Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Another co-op post
I probably would write more about The Office if JR didn't have a blog that was almost entirely devoted to television (much in the same way that Andrew steals much of my Gilbert Arenas man-love). So I am mostly just left with complaining about the lack of respect the Bears get. I suppose everyone has to have a niche.
But anyway, JR and I were talking and decided to put together a list of the top 10 moments from the third season of the show.
And it turned out to be nearly impossible. So consider this a representation of some of the best moments, and not necessarily a definitive judgment. I still am stunned that we don't have anything involving Michael and Oscar from the season premier.
1. Faxes from the future
The perfect opening sequence features Jim being questioned by Karen about his early morning faxing habits at the Stamford office, and he notes that it's "kind of hard to explain." In a closeup interview with Jim, we discover that he stole some of Dwight's stationary before leaving Scranton and he's been sending faxes to the Scranton office, for Dwight.
From Dwight.
From the future.
Signing his correspondences with "Cordially yours, future Dwight," he convinces the hapless former co-worker that today's coffee is tainted, and Dwight hilariously races across the room and knocks a cup of jo out of Stanley's hands. If this season of The Office taught us anything, it's that the story's pivot point is often Jim, the one guy on the show who seems to be "in" on the joke that is the entire office, knowledge that he uses to manipulate everyone for his own comic enjoyment. His facial expressions are also timeless. -JR
2. Everyone looks like Jackie Chan
After Michael is dumped by Carol, he's taken to Benihana's (or Asian Hooter's, as Michael calls it). There he and Andy pick up two waitresses and bring them back to the office for the holiday party. Unfortunately, since the guys can't tell Asian women apart, the two women they enter with aren't the same two from the restaurant. Despite this minor error, Michael considers one of them to be his new girlfriend, but gets confused because he can't tell the two of them apart. He winds up telling Kevin and Roy, "You know how all ... waitresses look alike" and then uses a Sharpie to mark one of their arms for future distinction. It's a brilliant look at Michael's continued cultural cluelessness. Bonus points to the cross-eyed, double-vision look he gets when he's singing karaoke to one, and the other suddenly appears from across the room. -EG
3. Prison Mike
Maybe the funniest moment of the season, at least for sheer ludicrosity. Yeah, I just created that word. When a new worker from the Scranton-Stamford merger talks about life in prison, Dunder-Mifflin workers decide that prison sounds better than working at the office. Michael, ever the sensitive boss, is offended and decides to show them just how bad prison is by creating a character named "Prison Mike." He gathers the office in the conference room, dons a purple do-rag, runs through at least three different accents, tries to talk tough about the evils of incarceration, and eventually falls flat on his face by telling employees that the worst part of prison was "the dementors." Apparently this fairly brief scene took several hours to film because the actors, Steve Carrell included, kept breaking and laughing during filming. Jimmy Fallon would have been proud. -EG
4. The Jim and Dwight team
One of the most important elements to The Office is occasionally convincing us that the bizarre and sometimes pathetic characters do have some real-world skills that benefit them in their jobs, else why would they still be employed? During an episode of sales calls, Jim is paired with Dwight and as Jim attempts to sell Dundler-Mifflin's sales techniques, Dwight begins to fiddle with the prospective client's desk phone, dialing a number furiously. We assume it's going to set up some absurd moment of humor, but when we come back to the scene from a break, we realize it's something better.
Jim tries to sell the prospective client on their customer service, that they can always be counted on to provide a human on the other end of the phone. As he does this, we hear an automated response from the desk phone off its cradle, indicating a wait until the call is received. Dwight tells us that "the other guy" is on the phone and meanwhile, Jim pulls out his cell phone, calls D-M's customer service and gets a perky girl (Kelly) who sounds too happy to talk to Jim before he hangs up abruptly on her. It was a perfect moment of conspiratorial dialogue between Jim and Dwight, never mind that it was preceded by a strange backseat ritual where Dwight cranked the music to amp up for the sales pitch, and followed by an entirely inappropriate and awkward hug. -JR
5. Jan's destructive tendencies
One of the running subplots of the entire series is the bizarre relationship between Michael and his boss at corporate, Jan. Since the inception of the show, there has been an awkward hookup, an awkward "that-was-a-mistake" conversation, repeated attempts by Michael to hook up again (still awkward), and then there was an inexplicable trip by the two of them to Jamaica. And the entire time, everyone is wondering why Jan continues to put up with Michael. After they return from their tropical paradise, a risque vacation photo of topless Jan is passed around to all of Dunder-Mifflin and Jan shows up, presumably to rip Michael. But no, we learn that Jan's therapist has identified her as having "destructive tendencies" and has told her to indulge them. And dating Michael is one of her destructive tendencies -- the only possible explanation for this matchup. Michael Scott: The Perfect Drug. Who knew? -EG
6. You oughta know
