did. Anyhow, the disaster arc followed an average comedic path with a brilliant side story about selecting survivors and a genius conclusion featuring Mel Gibson that made the whole thing worth the work. I was glad to see they kept the reality show concept for Tracy’s wife in play from the previous show, providing an improved layer to his character and a new obstacle for Liz.
Outsourced was fantastic with the dual storyline. I was surprised at the outcome of the barter for evaluation scheme Rajiv was running and Diedrich Bader was phenomenal as always in the overbearing sidekick role.
Tape Delay – Nothing from tonight.
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