HAVE YOU BEEN IN MY BRIEFCASE? One of the first things I blogged about many moons ago was Billy Ray's film Shattered Glass (Adam is a fan as well). It's not surprising then that I made time to see his new film, Breach, this weekend. The good and bad things about the films are almost exactly the same. Lots of great "how they caught the guy, and how the guy managed to avoid detection for so long" material, solid performances all around (though Christensen and Phillippe are both the weak links in their films' ensembles), but little or no "why?" Sure, Robert Hanssen gets a speech while in custody enumerating several reasons he might have done what he did, but the movie doesn't explain or take a stance. The other weakness specific to Breach is that Glass was cast almost entirely with unknowns who could surprise us by delivering a good performance, especially folks like Hank Azaria and Steve Zahn, known primarily for comic work. In contrast, Breach is filled with actors like Chris Cooper, Laura Linney, and Dennis Haysbert--from whom excellence is expected, not a surprise. The most misunderstood performance in the film, though, comes from Caroline Dhavernas, playing Phillippe's shy East German wife--those not familiar with her work on Wonderfalls may see it just as bad acting rather than recognizing that she's calculated just how tightly wound her character is. Well worth seeing, and a far better spy flick than the interminable Good Shepherd was.

ALSO, LET'S GET HUGH LAURIE HIS: Having finally watched this week's Gilmore Girls, and noting that 4 of the 5 nominees for Best Leading Actress in a Comedy Series at last year's Emmys were from shows that are no more, can we all join together in a campaign to finally get Lauren Graham at least nominated for an Emmy, especially since none of the Housewives really deserve it this year?

PERHAPS MAXIM DOES HAVE HIGH JOURNALISTIC STANDARDS: While walking through Barnes & Noble this afternoon, I noticed this new packaging for the audiobook of The Nanny Diaries on shelves in plain display. Perhaps the audiobook company needs to employ some horny teenage boys as proofreaders?

THAT'S NAMIBIA, JACKASS: TARstars begins Sunday night. Who ya got? I'm not rooting for a team as much as I'm hoping for a competition that's decided by skills and not dumb luck, and by brilliance over competence. I want to see teams that try to out-think the Race itself to gain advantage, building from their experience to do those things we didn't think of, sitting at our coaches.

Okay, and I want to see a lot of Team Cha Cha Cha again, and, yes, I do want to see if Rob Mariano has any new tricks left in the tank. He's an ass, but he's a clever one.

Also, Phil chatted with WaPo readers today.

KEN OBER WEEPS: Dr. Robert Adler, inventor of the remote control, has died at the age of 93. His Zenith Space Command was invented back in 1955, and now the average American has 4+ remotes at home. Don't get up.

WE MET AT STARBUCKS. NOT THE SAME STARBUCKS BUT WE SAW EACH OTHER AT DIFFERENT STARBUCKS ACROSS THE STREET FROM EACH OTHER: I think we've all learned a solid lesson this year about getting your hopes up when a revered writer puts together a hotly anticipated new show with an all-star cast. Nonetheless, I did wriggle in my seat a bit when I read that Parker Posey will be starring in Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show, The Return of Jezebel James. More than a few fans have been hoping that Lauren Graham would sign on for the role, but I'm glad to see a new face spouting AS-P's dialogue -- particularly when the new face is Posey's.

CROSS OFF THE RUG-PIDDLING/WHAT RHYMES WITH HERMIT OF MINK HOLLOW? Much Office-love below, so I won't touch that, but we should also mention that the rest of NBC's comedy block was strong tonight as well. Alan loves Bad Earl, so this episode seemed like a love-letter to him, a Whitman's Sampler of Bad Earl misdeeds that could be recounted without trying to build a Good Earl episode around them. Lots of really funny moments, with an especially strong performance from Young Earl, who is really nailing Jason Lee's mannerisms.

Even with a strong Earl and a solid Office, the show of the night for me was 30 Rock. After a couple of weeks where I thought it was merely good, not great (I wasn't a huge fan of the Paul Reubens episode) I laughed all the way through this one. 30 Rock is not a show that I think will ever develop the kind of broad, emotional appeal of HIMYM or The Office, probabably because where those shows are centered upon blossoming or doomed relationships, 30 Rock takes its cues from Seinfeld's no-hugging-no-learning aloofness. When it's working, though, it is in Arrested Development territory, piling jokes, pop-culture reference jokes, inappropriate jokes, wordplay jokes, and random in-jokes upon each other. I laughed out loud in the pre-credit scene last night as much as I've ever laughed out loud in an entire episode of HIMYM (except maybe Slap Bet), and the show sustained the pace throughout. I think it hit on 95% of its material (basically everything except the Rachel Dratch stuff), which is astoundingly high, and which I read as support for my belief that the Jenna character is the weakest part of the show.