I’m probably not alone in this, but the moment I saw “New Leads” listed as tonight’s episode, I was half-expecting, half-hoping for a Scrantonian send-up of Glengarry Glen Ross. Who’d be Shelly? Stanley? Or Phyllis? Would Michael perform his own version of Alec Baldwin’s monologue? Heck, Baldwin’s on 30 Rock, at the very least he could make a guest appearance…

Well, for fans of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the only resemblance is that there are new leads in, they’re gold, and the sales staff can’t have them—and it’s probably for the best because parodies are like Betty White hosting SNL bacon-wrapped Peeps: in the end, never as funny as the idea.

Also good because it would’ve weighed an otherwise very good episode down.

The titular new leads are $50,000 worth of names Sabre has spent to be doled out to the sales staff as per the corporate office’s new “Sales is king” policy.  Naturally the power’s gone to the salesmen’s heads—Phyllis refuses to answer Angela’s e-mails; Andy (while on the phone, no less) flaunts his supposed dibs to everything in the office, including Darryl’s pencil; and Dwight believes he’s in the same company as Jesus (“If sales is king, and I’m the king of sales, that makes me the King of Kings).

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As we previously reported, NBC has given new season order for 30 Rock, The Office and Community while, according to a recent interview with NBC network president Angela Bromstad, a fifth season of the beleaguered Heroes is still undetermined. In addition, the CW has ordered a 10th season for Smallville.

Now, Fox has officially renewed the J.J. Abrams sci-fi procedural Fringe for a third season. The show had perfoemed reasonably well but was not a ratings powerhouse. Still, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t get renewed, especially given its J.J. Abrams connection and the fact that Lost is ending this season.

Two big reasons for Fox to keep it around for another year. Plus, any show with the great John Noble, the hot Anna Torv and the cool Leonard Nimoy should be on the air as long as it wants to be.

The fate of Jack Bauer and the CTU team of 24 is still up in the air due to falling ratings and the show’s considerable expense to produce. Fox president Kevin Reilly recently told The Live Feed:

“It’s a very tough call. It’s a huge part of our legacy, and there’s not a lot of shows that could do a 9 share against the Olympics. Tremendous sales asset for us still; a show we’re so very proud of creatively. So it’s not an easy call.”

Well, if our own Shannon Hood has anything to say about it, that call should be an easy one.

For those of you who were anxiously awaiting news that your favorite Thursday night comedies were getting another season, the wait is over. Today, NBC announced it was giving another season to 30 Rock, The Office and one of our favorite new shows, the extremely funny Community.

This news comes on the heals of NBC’s recent announcement that Parks and Recreation was renewed for another season. Seeing as how we are huge fans of these shows, this news is great and we’re looking forward to more fun and laughs.

For more info, check out the official NBC press release following:

NBC Gives Pickups To Thursday-Night Comedies ‘30 Rock,’ ‘The Office’ And ‘Community’ For 2010-11

Renewals Follow Previously Announced Green-light for “Parks and Recreation” on Thursdays

NBC has renewed three more of its Thursday-night comedies – “30 Rock” (9:30-10 p.m. ET), “The Office” (9-9:30 p.m. ET) and the freshman series “Community” (8-8:30 p.m. ET) for the 2010-11 season. The returning programs join the previously announced “Parks and Recreation” (Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET) that also will return for next season.

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A classic staple of the sitcom, aside from the clip show (hmm, they covered that one a few weeks ago, right?) and the Big Wedding (that one, too) is the Baby Episode. Staples, yes, but also synonymous with jumping the shark.

Fortunately, The Office writers seem aware of this and made the wedding episode, Niagra, one the season’s strongest. On the other hand, the clip show, The Banker, was one of the weakest.

The Delivery, The Office’s Baby Episode falls somewhere in between. In this hour-long installment, Jim and Pam, on the verge of joy-bundling, are determined to hold off on getting to the hospital until the very last minute since their health insurance covers only two nights’ stay. As Pam begins contracting, Michael calls a conference to get her mind off the little fella inside her clawing to get out. Andy performs the evolution of dance (sans music, as it’d just throw him off), Erin recites Kentucky Derby winners, and Michael usefully suggests doing the opposite of 10 Things to Induce Labor.

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Well, Pam has been pregnant for nearly 9 months in “TV time”, which means that it’s time for a classic pregnancy episode! The Office returns this Thursday after NBC’s 2 week hiatus for the Winter Olympics. What better way to come back than with a one-hour baby special? From NBC:

Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) contractions begin but she and Jim (John Krasinski) are determined to wait it out as long as possible so they can have more time at the hospital. Meanwhile the rest of the office tries to distract Pam from the pain with food and entertainment.

In the second half hour, Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) anxiously waits for Pam and Jim’s baby to be born. Back at the office, Erin (Ellie Kemper) makes Andy (Ed Helms) jealous when she has lunch with Kevin (Brian Baumgartner).

