The Office Archives - TV Breakroom

May Madness: Veronica Mars vs. House, Golden Girls vs. The Office

For our second set of matchups for round two, Veronica Mars faces House and the Golden Girls battle The Office!

These round two polls will be open for about 72 hours, so be sure to spread the word quickly if you want your favorites to make it to the next round! As always, you can find the links to all the current matchups on our main post. Please try to vote in all the polls, not just the one with your favorite show!

May Madness - Drama, Round 2.2

House (56%, 23 Votes)
Veronica Mars (46%, 19 Votes)

Total Voters: 41

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May Madness - Comedy, Round 2.2

Golden Girls (79%, 27 Votes)
The Office (US) (21%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 34

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Feel free to leave a comment about which show(s) you voted for and why! I may quote your comment in a Facebook post or tweet promoting this poll! Also, there may be a bit of a lag if a lot of people are voting, so make sure the first poll finishes loading your results before submitting your vote for the second poll!

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May Madness: The Office vs. 2 Broke Girls, Glee vs. Veronica Mars

Next up in our May Madness tournament, recent classic The Office faces popular 2 Broke Girls, and musical soap Glee goes up against hard-boiled teen detective Veronica Mars, whose Kickstarter-funded movie releases on DVD today! (Just $9.99 as of this writing!)

These polls will be open for about 72 hours, so be sure to spread the word quickly if you want your favorites to make it to the next round!

May Madness - Comedy, Round 1.3

The Office (US) (57%, 17 Votes)
2 Broke Girls (43%, 13 Votes)

Total Voters: 30

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May Madness - Drama, Round 1.3

Veronica Mars (74%, 23 Votes)
Glee (26%, 8 Votes)

Total Voters: 31

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Which of these four shows do you think will make it to the finals? Leave a comment and let me know, and don’t forget to check out all of the ongoing polls on our main tournament page!

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May Madness 2014

At last, it is time for the 64 TV shows YOU chose to battle it out for the best TV show of all time! Over the next few weeks, shows will face each other in 72-hour single elimination matchups! Everyone who responded to my question about whether to have comedies and dramas mixed throughout the tournament preferred to have the genres battle it out separately and the top comedy and top drama face each other in the final match, so that’s what we will do!

This post will be your go-to reference for current and upcoming matches, so be sure to bookmark it and check back daily! I will add the links as the posts go up. Or, subscribe to our RSS feed to get the latest posts!

TOURNAMENT FINAL

Castle vs. M*A*S*H

DRAMA FINAL

Castle vs. Beauty and the Beast – Winner: Castle!

COMEDY FINAL

M*A*S*H vs. Friends – Winner: M*A*S*H

Round four begins with only eight shows remaining! Each of these polls will be open 72 hours.

DRAMA – ROUND FOUR MATCHUPS

White Collar vs. Castle – Winner: Castle!

Beauty and the Beast vs. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Winner: Beauty and the Beast!

COMEDY – ROUND FOUR MATCHUPS

I Love Lucy vs. M*A*S*H – Winner: M*A*S*H!

Friends vs. Will & Grace – Winner: Friends!

And now we’re starting round three, as the remaining 16 shows face off! The lists will be completed as the round one matchups finish, and links to each new poll will be added after they go live! Each of the round three posts will contain two matchups: one drama battle and one comedy battle. All polls will be open 72 hours.

DRAMA – ROUND THREE MATCHUPS

White Collar vs. House – Winner: White Collar!

Castle vs. The X-Files – Winner: Castle!

Beauty and the Beast vs. Once Upon a Time – Winner: Beauty and the Beast!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. Supernatural – Winner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

COMEDY – ROUND THREE MATCHUPS

M*A*S*H vs. Golden Girls – Winner: M*A*S*H!

The Andy Griffith Show vs. I Love Lucy – Winner: I Love Lucy!

The Mindy Project vs. Friends – Winner: Friends!

Will & Grace vs. The Dick Van Dyke Show – Winner: Will & Grace!

Here are the round two matchups!

DRAMA – ROUND TWO MATCHUPS

White Collar vs. Leverage – Winner: White Collar!

Veronica Mars vs. House – Winner: House!

