The Office: Girls' day out (aka Paint it black)

Spoilers for "The Office" finale coming up just as soon as I get squatter's rights to www.creedthoughts.gov...

How amazing is Jenna Fischer? I'm serious. How amazing is she? That final talking head -- my favorite form of talking head, one where actual office action interrupts the interview -- was a little acting clinic, with Pam genuinely convincing herself it was okay that she and Jim had missed their window, only to be overwhelmed by Jim's entrance and the realization that he was holding the window open for her. Just a beautiful moment, and one the entire season had been building towards.

The Pam/Jim/Karen triangle reminds me in a lot of ways of the Luke/Lorelai/Christopher situation this last year on "Gilmore Girls." You have the couple who the audience is rooting for, kept apart by wishy-washy behavior on someone's part (Luke there, Pam here), then the rejected person (Lorelai/Jim) spends the better part of the season involved with someone who's a good match on paper (Chris has more history with Lorelai and the same sense of humor, Karen is willing to put herself out there for Jim in a way Pam wasn't), only to realize towards the end that love doesn't happen on paper, and in the finale we finally get the pairing we want. The difference is, "Gilmore Girls" ended just as Luke and Lorelai got back together, while "The Office" has a lot of time to explore what life will be like when Jim and Pam actually try dating.

And I think we needed this year of having them mostly apart, even if at times the fun was as lacking for us as it was for Pam. Pam needed a season to find, as both Michael and Oscar's roommate realized she needed, some courage. Early in the year, she was still casting about for a new accomplice (an audition Ryan failed, largely because he didn't know it was happening), but by the finale she had become strong enough to do the coal-walk, declare her feelings to Jim in front of everyone, and have herself a whole lot of fun with Dwight as boss. She couldn't have shouted down the conference room a year ago, and she would have felt the fun was empty without Jim or someone else to share it with, where now she seemed okay just sharing with her pal the camera guy.

Jim, meanwhile, needed some time to heal from Pam's rejection, and by keeping distant from both her and his old office-wide hijinks (the betting episode aside), it made the moment where he found Pam's note and the old yogurt lid (a callback to the medals from "Office Olympics," possibly their finest moment of office cruise-directoring) that much sweeter. Jim had spent the last year focused on his career, but when he saw the note and yogurt lid and David asked him what he liked most about Scranton, the only thing he could think to say was, "the friendships." Another lovely little moment, and well-played by Krasinski. (We didn't see the entire interview, but I have to assume he answered David's long-haul question by admitting he wasn't ready to leave Scranton yet.)

I don't think the end of Unresolved Sexual Tension is the kiss of death for a show -- especially not a show where the UST isn't even the main story element. If anything, I think too many shows have died trying to postpone the inevitable for too long ("Moonlighting," "Ed"), while the king of the genre ("Cheers") put its couple together quickly, then spent the next four years exploring different break-ups and reconciliations. I'm not saying "The Office" should go that route -- Jim and Pam are far more compatible than Sam and Diane, where the comedy came from how wrong for each other they were -- but at the very least it could be like "NewsRadio," which put Dave and Lisa together in episode 2, had fun with their relationship at times and treated it as a simple fact of life at others. Certainly, Michael, Kelly, Dwight and Kevin all have ways of making an office romance uncomfortable (and funny) for Jim and Pam, so even if their own relationship is smooth, there will still be some laughs and tension to be wrung from how other people now treat them.

While Jim and Pam were making up the emotional core of the episode, Michael, Jan and Jan's new girls were bringing the funny. My reaction to Michael's reaction to the bigger girls was the opposite of emotionally magnificent. It was completely shallow, and I don't care, because I laughed so damn much through the entire sequence where Jan was in the office, and again when Jan had her meltdown at corporate and again when they were in the car together and she was talking about wearing stretch pants and waiting at the door for Michael to come home. Melora Hardin and the writers have done wonders with a role that was fairly limited at first as the disapproving straight woman to Michael, and I hope we don't lose Jan next year. (Roy, on the other hand, seems gone, and with Rashida Jones doing that Farrelly Bros. sitcom for Fox, I imagine she's out, too, even though she didn't get the corporate job as predicted. More on that down below.)

Dwight's one-day reign of terror was also marvelously silly, particularly the Scrute-Bucks vs. Stanley-Nickels confrontation. I just love the way Rainn Wilson says "Schrute," making an odd name sound completely ridiculous; adding "bucks" to the end of it, repeatedly, was practically Dada. I've been saying "Schrute-Bucks" all day, and will likely continue until I beat it into the ground just like "I'm gonna chase that feeling," "Is that something you might be interested in?" and all my other borrowed catchphrases.

I'm sure you all will have lots to talk about this episode and this season, so I'll move on to the bullet points:

• Ryan getting the corporate job was a weird surprise, and it did lead to his perfectly cold dumping of Kelly, but it doesn't make sense even within a universe in which Michael Scott would be considered for said job. Ryan's been a full-time employee for less than a year, still doesn't have a sale, and if he managed to complete his MBA, it was only in the last few months since Michael lectured at his school, and from a non-prestigious local school, at that. I just can't see a guy with that resume getting Jan's old job.
• Jim picking apart Dwight's Motel Hell fantasy was brilliant. $84,000, eh? What do you suppose Dwight makes now?
• "Goodbye, Kelly Kapoor." Maybe Angela and Ryan should be dating.
• I feel like I know far too much about Meredith and Creed's respective love lives now. (But I can't complain too much about an episode with so many Meredith moments after my season-long quest to get her more material.)
• Funnier Pam talking head: the cliche one where she became Popeye, or the one where she became concerned the documentary people would think she was gay?
• Was I the only one who felt the Jim and Karen in New York footage felt off? It's not like the documentary crew hasn't followed people to other cities (they did some New York stuff with Michael in "Valentine's Day"), or showed people in their personal lives (Jim's party, Pam's art show), but this just didn't feel right. Maybe this time Greg Daniels wound up hiring a local film crew who didn't nail the house visual style, I don't know.

So what did everyody else think? You happy with how it turned out in the end? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Fire, walk with me

Spoilers for "The Office" coming right up...

Way to go, Pammy! Oh, wait, I forgot I'm not supposed to call you Pammy. Anyway, not only did you finally find the courage to confront the office in general and Jim in particular about how lonely you've been this season, but you saved what had until that point been one of this season's weaker episodes.

The early scenes had promise: Meredith accidentally flashing the camera, Toby's look of despair at the news that he would miss Pam in a bikini (not that any of us saw that) and the cross-cutting between him alone in the office and the group singalong of "The Gambler," Kevin's declaration that "I just want to sit on the beach and eat hot dogs. That's all I've ever wanted," etc.

But once we got to Lake Scranton and Michael started doing the world's worst Jeff Probst impersonation, the humor got very strained (with brief exceptions like Stanley's speech, Oscar's contemplation of heterosexuality, Dwight failing to tell The Aristocrats joke, or Team Voldemort's chant). I just kept waiting for Phyllis to pull Michael aside and do her "Don't think, just tell me who you want to replace you" trick so he could say "Jim" and we could all move on to something else.

