The Schwimmer Redemption

I played in a poker game last night in St. Paul until 11:30 PM. I won, so that was a nice change of pace. Anyway, I didn’t get home until after 12 but still felt a yearning to blow my Friday completely by watching both The Office and 30 Rock.

I think workbuddy.cecchi said it best when he pointed out a while back that “The Office isn’t The Office when they leave the office”. He never said it so eloquently, but the point is the same. Michael Scott alone in the woods – cute. Get back to work. Dwight cooking birds eggs direct from a nest during NBC’s environment week – ironic and disgusting at the same time. Get back to work. Jim realizing he turned into Michael for a day – scary. I will need to watch this episode again as I am pretty sure it probably had more funny lines and I would have picked them up had I not been half-asleep watching it in bed with the volume on low.

I don’t hear very well anymore – I mowed a lot of lawns growing up.

Have I mentioned before how awesome 30 Rock is. It lived up to its hype this week. Taking NBC’s ‘green’ mandate and shoving it back up their asses but still getting the message across was a thing of beauty. It really was. The Al Gore bit was very well played, and Schwimmer did a great job.

SIDEBAR: One time when I was living in Chicago I was waiting for my table at Mia Francesca, a little Italian place about a block from my crib, that doesn’t take reservations. Lauren and I had been waiting about 30 minutes and were up next for a table. But shitbag Schwimmer walks in with a date and gets my table. 15 minutes later we get a table and it happens to be next to that no-talent whining hack. Needless to say I did nothing, said nothing, and just listened to his mindless conversation for the remainder of the meal – let me tell you ladies, he’s not that interesting. I think he and Lauren might have made out a little though when I went to the bathroom. Schwims and I have been on the outs ever since. Until last night.

So I loved 30 Rock. Jack McBreyer is fantastic as Kenneth – I don’t think I could picture anyone else knocking out that role quite like he does. The Pop Tart bit was funny, the party storyline was funny and well executed, and Greenzo was fantastic. Well played Tina Fey and NBC. NOW GET BACK TO FUCKING WORK SO I DON’T HAVE TO WATCH RERUNS ALL WINTER LONG.

Sorry, that was selfish. I understand where the writers are coming from. I know my company always compensates me every time they use one of my templates or presentations beyond its original purpose. I know that the first thing they think of when one of my ideas is repackaged is to send me some money as a thank you – we all share in those profits together. Oh wait, we don’t, it’s how it works. We whore ourselves for a paycheck, hopefully enjoy what we do, and understand that we actually have no true intellectual property once we sign a contract with someone and they can do what they want with it. It’s called capitalism. If you don’t like it, don’t sign the contract.

COUNTERPOINT: I wrote it for the purposes of television broadcast and now you are using it online, and in DVDs, and on phones, and in bathroom stalls, and in-flight programming, and iTunes and whatnot - -and all the while selling ads each and every time. Give me a cut will ya? This business doesn’t work like ‘other’ businesses – the creative process is handled differently and people need to respect that. We get paid to write and then live on the royalties that come from reruns and syndication – we deserve our cut of the new media ventures as well, not just the networks.

I heard that NBC is optioning a YouTube show called ‘Quarter Life’. Please get back to work.