Castle vs. Doctor Who – Winner: Castle!

ER vs. The X-Files – Winner: The X-Files!

Beauty and the Beast vs. NCIS – Winner: Beauty and the Beast!

Once Upon a Time vs. Agents of SHIELD – Winner: Once Upon a Time!

Criminal Minds vs. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Winner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Supernatural vs. Sherlock – Winner: Supernatural!

COMEDY – ROUND TWO MATCHUPS

Scrubs vs. M*A*S*H – Winner: M*A*S*H!

The Office vs. Golden Girls – Winner: Golden Girls!

The Andy Griffith Show vs. Get Smart – Winner: The Andy Griffith Show!

That 70s Show vs. I Love Lucy – Winner: I Love Lucy!

Suburgatory vs. The Mindy Project – Winner: The Mindy Project!

The Cosby Show vs. Friends – Winner: Friends!

Will & Grace vs. Hogan’s Heroes – Winner: Will & Grace!

The Dick Van Dyke Show vs. Gilligan’s Island – Winner: The Dick Van Dyke Show!

These will be the matchups for round one. This list was randomly generated, and each of the round one posts will contain two matchups: one comedy battle and one drama battle. I may post several times in a day during this first round so that this bracket won’t go too far into June, but all polls will be open 72 hours. If any of the choices below seem impossible, remember, your decisions will only get more difficult as the tournament progresses! Have fun!

COMEDY – ROUND ONE MATCHUPS

Scrubs vs. Raising Hope – Winner: Scrubs!

How I Met Your Mother vs. M*A*S*H – Winner: M*A*S*H!

The Office (US) vs. 2 Broke Girls – Winner: The Office!

Golden Girls vs. New Girl – Winner: Golden Girls!

Modern Family vs. The Andy Griffith Show – Winner: The Andy Griffith Show!

Get Smart vs. The Crazy Ones – Winner: Get Smart!

That 70s Show vs. The Big Bang Theory – Winner: That 70s Show!

I Love Lucy vs. Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Winner: I Love Lucy!

30 Rock vs. Suburgatory – Winner: Suburgatory!

The Goldbergs vs. The Mindy Project – Winner: The Mindy Project!

The Cosby Show vs. Parks and Recreation – Winner: The Cosby Show!

Friends vs. The Middle – Winner: Friends!

Will & Grace vs. Seinfeld – Winner: Will & Grace!

Community vs. Hogan’s Heroes – Winner: Hogan’s Heroes!

Enlisted vs. The Dick Van Dyke Show – Winner: The Dick Van Dyke Show!

Last Man Standing vs. Gilligan’s Island – Winner: Gilligan’s Island!

DRAMA – ROUND ONE MATCHUPS

Dexter vs. White Collar – Winner: White Collar!

Angel vs. Leverage – Winner: Leverage!

Glee vs. Veronica Mars – Winner: Veronica Mars!

Game of Thrones vs. House – Winner: House!

Gilmore Girls vs. Castle – Winner: Castle!

Magnum, PI vs. Doctor Who – Winner: Doctor Who!

Moonlight vs. ER – Winner: ER!

The X-Files vs. Suits – Winner: The X-Files!

The Vampire Diaries vs. Beauty and the Beast – Winner: Beauty and the Beast!

NCIS vs. Charmed – Winner: NCIS!

Arrow vs. Once Upon a Time – Winner: Once Upon a Time!

Agents of SHIELD vs. JAG – Winner: Agents of SHIELD!

Criminal Minds vs. Dollhouse – Winner: Criminal Minds!

Dark Angel vs. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Winner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Supernatural vs. Firefly – Winner: Supernatural!

Bones vs. Sherlock – Winner: Sherlock!

Which round one loss are you most disappointed by? Leave a comment and let me know!

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Monday Madness: Favorite Christmas Episode

It’s hard to believe Christmas will be here in about a week! One of my favorite parts of the season are the awesome holiday episodes shows put out, and now it’s your turn to vote for your favorites! I purposely saved this poll for right before Christmas so I could add in some of 2012’s holiday episodes.

Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, Pinterest, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

I know I’m missing some of your favorite Christmas episodes, so feel free to nominate more episodes on our Facebook page, tweeting me at @waterfallbooks, or by leaving a comment below. Please include both the show and episode name, and yes, you can nominate this year’s holiday episodes! (Be sure to stick with live-action, scripted shows, though it’s fine if just this one episode has some animation, like with a certain Community episode.) Please only nominate Christmas episodes that are part of a regular show, not one-off specials like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or movie-related specials like “Shrek the Halls.”

Without further ado, vote for up to fifteen of the episodes below! Poll will close Sunday night, December 23rd, giving you one week to spread the word!

What's your favorite Christmas episode? (Choose up to 15!)

Leverage - The Ho Ho Ho Job (17%, 154 Votes)
Supernatural - A Very Supernatural Christmas (8%, 76 Votes)
Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion (5%, 43 Votes)
Doctor Who - Voyage of the Damned (4%, 35 Votes)
Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol (4%, 35 Votes)
Doctor Who - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (4%, 34 Votes)
The Big Bang Theory - The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis (3%, 31 Votes)
Psych - Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy (3%, 26 Votes)
Bones - The Man in the Fallout Shelter (3%, 24 Votes)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Amends (3%, 24 Votes)
How I Met Your Mother - How Lily Stole Christmas (2%, 23 Votes)
The Big Bang Theory - The Santa Simulation (2%, 22 Votes)
Castle - Secret Santa (2%, 21 Votes)
NCIS - Faith (2%, 20 Votes)
NCIS - Newborn King (2%, 19 Votes)
Bones - The Santa in the Slush (2%, 19 Votes)
Friends - The One With the Holiday Armadillo (2%, 18 Votes)
NCIS - Silent Night (2%, 17 Votes)
Psych - Christmas Joy (2%, 17 Votes)
How I Met Your Mother - Symphony of Illumination (2%, 16 Votes)
The Vampire Diaries - O Come, All Ye Faithful (2%, 15 Votes)
Community - Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas (2%, 14 Votes)
New Girl - Santa (2%, 14 Votes)
Psych - The Polarizing Express (2%, 14 Votes)
Community - Regional Holiday Music (1%, 13 Votes)
Community - Comparative Religion (1%, 13 Votes)
Eureka - O Little Town (1%, 12 Votes)
Warehouse 13 - Secret Santa (1%, 12 Votes)
Eureka - Do You See What I See (1%, 12 Votes)
Warehouse 13 - The Greatest Gift (1%, 12 Votes)
Arrow - Year's End (1%, 11 Votes)
Chuck - Chuck vs Santa Claus (1%, 11 Votes)
Veronica Mars - An Echolls Family Christmas (1%, 10 Votes)
House - It's a Wonderful Lie (1%, 10 Votes)
The OC - The Best Chrismukkah Ever (1%, 9 Votes)
Glee - A Very Glee Christmas (1%, 9 Votes)
The X-Files - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (1%, 8 Votes)
M*A*S*H - Death Takes a Holiday (1%, 8 Votes)
The West Wing - In Excelsis Deo (1%, 6 Votes)
Seinfeld - Festivus (1%, 5 Votes)
The Office - Dwight Christmas (1%, 5 Votes)
The Office - A Benihana Christmas (0%, 4 Votes)
Go On - The World Ain't Over 'Til It's Over (0%, 4 Votes)
The Office - Christmas Wishes (0%, 4 Votes)
Monk - Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa (0%, 4 Votes)
The Mindy Project - Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party (0%, 3 Votes)
Suburgatory - Krampus (0%, 3 Votes)
Smallville - Lexmas (0%, 3 Votes)
Monk - Mr. Monk and the Miracle (0%, 3 Votes)
The Neighbors - Merry Crap-mas (0%, 1 Votes)
Guys With Kids - Christmas (0%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 276

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2012 Black Friday Deals on TV Shows

Amazon has some amazing deals on TV shows this weekend, so I thought I’d share them with you here. Prices are accurate at the time of posting, and I expect they’ll remain the same through the weekend, but there’s no guarantee, so order now!