But then came Pam's speech, and I'm sure every Jam'ers heart grew two times as big after hearing that bit of courage. A very nice moment for Jenna Fischer, and something that needed to happen already. I'm not ready to lose Karen yet, even though I imagine she's a shoo-in for the corporate job, but I miss Pam and Jim having fun, too, whether or not they ever really try dating.

What did everybody else think? And do any of you know all the words to the "Flintstones" theme's second verse? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Pervert alert

I was out last night, ironically, at a guy's appreciation night (aka poker night), so I'll be slowly working my way through last night's TV. Spoilers for "The Office" coming up just as soon as I check my toolbox for the Crescent-Allen...

I'm not sure where to start with this marvelous episode. So much disturbing imagery: Michael as a schoolgirl (no wonder Jan didn't seem disturbed that time he accidentally cross-dressed), the realization that Dwight "plays" with dolls while Angela frequently wears doll clothes, the idea of Dwight with a menstrual cycle (which would, in fairness, make him more linked to the moon and tides), Dwight taking a penile self-portrait... sick brilliance all.

This was another one of those episodes where Michael spends the first half making a complete ass of himself and by the end has everyone feeling sorry for him, as well as another one that somehow managed to make Michael's love life into a metaphor for Jim's. (Not that Jim was aware of it this time, but his reaction to Pam's sex predator poster is yet another clear sign that he and she are heading back towards each other.) Yet even when Michael's an object of pity, he's still being Michael, in this case buying the women sexy lingerie (or fuzzy robes) and breaking up with Jan on voicemail. (Under ordinary circumstances, I would lament the fact that he screwed up his chance for break-up sex, but given what we've learned, he's probably better off.) And yet even when he's being Michael (while also being an object of pity), he can be surprisingly wise, as in his "Wizard of Oz" list of wishes he made for the ladies.

Some other thoughts:

• Meredith speaks! And not just about being a boozer! It's hard out here for a Meredith fan sometimes, but this is the most she's had to do in an episode in, like, ever, and maybe the writers can do something with her sloppiness even outside her van (and her rules).
• An all-time great Pam talking head: "I don't often miss Roy, but I can tell you one thing: I wish someone had flashed me when I was with Roy, because that would have been the ass-kicking of the year. Especially if it had been Jim... He would not have wanted me to have seen Jim's... Hoo, I am saying a lot of things."
• Of course Creed's a flasher. Yet he seemed oddly whiny and childlike while defending his lady's room visit: "I'm a pretty normal guy, I have one weird thing: I like to go in the women's room for number two!" I think it was the shouting over the headphones that made that work as well as it did.
• And of course Angela blames the victim in the flashing incident, especially since the victim was her designated punching bag Phyllis.
• "Foliage." Who thought of that one: Michael or Jan?
  
• Dwight's vampire-killing broom returns!
• Getting back to the pre-Jan discussion of Michael as 40-Year-Old Virgin, I think Dwight says (with a mouth full of banana, so it's not clear) that Michael's had sex with "less than three" women, and then Michael insists that that info is "not current." So Jan makes it three? Carol and Jan make three and four? And why do I want to know this? Why am I still typing? Let's move on to the next bullet, please.
  
• Ryan being that in denial about Kelly doesn't really track with how open he's been about their relationship, particularly the Netflix bet in the safety training episode.
• Michael's con list for Jan includes both "Breasts, not anything to write home about" and "flat-chested."
  
• I love whenever Jim takes advantage of Dwight's love of official protocol, particularly whenever he gets Dwight to talk on the phone when there's no need to, whether it was in the tag here or the time he put Dwight's desk in the bathroom. (The men's room. There wouldn't have been space for his desk in the oasis that is the lady's room.)
  

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: I'll be you and you be me

Spoilers for "The Office" coming up just as soon as I sign Mindy Kaling to a recording contract...

Welcome to a shaggy dog episode of "The Office," one with a bunch of plots that never really go anywhere but have some amusing digressions along the way.

In particular, the main story of what to do about the pornographic watermark had no real resolution. Yes, Creed got poor Debbie Brown fired -- And at what point do the writers take his behavior too far? Or did they accomplish that last night? -- but all we really got was Pam's suggestion that this would blow over in a few weeks, followed by Michael recording the pointless apology video. (Bonus feature: skim down to the bullet points for a transcript of the one cue card we didn't hear Michael read. Ahh, the wonders of HDTV.) No problems with corporate (this would have been a fine excuse to include Jan, even if just on the phone), nothing about the article the Scranton Times columnist was going to write, nothing.

Now, this isn't a plot of great importance within the grand scheme of the show -- it's certainly no "What's Roy gonna do to Jim?" -- but too many of the branches of the story were set-up without pay-off. Kelly gets put in charge of the accountants and Angela proves to have difficulty with customer service, and... what? Andy's girlfriend turns out to be jailbait, and all that comes of it is Jim making a kind gesture by indulging Andy's a cappella jones.

Sure, there was some very funny material -- Kelly singing her own version of that Gwen Stefani bananas song, Jim-as-Dwight (and, especially, Dwight-as-Jim), the brief callback to "Threat Level Midnight" (Michael's spy screenplay) -- but "The Office" is usually more than a collection of random jokes, and that's all that "Product Recall" felt like.

Some other random thoughts:

• So, the transcript: "I need this job. My mortgage is hundreds of dollars a month. With this job I can barely cover that. I have a company car, but I still have to pay for the gas. Gas prices are high and I have no savings whatsoever. And it wasn't even me. It's so not fair that they want me to resign."
• I think I have to give Dwight-as-Jim the nod over Jim-as-Dwight. It wasn't as accurate, but it displayed a keen knowledge of Jim's camera-mugging ways.
  
• Ryan still hasn't made a sale.
• What exactly does Meredith do? She seemed to be the only staffer not involved in any way with the damage control.
• How cheap are calculator watches in Scranton? I can buy the shirt and the tie running Jim less than 7 bucks, but the watch (even if it was used) makes me question his accounting.
• "I need two men on this... That's what she said... NO TIME... But she did... NO TIME."
• Which was worse: Kelly's Bridget Jones impression or Kevin's Aussie accent?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Hey, I should have been nicer to Michael

Spoilers for "The Office" coming up just as soon as I reshuffle my Netflix queue...

Well, that one felt like vintage season two "Office," didn't it? I mean, the Michael plot is the sort of thing they can and have done this year (see his behavior throughout "The Convict"), but what really elevated the episode was the betting subplot, which evoked vintage Jim subplots like the Office Olympics and his fire drill games.

I know there's been some unhappiness with this season's lack of Jim and Pam interaction, but I think the larger issue has been Jim's minimal interaction with everybody. He has his one on one stuff with Dwight and Karen and Andy, but his promotion and his discomfort with being sent back to this place after his escape to the paradise of Stamford has isolated him from the office staff at large. He now views this as an actual career and not just a place where he's marking time, so he's backed away from his role as office cruise director. And I didn't realize how much I missed that stuff until he did it again.

