Jack Bauer is going to Africa! In a recent interview with IGN.com, Kiefer Sutherland expounded on the upcoming 24 TV-movie, which has been subtitled “Exiled.” Since the series has yet to return since Season Six, FOX is putting together a special two-hour prequel which will air on November 23rd. The movie will feed directly into Season Seven, and pit Jack against some African militiamen.

It seems to me that FOX has a lot riding on this upcoming movie/season. With Season Six getting trounced by fans and critics, show creator Joel Surnow moving on, and the show’s extended silence, Jack and the crew over at CTU have a pretty big challenge.

It’s being reported that the supposed spin-off of NBC’s The Office isn’t in fact a spin-off at all. The show is now being talked about as a vague new series that may involve SNL star Amy Poehler and Human Giant’s Aziz Ansari.

Variety is reporting that while the show may have been rumored to be a spin-off… now it’s more than likely going to be a new series, with little-to-no connection to the hit NBC show.

I guess I’m going to just have to dream about someday getting Everybody Loves Toby.

Joey Chestnut won one for America this past 4th of July by retaining his title of Hot Dog Eating Champion. He faced off against six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi and 20 other competitors Friday morning at Nathan’s on Coney Island. He won in pretty dramatic fashion, taking the competition into its first-ever sudden death competition–Chestnut and Kobayashi had to eat five dogs as fast as they could to determine the winner.

This competition has been going on since the early 1900s, but this recent showing boasted some pretty hefty coverage by ESPN. They somehow managed to stretch the event to an hour-long special, interviewing the competitors, traveling around the world to their home town, and giving some detailed stats about the event. It was hysterical, to say the least, and I’m glad that ESPN was able to spend such time and money on this absurdity.

You know what the topper to all of this is? The upcoming WiiWare game called Major League Eating: The Game takes “popular” eaters and allows gamers everywhere to stuff their faces… virtually. I guess once you’re done playing that game, you can just pop in Wii Fit and lose the pounds.

When I was first working on my review for The Fugitive Season 1 Part 1 back in August of last year, I noticed on the back of the package, in tiny fine print, something along the lines of “Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version.” Not having been alive when the show first aired, it would have been pretty hard for me to notice if anything had been changed.

Well apparently, folks are starting to notice. TVShowsonDVD.com reports that television fans are starting to get pretty upset when they find that their shows have been edited on DVD. The specific issue comes with the latest release of The Fugitive Season 2 Part 1. Apparently, the excellent underscore from the first season has been completely replaced with a newly-recorded bizarro version. Making matters worse, the packaging gives no mention of the new music.

It may seem a little frivolous, after all I’m just happy they’re releasing this stuff on DVD, but it’s just another underhanded bait-and-switch move by TV studios to save some cash. More often than not, as TV on DVD points out, the music in an old show is substituted because of royalty issues; either the studio doesn’t want to pay a ton of money to renew the writes to a specific pop song, or, if it’s really old, they can’t figure out who actually owns the rights. It’s complicated, to say the least; but to me it’s an issue of honesty. If CBS/Paramount is going to release an entire series on DVD, but they have to substitute some music, it might be better to avoid a generic statement like “Some episodes may be edited from their original versions” and actually issue a technical press release so the consumer knows what to expect.

It always stands out to me when I hear a TV show play some weird off-key pseudo version of a pop song instead of buying the rights to the real deal. The same goes for these TV-on-DVD releases. Companies are releasing these because there is a demand for them–a nostalgia factor that everyone is buying in to (myself included)–but if people are buying DVDs that are different from what they expect, then the entire genre may lose sales.

This weekend, The Incredible Hulk barges its way into theaters–hopefully better than the mopey Ang Lee version. And while his track record in theaters is a little shaky, it’s not nearly as hit-or-miss as The Hulk’s TV run. The character has had cameos and starred in a number of Marvel animated toons, as well as a successful live action series. Entertainment website IGN has a great feature compiling all of the various Hulk television incarnations.

