Thursday TV Tournament: Match-up 24 Results

Today's match-up is between twenty-second seed, 30 Rock Season Five, Episode Seventeen, "Queen of Jordan," which aired March 17, 2011, and sixth seed, The Office Season Seven, Episode Twenty-Two, "Goodbye, Michael," which aired April 28, 2011. Not only are the results in for this week, but it seems that we now know who the Elite Eight are:

Regarding the twenty-fourth match-up, I'm sure some of you are confused. "Goodbye, Michael" is one of the most important episodes of The Office, but even its most touching scene, the farewell shared between Michael and Pam, is in the form of an old gimmick that was used up in earlier seasons. On the other hand, "Queen of Jordan" is perhaps the most original, interesting, and hilarious episode of this entire season of 30 Rock, providing commentary on the current ridiculous state of reality TV and the even more ridiculous fact that people are so into reality TV. I'm sad to see Steve Carell leave The Office, especially with how fantastic this recent season was in comparison to the last couple, but a well-written episode beats a recycled idea any day of the week.

Tune in next time for thirty-second seed, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season Six, Episode Seven, "Who Got Dee Pregnant?" which aired on October 28, 2010, and ninth seed, The Office Season Seven, Episode Sixteen, "PDA," which aired February 10, 2011. My thoughts: While the Sweet Sixteen was quite often painful, the Elite Eight is guaranteed to be painful. The only television show guaranteed to have a spot in the final four is Community, but everything else - with the exception of Big Bang Theory has two chances for glory.