It helped that so many of the bets were hysterical, particularly Kelly explaining Netflix to Ryan and all the proposition bets attached to that ("she named six romantic comedies"), and Creed (both actor and character) taking a big bite out of what looked like a real potato. Also helping: an apparent thaw in the Jim/Karen/Pam triangle, to the point where Pam could be a full-fledged participant and also compliment Karen on her plus-one strategy on the jellybean bet. (Kevin then splashed some cold water on the moment with his references to how much time Jim used to spend at that desk, but not too much.) I know that in real life, John Krasinski and Brian Baumgartner (who plays Kevin) have a hardcore video football rivalry going; I wonder if this whole subplot spun out of that?

Felt odd to have two Michael vs. Darryl episodes in a row, but it's a great dynamic, especially since the writers have decided that Darryl will openly disrespect Michael whenever possible. (Plus, hearing Craig Robinson say "shenanigans" made my night.) Michael's defense of his own tough existence was deluded brilliance ("I worked at a warehouse. Men's Wearhouse. I was a greeter"), as was his insistence on running through the suicide script ("Dwight, you ignorant slut!") a second time once the warehouse guys showed up. (Jim: "Well, you know, the first performance was a little off, but I felt they really hit their stride with the second show.")

A very, very strong episode. Some other random thoughts:

• Was Creed pissing in the bushes, or in the mooncastle?
• Unshun/Reshun shouldn't have been funny for as long as it was, but it was.
  
• Did you catch "Drew" referring to Jim by his name (instead of "Big Tuna") for maybe the first time ever?
  
• Brilliant setup/payoff: Michael fearing that, if the watermelon hit Stanley's car, it was a hate crime, followed by the two-second button before the credits where Stanley finds the watermelon.
• I was waiting for someone to remind Michael about Jan. Boy, the shine came off that relationship pretty quickly, didn't it?
• And the great thing about Daryl's final reason for not jumping is that it was a compliment, an insult and absolutely true at the same time. ("It takes courage just to be you, to get out of bed every single day, knowing full well you gotta be you... I couldn't do it. I ain't that strong, and I ain't that brave.")

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Not for ladies only

Spoilers for "The Office" coming up just as soon as I prepare for the inevitable deposition...

I don't know. Maybe I was tired, but last night's episode really didn't work for me. There were some isolated funny moments, but almost all of them were in the talking heads: Daryl's "I want him to get the raise... just can't help myself," Jan being just out of frame when Michael talks about having sex with her, Jim's reaction to Dwight and Angela. In the regular action, I laughed long and hard at Ryan and Kelly's arguments (and Toby's suicidal reaction to same), and the shot of Michael bending over to show off how his butt looked in those lady pants.

But a lot of the episode was funnier on paper than it was in execution, one of those things where if I started describing the jokes to my wife (say, Angela getting overheated listening to accounts of the Dwight/Roy takedown) she'd find it more amusing than if she actually watched. And it's not because I'm such a great joke-describer; it's that the ideas were good but fell flat for some reason. Maybe this was a rare case of the super-size approach backfiring, the jokes getting too much room to breathe, I don't know. Or maybe I just should have sacked out early and watched it today. Sigh...

Some more specific thoughts:

• "User Jennifer Hudson Kapoor." "Don't you see why that's insane?" "So I'm crazy now?"
• Of course Angela was going to get excited by that story. Not only did it involve Dwight being a hero, but it involved Dwight taking out Roy, the only other man at the office she's ever been attracted to.
  
• Just when Jim and Karen seemed to be clicking better in the pre-fight conversation, she has to go and blow all goodwill by completely dismissing Jim's concern about giving Dwight a gift. That's the sort of thing that, in the old days, would have led to an hourlong Jim/Pam brainstorming session.
  
• From a personal relationship standpoint, two great scenes: Pam trying to reach out to a Jim who's still too hurt to listen, and Jan sending Toby out of the room so she can find out what's really wrong with Michael. She knows him too well ("What did I tell you about 'yeppers'?"), and that was a nice moment between them.
• Creed the klepto callback, as he returns the 40 bucks he stole (either in cash or office supplies) from Michael.
• UPDATE: Forgot to mention, what's up with this current wave of primetime gender-bending? First we had that bizarre drag king photoshoot on last week's Next Top Model, then tonight we had Michael in lady clothes and Pete and Liz on "30 Rock" dressing alike. And was I the only one who, for half a second, assumed that Michael just pulled one of Jan's suits out of the closet by mistake, and that the punchline would be her wearing one of his? (Then I realized that A)Jan's much skinnier than Michael, and B)She's actually observant enough to notice when the buttons are on the wrong side, and why.)
  

What did everybody else think? I imagine I'm in for a lot of people telling me I'm being way too harsh, and that it's just good to have a new episode for the first time in weeks. Click here to read the full post

The Office: That's what she said. Oh, my God.

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I collapse in on myself like a dying star...

Ho'od win: Joss Whedon or J.J. Abrams? Last week, Whedon stepped in to helm one of the best episodes of the season. This week, Abrams was behind the camera for one I didn't like that much.

I don't know that I can lay too much of the blame at J.J.'s feet, though, as most of my problems came in the script stage. I realize that tolerance levels for Michael's idiocy is a taste thing, that there are people who loved "Phyllis' Wedding" while I had to watch it from behind my couch, that some found Prison Mike to be hilarious when I cringed, etc. It's rarely a question of Michael being out of character (because I believe he would do all these things), so much as it is my discomfort overwhelming any impulse to laugh.

I love the idea of Jan, going through a self-destructive streak and getting bad advice from her shrink, trying to have a relationship with this oblivious man-child, but outside of her brilliant Talking Head (including the Upside/Downside list and "That's what she said") and the revelation that Dwight was in the backseat for the entire fight (which had me laughing so hard I began to cough), I felt like this one missed the mark. Too much of Michael being an idiot, not enough of Jan trying to use her executive smarts to make him behave.

The staff going out for drinks was better, though how do you spend an entire subplot at a bar without a single Meredith joke? (There better be a good deleted scene.) I enjoyed watching Pam ("Don't call me Pammy") asserting herself as mildly as possible and loved Oscar's reaction to Creed's celebrity among underage drinkers. Roy going berserk about the Jim news could have been uncomfortably dark, but the presence of "Carry On Wayward Son" on the jukebox and Roy's brother getting a little too into trashing the bar made it work as both comedy and tragedy. Roy spends half a season telling us he took Pam for granted and is a changed man, and then the second they're together again, he goes back to treating her like garbage again.

So now Pam is free of Roy, and Jim could not possibly be less into Karen, evidence by his non-reaction to the sort of prank that he would have loved coming from Ms. Beesly. What now?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Good night, Mary Beth, whoever you are

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I put "Lost Boys" in my Netflix queue...

