The Office (US TV series)

By Brian Howard What a difference a DVD makes. I’ve slowly been making my way through my Office Season 5 DVD set, having watched all the deleted scenes, the blooper reel and two of the commentaries so far. But it was the “100 episodes, 100 moments” montage, eight and a half minutes of highlights from the show’...

By Heather Salerno Community’s a quirky little comedy that fits right in amongst NBC’s other Thursday night quirkfests: The Office and 30 Rock. (Sorry, I can’t muster up much enthusiasm for Parks and Recreation – at least not based on last season’s lackluster laughs.) Photo courtesy of NBC)

By Brian Howard But adding Amy Ryan in the first place, executing the brilliant Michael Scott Paper Company arc, allowing “Broke” to air and scenes like Dwight, Andy and Erin performing “Country Roads” and everyone walking out with Michael at the end of “Blood Drive” went a long way toward redeeming tho...

By Brian Howard MICHAEL GETS CAUGHT UP IN OFFICE GOSSIP – Michael feels left out as the rest of the office gossips about the summer interns. While Michael searches for the next juicy rumor to share, Andy struggles with heterosexuality. Yeah, I’m all in. For now. So check out the following preview clips. The fir...

By Brian Howard If I could make two requests of The Office writers/creators that had nothing to do with the main storylines or stylistic choices of the show, they’d be as follows: Don’t overuse Creed Bratton; and Stop making webisodes. Alas, I’m too late. They went ahead and released the latest series of we...

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By Brian Howard The Office writers gave us a lot of ammunition to really unload a heap of criticism on them with that finale. By the way, I loved Angela correcting Kevin on the score after he muffed a return. “Is that too much accounting for you?” Oscar breaking up a lingering man-hug between Jim and Dwight was...

By Brian Howard 9 PM — The Office Company Picnic — It’s the annual Dunder Mifflin company picnic and Michael and Holly are reunited, and Michael has some big plans for her. Meanwhile, the office competes in the picnic’s volleyball tournament. Guest starring Amy Ryan and Idris Elba.

By Brian Howard Michael was at his zany worst. I like neither zany Michael nor overly sympathetic, heart-of-gold man-child Michael. This was a new amalgam, without any of the nefarious intent that this cynic enjoys. All he wanted was a place of his own to sip espresso and boogie. Who doesn’t?  (People who lik...

By Brian Howard This might have been the least surprising news out of today’s NBC in-fronts, if not for the several outlets that put the Amy Poehler vehicle on the bubble. Now throw in SNL’s Amy Poehler—the closest thing to Tina Fey at SNL since Tina Fey left for 30 Rock —and it was like this show came with a fal...

By Brian Howard And intertwined throughout the episode were glimpses of Toby we’d never caught before, including a single talking head that revealed how he came to be a divorced Scranton-ite HR pro instead of a man of the cloth. Excellent visual too.

By Brian Howard This is episode four of a six-episode run, and this show is pretty solid and consistently funny so far. Already, Chris Pratt’s occasional one-liners have stolen the show for me, but Amy Poehler is showing she can anchor her own show. I’d like to see them do more with Rashida Jones, who I’m remi...

By Brian Howard The very tone of this episode — desperate, uncertain…suspenseful? — was palpable. Pam seemed in crisis. Jim seemed suddenly optimistic. And Michael shined when it counted, recognizing a job is indeed a good thing to have, more so than a buyout. Jim: Oh, but you didn’t.

By Brian Howard I know, I know. I owe you all recaps of last night’s episodes of The Office, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation. It was a stellar night of TV, but it’s also been an insane week. So I’m behind and playing catch-up. Don’t worry, I’m working on it. Here’s the opening to James’s open letter to NBC…

By Brian Howard It was May 2006, The Office season 2 finale. Jim confronted Pam in the parking lot. A show that had avoided sappy exchanges and melodramatic angst had earned that moment of pure emotion. And I never got that feeling again, not from The Office or from any other show. Until last night’s episode of C...

By Brian Howard As a result he’s hedging on helping Michael anymore. (At least he roped off the well for Mose.) That’s not fair, though. Michael had dibs on Dwight. And Dwight respects dibs; he’s not a barbarian. Or maybe he is, the way he showed up in the alley with Charles in tow. That was at least Charles’s second...

By Brian Howard I know it’s based only on one episode, but I feel like adding Parks and Recreation to the Thursday night lineup and ditching Scrubs and the ill-conceived Kath & Kim has given NBC a solid comedy block worth parking yourself in front of the TV for. The only weak link is Earl at 8 p.m., so I plan to...