We’ve got four brand new scenes from this week’s special, including some great moments, such as Andy doing the “Evolution of Dance” dance…in complete silence. Check out the clips after the jump, and be sure to catch “The Delivery Pt 1 and 2″ this Thursday at 9/8C on NBC.

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Even though filming is still some time away, recently director Joe Johnston told MTV Splashpage a casting decision on who would portray Captain America in The First Avenger “was weeks away.” Well, weeks have gone by and according to Deadline Hollywood, the list of actors for the titular role has been narrowed down to five finalists.

The five front-runners for the role of Captain America are, according to the site, Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (The Office), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) and Michael Cassidy (Smallville). All five actors have reportedly agreed to test deals with Johnston and Marvel Studios to try out for the role.

Not only must these actor agree to test for the role, if eventually cast, they must also sign for nine other options, including potential sequels to The First Avenger. This makes sense considering the upcoming Marvel movies and their desire to team them all for a potential Avengers movie in the future. Still, that’s a lot to negotiate.

Of course, fans everywhere have their personal favorites and I we have ours. Picking from this list as if these were the only choices, our first choice would be Smallville’s Michael Cassidy. He’s able to do the action as well as being a pretty good actor as well, so he’d be good for the part.

Sadly, our favorite choice of all and not on this list, Joel Gretsch (The 4400, V), is probably too old now, even though he would be great in the part. No matter who they choose, let’s hope they take this movie as seriously and do as great a job on it as Marvel did with Iron Man. Cap deserves no less.

Who do you think should play Captain America in The First Avenger?

Are you missing shows like The Office and Law and Order SVU during the Olympics hiatus? Us too. Fortunately, NBC has sent us over some new videos to tide us over until these shows return.

The first is a promo for SVU, which returns March 3rd with two back-to-back episodes. In the promo we get to see what’s up with our favorite cops and how they’re dealing with a new and potentially explosive case.

Also, to commemorate and get you excited for the special “Baby” episode of The Office where Jim and Pam’s bundle of joy finally makes an appearance, we’ve got some clips highlighting their budding romance. In the clips, follow Jim and Pam through Season 4 as they struggle to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the office and finally make the decision to take it official.

Check out all the videos after the break. The Office “Baby” episode airs March 4th and SVU returns March 3rd on NBC.

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I get wary when The Office tends to fall back on material that’s been endlessly mined before—guest stars, Michael being an idiot, the threat of a new manager coming to make sweeping changes, romances that ultimately go nowhere—on the one hand, a lot of that stuff made The Office great (and granted you can’t go for six seasons without repeating some things), on the other, most of the rehashes this season fell splatastically flat.

But not tonight.

Call me a pessimist, but I never expected a lackluster season like this to deliver an episode so consistently laugh-out-loud funny as “Manager and Salesman”—it’s among the series’ best and may be in the running for highest number of laughs.

The CEO from Sabre (Kathy Bates in the show’s best cameo since David Koechner [and whatever happened to him?]) drops by to check in on the Dunder-Mifflin branch but mainly to make some changes, namely consolidating Michael and Jim’s jobs into one and setting the two in competition for the manager position…until they discover there’s no cap on sales commissions, leading to a similar power struggle over the salesman position.

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This season of The Office has shown some interesting changes for our favorite cubical-living gang. Dunder-Mifflin has gone bankrupt, which has left the Scranton branch the last of the paper company. And now, they’ve been picked up by the company Sabre, which is run by guest star Kathy Bates.

This week, Bates makes an in-person appearance to check out the branch, and things get a bit difficult from there. From NBC:

The office is eager to welcome Sabre CEO Jo Bennett (guest star Kathy Bates) to Scranton, and are dazzled by her Southern ways. Butwhen Jo finds out there are two branch managers, she says either Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) or Jim (John Krasinski) must go back to being a salesman. Meanwhile, Andy’s (Ed Helms) Valentine’s Day plan backfires.

Check out 3 exclusive new clips from tomorrow night’s episode, “Manager And Salesman”, after the jump. Be sure to catch the full episode of The Office on NBC this Thursday.

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This week NBC’s Thursday night comedies, including Community, The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, return with all new episodes and we’ve got previews for some of these shows for you this afternoon. For Community, we’ve got the latest “Hanging With The Cast” video where you can see the cast fool around during their down time and share some basic rules of the study room.

On Parks and Rec, you’ll learn the ins and outs of meeting women from Pawnee’s own Tom Haverford and get a closer look at the legendary mustache of Ron Swans. On The Office, we are introduced to the new buyers of Dunder Mifflin, Sabre Corporation.

Finally, on 30 Rock, Jenna’s mother Verna is in town visiting for tonight’s episode which, of course, lead to all kinds of trouble. Tune in tonight for new episodes from all four starting at 8/7c on NBC.

Check out all the previews after the jump.

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