Prices are for DVD sets, unless otherwise noted

How I Met Your Mother, seasons 1-5: $7.99 each

Burn Notice, seasons 1-5

White Collar, seasons 1-3

Community, seasons 1-3

Happy Endings, seasons 1-2

Modern Family, seasons 1-2: $11.99 each

The Walking Dead, seasons 1-2

Firefly, complete series: $7.99

The Office, seasons 1-7

Downton Abbey, series 2: $13.00

Psych, seasons 1-4: $7.99

The Big Bang Theory, season 5: $19.49

House, seasons 2-7: $11.99 each

Breaking Bad, seasons 1-4

Supernatural, seasons 1-7: $9.99 each

Fringe, seasons 1-4: $9.99 each

The Tudors, complete series: $34.99

Mad Men, seasons 1-4

Blue Bloods, season 1: $10.96

Bones, seasons 1-5: $7.99 each

Friday Night Lights, complete series: $53.99

Lie To Me, seasons 1-3: $10.49 each

The West Wing, complete series: $89.99

Charmed, complete series: $49.96

True Blood, seasons 1-3: $16.99 each

Gilligan’s Island, complete series: $32.99

The Good Wife, season 1: $9.99

Justified, seasons 1-2: $9.99 each

Parks & Recreation, seasons 1-2

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Community News: October 19th is February 7th, Show to Return to its Old 8PM Thursday Slot

NBC has finally revealed when Community will return – February 7! What I hate about this announcement is that the show will be going back to competing directly with ratings juggernaut The Big Bang Theory in the Thursdays at 8 time slot, as well as American Idol and the CW’s highest-rated drama, The Vampire Diaries.

The Thursday night comedy lineup for NBC will then be: Community, Parks and Rec, The Office, and new show 1600 Penn (30 Rock will have ended and Up All Night will be on hiatus). No word on when midseason comedy Save Me will make an appearance.

Other midseason NBC news:

New drama Deception (formerly Infamous) will take Revolution’s plum Mondays at 10 slot in January while the futuristic drama goes on hiatus. It will air after The Biggest Loser (Revolution and The Voice will return in late March).

Smash will start its second season on Tuesday, February 5th at 10 after Parenthood wraps up its season in January. This move actually makes me more likely to watch the show, as I usually don’t have any broadcast shows to watch in that time slot. I liked some things about the show during its first season, but hated others. The music, however, kept me watching.

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Renew/Cancel News: More Neighbors and Scandal, No Farm, Up All Night Goes Multi, Hurricane Sandy Interrupts Originals

Lots of TV news today!

ABC has ordered 9 more episodes of The Neighbors and Scandal, bringing them both to 22-episode full seasons. No word on the fate of new dramas Last Resort, 666 Park Avenue, and Nashville yet.

NBC has decided not to pick up The Farm, a Dwight-focused spin-off of The Office. The planted pilot episode will still air as a standalone episode of The Office. And the midseason drama Infamous now has a new name – Deception.

The network did order 3 more episodes of struggling sophomore comedy Up All Night – but there’s a twist. After an extended winter hiatus, the show will return in the spring for its final 5 episodes as a multi-camera show, complete with a live audience. NBC seems to be favoring multi-camera shows this year – canceling Animal Practice while still airing (so far) Guys With Kids, putting Whitney on Wednesdays while keeping Community in limbo, and canceling single-camera Next Caller. Also, while they still have two new single-camera comedies lined up for midseason, they’re losing two single-camera shows with 30 Rock and The Office ending.

Many networks altered their schedules thanks to Hurricane Sandy. CBS aired repeats of its Monday comedies and a special weather update at 10. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Gossip Girl instead of the planned originals. And NBC is preempting Go On and The New Normal on Tuesday.

And while there’s been a ton of pilot news lately, most of it is pretty nebulous. One pilot order that caught my eye was sci-fi thriller Mila 2.0. Deadline shared that the potential show is about “a young woman who discovers that she is a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, Mila, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government and her scientist mother, who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions.” The pilot will be based on the upcoming book Mila 2.0 (pre-order here!) by debut author Debra Driza.

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Monday Madness: Favorite Characters Over 50

This week, Monday Madness returns with a look at those TV characters who buck the 18-49 demographic trend and prove that interesting characters make for great TV, no matter their age!