Of course they gave Joss Whedon the episode where Jim turns into a vampire. Of course they did, even if it was already written (or at least planned) well before Joss offered to direct, even if they didn't tell Joss about that particular subplot, even if everyone who works on the show does a pinky swear that this is all some brilliant coincidence.

But I'll get back to Undead Jim and Dwight beating on the bat (with a bat? I forget what implement he was using at the end) in a bit. I want to start at the end, with that incredibly sweet scene at the art gallery between Michael and Pam. As Pam's gallery ordeal just got worse and worse -- I think Roy shamelessly trying to use it to get laid was worse than what Oscar's roommate said -- I assumed that Jim would show up to sort of save the day as he always does, only he'd have Karen with him, so it would be bittersweet. Instead, Michael got to be the hero, without even realizing it -- and then almost ruined the moment with a leftover prop from his lecture. (It was both a more poignant and funnier version of the Dwight/Pam scene from "Back from Vacation.")

The writers have done some interesting things with Michael and Pam this year: her directing her bird funeral eulogy at him, her driving him home from the Diwali celebration (after totally shooting down his advances), and now this. Most shows would keep playing the one easy note of Pam being rightfully appalled by Michael, but these writers have the wisdom to know that human being are more complex than that -- even overgrown eight-year-olds like Michael Scott -- and so they can occasionally show Pam feeling protective of Michael, or in this case Pam feeling grateful towards him. And it was so perfect that the drawings he loved were of their office and things in it, because Michael is such a purely literal person. She drew their office -- the be all and end all of Michael's existence -- and she drew it accurately in a photo-realist style. Was there any way he wasn't going to be over the moon for that stuff?

I complained last week that Michael's behavior at the wedding made me uncomfortable, even if it was in character. He made just as big a fool of himself in front of Ryan's class, but this one didn't have me squirming nearly as much, because the stakes were lower. Michael was on the verge of ruining Phyllis' wedding day, a big deal in any woman's life, whereas he wasn't doing any real damage to anyone but himself in that lecture hall. (If anything, Ryan's professor probably gave him extra credit after seeing what Ryan has to deal with in the real business world.) The storyline was evocative of a couple of Brit "Office" plots (David taking over the company seminar, and David the disastrous motivational speaker), but in a good way. Best parts of this plot: Ryan's complete lack of conviction as he said "it would be stupid not to do it, right?" and Michael coming up with a far wiser, fairer and meaner punishment than firing for Ryan.

Now, onto the real reason the great and powerful Joss was so clearly hired: Schrute Vampire Slayer. This was very broad in parts, though no broader than "The Injury" or "The Fight" or "Gay Witch Hunt," and when you have an episode end in genuine tears, I think it's very fair to go broader on the other storyline. Loved how quickly Creed fell into an alliance with Dwight, and how he had stake-sharpening tools at the ready. (I hear Creed Bratton once stabbed a man in Reno just to watch him die.) Loved how seeing Pam back with Roy has Jim finally committing to Karen not only as his girlfriend, but as his prankster sidekick. Loved that, for once, one of Jim's pranks didn't have any real negative repercussions on anyone, including Dwight, but was just a way to amuse himself while engaging Dwight's fantasies about the paranormal. And I loved the garbage bag-errific climax.

And speaking of which, some other thoughts:

• Hey, Meredith got something semi-significant to do! Woo-hoo! I'm biased, because Kate Flannery's really nice and wicked funny in person, but I've felt really bad this season at her minimal screen time compared even to the other second-tier characters. As I wrote in the comments a while back, the problem with Meredith is that her job doesn't automatically put her into contact with the other characters, and her defining characteristic as the office lush doesn't make her a go-to joke machine, the way Stanley's crabbiness or Creed's creepiness can be applied to any situation.
• With Ryan banished to the Chatty Annex, does that mean Jim gets his old desk back? And what will having both of his women in his sightline do for that awkward dynamic?
• At first, I assumed Toby's desire to ditch his daughter's play to go to Pam's show was a continuation of his lame attempt to ask her out earlier this season. Maybe it was that, too, but his line about kids plays and how "what they do is not art" had me rolling -- and crying just a little, since I'm not too far away from having to attend elementary school plays on a regular basis.
• The "write that down"/laptop gag was nicely done, and reminded me for some reason of the bit in "Life of Brian" where Brian tells the mob of worshippers that they all have to think for themselves, and they say, "We have to think for ourselves! Tell us more!"
  
• "Poop is raining from the ceilings! Poop!"

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: So I guess now she'll have two toasters

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as someone tells me it's safe to look...

Wow. And here I thought Prison Mike was too cringeworthy. I had no idea what cringeworthy was. Wow. Just wow. During several scenes ("LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." and the unwanted toast), I turned into Winona Ryder from "Heathers," closing my eyes and singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" at the top of my lungs so I wouldn't have to deal with what was unfolding in front of me.

Michael Scott was a little boy who never had any friends, never got any attention, never really learned any social skills beyond what he picked up on television. In the context of everything they've established about him over the seasons, do I believe he would make this big an ass of himself at Phyllis' wedding? Absolutely. Did I want to see it? No. It was too much, on too big a stage (the wedding videographer better have mad editing skills to make the film palatable for the happy couple), and Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) shoulda stepped in much sooner, six week vacation or no six week vacation. Michael saying, "This is bull(bleep)" was hilarious, and I even liked him pathetically pushing the empty wheelchair up the aisle, but everything after that went too far, for the show if not for Michael himself.

(Speaking of Phyllis' vacation, is this how Daniels and company are going to deal with the overstuffed supporting cast? Come up with different excuses for why one employee won't be in five or six episodes in a row? I guess Meredith goes to rehab next, followed by Creed serving some jail time, Stanley going into a diabetic coma on Pretzel Day, Kevin's band getting hired as the opening act for Sting's lute tour, etc.)

Outside of Michael being more appalling than usual, I had a few other problems with this episode, most of it dealing with poor Uncle Al. ("He has brown hair and dementia...") This is the second week in a row where Jim has pulled a prank that harmed more than its intended target. If anything, Michael was completely unaffected by the Ben Franklin gag, and here Jim had to know that Dwight was going to start hassling innocent wedding guests, even if he didn't realize it would result in a senile old man being tossed out into the street. The shot of Uncle Al wandering into traffic also crossed a line. I believe that the camera crew wouldn't interfere, but just from a comedy viewing perspective, the joke felt mean.

I'm sure the 'shippers are all rending their garments over Pam going home with Roy and Jim once again half-heartedly throwing himself into his relationship with Karen, but I thought everyone's behavior here rang true, and didn't just feel like yet another stall tactic in what we all assume is the eventual JAM Unification Project.

