This year has challenged my TV geek ways. I have watched shows I like get the axe. The fascination with dancing and singing competitions continue to succeed, something I just don’t get. And I have had to bid farewell to a few of my favorite shows.

One of them, “The Office,” bowed out this week. I have always felt a strong connection to the show because of its small-town roots and the fact that my wife and I met at work, just like Jim and Pam. I kind of identified with them in some ways.

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Sometimes you hear news which you know really doesn’t affect the world too much, but makes you stop and pause because of how it affects your world.

That’s how I felt a couple of weeks ago when one of my oldest friends in the world posted that the place where we worked at teenagers had closed its doors for good.

From the fall of 1984 to early 1992 (off and on, of course), I worked at Oasis, one of the permanent kiosks in Baltimore’s Harborplace. We sold fresh lemonade, Italian ice and plenty of other drinks, making the shop pretty popular on hot summer days.

One of my neighbors – the father of Paul, the guy who told me about the closing – started the business with a friend of his. That connection helped me get the job when I turned 16. I already knew most of the crew either from growing up or because my sister worked there so it made sense.

Paul’s family eventually got out of the ownership side, but I had plunged full long into the Oasis culture by then. I worked there year-round during high school, during all my breaks in college and even picked up a bunch of hours there when I found myself out of a job a year after college.

In fact, Oasis was my last job before I moved to Hanover to work for the paper more than 20 years ago. It’s kind of a bridge between my time in Baltimore and the life I have now.

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The same thing happens each year. My theatre friends try to goad me into auditioning for a musical. I remind them I can’t sing or dance. The show passes by, only for the same cycle to repeat six months or so later.

If I had only brought a video camera with me to the York Ice Arena last weekend, I might have convinced them for good that I don’t have the grace for that kind of performance.

I headed over to that facility to cover an arena football game for the York Daily Record. I love getting to experience new things and had never covered the indoor variety of the sport.

As is my custom, I checked out the concession stand at halftime. The visiting team from Harrisburg had taken a huge lead so I pretty much knew how my story would go at that point. Why not enjoy a soft pretzel?

That didn’t cause me any problems, but the action after my snack did. I went to go throw away my trash, making my way across the bleachers to the nearest trash can. As I stepped overtop one row of stands to the next one down, something happened.

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I think everyone has wanted their own Ferris Bueller moment. You know, the day when you simply throw all your cares away and grab life by the scruff of the neck instead of going through your daily business.

That didn’t happen last week, but I did indulge myself in some of the movie character’s shenanigans. I went to a noon-time baseball game down in Baltimore.

The whole escapade bore little resemblance to what you see in the movies. I arranged for the afternoon off well in advance, I didn’t go with any friends, and I certainly did not tool around in a priceless sports car on my way to Oriole Park.

I didn’t even catch a foul ball.

But I did enjoy a warm, sunny day, eat a couple of hot dogs and savor an adult beverage. I also ran into two old friends and caught up with them.

That beats a day of work in my book.

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As the landscape of television continues to change, Amazon has decided to jump in with a unique experiment – Pilot Season. Everyone who goes to the site now has access to pilots for 14 potential shows – six kids shows and eight comedies. These will be available for a few more weeks for free with viewers having the opportunity to rate and comment on the videos they watch. These are full 22-minute pilots (at least for the comedies; not sure about the kids shows).

The plan is to potentially turn some of these shows into original programming for Amazon Prime members, I believe. There’s no real public formula for how much the voting on Amazon will count or whether they have a minimum of maximum number of shows they eventually want to take to series. I’m intrigued by the concept and plan on watching a bunch of the comedies.

I first tuned into “Those Who Can’t,” which is a farcical comedy about three high school teachers who really don’t belong in a position of authority. There’s the overly tattooed, sadistic history teacher, the gym teacher bullied by his own students and the thinks he’s really cool Spanish teacher. I gave the show two stars.

At first, I didn’t think I would make it all the way through, but it got a little better as it went on. They seem to be trying to mimic the “It’s Always Sunny” model where a group of pretty irredeemable folks deliver comedic story lines despite the nature of their characters. These guys don’t have the ability to pull this off the way Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton do. The main characters of “Those Who Can’t” lack the energy and originality that makes “Sunny” so successful. The secondary characters are so broadly drawn that you just want to shake your head. An elitist lacrosse player? Sassy African-American receptionist? New Age-y principal (who I can only guess is a cousin of Jeff Rosso)? At least try something different.

The fact that I stuck around for all 22 minutes is more of a testament to the uniqueness of the Amazon crowdsourcing concept than the show. I doubt this sitcom could pull off even six original episodes without some major re-tooling, much less a whole season.