One important note: this poll does not include characters who have lived for many decades (or even centuries), but through supernatural means still look and act like 20somethings. So no vampires, Alphas who never age, or characters frozen in time for 28 years, unless they were 50+ beforehand. I tried to find actual ages for characters closer to the cut-off point, but when in doubt, I went by the portraying actor’s age when the show came out. And for long-running shows, some characters may have been under 50 at the beginning, but aren’t now.

This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite TV characters over 50. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!

Important: I know there are dozens of TV characters over 50 who are missing from this list. You can nominate characters I missed in the comments until Thursday night, and I may add them to the poll (characters from live-action scripted shows only, please, and the character must be a main cast member or appear in at least 10 episodes of the show).

Want more of a say in who makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!

Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 1AM October 23rd.

Who is your favorite TV character over 50? (Choose up to 10!)

Bobby Singer - Supernatural (20%, 183 Votes)
Gibbs - NCIS (11%, 98 Votes)
Ducky - NCIS (10%, 95 Votes)
Henry Spencer - Psych (6%, 53 Votes)
Rumpelstiltskin - Once Upon a Time (5%, 50 Votes)
Walter Bishop - Fringe (5%, 45 Votes)
Hetty Lange - NCIS: Los Angeles (5%, 43 Votes)
Martha - Castle (5%, 43 Votes)
Shepherd Book - Firefly (4%, 41 Votes)
Madeline Westen - Burn Notice (4%, 39 Votes)
Artie - Warehouse 13 (4%, 38 Votes)
Cliff Huxtable - The Cosby Show (4%, 34 Votes)
Clair Huxtable - The Cosby Show (3%, 30 Votes)
Jay Pritchett - Modern Family (3%, 24 Votes)
Dr. Lee Rosen - Alphas (2%, 21 Votes)
Gaius - Merlin (2%, 18 Votes)
Uther Pendragaon - Merlin (2%, 18 Votes)
Earl - 2 Broke Girls (2%, 14 Votes)
Frank Reagan - Blue Bloods (2%, 14 Votes)
Pierce Hawthorne - Community (1%, 13 Votes)
Creed - The Office (1%, 8 Votes)
Violet Crawley - Downton Abbey (1%, 8 Votes)
Sheriff of Nottingham - Robin Hood (0%, 3 Votes)
Jack McCoy - Law & Order (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 290

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‘Revolution’ Gets Full-Season — ‘Go On’ and ‘New Normal’ Picked By NBC – TVLine

NBC has given three of its freshman shows a full season pick-up (which usually involves expanding their initial 13-episode order to a full 22): Revolution, Go On, and The New Normal. Revolution and Go On are the network’s highest-rated scripted shows so far this season (out of all their scripted shows, not just new ones), while The New Normal has ridden Go On’s coattails for ratings on par with The Office’s current (and final) season.

I’ve sampled all three shows, but Go On is the only one I’m still watching (Revolution’s pilot was interesting enough for me to give the show another chance by watching the second episode, but The New Normal’s pilot was so awful I barely finished it).

The news doesn’t bode well for NBC’s other new comedies, Animal Practice and Guys With Kids – I’m watching both still, but I wouldn’t really mind if either are canceled. NBC has 3 comedies officially on tap for midseason – Save Me, 1600 Penn, and Next Caller, plus the likely Dwight-from-The-Office spinoff The Farm. With 30 Rock, Up All Night, and Community all only having 13-episode renewals, only one out of the 5 (these three, plus Animal Practice and Guys with Kids) will likely get nine more episodes. I’m REALLY hoping that show is Community. I’m also hoping Community will switch places and get one of the Wednesday slots before it comes back. (If so, I think it should be paired with fellow single-camera comedy Animal Practice, while both multi-camera shows – Guys With Kids and Whitney – air on Friday.)

As far as dramas go, with not really liking Revolution, the only current NBC drama I watch is Grimm. For midseason, I’m still not sure if I’ll return to Smash, and the new dramas set to debut then don’t really interest me.

‘Revolution’ Gets Full-Season — ‘Go On’ and ‘New Normal’ Picked By NBC – TVLine.