Potentially the highlight of the Christmas episode was a fantastic bit of karaoke undertaken by members of the office. Kevin, the large and somewhat childish bald man, graces us with a stirring acapella version of Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know," punctuating the mid-90s chick rock staple with an overabundance of "You, you, you, you, you, you, you ... oughta know." Kelly Kapoor, Indian princess, delivers a chilling rendition of Pat Benetar's "We Belong," throwing in a line "We belong to each ooottther ... Ryan" for her co-worker boyfriendish, a man entirely disinterested in her despite her blissful ignorance to that reality. Michael Scott and Andy Bernard, drunk, perform a classic treatment to John Mayer's feel-good sex classic, "Your Body is a Wonderland," entirely inappropriate and well harmonized. Creed also sings something, probably also inappropriate. -JR
7. Ain't no party like a Scranton party
At a paper convention, Michael is determined to have a massive blowout party in his hotel room -- mostly to compensate for how upset he is that Jim, who he considers to be a close friend, has left Scranton for another branch. He gets everything ready, buys several gallons of hard liquor, and even invites Jerome Bettis to it. The Bus declines the invitation, if you're wondering. Flash forward to that night, and Jim decides to show up and see how the party is going. He finds Michael pathetically sitting alone in his hotel room, in the dark, with blaring music, a black light and a strobe light. Michael, defeated, makes sure to tell him that "People have been in and out." Near the end, Jim and Michael have a talk where Michael at once shows both his insecurities and also his good intentions. Perfect example of how The Office blends humor and real, human interaction. -EG
8. That's half-inch drywall
"That was an overreaction," Andy says to The Office after literally punching in the wall with everyone looking on. The hilarious moment is set up by Jim's prankish attempt to give Andy what's coming to him. After Andy recorded a four-part harmony as his ringtone, Jim steals the phone, opens a ceiling tile in a nearby office, throws the phone over the middle of the room and proceeds to call it repeatedly. Flailing about in frustration and unable to answer his phone, Andy gets progressively more angry and we laugh progressively harder with each unannounced and amplified "tweedle-deedle dee" that Andy cannot seem to locate. "Maybe it's in the ceiling," Jim passively proposes. "Maybe you're in the ceiling," Andy fires back. -JR
9. Is there a key for Jane Doe?
For a moment after Jim sees Dwight at a conference where members of both the Stamford and Scranton offices are in attendance, he considers the possibility that he has missed Dwight. But the sneering ex-coworker continues his false bravado, and Jim decides that it would be best to procure a room key and do something prankish. Meanwhile Angela, feeling distant from her secret love Dwight while he is away on business, checks into the hotel and undresses in Dwight's room waiting for his return. Jim arrives with a room key, opens the door, and turns the other way down the hall while disbelievingly noting "Dwight got a hooker! I have to tell ... well I have to tell someone." For a second it sounds as if he's going to say "I have to tell Pam," who usually shares in these pranks with Jim though not since she rejected his advances to become a couple. (Eli's note: JR remains mostly uninterested in the Jim/Pam dynamic of the show. He is a heartless beast.) -JR
10. What exactly does Michael Scott do?
On Pretzel Day at Dunder-Mifflin, Jan tells Pam to keep a log of what Michael does during the day because his productivity has been in question and annual reports are due. As Michael continues to procrastinate, we end up seeing the log of everything he has done during the day. Here it is:
Michael Scott Activity Log
8 a.m. _______________________________
9 a.m. _______________________________
10 a.m. __________Cosby Impression_______
11 a.m. ______________________________
12 p.m. ______Wait in pretzel line__________
1 p.m. _______________________________
2 p.m . _______________________________
3 p.m. _______________________________
4 p.m. _______________________________
5 p.m. _______________________________
Even I am impressed with that sort of production.
Read or Post a Comment
Since I don't watch "The Office," I'll drop a bit of totally unrelated knowledge on you: ESPN SportsNation overwhelmingly likes the Colts in XLI, so much so that you can go vote and then see the map that shows how all the states voted ... the only state that believes in the Bears is Illinois.
I saw your comment on how the ESPN "experts" unanimously picked the Ain'ts (which actually floored me) and figured you might like this newest bit of prognosticative skullduggery. I, for one, don't really mind who wins or loses, as I'm a Steelers fan, but when everyone in America seems to, time and again, overlook the Bears (and why? Because they don't have an All-Time Great QB?), I can't help but get my ire up. I mean really, how many times can people overlook one of the best teams of the last couple seasons? I can't even name a starter on the Saints defense and yet everyone thought they would win ... what's going on? (For the record, I can name about three Colts starters on D, and I live in Indiana)
I hadn't seen that yet. But I'm not really surprised.
And I can't really pinpoint the reason for the disrespect. I think that a lot of it does come from the Grossman thing and his inconsistency. Probably a lot of it is attributable to the fact that the Bears are built around big plays on defense, and people see that as flukey and not being able to continue. But the Bears have been taking the ball away from teams ever since Lovie took over, so I don't see it stopping anytime soon.
And that's not as easy to grasp as "awesome quarterback and receivers."
JR Radcliffe has 10 reasons why the Bears are unsexy in his blog.
To compensate for the unsexy, JR also has naked pictures of himself in the same location.
I am JR.