By Brian Howard That said, flowing together was what I was aiming for when I employed my DVR to watch The Office installments back-to-back, hour-long-style. Where “Dream Team” jumped off the screen with a new kind of Office vibe and lots of yuks throughout, “Michael Scott Paper Company” dragged a little...

By Brian Howard 8pm  The Office Michael Scott Paper Company — Dwight and Andy strike up an unlikely friendship and plan a hunting trip. Regional Supervisor Charles asks Jim for a “rundown”, and Jim spends his day trying to figure out what that is. Michael hosts a Paper & Pancakes luncheon. 9pm The Office

By Brian Howard First off, it has Amy Poehler. Imagine if Will Arnett (Poehler’s real-life husband) and Steve Carell had a baby girl. OK, that’s weird. Scratch that. But Poehler brings Arnett’s unpredictable and fearless comic sense to Carell’s timing and general likeability.

By Brian Howard Angela is as cryptic as ever, and that’s grating a little. Whatever happened at Coyote Sands will be revealed, likely in a very cool Angela-centric flashback episode to come. But it feels a little drawn out by now, and I suspect it’s a symptom of a larger effort to scrap the show’s wrongheaded...

By Brian Howard MICKEY: Jim and Pam won’t tie the knot until the fall, I hear, mostly because Pam’s new job sitch will complicate their courtship. In the meantime, ask yourself this question: What would happen to this twosome if Pam becomes more successful than Jim?

By Brian Howard Even Andy won’t hop on board a sinking ship, though he did seem to be networking with Michael with the parting gift. Too bad Michael already has wine. Dwight wasn’t even asked. It was hilarious that he was as fearful that he would be as Michael was of having to ask him.

By Brian Howard To paraphrase Dwight Schrute from “Cocktails,” if you think Michael Scott said “I acquit” last week then you are an idiot. No offense. Photos: Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski arriving for the “Inside ‘The Office’” panel discussion at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in L.A. Ma...

By Brian Howard I didn’t buy it either. I can already see Michael-as-Nealon-as-Ahnuld announcing, “I’ll be back. I am back. For gooood.” His name’s not in the title, but it’s still The Michael Scott Show, at least when it’s not The Jim and Pam Show, anyway.

By Brian Howard That makes sense. Substitute Michael Scott for the driver’s name and Lake Scranton for the Taconic Parkway, and you’ve got yourself a hit sitcom, huh? It wasn’t three months after Michael Scott drove himself, Dwight Schrute and a rental car into Lake Scranton at the behest of his GPS devic...

By Brian Howard There were several funny bits in this episode, but most of them were clouded for me by my annoyance at the overall episode arc. So when Michael called Darryl an idiot and Darryl shot back “Start over,” my reaction was more subdued than the moment deserved. Michael pretending to keep a diary, a...

By Brian Howard The American version of The Office, however, has come to rely on conventional sitcom gimmickry – every week, there’s some new high jinks, and the characters do things that often don’t jibe with their personalities. The show’s comic centre, boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell), is spinning...

By Brian Howard Classic Office” is the phrase I first uttered after “Blood Drive,” Thursday’s episode, ended. Michael knows there’s someone out there for everyone, and there must be a way to bring them together. It’s not a giant net, mind you, but good one, Dwight. He hates Michael’s mixer idea.

By Brian Howard Dwight and Kevin pairing up is all I had to hear. I’m loving the way they’re mixing and matching characters this season, from Oscar and Andy to Dwight and Jim. Maybe Angela and Kelly will take a road trip. Anyway, those two at “Lonely Hearts Party” is both fitting and cringe-inducing.

By Brian Howard It’s Valentine’s Day  at the office. Michael meets a mysterious woman at a Valentine’s blood drive. Dwight and Kevin pair up with single women at the office “Lonely Hearts Party.” Meanwhile Jim and Pam are banished from the office for being too publicly affectionate, and have an awkward lun...

By Brian Howard Another example was Pam consoling Michael outside the Nashua offices. She starts to open up about how it felt to watch Jim and Karen together. I really wanted to hear more of that, even though it was funny for Michael to shut her up like he did. Oh, Michael.

By Brian Howard “Where’s Holly?!?” Michael bellows. “Michael?” a lanky young salesman asks. “Michael Scott? From Scranton?”  “Yes. Who? What? I’m Michael Scott. Where’s Holly Flax? She’s in HR. She has great boo—” “Michael, she left yesterday,” lanky guy says. “She said she couldn’t take it any longer,” a n...