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TV Duos Bracket – Round One, Day 16

For our final day of round one, Harvey and Mike from Suits go up against visiting alien comedy duo Mork and Mindy! Also, mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls face frenemies Jim and Dwight from The Office.

Our day 13 matchups just ended – be sure to check out the results and all our current matchups here! The winning duos will advance to the next round (which launches tomorrow!).

Reminder: While there are romantic pairs in this bracket, that’s only one possible aspect of a duo’s relationship. Duos have fun together, work well together, and/or have hilarious interactions. Simply put, they spark.

You can find a full list of upcoming TV duos matchups here (edited to show half of our round one eliminations!). Round one matchups are in teal. Each of the round one matchups will be open for 72 hours (3 days), so spread the word quickly so your favorite pairs will make it into the next round! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Our toolbar at the bottom of the page has lots of quick links to help you share this post, or you can mouse over the image above!

Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 1.31

Harvey and Mike - Suits (96%, 933 Votes)
Mork and Mindy - Mork & Mindy (5%, 44 Votes)

Total Voters: 967

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Which is your favorite TV duo? Round 1.32

Lorelai and Rory - Gilmore Girls (57%, 333 Votes)
Jim and Dwight - The Office (43%, 250 Votes)

Total Voters: 582

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The Mindy Project – Pilot

Fox has a full episode preview of its new romantic comedy, The Mindy Project (you can watch it now on Hulu, and it premieres September 25 at 9:30PM). I don’t watch many medical shows, but if the pilot is any indication, this show is light on Mindy’s career as an OB/GYN, and heavy on her quest to find the perfect man of her chick-flick-loving dreams.

Fortunately for the show’s longevity, Mindy Lahiri (played by The Office’s Mindy Kaling) seems to be about as lucky in love as How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby. After a drunken speech at her ex-boyfriend’s wedding, she’s arrested for disorderly conduct (which included riding her bike into a pool) and bailed out by her best friend. On blind date (with guest star Ed Helms), she’s charmingly awkward enough to get the guy’s interest, but messes things up with her reaction to being called in for a delivery.

Her own office offers up two possibilities to liven up her love life: a British hottie who’s available for no-strings hookups, and a rival doctor who gets on her nerves, offers unwanted advice, and mocks her favorite movies (hello, inevitable soul mate). Rounding out the supporting cast is Mindy’s best friend and her daughter, and what appears to be the office’s head doctor and receptionist.

The episode was pleasant and humorous, and with a lead-in like New Girl, should stick around long enough to find an audience. It’s too soon to tell if Mindy’s quirks and self-sabotage will be endearing or annoying, but the juxtaposition of idealized romanticism and realistic dating disasters should be a hit among female viewers.

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Ben and Kate – Pilot

Fox has put a few of its new fall premieres online early, including sibling comedy Ben and Kate (which you can watch now on Hulu and starting September 25, on Tuesdays at 8:30). Irresponsible Ben Fox has a habit of crashing into his uptight younger sister’s life at the most inopportune moments, but he genuinely loves her and her five-year-old daughter, Maddie. His latest visit brings upheaval to both siblings’ love lives.

Nat Faxon and Dakota Johnson do a good job at playing the brother-sister duo, and it’s a nice change having the zany brother be older instead of younger. There’s some room for growth for their relationship to really zing, though, especially since Fox has another sibling comedy coming mid-season, The Goodwin Games. Daughter Maddie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is a bit underused in this episode, but her presence and the show’s dynamics give off a bit of a Bent vibe, though Ben and Kate isn’t as snappy or as risque as the ill-fated NBC show.

Rounding out the cast are Ben’s friend Tommy (Echo Kellum) and Kate’s friend and coworker BJ (Lucy Punch). Tommy doesn’t get much screen time in this episode, but he seems a likeable enough character. BJ initially turned me off a bit, but I think it was mostly because her abrasive personality and accent reminded me of The Office’s Nellie (Catherine Tate). Also, the only thing I’d seen Lucy Punch on before was Ella Enchanted, where she plays an evil stepsister (which probably didn’t help my opinion). I think I’ll warm up to BJ, and when a show leans on the heartwarming side, it’s good to have a character or two who bucks the status quo.