For me, though, the highlights of the episode were all little bits involving the supporting cast:

• Stanley finally finding a use for the toaster he bought Pam and Roy (subject of a monologue delivered brilliantly by Leslie David Baker back in "Gay Witch Hunt"), only to get frustrated again when he realized Jim and Karen got the same thing;
• Creed slipping his own card onto someone else's present (at first, I thought he was going to just steal gifts);
• Kelly wearing white as "an emergency... (talking head) I look really good in white" (Appropos of nothing, I once attended a wedding where one of the bride's friends wore a floor-length white dress and went home that night with the bride's ex-boyfriend. Needless to say, she and the bride don't talk anymore);
• Ryan slapping the bouquet out of Kelly's hands;
• Toby's overjoyed, completely dorky reaction to having a hot date ("Toby! Yeah!," complete with weird cat-claw gesture);
• Angela continuing her streak of totally uncalled-for insults of Phyllis with her "So white my eyes are burning" description of her/Pam's dress;
• Kevin detailing Scrantonicity's other two gigs.

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The Office: SHUT UP, ANGELA!

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I reorganize my pantaloon drawer...

First order of business, at least here in the Sepinwall household: We need a ruling on the scene where Dwight asks Jim whether he wants a brunette or redhead stripper and, as Karen and Pam crane their necks to listen, he says, "Blonde." My interpretation: Pam has red highlights, ergo, Jim was pulling an Archie Andrews and trying to avoid offending either of his ladies by picking one of them. Marian's interpretation: Pam has blonde highlights, ergo he was picking Pam. So which one of us is colorblind? Go.

A very funny episode, though I think I may have blacked out there for a minute or two during Michael's lapdance. How he is able to not horrify Jan every single second they're together in bed, I have no idea, but the man should not be allowed around women. (One of many genius moments of the night: the look of terror on Pam's face when she realized Michael wanted her to be his bra model, followed quickly by Dwight in a bra.)

Mindy Kaling really knows how to involve everyone in her scripts. Hell, even Meredith had a great line tonight, and I had all but given up on poor Kate Flannery getting something funny to do this season. (She barely even pops up in the deleted scenes on-line.) Kevin got to remind us of his poker expertise, then drool over the stripper, Angela got tipsy (and hung-over in record time). Stanley had his business with the cheap cutlery, followed by Creed eating with his hands, and Roy made his latest attempt to get back in Pam's bed/good graces: "It's very moving... and sexy... the art."

(Speaking of which, I again wonder about when/where the documentary is airing. If it's already available anywhere domestically -- even via illegal internet download -- Michael would be fired by now and Kelly would be spending all day every day scouring message boards for posts about her and Ryan. But if it's still unseen, why is Roy bothering to suck up to Pam in a talking head?)

This episode also had more continuity than usual: in addition to Kevin's poker skillz, the dreaded baby poster reared its ugly head again, and, of course, the Foreman Grill from "The Injury" survives -- thankfully, after Michael "got all the foot off of it." Good stuff.

Interesting how, once again, Pam and Karen are inclined to team up, JAM-style, to get through the day, only to have their fun ruined by the shadow that Jim casts on their tentative friendship. The writers on this show have such a good ear for how the wrong thing said at the wrong moment can completely derail a conversation, the way Pam saying "Good night" to Ryan in "The Initiation" inadvertently ended her phone call with Jim, or here the way Pam, desperate for something to fill the awkward silence, says "I'm sorry" and immediately threatens whatever detente she and Karen just reached. It's a shame that Karen is so obviously on her way out the door, because I like her. I understand that she's involved in a significant ongoing plot, but if the show can have room for Dwight and Andy (Ed Helms just got made a regular), isn't there some way, somehow, that Pam and Karen can co-exist for a while longer? They make a nice duo.

Other random thoughts:

• Even without Meredith's outburst to establish the general mood, I would have to say that was pretty lame of Jim to go and ruin the ladies' fun just to spite Michael. Meredith, Kelly and Phyllis -- whose party it was, after all -- all looked so excited for the arrival of the stripper, and so disappointed by the arrival of faux-Franklin.
  
• In the "30 Rock" review, I noted the similarity between the Paul Reubens character and Martin Short's guest appearance on "Arrested Development." So much of Michael's dialogue in this episode -- particularly the "hourlong shower with guys" and all the "man meat" talk -- reminded me of another element from that same episode: Michael Bluth suggesting that Tobias start tape-recording himself in order to recognize when he's being such a, um, blowhard.
  
• Whenever Dave Koechner shows up for an episode, I can never decide whether I want more of him, or if that's just the right amount of Packer. I think tonight was the right amount.
• Was there anything in the sex shop that wasn't pixellated? My eyes hurt just looking at the screen during that scene.
  
• So is faux-Franklin a Canadian? His name's Gordon, and I'm pretty sure there's a law banning that name on our side of the border.
  
• Lovely exchange between Pam and the stripper, both Pam's "I lose my appetite all the time" and her deciding to take the stripper's compliment as such.
• Is it my imagination, or haven't we seen Karen in skirts before, including post-merger?
  
• "Jennifer Garner portrayed (a stripper) on 'Alias.' It was one of her many aliases."

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The Office: Hard-working. Alpha male. Jackhammer... Merciless. Insatiable.

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I tell my drill instructor, "I GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!! I GOT NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!!"

First of all, awesome music choice with the Muzak version of "Up Where We Belong" in the background of Michael's reconciliation with Dwight. I already had the "Officer and a Gentleman" theme running through my head as soon as I saw Michael walking into the Staples, then I wondered if they were going to play the real thing (and somehow violate the documentary conceit), then heard what sounded like random Muzak, then realized that it was "Up Where We Belong." Just perfect. To quote Marv Somebody, YES!!!!

This one wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny as "Traveling Salesmen," but that's because they were going for more of a poignant tone. Everybody's out of sorts in this one. Dwight's working elsewhere, Andy is trying to become Dwight (but is oddly turning into Michael), Michael seems normal in comparison to Andy (his only real bad moment was at the Party Planning Committee meeting), Karen's refusal to play accomplice briefly turns Jim into Tim from British "Office," Angela is (temporarily) human, and the reunion of the Jim/Pam Prank Squad clues Karen into what a terrible mistake she just made.

(Minor) credit to Jim for manning up and admitting the truth, even if he had to wait to be asked by Karen. So what do you do if you're her? You're young and smart, but the economy sucks, and you've already moved once in the last few months. Do you stay with Jim and spend the rest of the relationship waiting for the other shoe to drop? Do you break up with him but stay at that job and feel humiliated every day? Do you join Fat Guy Who Isn't Kevin, Non-Stereotypical Black Ex-Con and Nursing Mother on the bread line?

Some random thoughts, good bits and lines:

• Was that Kevin Reilly as Dwight's first job interviewer?
  
• Oh, one other Michael-as-Michael moment: he explains Ebonics. (On the flip side, the revelation that he was hiding behind the door during what seemed to be B-roll of Andy looking for him was beautiful.)
  
• Jim to Ryan: "I liked you better as a temp." Ryan to Jim: "Me too."
  
• Phyllis thinks she has a big personality?