Having seen much of the Hulk’s TV career, I can say that, aside from the live action series, he’s never been given the treatment he probably deserves. You would think that a character like this, which demands plenty of spectacle and over-the-top destruction, would thrive in an animated series. The producers wouldn’t have to worry about budgeting for explosions or styrofoam bricks, and the Hulk could face all of the crazy foes from the comics. But alas, the majority of his animated appearances are usually cameos that aren’t very fulfilling. Then there was that weird Hulk/She-Hulk series that kinda creeped me out.

Oddly enough, he was a character best portrayed in the Friday evening live action series starring Bill Bixby. I used to watch re-runs of that show all of the time on Sci-Fi and TVLand. Now, the entire run of the show is available on DVD in very respectable box sets. You can check out our DVD Verdict reviews of Season 1, Season 3, and Season 4, as well the Death of the Incredible Hulk.

And if you’re really looking for all the Hulk you can get, check out Judge Bill Gibron’s thorough review of Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk.

Having grown up with the first American Gladiators, I was super-pumped to watch NBC’s revival last January. Now, the second season has started, bringing a ton of new games and gladiators into the mix. It’s an awesome way to kill an hour.

But it’s not perfect.

American Gladiators is suffering from the modern network style of editing other TV competition/reality shows settle for: quick cuts, dramatically close camera angles, and disorienting geography. Focusing on close-ups rather than the big picture might have worked well for Survivor, but they muddy the waters of Gladiators. The cameras will be zoomed in so close on events like Power Ball and Hang Tough that it’s impossible to judge who is winning. I understand that the producers want to make these things look exciting and visceral for a new generation of fans, but what’s the point when the games become an indecipherable mess?

The great thing about the original American Gladiators was that it was extremely close to feeling like a real sports show. The commentators (who were actually there, and not some disembodied cheese-voice) were former sports stars. The bulk of the action was filmed with long-to-medium shots, with any of the close-up or helmet cam stuff saved for the replays. Things just felt more real.

Now, I don’t doubt the authenticity of the new Gladiators. I’m sure those people are really getting hurt and running around doing funny games. But I don’t understand the harm is just cooling it in the editing room and letting the camera run, rather than editing it like the show is a sequel to The Bourne Identity.

Last night’s season finale, “Goodbye Toby,” was hands-down the best episode of this fractured season. The hour-long episodes always have a slightly different, more deliberately paced feel to them; I don’t know if I prefer them to the half-hour episodes, but I’m beginning to think so.

There were a number of new developments in this episode, the biggest being the departure of Toby Flenderson, the HR guy. He’s being replaced by a brand new HR person, Holly Flax (Amy Ryan, The Wire). From what I saw, Holly looks like a great fit for the Dunder Mifflin crew; she’s eager to learn, very sincere about her position, and also kinda witty. At first I was a little worried about Michael falling in love with her—if everyone in the office is in some sort of love triangle things might get a little tedious—but that idea seems to have been dashed by the show’s ending. She plays off Michael quite well, though, and forced him to show his more realistic, caring side a number of times throughout the episode.

The funniest moments in the entire episode were generated by the idea that Holly thinks Kevin is “slow.” Kevin’s character never changes, and yet when he’s placed in the context of being mentally challenged, suddenly everything he says takes on a different meaning: Kevin keeps the M&M’s on his desk so no one can take them, he can’t decide whether he wants chips or pretzels at the vending machine (while simultaneously thinking that a button is a piece of change), and he insists on crawling in to the moon bounce at the impromptu carnival. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard watching The Office, but I loved it.

The rest of the story lines moved along nicely. Jim and Pam’s love continues to blossom, and now the question is “When will Jim pop the question?” Sure, it feels like a repeat of “When will Jim ask Pam out?”, but its implications for a broader story (or a spin-off) are more important. The Andy/Angela/Dwight love triangle is very funny, and I’m going to enjoy seeing how that plays out over their projected 28 episodes next season. The “Michael is a ‘kinda father’” scenario should be interesting as well, although I was really warming up to the idea of Jan being out of the picture. And finally, Ryan getting arrested is a nice denouement for him. He started as a wide-eyed intern, became a big-shot corporate guy, and wound up in the slammer because of his own dirty ambition. Nice.

