With “It” Being Square Jaws and Square Personalities

In the past year, two of my favorite shows have benefited from the addition of nerds: Parks and Receation, which got Adam Scott’s Ben, and Fringe, which got Seth Gabel’s Lincoln Lee. Now, I realize that given these two shows’ decidedly terrible ratings, it would be a fairly small number of people who would be familiar with both characters. Trust me — they’re both awkward, stick-to-the-rules types that register in the TV world as uncool, kind of like how Rachael Lee Cook plus glasses equaled an untouchable mutant so many years ago. But even in spite of the character similarities, don’t these two look a hell of a lot alike?

I can tell them apart, of course, but I’m putting this out there to see if anyone else has noticed how these two actors — especially in character on their current, respective TV gigs — have a similar thing going on, to the point that when I see Gabel (the one with whom I am less familiar) on Fringe, my immediate reaction is always “Yep, he still reminds me of Adam Scott.” Anyone?

The Nobelest of Sitcoms

What pop culture association can I make with the announcement that Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is getting this year’s Nobel Peace Prize? Oh, only this one: Ms. Sirleaf is the aunt of Retta, better known to the parts of the world with good taste in TV as Donna Meagle on Parks and Recreation.

 This is the face of a Nobel Prize’s winner’s niece right here.

Also, unrelated but not really:

 Just because.