The Office - Season 3.

[valpocrewsader]

Everyone okay with tonight's show? To me, it seemed like everything with Steve was spot-on, while much of the rest just felt awkward and clumsy. Anyone else get that vibe? It was like a tale of two shows. Half the time it felt like the usual Office greatness, while other times it just smacked of writers trying too hard and being too over-the-top on the drama. (I was particularly bothered by the exagerrated, out-of-place mug shot of Roy and his "I'll win her back" ... that was embarassingly poor).

 

I'm just sorta getting that same worried feeling I got in Season 4 of Gilmore Girls (before it totally began to tank in Season 5). When things stopped being about the natural characters and amazing dialogue/writing ... and started using heavy-handed tactics (like uncharacteristic behavior and suddenly extraordinary circumstances) to make things more dramatic and more soap-opera-ish.

 

I'm not saying tonight's episode was terrible, but it was probably the least good episode so far.

 

EDIT: In other words, the gay/oscar stuff was really REALLY good, but the rest of the show just felt off-balance. And Dwight crying at the beginning is actually a perfect example of what I hated about the show tonight, lol.

[SeriesFinale]

(I was particularly bothered by the exagerrated, out-of-place mug shot of Roy and his "I'll win her back" ... that was embarassingly poor)

 

The mugshot was funny, man, come on

 

I thought the "I'll win her back" was bad, though

[bjkrautk]

valpo

 

I could be wrong, but I felt that the backup plots feeling out-of-sync was intentional. With one essential cog in the machine missing, the system starts spinning out of control.

 

Jim keeps Dwight in check, who in turn keeps Michael distracted. (It's an oversimplification, but you get the general idea.) Likewise, Jim's antics keep the mood in the office generally affable. The tension and discord among the cast will turn in a month or two when Jim comes back.

 

(...no intentional spoilers here....but you have to know it's coming...)

[madcrewfan]

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I'm not saying tonight's episode was terrible, but it was probably the least good episode so far.

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You have to be kidding me. I think this was the funniest show yet. I was laughing out loud through pretty much the whole thing.

 

"Oh, Oscar's roomate!.... do you think he knows?"

 

The part about the old guy who says something along the lines of "I had sex with lots of women in the 60s, and in the mud. A guy could have slipped in there too. And there would be no way of knowing."http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/roll.gif

 

"You don't call ******* @#%$..."

 

"What? Gaydar? Oooohhhh, right, I think they have that at Sharper Image. Let me check for you. Oooo....sorry...all sold out."

[sbrylski]

Okay, I missed it. Does anyone know when/if it will re-air?

[Team Canada]

bittorrent is your friend. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[valpocrewsader]

SeriesFinale, I don't know, that mugshot gag is just not my kind of thing. It was so ridiculously cartoonish, I just didn't see it fitting with the nature of the show. (And in general, I'm just bothered by the fact that the writers went with Roy being a wreck for months. Did that fit in at all with the Roy we knew from the first 30 episodes? Sure, a turn like that is possible ... anything's possible ... but I just wasn't buying it. Whether it was the writing/ direction/ execution/ or just my interpretation, something didn't sit well with me.)

 

bjkrautk, you hit on something else I forgot to comment. Jim being elsewhere with the constant checkups on him, adds an unnecessary distraction. Not only that, but the fact that we know Jim will probably be returning to Scranton is another huge distraction because I'll just be knowing that any scene of any episode could be where he makes his return. I hope the writers get that out of the way early instead of dragging it out. (Please, god, don't let it take until the season 3 finale.)

 

madcrewfan, no doubt, there were some amazing lines that had me cracking up. But in general, I just never felt comfortable watching the show. The Jim/Pam thread just seems to have gotten a little too big, dampening the vibe that made the show great. I think I liked it better when it was just a subtle side-story to toy with. I just want to watch people interact and laugh my butt off, I don't need to be force-fed a romance tragedy in the meantime with characters moving out of state and elements of confusion, revenge, pride, etc, etc, all entering into the mix.

[Crazyk1294]

I agree that the Pam and Jim drama stuff just gets in the way of the funny (though their non-romantic antics were very funny). Best lines of tonight?s show:

 

Michael to Oscar: ?Maybe we can go out for a beer sometime and you could tell me how you do that to another dude.?

