Here is the second half of my conversation with Michael regarding tv in the past few weeks. Enjoy! And remember, chime in below to qualify for your favorite TV show on DVD!

JS: Hey Michael, can you get a decent signal on your ipod’s fm transmitter whilst driving through Buffalo, Texas listening to your own podcast?
MH: I am going to guess this is a facetious question….
JS: No, you cannot in fact get a decent signal. Can I just say how awesome our podcast sounds with radio static. It’s like we’re doing it in the 20s. Do you think people in the 20s would like Dwight Schrute?
MH: People from the 20s and 30s were in the formative days of comedy and the sit-com…so I am not sure Dwight would go over that well. But then again, Jack Benny did create the character drive sitcom which The Office owes a direct lineage to…so maybe it would work.
JS: But would be people of the 20s find Dwight’s beet farm humor all that funny? Maybe even more so than we do.
MH: I think Dwight’s humor is timeless….even though The Office has humor that is grounded in today’s events and situations, the characters themselves are pretty much timeless and will alwayas get laughs….just as I still laugh at jokes on old radio shows (at least the ones driven by the characters). I don’t think going to the Schrute beet farm would have worked as well until this year, simply because we’d had time to meet and get to know Dwight. That makes it so much funnier….

MH: Have I bragged on Dr Who enough yet to make you sufficiently intrigued to try it?
JS: If I can get my act together when it starts here in America (i.e. If I’m home by then) I want to give it a shot. I have a very hard time getting into sci fi though, so you might have to hype it up for me some more….
MH: It is beyond awesome….trust me. Good acting, good stories and an all around sense of fun to a show….I am counting down hours to Saturday evening.
JS: Ok, ok, I’ll watch. Tell me and the rest of our readers when to set our TiVos.
MH: Series three starts July 6th on SciFI…..

JS: Thoughts on The Shield which just finished up?
MH: Season six was, as usual, genius. No really, this show gets better and better each year. I loved how everything the Strike Team has done came back. I know you hate Walton Goggins, but I loved his performance in the last few eps of the year…and Dani and Dutch kissing..where will this lead? And will Vic be pissed?
JS: I actually really didn’t care for it all that much. Felt kind of let down by the finale. I was waiting for this MASSIVE event to go down, and then in the end, he just figures out about the blackmail. I see how they are setting up the final season, I just wanted more.
MH: Well, if they’d hurried the final confrontation between Vic and Shane, it would have been more tragic. Vic is totally going to kick Shane’s ass…
JS: Think we’re seeing the last days of Shane Vendrell? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Vic kills him, or the Armenians, in the first few episodes of the next season.
MH: I think Vic will somehow lead to Shane’s demise….Shane isn’t nearly as savy or as good as Vic. I wonder if Vic might offer him up as a fallguy for all the s*** the Strike Team has pulled.

MH: If you were Dawn Osteroff, would you be fearing for your job?
JS: Surely by now Viacom has realized that the “fifth” network is never going to be a viable, major network. If Dawn can focus on getting two or three really good quality Gilmore/Buffy/Veronica-esque shows, they’ll be in decent shape. It is a niche network, and hopefully people in charge know that. Will Reaper be her last chance? Probably. If she were smart, she’d snatch up Amy Sherman-Palladino the minute her Fox sitcom tanks (which it will, I’ve heard AWFUL things) and get a really good teen drama cranked out. Or Joss Whedon, if he’ll have her, which I doubt.
MH: Again, I say it–call Joss Whedon. I did hear a rumor Joss is developing a show for them….
JS: I’d really like to see Joss do something that isn’t so genre specific. No sci fi, just a really good dramedy. I bet if he got out of the parameters of sci fi, it would not only be easier for the masses to identify with, but would be even better than what he has done before. CW would be a perfect launching pad for that.
MH: I am not sure what Joss is developing, but I know that I will watch it….should the CW put it on the air…

JS: Are you as giddy for the premiere of Evan almighty as I am?
MH: Loved the first movie…really did. And Steve Carrell is a genius…so yes. Of course, you may be more since you are deep in the heart of Texas.
JS: I hated Bruce Almighty almost as much as I hate Jericho. Funny thing about it, I think Bruce was the last movie I saw in a theater with my parents, and I believe we’ll be seeing Evan together since I’m back for another weekend in Houston. As much as I love Steve Carell and Lauren Graham with every fiber of my being (I had to get a part time job just to follow the media blitz on the film…check out them interviewing each other on moviefone.com, where my Lauren crush took a step back after her description of the character she’d play on The Office, which has already been done. Duh, Lauren. “We don’t have an eight foot sub. This is eight, one foot subs.”) I don’t have high hopes for this either. I know Steve will be funny, and I know Lauren will make her patented Lorelai Gilmore faces, but I’m pretty sure the promos have shown us everything. This, however, will not stop me from getting to the first showing I can and tapping my leg impatiently through “The Twenty” waiting for it to start.
[Ed note: I did see the film today. Slightly better than expected, but very heavy handed in that "massive summer blockbuster that is rated PG" kind of way. Review to come]

