House of Anubis Returns for a Redundant New Chapter

Season 3 promises just as much recycled storytelling, plot holes, and bad acting as ever before!

Sibuna!

   It's back! It's back! It's back! America's favorite terrible teen show is back for a third season and I couldn't be more excited! When the theme music started I couldn't help but have a big smile on my face. "House of Anubis: The Reawakening" began tonight and there were a lot of questions fans have had to deal with over the 10 month (!) hiatus. Season 2 ended in a way that tied up a lot of loose ends, but behind the scenes drama is what had fans wondering what lies ahead for the show. The "actress" who plays Nina has decided not to return to the series. Her integral role as 'The Chosen One' had me wondering how they'd explain her absence. The answer? They didn't. At least not yet.
  The key mystery in the premiere wisely revolves around Nina. This is a great way to play with the fragile, preteen audience's psyches. Honestly, if they had answered where she was in the first 5 minutes, I might have just tuned out. But the story plays across the entire hour, featuring a very suspenseful scene in the first 10 minutes where Headmaster Sweet and a grief-stricken looking Trudy enter to make an announcement. Readers, I was afraid Nina would be dead. But instead, Mr. Sweet announces Nina won't be returning to school...and says nothing else. There's an air of secrecy around this announcement and Fabian seems the only one concerned about Nina's whereabouts. Amber seems mildly concerned at first, but the next day is her birthday and this subplot consumes all of her attention. Amber being more concerned about birthday presents than her best friend is either an in character choice or some terrible writing. You decide.

Point One Sibuna! Analyzing "House of Anubis" Season 2

       I’m going through a serious “House of Anubis” withdrawal right now. For those of you who do not know what “House of Anubis” is, and I don’t expect that many of you do, I suggest you Google it. Since January, I’ve had to explain “House of Anubis” to many people and my reason for watching it, and I’ve grown tired of doing this so I will keep the explanations brief. It’s a Nickelodeon soap opera centering on a group of high school aged students in an English boarding school who solve ancient Egyptian mysteries inside of the house they live in. So that’s what it is and the reason I watched it is because Stephanie Chan made me and everyone always does what she tells them to do.

      My sense of withdrawal has nothing to do with the quality of the show. Let me make this perfectly clear: it is awful. It is low budget, the characters are two-dimensional, the acting is embarrassingly bad, it has glaring plot holes, and none of it is as charming or as clever as it wants to be. The “Egyptian” mythology the show bases itself around never goes any deeper than what one can learn from a Wikipedia article and the mystery cliches are topped off with a revolving bookshelf. Yet there is something about it, other than Stephanie Chan, which kept me watching every weekday for 8 weeks.

“The Office” Finds Some Much Needed Direction

       

        Last month, news came that Rainn Wilson is teaming up with show-runner Paul Lieberstein to create a spinoff about Schrute Farms and the quirky family members that work there. The plan is to launch the new show next spring, meaning Wilson will only appear in half of “The Office” episodes next season. Additionally, Mindy Kaling has a pilot in development at Fox and if it’s picked up as a series, she will also be leaving. Just this week, James Spader announced that his work on “The Office” will end after this season. “Office” head writer Danny Chun has signed a development deal with ABC and is also likely to leave. And, perhaps most importantly, none of the cast members have deals in place for next season. Ed Helms, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer are all in contract negotiations for a ninth season, which has yet to be picked up by NBC. In the past month, the shows ratings have hit series lows. “The Office” is in a state of flux. In all likelihood the show will return in the fall for what will surely be its final season. But who will be back remains to be seen.

The Office: "Pam's Replacement" Review

   “Pam’s Replacement” wasn’t a very memorable or funny episode of “The Office” but it's probably the best they’ve done this season.

    The show usually never goes wrong when it pairs up Pam and Dwight. He makes her funnier, and she makes him more grounded. However, their plan to find out if Jim was lying about finding the new temp attractive never really took off the way I wanted it to, and ended rather abruptly. 

The Office "Lotto": What happened?

     After a cold open that not only insulted my intelligence, but also made me question what had happened to “The Office,” I was forced by my loyalty to the show to sit though one of the worst episodes the show has ever done.

     There’s a new trend on the show where every season there is a new “worst episode of the series.” This trend started in season 6 (before that, the pilot was the clear winner of that title), and season 7 gave us two worst episodes (“Christening” and “The Inner Circle”).

The Office “The List”: This Can Work

          

         After an over-bloated cold open filled with tons of exposition, pregnancy reveals, Internet fads, and Stanley’s new catchphrase I was pleasantly surprised by a very solid episode of “The Office.” I admit, I’ve had my doubts about the new season (especially since the NBC promo department spoiled the fact that Andy was the new manager). Since the beginning of season seven, after it was announced that Steve Carell was leaving, I had wanted Darryl to be the new manager. I thought it would be nice to have a grounded, normal character as the boss. After all, there’s a fair amount of crazy still floating around the office without Michael around. But after Dwight was manager for an episode, I changed my mind. I wanted to watch the show where Dwight was the manager. He got the crazy out of his system in “Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager,” and if he were offered the job, he would tone it down a bit while still being the Dwight we’ve come to know over the years.

Losing My Heart On: Looking Back at “The Office” Season 7

       

       There was a time when “The Office” was my favorite show on television. I would defend it to the very end due to its expert mix of laugh out loud comedy and pathos. However, the show has been on a downward spiral for a while and season seven of “The Office” made me realize that I am no longer emotionally invested in the show. After Jim and Pam got their happy ending, the heart of the show became Michael Scott and his relationship with lovable HR rep Holly Flax. While his departure was very satisfying, despite the pointless and infuriating Will Ferrell appearances, the show now lacks the emotional core that it needs. Going forward I think that one of the show’s biggest challenges is to do what it did so well in the early years, finding the balance between heart and comedy.