By Brian Howard In The Office universe, Karen Fillipelli is a loose end, and every now and then the writers tug at her. I just hope the Michael-Holly reunion is as fun to watch as the Pam-Karen confrontation. And I hope Holly comes back, for good or even just for a while.

By Brian Howard I don’t know how they pulled it off, either. Every person who got up to roast Michael was funnier than the last. Darryl might have been the funniest but, well, Andy brought his guitar. Angela was by far the most surprising and was possibly out of character but I did not care one bit. And Pam seemed l...

By Brian Howard Oh Michael, how could you? Besides the Swank determination, which is objectively and verifiably false, “Prince Family Paper,” last night’s episode of The Office, ended as it had to. That, readers, was my gut reaction after the episode ended. Watch the full episode after the jump…

By Brian Howard EW’s Ausiello claims reveals some Jim-Pam angst lies in store in this one. He also says BJ Ryan confirmed to him that Amy Ryan—Holly-woooooood—will be back later this season. Meanwhile, things are gearing up for the April 9 launch of the “not-a-spin-off” from Office (actual) showrunner G...

Related articles from That's What She Said.

By Brian Howard • Oscar’s face as Dwight hinted at where he and Angela had, you know, boogied. Placeholder site for the Office non-spinoff Video: ET Goes Behind the Scenes of ‘The Office’ OfficeTally’s got all the deets on the non-spinoff E!’s take on the non-spinoff

By Brian Howard I don’t have the stomach for most awards shows, so I have a great appreciation for Heather Salerno’s most excellent wrap-up of the Golden Globe Awards. I’m also loving Hulu’s mini-clips, giving me the good parts and basically watching TV so I don’t have to. That said, there’s a few things I wa...

By Brian Howard It’s Office Thursday! Well, not quite. But in a week it will be. More formally, Greg Daniels and Kent Zbornak scored a Producer’s Guild Award nomination while the Writers Guild handed down two nominations, for best comedy series and best episode (“Crime Aid”).

By Brian Howard What I was hoping for most of all was an endgame for Dwandygela, America’s least favorite love triangle. Angela’s evil, and Dwight’s the one who made her that way. Andy’s the pathetic prep who made it all happen by diving into true love with blinders on.

By Brian Howard There’s few details yet available about the episode, other than, as I’ve reported, that it SPOILER ALERT! features a Michael Scott roast and some sort of disaster related to Dwight’s fire marshal training. I previewed tonight’s episode of The Office yesterday, but I failed to mention—b...

By Brian Howard The Office has had its high and low points, averaging out at about the best way to spend 22 minutes in front of your TV. But flipping channels last night I stumbled upon 2005’s “The Christmas Party” episode on TBS. There was Kevin Malone spinning Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis.” A more zen momen...

By Brian Howard I’m not waiting until tomorrow morning to get down on paper (well, on screen anyway) how awesome I thought tonight’s episode of The Office was. I should touch upon the B-story, the actually dramatic portion of the episode, which threatened to make me punch a hole in the Internet if it was mis...

By Brian Howard The episode reportedly will feature a Michael Scott roast that includes some level of stunt-casting (please don’t emulate 30 Rock’s misadventures in this regard!). It’s expected the roast of Michael Scott will take place in the second half of the episode. Not surprisingly, Michael requ...

By Brian Howard Re-watch the episode after the jump before I break it down in detail. Michael and Canada I doubt that’ll last long, though, since BJ Novak is not long for Scranton. Jim and Pam Dwight: OK, first thing in the morning, then. Now that’s how you end an episode on the right note.

By Brian Howard The Office isn’t what it once was. No show is after 70-something episodes. And to be fair, it’s still better than most of what’s on TV. That said, honest fans can see a finish line in the distance, even if the Scranton branch still has a few seasons left in its bag of tricks.

By Brian Howard That’ll lead to an analytical discussion, because the episode writer is always on set. Producer Paul Feig plays a big role in fostering such discussions and maintaining the show’s consistency, Helms said. Just such a discussion Helms had recently with writer Jen Celotta drew in Feig and E...

By Brian Howard For about 28 minutes I was convinced The Office had dug up the missing seventh episode of Season One, such was the tenor and humor of “Customer Survey.” Jim Halpert is smudge and arrogant. Dwight may need a third shoe. Dwight get out of my nook. That’s what she said!