What did everybody else think?
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The Office: Duets

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I ask my friend Long Tim to help straighten up my offive...

What a perfectly-constructed little episode. They've done funnier episodes than this one ("The Injury" and "Conflict Resolution," to name two), but the design of this one played out so well.

With the exception of Jim and Dwight, the sales teams paired up characters who haven't had much to do together in the past, and even with those first two, we got to see them in a new way: well-oiled selling machine. But what I especially loved was the falling-domino quality of the sales calls, how great the payoffs were to set-ups that I didn't even recognize as set-ups. I just assumed that Phyllis was trying to bond with Karen in an unfortunate way, that Happy Stanley made an appearance because Ryan was going to be doing all the work for him, that Dwight was being angry and random because he was stuck working with Jim. In taking notes on the episode, there were a bunch of lines that began with, "Ohhhh!" as I realized what was actually happening.

There were a few more serious developments. Dwight quits Dunder-Mifflin, in a sequence evoking his resignation as a volunteer deputy. Not sure how I feel about that one. If Pam didn't know all of the details of what Dwight did, she knew enough to be able to go to Michael and assure him that Dwight's New York trip had nothing to do with him. Plus, while I totally believe that Dwight would never reveal their secret love without Angela's permission, is Angela really so awful that she would cost Dwight his job to avoid becoming the next Ryan and Kelly? Okay, so maybe she is. I'm sure Dwight will wind up back at work soon -- and that Angela will unleash some kind of Biblical vengeance upon Andy -- but this was unsettling.

Meanwhile, Phyllis goes and outs the history of Jim and Pam to Karen -- and, worse, Jim tries to deny it. He gave it up pretty quickly once he realized she knew something, but that's still not a good sign for this relationship. Or maybe not. I need a ruling: if you're the Karen in this scenario, do you want to know this stuff? And if you're the Jim, are you trying to keep it a secret because you're still in love with Pam, or because you're trying to spare both women some awkwardness over a situation that no longer exists? I'm too jet-lagged to untie this particular knot.

Some lines/jokes of the week:

• Ryan on Stanley: "I'm very flattered. I was his second choice after 'Pass.'"
• Jim: "Oh, Young Jim... there's just so much I need to warn you about, and yet... I cannot."
• Pam to Angela: "You seem so happy. I bet you wish you were like this all the time."
• Jan on Dwight: "Where he was asked to state his business, he wrote, "Beeswax, None of Yours, Incorporated.'"
• Dwight and Michael: "That's what she said." "Don't you dare!"
• Andy: "Oompa-loompa, doopity-dawsome! Dwight is gone, which is totally awesome!"
• Michael's computer: "Boobs!"

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The Office: No shirt, wrong e-mail, big problem

A very funny night of television last night, and I haven't even seen "Earl" yet. I'll get to "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "The O.C." later this morning, but spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I get a stray piece of tape out of my friend's hair...

She doesn't know. She doesn't know. Jan has no idea. Genius. Absolute freaking genius.

I think we had all guessed that Jan was on the other end of Michael's Christmas party call, but poor, poor Jan. Not only does she have this unhealthy fixation on Michael, now her stupid therapist is telling her to embrace her self-destructive tendencies. If the guy ever met Michael, he would tell Jan to run far, far away. When Kevin started asking her about her tan and she floated the Arizona line, I thought she was desperately trying to deny her presence in the picture, and that we would see her tear into Michael in private (she can't fire him over this, because that would be sexual harassment), but she doesn't know. I love it.

I also love the speed with which Darryl got that e-mail circulating. Packer got it, like, two seconds after Michael sent it to the wrong address, and Toby got it from nine different people ("including my ex-wife, and we don't talk"). Darryl's never liked Michael, and he's had a particular grudge against him ever since he trashed the warehouse in "Boys and Girls." Revenge is a dish best served topless. Or something.

But for me, the funniest moment of the episode was the capper to what had been shaping up to be the sweetest scene: Dwight comforting a sobbing Pam, acting the most human he has ever, ever been on this show, followed by "So you're PMS'ing pretty bad, right?" Beautiful set-up, perfect pay-off.

A few other thoughts and quotes:

• What was that bit about Darryl's iPod? I thought it might be explained in the deleted scenes on NBC.com, but the only stuff there is about the postcards Michael sends Pam from vacation and Dwight listing all the pranks Jim pulled on him in the last week.
  
• Speaking of which, nice teaser with Jim running the sales meeting and totally messing with Dwight's tape recorder. Hell, even Phyllis got involved before Andy had to go and ruin it. However, it feels a little off for Jim -- who keeps vowing that he's going to stay away from old patterns, even though he backslides -- to be so openly mocking of Dwight while running the office. Funny, though.
• Did anyone else feel like Michael's sad shuffle to his office to confront Jan needed to be accompanied by the Charlie Brown music?
  
• Hannah the new mom quit over Christmas break, which leaves Karen and Andy (and, technically, Jim) as the only Stamford people left.
  
• "That's all I'm gonna say... sex... sex... we had sex... I had sex with her..."
• Pam's always so good at quietly undercutting Michael's foolishness, in this case with her line about Jamaica being an impoverished country.
• Why does Kevin get to keep the poster?
  

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The Office: Let's all go to Asian Hooters!

Posted a bit early due to evening plans, spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I find a black magic marker...

After a couple of uneven post-merger episodes, the show's nearly back to full strength. I'll still probably take "Christmas Party" over "A Benihana Christmas," but it's close. Lots in common: both do outstanding work at spotlighting the entire cast (hell, even Oscar returned for a half-second tonight), and both feature Michael Scott at his most cringe-inducing (last year by instigating Yankee Swap, this year in his immediate reactions to getting dumped), and both feature Michael having unique reactions to women (photographing naked Meredith, using the marker to identify which waitress liked him), etc..

While the sequence where Michael realized he couldn't tell the two girls apart -- followed by the marker solution -- was the episode's highlight, overall I found myself enjoying the Pam and Karen half of the episode more than the stuff with the guys at Benihana. (Though, as someone who's had to sit at the far end of the table now and again, I actually felt sorry for Dwight for once.)

Jim's Women make a formidable team, and after some nervousness over seeing the two of them hanging out, even Jim jumped in with his brilliant monologue about a committee to determine the validity of the other committees. (And I love that Dwight, for all his hatred of Jim, thinks of it as an actual committee that he has a chance of joining.) The sight of the entire office torn between two parties, and Stanley of all people breaking the tie, was brilliant.

Some other things I loved:

• Michael lying down by Pam's desk and explaining that Carol wanted to do things in bed
  "that were foreign, and scary, and some wine might've helped."
• Ryan pulling a Jerry Seinfeld in "The Secret Code" and providing 1000 different excuses for why he couldn't go to Benihana, leaving Jim with nothing. ("Look alive, Halpert!")
• Kevin defiantly eating a second cupcake and getting back to his Scrantonicity roots with his karaoke rendition of "You Oughta Know."
• Toby's pain at having his gift bag stolen, including him trying to feel up the other robes to see what he had lost.

