Earl, The Office, and new season of Lost

OK, this blog is becoming TV Review City. Must remember to enter something other than TV. Then again, it's the new fall season, so I guess it might lead to a disproportionate number of TV reviews. Or something.

Anyhow, on to My Name is Earl, which I finally watched via MythTV. Bottom line: I liked it a lot. I'd seen reviews that said it was reminiscent of Raising Arizona, which is certainly an 8.something-rated movie in my book. Maybe it's just that Jason Lee looks like Nicolas Cage with that semi-crazed hairdo. I liked the writing, I liked the editing, liked the photography, liked the acting. Will definitely give it another look. (Frankly, with the passage of a few days, I'm not sure I can say the same about How I Met Your Mother or Kitchen Confidential.)

Also watched The Office season opener, finally. I agree with a co-worker's assessment: it was a little too touchy-feely for an episode of The Office, but then again, I also truly felt sorry for Michael when he was heckled during his routine at Chili's. I also probably have not mentioned in blog form yet how gosh-darn cute Pam the secretary is. The whole flirtation with her non-fiance is kind of annoying, but she's darn cute. Anyhow, another good half-hour of TV.

Finally, the Lost season opener. Through the magic of MythTV, we were able to watch it all recorded via HDTV including commercial-skipping. (I will probably post something else on why that's an accomplishment.) Looked darn good, and sounded good too, particularly that darn "Make Your Own Kind of Music" song or whatever it's actually named. Glad they didn't drag out what was behind the hatch, although certainly not all the questions have been answered yet. Lots of tension, interesting flashbacks. No Evangeline Lilly swimsuit scenes, but you can't have it all, eh? Overall, I would have to agree with Steven King's commentary in Entertainment Weekly and say that I hope they don't drag this series out too long. It'd be nice to give it a definitive arc and a definitive ending (not to mention a definitive explanation of what's going on).