point but the dial
Valid point. I guess missing girls and dead princesses just pull at the heartstrings and bring in more pundits... :-/
I like seeing the different characters and changes to the environment outside each time.
The news reporter hasn't said any news for a while now. Getting a tad formulaic - if you use the formula as a jumping point for different stuff, that's cool but make sure you don't start going over old ground too much.
The legs really look a bit akward - maybe you could even cut them off (be below the table) if you're not gonna animate them properly. With 2 poses - one side-one, one front-view, it'd look loads better.
Anyways, the script is generally your strong point. You make a fair point but the dialogue isn't that funny to me.