And some other thoughts, since I'm in a list-y frame of mind:

• Is there any way that it wasn't Jan on the other end of Michael's phone call about the Sandals trip?
• Am I reading too much into Jim's explanation of rebound girls, or does he consider Karen to be just a rebound from Pam? And, much as I liked the Jim/Pam thing, why? Karen's awesome, as this episode showed.

Some lines of the week:

• Jim on Michael: "It's a bold move to Photoshop yourself into a photo with your girlfriend and her kids and her ex-husband on a ski trip, but then, Michael's a bold guy. Is 'bold' the right word?"
• Michael: "Jim, take New Year's away from Stanley!"
• Kevin: "I think I'll go to Angela's party, because that's the party I know."
• Kevin: "Double fudge... Angela... double fudge... Angela..."
• Karen and Pam: "Are we taking this too far? I say we're not taking this far enough." "I got goosebumps."
• Angela to Waitress #1: "I don't walk into your apartment and steal your Hello Kitty backpack!" (And question: is this the rudest thing Angela has ever said?)
• Oscar: "Too soon."

So what did everybody else think?

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The Office: British invasion

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I go play a few holes of Folf...

When I wrote my review of this episode, I somehow missed the memo that this was the one written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In retrospect, I should have spotted that, credit-free rough cut or no, because this felt squirmier by at least 10 percent -- or, roughly, the difference between David Brent and Michael Scott.

In particular, the Prison Mike scene made me cringe in a way no TV comedy has since the dance routine that got David canned in the original series. I spend far too much time analyzing the minute differences between David and Michael, and much of those nuances come from the actors. There's a kind of sweaty malevolence that Gervais can pull off without seeming totally loathsome, but that doesn't fit Steve Carell at all; witness how much more uncomfortable it is when Michael pretends to fire Pam than it was when David tried the same with Dawn. The American writers quickly recognized this, and have fashioned Michael's personal brand of cluelessness into a more childlike inability to read a room. Even when he's agressive, it's in such an obviously harmless way that the Scranton people have all learned to tune him out over the years. Screaming in Phyllis' face is just something I would never expect or want to see Michael doing.

That said, I thought our visiting writers did a bang-up job on other parts of the episode, especially the Jim/Andy/Karen/Pam non-quadrangle. Tie between "Also, do you speak Pig Latin?" and Andy's falsetto, Pig Latin "Rainbow Connection" for funniest bit. (I've sung my daughter to sleep with "Rainbow Connection" for years, and I may never be able to get through it with a straight face again, dammit.)

Whatever hurt Pam is feeling over Jim's unavailability, she still has such affection for him that she can admire the artistry in how he sicc'ed Andy on her, and verrry interesting that Jim went out of his way to make Karen an accomplice in pranking somebody else. Clearly, she knows little or nothing about Jim's previous dealing with Pam, else she would start to wonder why he knows so damn much about her. Jim, a bit of advice: in a situation like this, full disclosure is really the only way to go.

Other highlights and thoughts:

• While I had trouble with the Martin subplot overall, I thought it was a nice touch that the hated Toby -- master of conflict resolution -- was the one who was able to calm Michael down and set everyone free without bloodshed.
• I want to know exactly how Martin explained insider trading that convinced Kevin that this is what he does.
• In the British series, the arrival of the merged staff eventually led to David's firing. Here, Michael's nearly halfway towards scaring off all the newbies. What terrible humiliation do you think awaits nursing mom Hannah? (And what office has a Bring Your Infant To Work All Day Day?)
• I quoted it in the review, but once again: "Why did the convict have to be a black guy? It is such a stereotype. I just wish Josh had made a more progressive choice, like a white guy who went to prison for polluting a black guy's lake." Also, would it be fair to say that most non-Christians would trust Apollo Creed more than Jesus? I'd certainly trust Apollo to find me a really good bargain on where to eat lunch (most likely at Burger King).

What did everybody else think?

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The Office: Merging can be fun (but probably won't be)

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I head out to Staples to buy a salad-maker...

Well, that was... squirmy. Great, but squirmy. One of the reasons Michael has become easier to take over the last couple of years is that we're used to how he deals with the staff and they're used to him. Seeing his buffoonery unleashed on a group of unsuspecting victims was just as horrifying as it was back when the British show did this storyline. (Though with Josh gone and this show not subject to the British economic model, I don't think Michael's in danger of being fired anytime soon.) The gift bags were bad, "Lazy Scranton" was worse, but trying to shove Bizarro Kevin onto the table had me looking for something to hide behind.

But in the middle of all that awkward was some comedy that didn't have me cringing (much): Kevin's sheer joy at using the shredder (and the abrupt change of mood after the credit card bit, and, of course, "Staples"), the look of utter contempt on Stanley's face when the new black guy tried to make a show of solidarity, Phyllis' "You have a lot to learn about Scranton" when Karen didn't know who Bob Vance was, Ryan markin his territory with Jim (and putting Jim at a desk without a good sightline to Pam), Kelly's "I just told you" explanation of what's new with her, Creed putting the nursing mom's picture on his desktop, and virtually every confrontation between Andy and Dwight. Personality-mirroring, eh? I may have to try that. And even Michael's usual idiocy led to a nice, Charlie Finley's A's-style bonding moment for the staff, not to mention another sad reminder of Michael's lonely childhood.

Best of all, though, was "Was your father a GI?" Funny as that was in the promos, the reactions by Rashida Jones and Jenna Fischer made it about 10 times funnier. (I'm guessing Rashida has had a lot of experience dealing with clumsy, offensive "So, um, what are you?" questions in real life.)

The big news, obviously, is the anti-climactic Jim/Pam reunion, complete with the expected and yet not news that Jim and Karen are dating -- or, at least, "sort of seeing" each other. Unless Jim was just saying that to protect himself from being hurt by Pam (a not unreasonable possibility), then I think the writers would have been better off showing us the beginning of Jim and Karen's relationship before they left Stamford. We all knew it was heading there, and we understand why (both in show logic and Jim logic), but it's a little jarring to go from Karen's "I know he may not be that into me" monologue from last week to the idea that they are (assuming that they really are) starting to date just as Jim as returning to the same city as Pam.

I also hope that the new people don't get too much in the way of the original Scranton folk. I'm not anti-new blood, but it already feels like the very funny supporting cast doesn't have enough to do (Meredith in particular usually winds up on the cutting room floor), and while I'm sure the writers have very good ideas for the non-Andy and Karen newbies, a lot of characters I already like are going to be struggling for airtime.

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Earl & The Office: Come together

Spoilers for "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" coming up just as soon as I read this message from the future...

"My Name Is Earl" has been better this season than it was last year, but this was the first time I felt it was outright funnier than its companion. Another tweak of the formula with Catalina tagging along -- and with Randy going meta with his explanations of how the list works -- plus a rare and welcome instance of Bad Earl appearing in present day. They don't have to show him struggling against his better nature every week, but this kind of episode was past due.

