The Office - Rewatching on Netflix

[Shawn91111]

I rewatch it, but really only to have something on in the background or fall asleep to as I have seen the series so many times. James Spader's character and pretty much that entire 8th season is unwatchable. Beyond his character, Nellie's might be up there for the worst. They should have ended the series when Steve Carell left.

I ended up watching Parks and Rec last year and liked up up until around season 5 or 6, the whole Ben/Leslie lovey dovey crap was nauseating

 

[Shawn91111]

I enjoyed Robert California

No you didn't

 

[donniesyracuse]

No you didn't

He is hilariously creepy

 

[CuseCPT]

I wish I had noticed this thread. I watched The Office for the first time this summer/fall. I don't watch many sitcoms but I was listening to a song on YouTube (Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol) and a ton of the comments were variants of "The Office brought me here!" and it intrigued me enough to watch the pilot. I would definitely put it in my all-time favorite shows list now. Yeah, the last seasons were a little uneven after Michael left but they had their moments and the last few episodes through the finale were gold.

The first season was great, when it wasn't trying to be like the British version. Diversity Day (S1E2) was one of best of the entire series and their isn't a British version of it.

Robert California didn't bother me that much. What I didn't like was how the chose to deal with Andy. I remember thinking how long his character had come along when I watched The Incentive (S8E2).

Spoiler

Then they decided to have him make a huge heel turn, made Erin into a cartoon character and had her hookup with one of the new guys (who were mediocre at best).

Favorite Episodes:
Diversity Day, Casino Night, Stress Relief, Threat Level Midnight, The Dundies, Niagara, Garage Sale, Beach Games, Weight Loss and Business School.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Quick update on this, my intention to watch/re-watch the whole show hit a snag when football season started. I think got well into season 4 before I got caught up with Syracuse and the Bills (same thing happened years ago when we first got into the show while it was still on.).

Picked it back up on Monday while on a sick day and finished the last episode of season 4 and all of season 5 and I am now a few episodes into season 6.

A few thoughts: - Season 5 was excellent, maybe not as good as season 3 but there were some great episodes in there. The Michael Scott Paper company block of episodes are some of my favorites, really enjoyed them. The episodes where Michael tours the different branches giving the motivational speeches was hilarious as well. The Pam/Jim angle dragged a little bit while she was in NYC but besides that a great season. Not a huge fan of Jan re-appearing but I am probably nitpicking. Thought the whole Pam pregnancy thing was a nice touch as I think that was the last episode of the season?

Season six the beginning has been pretty good, the Niagara falls episodes were hilarious and I only saw them once before so a lot of it felt like new. For those who aren't big fans after the Jim and Pam angle finally played its course, the first few post wedding episodes did appear to drag a little bit and I can see where your coming from. The Erin character doesn't really add much yet and " The Mafia" episode was pretty weak. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

Forgot to add when I first started this thread that NBC had been looking into re-booting the office and apparently was very interested in doing it again ala Roseanne but was getting push back from the creator and former writers. Would be interesting if they could re-boot it, does seem a bit early though and I wonder how much if any of the original cast they could get.

 

[CuseCPT]

Like LOST, I think one of the reasons I loved this show so much was there were a lot of really cool little moments between characters that I grew to really care about (in asmuch as you can to a TV character of course). To me, that's always the one difference between good TV and great TV.

One of the first ones for me in this show was almost an after-thought to the "story" of the episode. It was just Michael giving candy to kids trick-or-treating. It made the character go from this absurd comedic character to having a real person on the inside. I read a great review once that said in the UK Office, Ricky Gervais's character was a man in search of an audience. In the US version, Steve Carell was a man in search of a family. Carell was much better at selling that vibe than when he just tried to emulate Gervais for the most part in the pilot. That element of Michael Scott is what really set the stage for the American version to stand on its own.

 

[CuseCPT]

Picked it back up on Monday while on a sick day and finished the last episode of season 4 and all of season 5 and I am now a few episodes into season 6.

Season six the beginning has been pretty good, the Niagara falls episodes were hilarious and I only saw them once before so a lot of it felt like new. For those who aren't big fans after the Jim and Pam angle finally played its course, the first few post wedding episodes did appear to drag a little bit and I can see where your coming from. The Erin character doesn't really add much yet and " The Mafia" episode was pretty weak. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

The most hated episode of the series (arguable) is in Season 6, Scott's Tots. Personally I thought it was funny. My other Season 6 picks besides Niagara) are Murder and Happy Hour.

 

[CuseCPT]

We had friends of ours who never watched the show while it was on get into it over the past few months and they are now big fans as well. Its one of those shows that I think could hold up a long time as most of the plot/story lines translate just as well now as they did in 05, 06, 07. Very little of the show was topical or periodic to the time so an episode that is a decade old at this point still seems fresh. That said I did notice the old school flip phones in the episodes from season 2 and had a little chuckle to myself.

On somewhat slightly related tangent, iTunes is actually a big reason the show didn't get cancelled.

How iTunes saved NBC's 'The Office'

 

[AZOrange]

It’s funny but I loved this show. The Michael Scott Paper Co are some of the best episodes in TV history.

I hated when Michael left but there were some funny moments by Spader and Ferrell.

 

[HOFCeluck]

It's a great, great show overall. But I feel like the show declined after Michael Scott Paper Company. Then it declined even more after Andy became manager.

I also haaaated Andys heel turn in the last season. I get that they had to do something while Ed Helms filming Hangover but damn.

Also not a big fan of Erin, RC, Nellie, Plop, or Dwight Jr.

 

[DoubleDee]

Like LOST, I think one of the reasons I loved this show so much was there were a lot of really cool little moments between characters that I grew to really care about (in asmuch as you can to a TV character of course). To me, that's always the one difference between good TV and great TV.

