I am – Hercules!! Ah, it smells like a big night for NBC! Gotta love the promos. Hannah Harriett Hayes is depicted topless and cupping her exciting breastal region! “L-prime” says: What’s it called? “The Option Period” Who’s responsible? Teleplay by Sorkin; Story by Christina Kiang Booth & Mark Goffman What does TV Guide say? Matt worries about his writing staff defecting, led by Ricky and Ron; Harriet considers posing in lingerie for a magazine spread; Jordan and Danny have to deal with budget cuts. What is TV Guide not telling us? After two weeks of running around, we have a bottle show if there ever was one. But it works very well with this many fine actors. Any more Lucy Davis fantasticness? Nice shots at Ricky, and a big juicy one planted on Matt, but this week our major minor players are Ricky and Ron, who have been missed for the last few weeks. Though with where the staffing issues stand at the end of the ep, we’ll hopefully see much more of her. And was her character’s name Lucy before? Cuz I didn’t catch that if it was. Once again: Comedy? Funny? None to speak of in the whole thing, as it unfolds more or less real time after the close of the Pahrump-threatened episode from the two-parter. Preachy? It got there with Harriet again, but only just. Ok, and the combined five or six minutes of debate on advertisement versus implied endorsement in the language of television between Danny and Jordan, but for those of us who actually spend time thinking about this kind of stuff, it doesn’t get in the way. What’s good? “If it’s a realistic amount of blood, it’s really disturbing.”; the food chain from Harriet to Simon at the after party; yay! Timothy Busfield has more than two lines!; “This I cannot do.”; Matt, Danny and Cal distracted by overtime; “I meant that as a compliment!”; there have been very many nice scenery shots; Matt and Danny spazzing over a cell phone ring; the pace this week is much better than the last couple, it’s wordy (of course), but it all moves along at an excellent clip; Peripheral Vision Man becoming a pivotal plot point for the (real and unreal) series; “And if this doesn’t work, you can go back and write Benny Hill.”; Matt and Ron interacting like civilized human beings; “This is both good and profitable, this confuses me.”; all in all, a very good examination of some of the fundamental conceits of the series as a whole, absorbing enough that I didn’t feel like jotting down all the witty rejoinders, of which there were more than I’ve got here. Not so good? The 30 seconds too long economics lecture from Amanda Peet in act one, though Matthew Perry capped it with what we were all thinking; Simon and Tom being a taaaad pushy with Harriet for a decent chunk of act two – smacks of none-of-your-business; um, to complain about the egocentrism of sketch comedy as trendsetting cultural touchstone after nine episodes of this series is self-defeating, right? Any big twists? Well, the fact that Ricky and Ron are set to leave with most of the writing staff isn’t really much of a spoiler since most of the promos and such give away that much already. Jordan is also let in on the tenuous nature of her job. Oh, and she’s clearly a couple months pregnant, but with one of those puffy ‘I’m not pregnant’ shirts on. Rating for 1.07 (out of five) ****1/2. We’re starting to finally find a balance between overly self-important and using the premise to actually say something useful about common entertainment in a way that doesn’t talk down to 97% of the viewing audience, which is what this show is likely ideal for. Decently engrossing enough that this review is more lacking in specifics than my previous weeks since I was busy watching the show and not taking notes. “Daniel” says: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip 1.9 What’s It Called? “The Option Period" Who Wrote It? Teleplay by Aaron Sorkin, Story by Christina Kiang Booth and Mark Goffman ("West Wing") Who Directed It? John Fortenberry ("Arrested Development", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") What’s It About? Jordan tells Danny that he needs to fire 15 people due to budget cuts; Matt worries over the possibility of Ricky and Ron leaving the show; Harriet argues with Tom and Simon over doing a scantily-clad photo shoot What’s Good About It? My favorite moment from the entire series takes place in this episode, it involves Matt and Danny predicting when Jordan's phone will ring, and they might as well be Dan and Casey in these 10 seconds, Danny and Jordan, Danny in general, Cal's distraction with a basketball game, Ricky and Ron, some of the best dialogue happens this week "Quentin Tarantino's hallmark movie, 'Turkey Won't Die'", "What do you need?", "I was raised on a heroin dealership", "I didn't know it was in confidence" "So when I said, 'I have something to tell you in confidence'...", "Thanks to me" "How is it thanks to you?" "I suppose it's not", "Woah there, nugget", "This I cannot do", "Are any of you particular to 'Peripheral Vision Man'?", "Oh how I love the Eastern witty voice", "That's not the bible, that's Robert Frost", What’s Not Good About It? There's much Christian fun! After Steven Webber's wonderful performance last week, the complete absence of Jack Rudolph is noted and missed Rating (Out of Five) ****.5 “El Fuego” says: What’s It Called? “The Option Period" Who Wrote It? Teleplay credit: Aaron Sorkin What’s It About? Jordan needs Danny to cut costs, Cal notices a screw-up in the week's script which leads to a confrontation between Matt, Ricky and Ron; Simon and Tom try to talk Harriet out of doing a lingerie shoot in a girlie mag. Harriet doing a girlie mag? But why not the infinitely hotter Jeanie? It involves Debra Messing, Women United through Faith, and vengeance. What’s Good About It? It's very witty and fast-paced. A plot unfolds in a matter that doesn't feel contrived and has actual consequences to the characters. Matt is great, either blowing his brains out, exercising some latent psychic ability, or explaining Harriet's motivations. Danny and Jordan have some good banter. Tom's infatuation with Soviet-era figure skaters. “I'm not sure there's even an internet, it might just be Jeanie telling everybody.” The basketball game going on in the background. I hate to bring up the Sports Night comparisons to every episode... but this episode is on par with the adventures of Casey and Dan for arguably the first time. The flow of the episode is just great. What’s Not Good About It? There was very little to complain about. No Jack Rudolph, but you won't miss him. The scope of the episode is pretty small, and it works very well. Now that the show has been picked up for a full season... Sorkin, if you're reading this, more episodes like this, where the characters get to bounce off one another, less stuff with the culture wars. Rating (Out of Five) ****

Hitting Shelves Tomorrow!!: Alias: The Complete Fifth Season * Alias: The Complete Series Rambaldi Box * Boston Legal: The Complete Second Season * Da Ali G Show: Da Compleet Seereez (Borat Inclusive!!) * Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist: The Complete Second Season * How I Met Your Mother 1.x (Hannigan-rific!!) * Seinfeld: The Complete Seventh Season * Star Trek: The Animated Series * Voltron: Volume Two!!