"The Office" wasn't bad, but plot advancement was the primary goal over the jokes. We now have a semi-plausible explanation for why Scranton gets to stay open, but Josh goes away so it's not a total remake of the British second season. Still, some good comedy: Jim sending Dwight faxes from the future (Stanley's reaction made the coffee scene), Ryan and Stanley's glee at being laid off (they may need to cool it on Happy Stanley for a while, though, or he'll lose his effectiveness), Kelly's manic-depressive reactions to the bad and good news, Roy looking to Cinderella (the band, not the movie) for solace, and Michael's flustered reaction to Dwight's perfectly reasonable role-playing. And in the 'shipping news, Karen has become the Jim in her relationship with Jim, down to being hurt when he suggested she take a different job (just like Pam did with that Maryland gig). Interesting that the writers have avoided coupling off any of Pam, Roy, Jim or Karen before putting them all in the same building.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Best meeting we've ever had

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I confiscate some culturally explicit pamphlets...

Think that one fell a little too far on the wrong side of the cringe-to-laugh ratio. I don't know that I've had to employ the horror movie finger shield this much since the British episode where David Brent got sacked. And as bad as I felt as Michael was proposing to his slutty cheerleader, I practically had to pull a Winona Ryder singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" when Michael leaned in to kiss Pam.

Which isn't to say that I don't believe Michael would do either of those things. His entire personality has been crafted by popular culture, and in a cheesey movie version of his life, the hero absolutely would smooch the pretty receptionist and it would turn out to be true love. (Also, nine dates in four months? I suspected Michael was exaggerating the intensity of the relationship, but that's barely better than belonging to the same book club with a woman you like.) I just don't think there was enough great comedy to compensate for the awkward! moments. Compare this one to "Gay Witch Hunt," also featuring Michael at his most unable to read a room (and also featuring Michael offering his lips to an unwilling recipient), which had me doubled over in laughter at least as often as it had me hiding behind the couch.

There were some nice little moments, especially in the cultural sensitivity briefing at work: Kelly not having the first idea what Diwali is about (and Dwight knowing too much), Pam enduring more Jim-less sexual harassment from Kevin, Toby exercising his authority in a rare moment when most of the staff didn't want him to (did you see the disappointed look on Phyllis' face when he snatched the pamphlet?), etc. Jim and Andy's drunk "Closer to Fine" duet was genius -- especially Andy's sheer joy at finding a fellow bro who likes Indigo Girls. Ryan enduring the scorn of Kelly's parents was good, and I liked the symmetry of Michael and Jim both winding up in the back of women's cars under very different circumstances.

Not a bad episode, particularly in advancing the relationships (Pam/Roy, Jim/Karen, Michael/Carol), but not this season's best. And was I the only one who viewed the Diwali Song not as a scene, but as Steve and Rainn stepping out of character to perform for the cast and crew? Because that was entirely too good to have been written by Michael Scott.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: Pretzel Day is here!

Thoughts on "The Office" just as soon as I zap my Aeron chair with some WD-40...

Last week, I asked who was funnier: Stanley or Creed? I love Creed and his kleptomania and tales of free love and complete disconnect from reality, but after watching Stanley literally skip out the door when he heard the Pretzel Day announcement, I think our friend with the crossword puzzles is currently in the lead. Hell, the pretzels even gave Stanley a brief moment of common ground with archnemesis Michael.

Despite -- or, more likely, because of -- the lack of a central plot, this was the best episode they've done since the season premiere. From Ryan's passively resisting Dwight's taunting brain-teasers to the look on Jim's face when Ed Helms realized he had inherited the squeaky chair, this was a hilarious episode throughout.

Or, almost throughout. Knowing NBC's bait-and-switch promo pattern, I assumed that Jim and Pam's phone call was going to last about five seconds longer than the commercials showed. Instead, we got a lengthy, sweet but honestly awkward quasi-reunion for our favorite couple. Really nice all around.

Couple of other notes:

• Did you catch Kelly trying to describe "Lazy Sunday" to Michael on the pretzel line?
• They're really pushing Michael's salesmanship skillz this season. Hmm...
• With Mose finally getting a speaking part, that's four members of the writing staff to appear on the show. Ryan, Kelly and Toby are the others -- and if you want to be technical, Greg Daniels does appear in a deleted scene from "Office Olympics" as Michael's condo neighbor.
  
• How does Michael take a name like "Coselli" (or however you spell it) and launch into a bad Cosby impression when the opportunity for a bad Howard Cosell impression was staring him in the face?
  

So what did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

The Office: On the wings of love

Spoilers for "The Office" just as soon as I do a blind taste test of Utz vs. Herr's chips...

As soon as word got out that NBC was going to adapt "The Office," everyone's default assumption was that they would screw it up, that they would water down the boss character by making him more sympathetic, that the workplace couldn't be nearly as depressing, that there would be hugs, etc., etc.

As it turned out, Michael Scott is more sympathetic than David Brent, the Dunder-Mifflin folk hate their jobs but occasionally have fun (thanks mainly to Jim), there have been hugs in a lot of episodes... and if forced to choose between the British series or the equivalent number of American episodes in a Desert Island Disc-type challenge, I wouldn't think twice about going with Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight and the rest.

This episode really illustrated the genius of what Greg Daniels and company have accomplished here. I frequently feel bad for Michael in a way I never did for David, but the awareness that he's just a sad and lonely little man doesn't in any way mitigate what an ass he can be most of the time. In that way, I guess my reaction is a bit like Pam. She usually can't stand him, takes advantage of opportunities to get one over on him (the coffee gag pre-credits), but she also knew that the hug request wasn't a come-on, and she had the decency to not only make the bird coffin but craft a eulogy that got at the heart of Michael's despair about dying alone. And then, just as I'm on the verge of "Awwww...," Dwight and Pam begin dueting on "On the Wings of Love." Genius.

(One question about Michael's fear: if he's been dating Carol the realtor for several months, I don't know that he'd be quite as freaked about being alone. Either the relationship isn't going nearly as well as Michael would have us believe -- not at all outside the realm of possibility -- or the writers have dropped the ball a little. I totally see Michael as the guy who won't shut up about his awesome new girlfriend, and he usually only mentions her to the camera crew.)

It's interesting to see how Jim has succeeded in creating a new Pam (and with a woman who doesn't come with her own Roy attached), while Pam is still adrift. She got Ryan and Kevin to play along with her movie reference joke, but overall she's become more of a solo act. Given her body language in the car scene, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see her take Roy back -- perhaps just in time to discover that Jim is dating Bizarro Pam.

Question of the day: Who's funnier, Stanley or Creed? Both usually get only one or two lines an episode, but they always slay me.

Back later to catch up on some Tuesday and Wednesday shows, plus "Grey's" and, if I have time to watchthem, "Ugly Betty" and "Survivor." Click here to read the full post