JS: Do you have any desire to read the Veronica Mars comic books?
MH: Only if it resolves things….not sure I care where the series goes next. It’s done for me…
JS: I’m with you on that. We need some serious resolution. How are the new Buffy comics?
MH: They are good. The most interesting thing is the fan debate on if they are or are not canon. They are…Joss wrote ‘em..its canon. Move on.

MH: What do you think of CBS’s request for fans to watch in real-time? Do the networks need to get with figuring in time delayed viewing as part of ratings?
JS: I haven’t read about this (been in my own world the past 10 days) but I’ll never watch anything in real time if I can help it. Entertainment is meant to enrich our lives whenever it is convenient for us, not when some network decides we should watch. There isn’t a specific time during the week where I have to listen to an album being fed to me, or a time I must read a certain book, so why should TV be any different. Get with the program, folks.

MH: What one episode do you think will be in your top list of shows that you think will surprise our audience?
JS: Probably hour 4 of 24. Not sure where it will fall in my count, but after I did nothing but dog the show this year, that might come as a surprise. And you?
MH: Oh goodness…I’m not sure I’m going to be able to pull anything out of left field. I thought about hour four but it’s hard to separate it from the mess the whole season was….I find it hard to pick a favorite ep of 24 becuase it’s so interconnected. I may include an episode of Heroes in there–the one with Eccelston where we found out about the history of HRG was a great hour of TV. And given how much I ragged on Heroes, I’m shocked it’s in the running. My list changes in my head hourly….at least the lower parts of it. LOL

MH: Anything else worth watching this summer?
JS: I hear good things about Top Chef, but I myself haven’t watched yet. I’ve been enjoying watching Gilmore from the start of the season in HD, but that stops this week as we get into that chunk of beyond awful Chris episodes. I haven’t had much time to think about it since I’ve been gone on the road, and am about to go on vacation that will carry me through mid July. Anything else non sci fi for you?
MH: What is this non sci-fi you speak of? Is that allowed? I have watched two eps of PirateMaster….sweet mother of mercy it’s horrible. HORRIBLE!
JS: I wonder why reality shows and sci fi are the only things the networks are really doing with summers. I’m sure we’re on the cusp of them finally breaking out of the season mold (we’re seeing Fox do it a bit with their programming in “semesters” as I like to call it). Look at how great FX is doing with their programming. Short seasons, run whenever they feel like it. I’m not sure if network tv is QUITE there yet (see The Office’s 30 episode order), but it will be very interesting in the next few years to see if any network will do it. I think the CW tried with Hidden Palms, but it needs to be something quality to really test.

MH: What one fall show are you most pumped about as you hear hints about it?
JS: I’ll have to go with two….Pushing Daises and Viva Laughlin. Both I’ve heard fantastic things about. I hear Daises will be the next “IT” show, and I can’t wait to see how a musical (Laughlin) plays out on network tv. Laughlin is based on the UK series Blackpool, so it could be the next Office, or it could be the next Coupling. It’s also a CBS show, so….
MH: I’m looking forward to Reaper…though I’m wary of it since it’s on CW. I must also admit I think the Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX has potential..but it’s on FOX and will air out of order and be pulled after two episodes.
JS: I haven’t heard ANYTHING good about what Fox is tossing out there this fall. It’s like they just close their eyes, put their fingers in their ears, and wait for Tuesdays in January. Fox has yet to produce anything of value outside of Idol (and by “value” I mean “huge hit”) since 24, and that’s been six years now. It looks like Idol and 24 will die out roughly about the same time. Then what, Fox? Without Idol around, no one is going to watch House either. That network is in serious, CW-esque trouble in two years if they don’t find themselves the next 24.
MH: Well, they will run The Simpsons until the animators all die I think…which is not a good thing. Love the show but it’s starting to get long in tooth. I am cautiously optimistic for the movie, which I will see because it may be funny to see Homer and Bart be able to let the curses fly…or maybe not. I will be intrigued to see if they can do an hour and a half and sustain it…. Unlike Family Guy that tried with that Stewie movie and it just felt like three eps mashed together….
JS: Oh man, that Family Guy “movie” was just tragic. TRAGIC!

Thanks for joining in on our little “conversation”, folks. And remember, chime in below for a chance to win your favorite TV show on DVD!