(Do you even need excuses anymore for un-knitting blogging? I've not been productive and what is finished can't be photographed well in this gloomy weather.)



The Fall TV season is a mixed blessing in the Dr. Girlfriend household. On the sad side, it means the end of the baseball season. No more daily Mets games to boggle the mind and wrench the heart. This especially torturous season may be one of the few times that it isn't so sad to not have the Mets on nearly every night of the week. On the happy side, it is the return of favorite shows and the start of new potential faves. Here's a round-up of my review of what we're watching now that it is two weeks into the new Fall season.



There are two main nights for TV: Thursday and Sunday.



Thursday Night: The Office, Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

• The Office. The Office has returned with two lackluster episodes so far this season. The season premiere which featured the announcement that Jim and Pam are having a baby, and last week's episode which featured Jim's promotion to co-manager with Michael. My opinion is that the writer's have forgotten that the show is called "The Office" and are instead writing for the "Michael, Jim and Pam Show." Honestly, I hate that they got Jim and Pam together; I hated last season's storyline in which Michael started his own paper company; I hate that Pam is a sales person. The show just isn't the same. I liked when The Office was more like Seinfeld. A few minor overarching plot points, but mostly each episode could stand independently on its own. The Office is now more soap opera-like such that if you miss an episode, you miss important plot points. That's really not what I am desiring from this show. I'll keep watching because it still has little gems... such as last week's Dwight and Toby team-up to catch Darryl lying about his injury.


• Community. Joel McHale and Chevy Chase. Need I say more? I will anyway. This is a new show by the producers of Arrested Development (whether or not that actually means much to the quality of the show remains to be foreseen). Joel McHale is hysterical on the Soup. Chevy Chase... well, how can you not love the guy who uttered the line "He's not going to pork her, Rus." McHale's character never actually completed college and is forced out of his lawyer job and back to college... community college. Very typical storyline... he meets a girl he likes, creates fake study group to get close to girl, girl invites other students to study group, the core group of characters is introduced. The show is still finding its legs and gets some laughs as it attempts to develop its characters. Last week featured a priceless montage of an epic Spanish conversation acted out by McHale and Chase; I was also quite fond of the professors mid-class freak-out about the fact that students can't understand that even though he's an Asian American he loves teaching Spanish. I'm looking forward to seeing how this show grows despite the inaccuracies it presents about community colleges.


• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Easily the best show on television. The new season picked up and made you feel as if it hadn't been a year since the last episode of the previous season. It is typically advisable to not eat or drink while watching It's Always Sunny... unless of course you like choking because you laughed so hard. After last week's episode in which the gang attempts a road trip out of Philly and ends up right back at the bar, my abs were sore from the constant non-stop laughing. This is one of the few shows that we don't delete from the DVR. If any show has taken up the torch left by Seinfeld for a group of dislikable and terrible human beings that you can't help but love, It's Always Sunny is it. And it stars Danny DeVito... why are you not watching it?!