Boredom-Fueled Blog

Dwight Schrute and Andy Bernard, played by Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms. Earlier in the series, both Dwight and Andy had been established as musicians – Dwight on recorder and guitar (”Take Your Daughter To Work Day”) and Andy on banjo (”The Convict”) – but they never really played together until “The Michael Scott Paper Company” in season five. At first, they’re competing for the new receptionist’s attention, but before long, they’re playing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” together. This could be a great album; they could throw in a few musical cameos by other people from the office: Michael on tambourine, Creed on guitar, Darryl on keyboards, etc. Suggested band name: The Beet-les.

K. K. Slider. K. K. Slider is that dog character from Animal Crossing who (in “City Folk”) plays songs at the museum’s cafe on Saturday nights between eight and midnight. He never sings any lyrics, only meeps and beeps, and his guitar sometimes sounds like a piano, but he’s still better than most of the bands around today.

Conan O’Brien with the Max Weinberg 7. During the Writer’s Strike of ‘07-’08, Conan got bored, or didn’t have enough real material, or something, so he started singing a song with the Max Weinberg 7 once in a while to fill time. Conan would play guitar; they’d usually play an old rock tune from the ’50s and Conan would tell his at-home audience to go wake grandma and grandpa (but don’t “startle them”), because “Conan’s gonna play a number with the band.”

Windows XP. If you’ve seen that cool viral video of the guy who made an entire song using only sounds from Windows XP and 98 you know what I’m talking about. Other cool sound effects: the window-pane crashing sound from Hearts, the “TADA” sound, and vocals by Microsoft Sam.

The Three-Headed Broadway Star. What’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys and has less musical talent than a barrel of monkeys? It’s the three-headed Broadway star from “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” featuring a rotating cast of Wayne Brady, Chip Esten, Brad Sherwood, Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, David Hasselhoff, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Springer and Colin Mochrie. In this skit three performers must sing a song one word at a time. This is particularly funny with Drew Carey as the third head because he often sings a completely unexpected and unrelated word. Bonus Track: That one Irish Drinking Song where Colin says “Me-ow” and they have to stop the song because everyone’s laughing too hard.

Music Conan O'Brien, Lists, The Office

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how most of our popular shows are just remakes of British television shows. Think about it…
Probably most famously is the Office where the wildly successful “The Office” (UK) was changed into the wildly successful “The Office” (US).
A lot of my favorite shows have been stolen from British TV, such as “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, “The Weakest Link,” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Even some classic shows took British ideas and adapted them for American television like “Sanford and Son,” “Cosby”, and “Three’s Company.”
As time goes on more and more of our most popular shows are becoming less and less original – “American Gladiators” (minus the “American” part in England), “Supernanny”, “American Idol” (called “Pop Idol” in England), “Wife Swap” and “Trading Spouses,” “Trading Spaces,” and “Dancing with the Stars.”

But it’s nice to know that most of the rest of our great shows were stolen by them: “The Price is Right,” “That 70s Show,” “Saturday Night Live,” the original “American Gladiators,” “Family Feud,” and “Wheel of Fortune.”

Television The Office

Tonight’s Office episode (The Chair Model) was, without a doubt, the worst episode of the series.
I really expected better, since they’re back from the strike. Last week wasn’t so good either, so I cut them some slack. But their second episode back should’ve been better.
I enjoyed the Andy and Kevin sequence trying to get their parking back – could’ve been funnier, but it was okay.
When is Jim going to pull a prank? I’m pretty sure it’s been about fifteen episodes since his last prank. I think Pam has pulled more pranks than him now. And while we’re talking about Jim and Pam, I’m sick of Jim and Pam. It seems we’re seeing more and more Jim/Pam and less and less Dwight.
The highlight of the show was the very end with Dwight and Michael singing “American Pie.”

Television The Office