Lurking Television

Who knew Earl and 30 Rock were new this past week? As I was rewinding my weekly tape, assuming there were only reruns and bad reality shows, something made me stop and hit play. When I saw a scene with Jason Lee that I didn't recognize, I rewound some more and found a commercial declaring all-new episodes of both shows. Lucky for me I keep the VCR programmed, as I would have missed some of the funniest moments in 30 Rock history.



What else is lurking on television? The holidays and the writer's strike have completely thrown off my sense of when stuff is on and even what day of the week it is. I need a fixed schedule again. After watching the tape on Thursday, which turned out to contain the final episodes of both sitcoms filmed before the strike hit, I checked out some late night television. Letterman had a new episode, and he was interviewing Tracy Morgan:



I wasn't sure if he was drunk, drugged, or simply in-character. I've come to think of him as Tracy Jordan so it wasn't until he made the joke about people booking “Tracy Morgan” and expecting an Irish woman that I was reminded of his real name. I thought some of his bits were hilarious, assuming it was part of the act. They actually incorporated the DUI bracelet mentioned at the beginning of the interview in a 30 Rock episode, and I think it's a blurry line between the character and Tracy in real life.

Over on Leno, another new episode led to an astounding discovery: Arsenio is alive and well. Who knew? He was of course more coherent than Morgan, talking about topics ranging from the upcoming presidential election to an old contest where people had to phone in and identify a “mystery celebrity” dancing in shadow. They showed the clip, and it was obvious it was him, especially when the light actually catches his face at one point. Everyone from his buddies to his kid razzed him about that one. But my favorite part of the interview was at the end, when Jay showed an old photo of Arsenio sitting with Johnny Carson. Suddenly, both comedians were humble equals, talking about what it was like to get called over for an interview after doing a stand-up routine on Johnny's show, and how all of the late night leaders were Johnny's legacy. Arsenio even recalled the joke that made Johnny lose it in the photo Jay showed. He had spoken about different careers he considered before comedy, and while he wanted to be the first black astronaut he was too proud to go into space and radio back to Earth, “Yes, NASA. No, NASA.” I wish I could find a clip of this week's interview or the one they referenced; that was some classic television right there.

So what else is on the horizon? The Sarah Connor Chronicles begins this Sunday, with a second episode on Monday followed by an all-new Prison Break. I'm looking forward to the former and glad the latter went on hiatus a few months ago to save the last few completed new episodes for this year. I think Smallville and Supernatural return on the 31st, which would put them on against the new season of Lost, inexplicably moving to Thursdays this year. If not for the strike, I'd have three networks competing for the same timeslots. As it is, I think Scrubs starts airing new episodes January 24th, so by the 31st there will be at least one half hour where I have three channels to worry about.

In a way, the break has been a good thing, though I haven't taken full advantage to delve into my endless stack of DVDs. The next few months will prove interesting as dwindling gems of new shows lurk amid a sea of sports and bad reality television.