This whole Michael Scott Paper Company has been really sad to me.  You have 3 people, Michael, Pam, and Ryan trying their damnedest to start a new business competing with Dunder-Mifflin.  None of them have any clue what they are doing.  The only one with half a brain, Pam doesn’t have any experience in sales or in business for that matter; Michael we all know if clueless, but has a heart of gold, and well Ryan… Ryan is just a bad person.  I thought Vikram might have been their one hope, but that didn’t last long.  By the end of the second episode while sitting in their broom closet turned office, Pam does make the first sale for the company.  I guess it helps shine a little light on their desperate situation, but it’s a very dim light.  Jay Black over at the great TV blog site TVSquad had a little more optimistic view on the episode here.

I’m worried about what’s going to happen to Jim.  I think he might just lose his job as well, and maybe he’s going to end up at the Michael Scott Paper Company along with his fiance.  His attempts to suck up to his new boss Charles Minor have all ended poorly.  Jim is just so afraid of Charles, that he has gone from lovable office prankster, to well.. Andy.  A kiss-up with no spine.

I’m disappointed in the turn The Office has taken this season.  It’s gone from very funny to very depressing.  I know that Idris Elba only signed on for 6 episodes, so that gives me hope that something is going to chance, I’m just not sure where that change is going to be coming from, I can only tell you that it can’t get here soon enough for me.

We also saw that season premiere of Parks and Recreation sandwiched between the two episodes of The Office.  I’m going to wait to pass too much judgement on this show until a few episodes have passed.  I will only say that Parks and Recreation comes from the producers of The Office, and I don’t know if the apple fell far from the tree.  Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope is a female Michael Scott.  I really think that that they took this show and pretty much made it “The Office set in city government.”

It used to be that once the fall shows ended their run in late April or early May we were stuck with re-runs until the following September.  Luckily for those of us that love TV that isn’t the case anymore.  There are some great new shows starting this spring and a few coming back with all new seasons, and a few that have been announced for this summer.  Here are a few that I’m really looking forward to.

• The Tudors- April 5th on Showtime:  OK, so this show started last night, but you know how Showtime is.  They are going to play the crap out of this episode this week, and it is available on-line as well.  This is the 3rd season of Showtime’s excellent (if not historically accurate) drama about the court of King Henry the VIII.  Its ‘very well acted with lots of violence and sex to keep you watching.  We are 3 wives in at the start of this season, so I wonder if this is planned to be an 8 season run.
• Surviving Suburbia- April 6th on ABC: Bob Saget returns to the format that made him famous, the sitcom; although I think this time around it won’t be quite as kid friendly.  Saget stars as a a family man living in the suburbs with his family.  He’s perfectly happy until he gets new neighbors.  Honestly that description doesn’t do much for me, but Bob Saget is funny.  He wasn’t funny on Full House or America’s Funniest Home Videos, but his stand-up is hilarious and not what you’d expect from the Dad from Full House.  If you don’t believe me go check out The Aristocrats.  What are the odds Kimmy Gibler shows up?  Her feet were so smelly.
• Rescue Me- April 7th on FX: FX’s great comedy/drama about NYC Fire Fighters in a post 9/11 world starts it’s 5th season.  I LOVE this show.  Dennis Leary plays Tommy Gavin a NYC fire fighter who is dysfunctional and hilarious.  While Leary is great it really is the supporting cast of his fellow firefighters and his family who are more screwed up than even Tommy is that really make this show great.
• Parks and Recreation- April 9th on NBC:  I’ve talked a lot about this show, and I really how it lives up to the hype.  Originally billed as a spin-off of The Office, it is actually a completely different work place drama from the creators of The Office.  It stars Amy Poehler and has a very strong supporting cast in Aziz Ansariand and Rashida Jones.  The previews I’ve seen look great.  It’s gotten some negative buzz about some viewers not being able to connect to the story, but a lot of people said the same thing about The Office when the American version first premiered.
• Harper’s Island- April 9th on CBS:  A murder mystery in 13 parts.  A group of people travel to a small island off the coast of Seattle.  Every week someone dies, and everyone on the island is a suspect.  We will only find out for sure who’s doing the killing and who survives in the last week.  Sounds fun to me!!!
• Krod Mandoon and The Flaming Sword of Fire- April 9th on Comedy Central: Honestly I’m not expecting too much from this fantasy spoof, but I like the genre and the previews I’ve seen do actually look funny so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
• Sit Down and Shut Up- April 19th on FOX: Here’s what I know, it’s from Mitchell Hurwitz the creator of Arrested Development.  It’s an animated show about the staff members of a high school in a small town in Florida.  It stars Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Kristen Chenoweth, and Henry Winkler.  It will be great, and no one will watch it.

There are also some shows that started (so go catch up!) recently that are worth mentioning.  Some are great, some not so great.

• Better Off Ted- ABC: We are 3 episodes in and I love it I love it I love it I love it.  This show is really funny and clever.  It reminds me so much of Arrested Development.  I think the Veridian Dynamics commercials are great, and something you really might seem from a big company like that.  The show’s relationships are honest, but very quirky and fitting for the enviroment they take place in.  Did I mention I love this show?
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency- HBO: I didn’t think I would care for this show at all, but I really like it.  I’m very glad we gave it a shot.  Check it out. 
• In The Motherhood- ABC: I’m not crazy about this show.  My wife is watching it, but I think it is only that as an expecting mother she feels like she has to.  The cast is great, but the show just isn’t.  Rumor has it that the writers are already asking viewers to send in their motherhood stories to tuen into plot lines.  You’d assume that it would take more than 2 episodes to run out of ideas.  This actually was a web-series first, with Jenny McCarthy, Chelsea Handler, and Leah Remeni.

We don’t have solid dates on shows like Entourage, True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Mad Men, but they are all supposed to be coming back this summer.