The Office - season 6 - Page 4

I'm with Adam.  I don't like clip shows but this was watchable.  I still laughed when Angela tossed her cat up into the ceiling during the fire drill.  That, and Jim's impersonation of Dwight got me going.

I would have rather just seen a full on clip show (like Seinfeld used to do) rather than mixing under 10 minutes of new stuff in with old clips. Having said that, it was fun seeing a highlight reel of the show.

Uhm, what happened to new episodes of THE OFFICE?

The second part of the season started out with a clip show and
last week was a repeat (but new for me so I enjoyed it).

Well, FWIW, the next two are new.  After that, it's the Olympics for a couple of weeks.

So what if there was a new episode aired last

night and nobody talked about it?

 

Allow me to.  But first....

May have already mentioned this.  I became
a huge fan of THE OFFICE about three months
ago.  You might say that I "crammed" the first
5 years worth of episodes into those three months.
I watched marathons of episodes on both TBS
and FOX.   It wasn't a difficult thing to do since
I immediately fell in love with the show. 

...and many of my friends don't get it.  Quite a
few people don't like THE OFFICE because it's
not quick-fix sitcom comedy.   That's what I like
about it most -- it's a very subtle thinking-man's
comedy.

As I said, watched most of the past 5 seasons.
The reruns leave off where Michael starts his own
paper company, it fails, and Dundler Mifflin buys
it back.  Pam becomes a salesman at that point.

So, I kind of came into this new episode kind of
blind.

First, surprised to see Pam pregnant. 

What I was most surprised about was the new
receptionist.  Not quite onboard with her.  There
doesn't seem to be any unique characteristic
about her that makes me think she's worthwhile
to the show.  Kind of like Karen.  She was very
hot, but really added nothing to the ensemble.

Nothing overly funny about this week's show
but I am very happy to be onboard with new
episodes.

The beginning was hilarious, with the aborted Sabre song (where they had things rhyming with Sab-RAY because everyone mispronounced the new company name) and, of course:

Erin:  (in sing song) "I've got a big box, yes I do . . . " 
Oscar:  "I think you don't know what you're saying."

"Scissor me" was also hilarious.  The look of alarm in Pam's face had me guffawing.

The metallic OJ toast at the end cracked me up as well.

She didn't have much to do this episode, but she's definitely got some unique quirks of her own; primarily, a complete inability to detect or understand sarcasm or irony.

And invisible eyelashes that make her look like an alien.  I'm pretty sure she's a redhead and dyes her hair.  Julianne Moore has the same condition.  But she's still very cute.  Try to catch the Cafe Disco episode from last season to see how cute she is (plus it's a fantastic episode).

Also, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hm7pp_JFOs

I didn't embed it because the title is a bit risque.

Thought this week was great. Very much enjoyed seeing what I suspect will be the last of David Wallace. He's always been a fun character, and his end (at least the end of his job) was in keeping with the realities of modern business.

Here is a recent Wall Street Journal article about the actor who plays Wallace:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/21/the-office-cfo-david-wallace-is-real-life-wealth-management-adviser/tab/article/

Wow, I saw that video some time ago, obviously before she became Erin from "The Office"

Wonder if they'll put that on the next DVD set.

BTW, the "Dundler Mifflin & Sabre" song is stuck in my head now.  My wife sings it to herself all the time too.  I feel a bit dirty because of the song it's based on.

that's what she posted







Edited by EricW - 2/27/10 at 5:58pm

"The Office" does a great job of making its event episodes really something special. Loved tonight's hour long baby show.

 Dwight stole the show.  When he got out of Jim and Pam's bed I just about died.  Funny, funny episode.

Holy crap, that was classic.  So many series that are otherwise funny screw up wedding and baby episodes, but tonight the Office nailed it.  This may be my favorite episode of the entire series so far.  I laughed out loud so many times that I had tears at the end.

All the little throw away lines and sidelong camera glances were perfect.  Jim was spot on as the expectant father whose wife was going just a little crazy.  The scene with him in the car, ready to drive Pam to the hospital and when she let slip that the baby was a girl, and him tearing up, was priceless.  Pam trying to stay away from the hospital until midnight, and Andy's evolution-of-dance distraction.  Dwight getting pulled over for impersonating a cop, and throwing swords and axes out the window as he's stopping the car.  Phyllis's ice cream cake in the car.  Stanley raising his hand because he likes having two lovers.  Kevin believing he had a shot at Erin, and saying he's had hotter (in front of her) when he found out she didn't like him.  Andy's fax asking out (finally) Erin.  Dwight taking care of the mold in Pam and Jim's kitchen -- with a sledgehammer.  That was actually very sweet and a nice thing to do.  Dwight and Angela's baby contract.  Michael needing to wash his eyes and saying that that is going to be one hairy baby.  Pam breast feeding the wrong baby.

Not that the Office had gone anywhere -- despite the repeats, the Olympics, and my animosity toward NBC for screwing Conan -- but the Office is back, baby!

Side note: Hanson, I almost feel like I'm blogging with a celebrity because of your American Idol posts every week for the past however many years.  I'll sometimes watch a movie and then read Ebert's review, just like every week I watch Idol and look forward to your review here.  It's good to see you posting on the Office thread too.