Like many others, we watch “A Christmas Story” each year on Christmas. I find it fascinating how I can turn it off at one point during the 24-hour marathon on TBS, then turn on the TV at the exact same point the next day.

But enough about the cosmic workings of holiday television. Watching the show inevitably leads to wanting to learn more about the story and that led me to the book which provided many of the anecdotes in the film, “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash” by Jean Shepherd. My wife bought this for me last Christmas, and I finally finished it a month or so ago.

The book has two distinct tracks. One is a dialogue between adult Ralph, who lives in New York, but has returned to his hometown for a visit, and his buddy Flick, who runs a bar in that town. Those chapters inevitably lead to old stories which provide the other track. The Ralph and Flick half really just serves as a setup and the exposition of why Ralph would head off to New York as he describes the hard-scrabble nature of Flick’s daily burden.

The other half does a great job describing life for a kid in the 1930s while alternately reinforcing the stories from the movie and expanding on them. We hear more about the famous leg lamp and the Red Ryder BB gun. We don’t hear about how a tongue can stick to a flagpole, but we do learn about dating and fishing and many other fascinating stories surrounding Shepwrd’s upbringing.

The author had a long career as a radio personality, and he originally shared some of his stories through that medium. His writing has that lyrical style where you can almost imagine the voice, which is why his voice of the adult Ralph in “A Christmas Story” works so well. He really has a way of providing a gripping backdrop to mundane events. It’s not s surprise to discover Jerry Seinfeld calls Shepherd a huge influence on his comedy.

I really recommend the book, particularly since the organization makes it easy to put down and pick back up without much problem.

I have spent much of the past few weeks on stage at the Hanover Little Theatre. Actually, my participation in “The Fox on the Fairway” took much more time than that, but I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining.

I don’t know why because that’s what I will end up doing anyway.

The whole experience thrilled me. I once again got to work with an incredible group of people while putting on a very funny play and providing lots of people with affordable local entertainment.

But I have a bone to pick with some of those in the audience.

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We went to see “The Wizard of Oz” prequel “Oz the Great and Powerful” a few weeks ago. I can think of a bunch of reasons to bash the film, but none of them compel me to care enough about the weaknesses. In the end, I found the film to be harmless and entertaining despite its faults.

I think this happened because it seemed, at times, as if the people who made the movie didn’t care if we found things lacking in places. Some of the green screen stuff was so obvious that I figured they just wanted us to come along for the ride.

James Franco has a lot of fun with the lead role of Oscar “Oz” Diggs, who is transformed from carnival magician to presumed savior of the Emerald City. I liked the way they tied his original position to the resolution of his problems in Oz.

Rachael Weisz, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis do a great job as the witches, but Kunis stands out because, well, she’s Mila Kunis. I see a Brian in her future or at least for her outfit in the first half of the movie.

The monkey and china doll voiced, respectively, by Zach Braff and Joey King didn’t really resonate with me, but they had to have some fun with the equipment and storyline so I just rolled with it.

In the end, even the predictable nature of the story didn’t bother me because it seemed like a lot of energy and enjoyment went into the project. Like the Sherlock Holmes movies, I know they have to make a franchise so I just don’t want them to mail it in.

I might not line up for the next segment in this series, because we all know that’s coming, but I wouldn’t run away from it either.

Because I grew up with seven older siblings, I developed a great appreciation for classic television.

I have great memories of the shows I grew up with – “ChiPs,” “Three’s Company,” and the Saturday night tandem of “Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island” – but I also cut my comedy teeth on the “Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Gomer Pyle, USMC,” and “Leave it to Beaver.”

Thanks to the magic of Netflix and other streaming services, shows like those continue to have a life. Since I have greater productivity with background noise, I have spent some time recently listening to the antics of Wally and the Beav as I get stuff done at work.

More often than not, I bristle when I hear people long for the good old days. I love nostalgia, but I think we need to find a way to balance that feeling with the understanding that we cannot stop things from changing.

That said, I have learned some lessons from the folks in Mayfield that I think we can apply to our lives today.

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We have a problem, people. A problem with our television sets.

Actually, I feel no animosity toward the sets themselves. The developments in television technology never fail to astound me, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

But the things that appear on my screen have started to bum me out more and more. I have always kind of felt this way, but the whole thing turned very clear when I saw a promo for a new show starring Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.

Those unfamiliar with Mr. Lochte’s work might have trouble telling the difference between clips of his show and a Saturday Night Live skit. The whole thing looks incredibly awkward and painful, mainly because Lochte is about as smart and engaging as the goggles he wears in competition.

But for some reason, folks have decided that we need to see a show following him around as he tries to market himself, meet women and create absurd catch phrases. And to make things worse, some folks have decided they want to watch this.

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