By Brian Howard There’s a new episode of The Office on tonight. But before you dig in to that, Ed Helms and Angela Kinsey spent the better part of an  hour today chatting with reporters and bloggers about their on-screen relationship, inflatable gremlin dolls, Angela’s troubled youth and nostalgia f...

By Brian Howard Here’s an NBC promo. And here’s another one. On the show, Jim, a paper salesman, is engaged to receptionist-turned-art-student Pam Beesly, played by Jenna Fischer. Tonight, Pam organizes a dinner in New York City so she can meet Jim’s older and younger brothers.

By Brian Howard Word is, somewhere around the fifth episode of the season, Jim and Darryl will meet up with Roy at a bar (as usual, to avoid some hijinks cooked up by Michael), and the meeting is fairly benign (no punching this time). However, it could still spell trouble for Jim and Pam. I'm told Roy throw...

By Brian Howard I had the chance to listen in as HR reps extraordinaire Holly Flax and Toby Flenderson, aka Amy Ryan and Paul Lieberstein, chatted up the press about Season 5 of The Office, which kicks off Sept. 25. Will Holly and Michael (Steve Carell) find love? Will Toby ever return from Costa Rica? Will Pa...

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By Brian Howard For the first time, we see what happens over eight weeks of the summer, as a Dunder Mifflin weight loss initiative causes the branch to diet and become obsessed with their weight. Michael pursues a friendship with his new HR rep, Holly. Jim misses Pam who attends art school in New York. Dwight,...

By Brian Howard Fischer goes on to say it hasn't been decided whether Pam will return to Dunder-Mifflin. (more…) ...Pam's free! Thanks to the opening of The Rocker, Rainn Wilson has let her out of her trunk. (Wondering what that means? Check this out first.) And she's talking to Kristin over at E!. Well, I am pleas...

By Brian Howard Remember last year when Steve Carell claimed Ricky Gervais's Emmy Award? (more…) Here's some Office-y stuff to take you in to the weekend. Office Scribe Mike Schur cashes in Seven figures makes you a millionaire, right? That sounds about right, considering the mammoth contributions of...

By Brian Howard The "More You Know" segment is pure bliss, and the blooper reel is ridiculously overlong, but that's why God gave you thumbs – you can press the stop button as soon as you get bored watching Jenna Fischer crack up. (To be fair, it took me a full 20 minutes to tire of it.)

By Brian Howard NEWS: SNL'er and Tina Fey's best bud Amy Poehler, aka Mrs. Will Arnett, is the new Michael Scott. She'll be heading up the spin-off that is set to launch following next year's Super Bowl. It won't be a true spin-off but more like a "from the makers of" kind of deal. They're even poaching writers fr...

By Brian Howard Baumgartner will be there a week later, on the 25th, but just for a concert and local tour. It's basically your one day to simply celebrity spot in Scranton. I posted it earlier, but here's the audio again, as Baumgartner speculates on old Kev's future lovelife. On returning to Scranton

By Brian Howard The contrast was stark between The Office, where not much happened and the laughs were drown out by unfulfilled anticipation, an 30 Rock, which never, ever has an off episode. (more…) How can it be over so soon? A five-episode mini-season after a five-month hiatus is way too small a 30 Rock ...

By Brian Howard Jim hits the links with Andy and Kevin to try and land his biggest client ever. Meanwhile, Michael sets up a booth at a local job fair, which happens to be at Pam's alma mater, to find "the best and the brightest" for Dunder-Mifflin's summer internship.

By Chris Serico A week and a half ago, Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam on "The Office," and Brad Beyer, who plays Stanley on "Jericho," were deadlocked among Remote Access readers who voted in a poll to determine the supporting actor "most crucial" to his/her show.

By Brian Howard The return of 30 Rock and The Office from the writers strike tonighthas me almost giddy, but it's also a little overwhelming. Tune in here at 8:30 p.m. ET while tuning in to NBC and chat along with me as I break down "MILF Island" (the episode, not the fictional reality show).

By Brian Howard Well, not really all. They’re not crazy. But they are exceedingly generous with their time, giving over an hour of it to over 50 media outlets from here to New Zealand this afternoon. They were charming, insightful and funny throughout.

By Brian Howard Dwight Schrute once said that if you do not watch Battlestar Galactica, then you are an idiot. Well he also says that you are an idiot if you think that all meat must be cooked in an oven or on a stove or using a grill. I'll let him elaborate: Schrute Space. Creed Bratton, meanwhile, often feels lik...