Hilarious episode tonight with nice emotional center.  Loved it.  "The hospital provides dictionaries. Bring the thesaurus."

wow, i guess i'll be in the minority here, and say this episode just didn't do it for me.  the whole premise of Pam not wanting to go to the hospital to save a few bucks really annoyed me.  this is their ~first~ baby, you just don't mess around like that.  what if there'd been a complication?  it was just really contrived.  i laughed a few times, but they were few and far between.  and for the most part, i've enjoyed this season, but this episode was probably the first really weak one. 

I thought it was shown as the episode progressed that she was basically scared on having the baby. I agree with you that it was annoying me that Pam of all people would wait, "joke" around with their first born baby....but that went away when she started crying and basically saying she is scared. After that initial hesistation and knowning Michael wasn't going to deliever the baby in a elevator or something, this was a classic episode.

One of the things I liked about tonight's episode was the female nurse and her interactions with Jim/Pam sorta in the same way in an earlier episode this season at the child-care? center where the guy basically says "Maybe you aren't as cute or funny as you think you are"...something like that.

"Wrong baby, Wrong baby!"

Just curious - did Dwight have any final line at the very end of the show?  My DVR cut out right after Pam and Jim came back, Dwight said he couldn't find the iPod, Pam and Jim started to walk away and it looked as if Dwight was going to say something else to them...

All-in-all I thought it was a very well done episode.  Having been in Jim's shoes just over a year and a half ago, I can totally relate.  The interactions/bickering between Pam and Jim that first night with the baby were classic.  The whole bit with the "lactation consultant" was right on the money - though a bit surprised it would be male.

The Office has a way of making these major moments seem so genuine - a tribute to both the writing and the acting that totally sell it for me.

What was that about Worf?


"Dwight and Angela's baby contract."

It wasn't to "save a few bucks," it was about maximizing her time in the hospital with a support staff after the baby was born. Insurance companies generally pay for only 2 nights of hospital stay, unless the delivery is a c-section. Pam wanted to prevent going to the hospital in the evening, work through a night delivery and have that count as her first night of hospital stay, with only one night of rest and recuperation before going home. 

And plenty of parents attend childbirth education classes or hire birthing coaches in order to labor at home. Not every mother wants to be confined to a hospital bed with an I/V in her arm for ~20 hours of labor. If the pregnancy is considered low-risk there is certainly nothing wrong with working through early labor in a more comfortable environment than the hospital. 

Now whether the offices of Dunder Mifflin could be considered a "comfortable environment" is another story. But I'd hardly call the plot contrived.

 As Raymond already pointed out, Pam admitted she was scared of having the baby and that was the real reason why she didn't want to go to the hospital.  It was in the scene in the lunch room when Michael said the contractions were 2 minutes apart.

That was hilarious.

And Pam breast feeding the wrong kid was possibly the craziest joke ever on network TV.

I remember the scene. But during the early stages of active labor, it's very common for women to exhibit exactly the fear of delivery Pam expressed. Pam seemed to have made the plan to delay going to the hospital well before these symptoms of active labor had kicked in however. Which, again, I feel was very reasonable.

Either way, it was very refreshing to see a sitcom tackle childbirth in a fairly realistic manner, and without resorting to the typically theatrical jokes about water breaking, or giving birth to the baby in an elevator/taxi cab.

     Quote:
I thought Pt. 2 (the second half-hour) was funnier than the first, and then I saw that it was directed by Harold Ramis (and written by someone else, too!). The wrong-feeding scene was very funny (in a horrible way), and they built it up very well. It was one of the riskiest pieces of comedy this season so far, definitely.

In the past few seasons The Office has been using a lot more verbal humor... whether it be an absurd statement in a meeting, or in a talking-head segment. Slow-build situational humor is harder to do, but I wish they would use more of it on this show (more than they already do) because they're really good at it! I've noticed more "quick laughs" - like "I can't believe he just said that!" laughs. "Wow, Michael is so crazy! He doesn't know what he's saying!" I prefer absurdity to come in small enough doses that it's semi-believable (but not quite) ...

I like that they've transitioned Jim and Pam from being the quiet, cute couple to control-freaks who love each other but who get on other peoples' nerves. It keeps the show fresh... "antagonistic Jim" (especially last season with Charles) is funnier than straight-man Jim. Or Jim vs. Michael. Or Jim AS Michael. And "frazzled Jim" was my favorite part of Pt. 1 this week.

My digital antenna cut out during the scene where Dwight gets pulled over. I'll have to catch it again on the NBC site.

 My favorite part was the clips of Jim diapering everything, including Angela's cat! The look on her face ...

"New leads" was my favorite episode of The Office this season.

I don't know if it was the bonding between Michael and Dwight, or the sweetness of Erin and Andy's first kiss.

For me this is the only show on television I look forward to watching every week.

Fantastic writing.

I have a question someone hopefully knows the answer to. Were the scenes on the garbage dump done with a CG created background? It looked softer than the foreground, as if they shot it with a couple of bags in the front and a green screen background.

That's how it looked to me. I caught a couple times when there was a bit of green fringe around Michael's head.

My wife said it was distractingly obvious that it was green screen.  I didn't notice it at the time, but when I watched the scene, I noticed the lighting was totally wrong for being outside.