It’s hard for me to judge this season compared to the prior ones, mainly because it was split by the WGA strike. But these last few episodes have been very strong, with this finale being one of the best in recent memory.

Last night’s episode of The Office found everyone’s favorite boss, Michael Scott, taking a group of employees from Dunder Mifflin to man a booth at the local high school job fair. Of course, Michael has a different perception of how to handle a job fair… and hilarity ensues.

The other main storyline in “Job Fair” found Jim working extra hard trying to woo a former customer on the golf course. After last episode’s suspension warning from Ryan, Jim is forced to care about his job to avoid being fired. I was beginning to wonder why Jim was so successful within the branch when he seemingly did nothing.

Overall, I loved last night’s episode. The antics on the golf course with Jim, Andy, and Kevin were great. I always appreciate Kevin’s unending seriousness about competition and gambling. Meanwhile, the job fair stuff allowed us to see a little more of Pam’s character in action (and the fact that she’s been getting a lot of harassment from Michael lately leads me to believe that she and Jim are going to be moving out of there).

Next week is the season finale for the show, and they’re claiming it’s going to be pretty big. Of course, any attempt to surprise us is thrown out the window, because the Office’s website plainly reveals that it’s Toby’s going-away party next week. Too bad that spin-off show that’s starting next season won’t be about Toby’s bachelor life.

I almost completely forgot about The Office last night, after my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins failed to sweep the Rangers in Game 4 (but don’t fret, we’ll get ‘em on Sunday). Thankfully, Hulu.com posts brand new episodes of The Office the day after they air!

Last night’s episode, “Did I Stutter?,” was hysterical. There were a number of different story lines developing, the biggest being Michael dealing with Stanley’s insubordination. The confrontation between Stanley and Michael has been a long-time coming, as Stan has never taken Michael seriously and has been with the company too long to really care about anything. Their clash built nicely throughout the episode, and climaxed with Michael sort of winning by treaty. I was glad to see they resisted the temptation to change the staff by firing someone.

Meanwhile, Dwight continues to envy his ex-girlfriend Angela and Andy’s relationship (he catches them doing very lame Mad Libs together in the break room). I loved the idea that Dwight’s first idea for revenge is to purchase Andy’s car from him at a low price, and then resell it for profit. Also, Pam forgets your contacts at Jim’s house and has to wear an ugly pair of glasses all day.

It was a fantastic episode that moved at a lightning pace. If you missed it, you can watch it here.

The second season of MTV’s acclaimed sketch comedy show, Human Giant, has come and gone in just six weeks. Six episodes barely feel like a season, especially when you consider it’s one of the better shows in MTV’s music video-less lineup. I loved the first season of the show, and I hoped that this follow-up season would show some growth for the troupe; the only thing that really grew, however, was their propensity for using fake blood.

S2 had a lot of recurring characters and story lines that continued throughout the six episodes. One story line, Shutterbugs, was hysterical, even though it got sort of stupid towards the end. The “Kiditentiary” stuff was a timely riff on that stupid “Kid Nation” show. The second big story line involved the Illusionators, the troupe’s parody of Criss Angel. While the idea of the magicians accidentally writing a racial slur on a man’s stomach (and then having to apologize in the media) is great, the jokes just repeated themselves after the second or third episode. It was a story that could have been handled in one fleshed-out skit. I’ve always felt the troupe has had trouble finding good endings to their sketches, and the same can be said for these stories that span multiple episodes.

While some of the more ambitious story line stuff may have been too much, this season had some hilarious new sketches and characters. The T-Shirt Squad is great (and from what I hear, even better live); the sketch about the guy who hates cameras, and the eventual “Rambo” parody, was hysterical; and the Will Arnett sex tape skit left me speechless. This season definitely had its memorable sketches, but it seemed more hit-and-miss than the previous one.

One aspect of the show that did seem a little strange was the troupe’s love of blood. This season felt exceedingly violent, and not in a “add to the humor” sort of way. Perhaps they felt like they could get away with more, or their budget allowed for an influx of Karo Syrup.

It’ll be cool to revisit the season when it’s released on DVD; and hopefully their return next year will be longer than just six episodes.