Has "Must See TV" moved to Tuesdays?

NBC's promotions department, never a bastion of subtlety, has created a series of irritating radio spots, usually airing during morning shows like Howard Stern's. The spots play out like a typical live commercial from your typical radio morning show: music comes on, then a Goofy Male DJ asks if anyone's watching a particular NBC show tonight. Goofy DJ's cohorts -- Even Goofier Male Sidekick and Sexy Female Newsreader -- chime in with their own jokey observations about how "awesome" the new NBC shows are. They make a great effort to make these ads sound conversational and spontaneous, but they just come off sounding forced.

One of the latest promos talks about the network's Tuesday night lineup, highlighting the combo of My Name Is Earl and The Office. During the ad, one of the overlapping voices mentions "Must See TV". Taking that cue, Male DJ goes "Yeah, Must See TV went away for a while. Where did it go? Now it's back."

First of all, hearing that line uttered in an NBC commercial, even one cloaked as a "live spot", is remarkable. NBC is admitting that they killed off their old Thursday night lineup by putting on crap sitcoms that couldn't sustain themselves away from the hit shows like Friends (the "double-decker shit sandwich" that NewsRadio's Paul Simms once referred to) and by overexposing The Apprentice with bloated episodes and a unnecessarily rapid turnaround after the blockbuster first season was over.

But one has to wonder if the idea of "Must See TV" is coming back, only on Tuesdays. Granted, The Biggest Loser is a dud. but the Earl/Office hour is becoming a force to be reckoned with, creatively and ratings-wise.

Earl's been a hoot so far, with the entire cast doing standout comedic work. Last night's episode, where Earl tries to make up for breaking up with a clingy girl by faking his own death, was a riot. Especially funny was the roundabout philosophy of Earl's dim brother Randy, played by Ethan Suplee. Of course, both Jason Lee (Earl) and the luscious Nadine Velazquez (friend and maid Catalina; Nadine's pictured above), were also funny as hell.

Catalina, by the way, is becoming the understated Voice of Reason on the show, dispensing some common sense with a J. Lo. accent. My favorite line of hers comes from last week's episode, when Earl's car is impounded with all his lottery money inside. "You know, where I come from, we have these things called banks," she tells Earl firmly but without any snideness. And she looks great in a bikini. I think I'm falling in love.

The Office was also hilarious last night. The episode revolved around what the crew does after being forced outside by a fire alarm. Funniest moment: as everyone trudges out, ignoring Dwight's screamed instructions -- "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" he yells at one of the laggard workers -- boss Michael (Steve Carell) runs at top speed out the door, knocking people aside as he goes. His dash is also shown on the security camera. Then there are the games outside led by Jim (John Krasinski), such as Desert Island and Who Would You Do, which illustrated the growing sexual tension between him and receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer, right, who has perfected the "beaten down by the man" face). Finally, the "love triangle", where Dwight (Riann Wilson) feels spurned by Michael's attention to temp Ryan (B.J. Novak, who also wrote the episode), rounds out the festivities; the sight of the distraught Dwight sulking in his car to R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" was perfect.

The American version of The Office is really starting to separate itself from its British counterpart, which is a good thing to see. While the story arcs won't be as concentrated as they were in the UK edition, whose storylines were designed to complete in the span of 12 episodes and two specials, there is potential for more broad comedy and character exploration in this edition. If they keep coming up with episodes like the one last night, they're going to get the time they need to explore.

So maybe those annoying radio ads are right. "Must See TV" might actually be back (Remember, the night ends with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has garnered its own buzz). At least I have something to watch on Tuesday nights now that the Yankees are out of it.

P.S. Sorry for the long post; but every once in a while I'm going to go in-depth like this, mainly so I can pretend what it's like to be a real TV critic that gets paid and everything. After all, what good is a blog if you can't use it for writing practice?