So when is The Office coming back?

NBC announced its fall premiere schedule today, and there are a few interesting bits in there for  John Q. Fanboy.

Most importantly, The Office will be returning Thursday, Sept. 25, with an hour-long premiere at 9. 30 Rock won’t be back until over a month later, on Oct. 30. They did this last year, if I remember correctly, debuting Rock much later, but I really don’t know why. What I do know, though, is that with the epic season finale they treated us to last week, and Greg Daniels spending more and more time on the upcoming Office spin-off, there is going to be a lot of pressure to make this hour-long episode a damn good one. Still no title or date for the spin-off, but I’ve heard that it might be given the precious post-Super Bowl spot.

Also of note is the big return NBC has slated for Heroes third season. Heroes, if you remember, ended its second season when the strike hit, and didn’t return this spring when all the other series did. NBC is planning a Heroes bash for Monday, Sept. 22, with an hour-long clip show and then a two hour premiere. I still haven’t watched the second season, because it fell on a really busy night for me in the fall, but I’ll be sure to catch up on Hulu before September.

Finally, we now know what will be filling Scrubs‘ spot this fall — Kath & Kim, an American adaptation of a popular Australian sitcom surrounding a dysfunctional mother and daughter. It stars Molly Shannon.

Ben Silverman thinks he is God’s gift to cool

Attention, Friday Night Lights fans: the episode you saw last Friday may very well be the series finale.  And Ben Silverman doesn’t seem to care very much.

At a recent launch party for Lipstick Jungle, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment Ben Silverman spoke with Radar about the future of FNL.

Radar: Quick question! A lot of us are happy that you’ve kept Friday Night Lights on the air despite lousy ratings. It’s totally the best show on TV. But is there going to be another season?
Silverman: Do you watch 30 Rock? That’s the best show on TV.

Not regularly. But what about FNL?
Start watching 30 Rock. It’s the best show on TV.

I don’t want to watch 30 Rock. I want to watch FNL. I love it.
I love it. You love it. Unfortunately, no one watches it. That’s the thing with shows. People have to watch them. We’re NBC, we have a reputation to uphold. And, man, with this writers’ strike … well, we’ll see what we can do. But start watching 30 Rock.

First, I’d like to give props to the Radar  writer.  They stuck to their guns in the face of a guy who, by all accounts, is a prick.  I’ll just take a bit of a closer look at these three questions.