Totally agree. I for one balled at the end of Lost, for that very reason. I had never been so emotionally involved in a show. In the office, it was very similar. The relationship between jim and Pam I think had a lot to do with that. You were rooting so hard for him.

 

[two3zone]

It's a great, great show overall. But I feel like the show declined after Michael Scott Paper Company. Then it declined even more after Andy became manager.

I also haaaated Andys heel turn in the last season. I get that they had to do something while Ed Helms filming Hangover but damn.

Also not a big fan of Erin, RC, Nellie, Plop, or Dwight Jr.

I hated Erin with a passion, her and Gabe.

 

[two3zone]

I enjoyed Robert California

No you didn't

That's not even his real name, his the (xxxxxxx) Lizard King.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I hated Erin with a passion, her and Gabe.

Oh I forgot Gabe. He sucks too.

 

[JeremyCuse]

It's a great, great show overall. But I feel like the show declined after Michael Scott Paper Company. Then it declined even more after Andy became manager.

I also haaaated Andys heel turn in the last season. I get that they had to do something while Ed Helms filming Hangover but damn.

Also not a big fan of Erin, RC, Nellie, Plop, or Dwight Jr.

I have only seen a couple of the episodes from the last season so I am not familiar with Andy's heel turn but from just your description it sounds like it went over badly.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I have only seen a couple of the episodes from the last season so I am not familiar with Andy's heel turn but from just your description it sounds like it went over badly.[/QUOTE

I won't go into it too much since you haven't seen it..but yeah.

 

[JeremyCuse]

The most hated episode of the series (arguable) is in Season 6, Scott's Tots. Personally I thought it was funny. My other Season 6 picks besides Niagara) are Murder and Happy Hour.

I remember watching Scotts Tots when it was syndication, thought it was OK, don't remember hating but skipped it this time as I am still winding through season 6. The first six years of the show really gave some great episodes. The first season where they play bball against the warehouse guys, Michael hitting Meredith with his car, The lake episode, the grievances(hilarious episode), Michael Scott paper company, the lake cruise episode, Dwight picking a health plan etc. Thought for Season 6 Niagara was pretty good and Murder was above average. The episodes where Jim is co-manager get a little clunky and theres to much emphasis on Erin and Andy.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Semi-related to this: have you guys seen that Amazon is starting a Tom Clancy series based on the Jack Ryan character, to be played by Krasinski. Still funny to picture him as Mr. Special Forces or CIA guy or whatever. This Amazon show looks like it could be good though.

 

[Frozen]

I remember watching Scotts Tots when it was syndication, thought it was OK, don't remember hating but skipped it this time as I am still winding through season 6. The first six years of the show really gave some great episodes. The first season where they play bball against the warehouse guys, Michael hitting Meredith with his car, The lake episode, the grievances(hilarious episode), Michael Scott paper company, the lake cruise episode, Dwight picking a health plan etc. Thought for Season 6 Niagara was pretty good and Murder was above average. The episodes where Jim is co-manager get a little clunky and theres to much emphasis on Erin and Andy.

 

[CuseCPT]

Oh I forgot Gabe. He sucks too.

Actually loved Gabe. I think it was because I watched Silicon Valley before I ever watched The Office.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Hey, since there are tons of Office fans here, one of my favorite parts of the show were the few times when they gave a glimpse into things Michael did that proved he was a good manager - I'm wondering if any of you can think of other examples, but two come to mind me for me.

The first is when he has to pick a health insurance plan, and when Jan (I think) calls him he tells her he picked the best plan. She says they can't afford that, but Michael always started from the basic assumption that his people deserved the best and he'd try to get that for them. The second was when Jim was co-boss or whatever and tried to make birthday celebrations more efficient and it ends up causing all these problems, and Michael has a short conversation with him about how that never works and people need their own time and chance to feel special, and it's an inefficiency you learn to live with. Can anybody think of any others?

I ask because in my new job I'm going to be writing some blog posts and I've been toying with the idea of "workplace lessons learned from TV" as a theme for some of the content.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Hey, since there are tons of Office fans here, one of my favorite parts of the show were the few times when they gave a glimpse into things Michael did that proved he was a good manager - I'm wondering if any of you can think of other examples, but two come to mind me for me.

The first is when he has to pick a health insurance plan, and when Jan (I think) calls him he tells her he picked the best plan. She says they can't afford that, but Michael always started from the basic assumption that his people deserved the best and he'd try to get that for them. The second was when Jim was co-boss or whatever and tried to make birthday celebrations more efficient and it ends up causing all these problems, and Michael has a short conversation with him about how that never works and people need their own time and chance to feel special, and it's an inefficiency you learn to live with. Can anybody think of any others?

I ask because in my new job I'm going to be writing some blog posts and I've been toying with the idea of "workplace lessons learned from TV" as a theme for some of the content.

I can't think of many because the theme through Michaels tenure on the show was that he was an outstanding salesman who got Peter Principle'd.

I will say one of my favorite things in the show was when Jim and Dwight ran the Party Planning Committee and were flat out awful.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I can't think of many because the theme through Michaels tenure on the show was that he was an outstanding salesman who got Peter Principle'd.

I think that's why I like those rare moments so much when you can see he does know what he's doing a little more often than it seems. As a person that has managed large teams/groups of people, I've viewed him differently over the years.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I think that's why I like those rare moments so much when you can see he does know what he's doing a little more often than it seems. As a person that has managed large teams/groups of people, I've viewed him differently over the years.

Just thought of one.

Michael has the office play the murder mystery game when the fate of the company is up in the air. This drives Jim crazy because he thinks they should be working. By the end Jim finally jumps in when he realizes that Michaels trying to help the office cope with the prospects of the branch getting shut down.

 

[MSOrange]