The humor in the pilot was more of the smiling type instead of laugh out loud, but the show feels genuine and organic. I definitely plan to stick around for a few more episodes. Since Fox is the only broadcast network with an 8PM comedy block, there’s a good chance this show will get ignored by most people who don’t watch its lead-in, Raising Hope (which is a pretty compatible show to pair it with). At least the premiere will be sandwiched between two new episodes of New Girl, but most viewers will typically be watching NCIS, Hart of Dixie, The Voice, or Dancing with the Stars results during that hour. Ben and Kate will have to keep improving to survive, but it’s off to a solid start.

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The Office’s Last Season — Ending After Season 9, All Questions Answered – TVLine

Well, it’s official – this coming season of The Office will be its last. I’d pretty much given up on the show, but since I’ve stuck around this long, I may see it through to the end. Making the character of Nellie Bertram (who I hated) a regular on the show made me write the show off, but I hear that next season Andy will be tormenting her for what she put him through last season, and be trying to get her to quit. It might be okay if she’s sort of the villain of the office instead of the show trying to get us to feel sympathy for such an unlikeable character.

The final season will bring back some familiar faces (Roy is already scheduled to appear early in the season) and offer a look into the documentary crew who’s been filming all these years. We may not say goodbye to all the characters, though, as the Dwight spin-off The Farm is still very much a possibility.

The Office’s Last Season — Ending After Season 9, All Questions Answered – TVLine.

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Castle Spoilers — Plus Scoop on Community, CSI: NY, How I Met Your Mother and More! – TVLine

I’m a few days late posting this, but there are some amazing spoilers in the article linked below! (Read at your own risk!) My favorite tidbits include:

Castle possibly doing a murder at a sci-fi convention – I hope they bring in some great guest stars for this! Firefly reunion, anyone? Also, they’re planning a riff on The Office – hope they do a better job than last year’s attempt at the same thing by Leverage.

Barney and Robin will get engaged this season on How I Met Your Mother. The timing of their wedding, however, will probably be based on whether the show gets things figured out for a possible season 9.

How did I not hear about Bones’ all-squintern episode before this? It’s bound to be awesome!

Castle Spoilers — Plus Scoop on Community, CSI: NY, How I Met Your Mother and More! – TVLine.

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TV Olympics: Favorite Halloween Episode

The holidays are coming to TV Breakroom a little early this year, as today we kick a three-poll arc celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas episodes! First up on the calendar, it’s time to vote for the spooky and funny episodes that either give you great ideas for costumes and pranks or make you afraid to sleep at night.

If there are any great Halloween episodes I left out, please nominate them in the comments! Side note – I love the vampire/Spanish symmetry of the left and right pictures above.

Poll will be open for one week, and you can vote for up to 3 episodes. Be sure to check out our other ongoing Olympic polls and the medal results on our main event page!

What's your favorite Halloween episode? (Choose up to 3!)

Supernatural - It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (34%, 130 Votes)
NCIS - Code of Conduct (8%, 30 Votes)
Bones - Mummy in the Maze (7%, 28 Votes)
How I Met Your Mother - Slutty Pumpkin (6%, 24 Votes)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Fear Itself (6%, 22 Votes)
Castle - Vampire Weekend (5%, 20 Votes)
Criminal Minds - Devil's Night (5%, 20 Votes)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Halloween (5%, 19 Votes)
The Big Bang Theory - The Middle Earth Paradigm (4%, 16 Votes)
Chuck - Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror (4%, 15 Votes)
The Big Bang Theory - The Good Guy Fluctuation (4%, 14 Votes)
Angel - Life of the Party (3%, 11 Votes)
Community - Epidemiology (3%, 10 Votes)
Community - Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps (2%, 8 Votes)
The Office - Halloween (1%, 5 Votes)
Suburgatory - Halloween (1%, 4 Votes)
Freaks and Geeks - Tricks and Treats (1%, 3 Votes)
Happy Endings - Spooky Endings (1%, 3 Votes)
Community - Introduction to Statistics (1%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 204

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