 

Michael to Dwight: ?I could imagine Angela with another woman, can?t you? (Dwight gets an idea)?

 

Michael: I watch ?The L Word?, I watch ?Queer as @%*!?

 

Michael: The company has made it my responsibility today to put an end to 100,000 years of being weirded-out by gays.?

 

The part about the old guy who says something along the lines of "I had sex with lots of women in the 60s, and in the mud. A guy could have slipped in there too. And there would be no way of knowing."

 

That old guy is Creed Bratton, who is playing himself in the show:

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creed_Bratton

[molitor fan]

bjk, I think you are either reading spoilers, or you just came up with a brilliant deduction about how the discord will go this season.

 

As far as the episode itself - tons of very funny stuff, but some of the things seemed a bit out of character, and the episode seemed a bit mean-spirited and left me rather sad at the end. Other than her incredulosness in the conference room, Pam seemed just incredibly sad this episode (for good reason), and that permeated the vibe of the episode.

[Fatter than Joey]

That's it -- we need to fire someone -- The acting coach's head needs to be on the block. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

It was the first episode -- I was chuckling non-stop. MF mentions the sad-dark-mean aspect to this show -- I really think that, this is what makes the show what it is. You have a bunch of miserable people in a miserable location -- one thing that bothered me about Cheers, where in my experience, people that spend all their free time at the bar while funny still has a depressing element to it.

 

My favorite lines -- "Now my house has TWO toasters" (besides the ones already mentioned).

 

I also dug the "...that's what she said... or he said" at the very end as well.

 

As far a Roy's character -- I suspect that the writers didn't want to ignore him altogether, as Roy is the link to the other employees in the company -- I thought the "I'll win her back" line was in line with his character -- being too dense to really understand why she ended the marriage.

 

I think Jim being in a different office will work well for awhile as well. It gives the writers another office and "cast" to get some fresh gags.

[TheBwaz]

In my mind, last nights premiere is on par with ?Yankee Swap? and the episode where Michael grills his foot. Just laugh out loud funny.

 

They dispatched the ?kiss? nonsense right off the bat. Nope, sorry, still getting married and then, wham, we didn?t so moooove on. The Roy mug shot caused water to come out of my nose and I think his sappiness was necessary to set up one of the plot lines this season. Face it, the writers still have to GO somewhere with the show. There needs to be some kind of story arc otherwise you wind up with ?Married with Children?; 22 minutes of sex jokes and toilet flushes.

 

I guess it is good that Jim just went to Stanford and not Swindon.

[Blazer25]

I've watched just about every episode of the show and I thought this one was the best one by far.

 

Many people mentioned the lines that made them laugh...for me the funniest moments were the unspoken reactions of the staff members in the background as Michael made his increasingly insulting comments at the "diversity meeting".

 

I thought that was great comedic acting and the fact the non-spoken facial expressions made me laugh out loud is a credit to this show and it's group of actors.

 

Jim's looks to the camera, Pam's looks during the meeting and the red haired woman's horrified face throughout the "outing of Oscar" were priceless.

 

I'm excited to see where they go next.

[Jimbo]

My Name is Earl and The Office are the first new comedies tv series I've liked in years and it looks like they are trying to destroy one of them.

 

Nowadays these are the only two network sitcoms I bother to watch. NBC seems to agree, evident by the 50 foot tall ad I snapped this summer.

 

http://my.execpc.com/~silkey/060706_02.JPG

 

I don't quite the role of Dwight. I know he's somewhat the "straight" man opposed to Jim and he's the office brown-noser, but I don't get his over-the-top antics. Who works with anybody like that? Given all the other characters are realistic.

[IslandsAC]

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Who works with anybody like that? Given all the other characters are realistic.

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I can think of someone at every single job I've had who's definitely had atleast some of Dwights characteristics. I just love the fact that he's the guy that everyone tells their roommates about, and their roommates don't believe that they exist. Everyone has someone like that.

[valpocrewsader]

I totally forgot about the prolonged hugging/kissing incident between Michael and Oscar. That was another low point in the show. It was just so tedious and predictable and unfunny and it took forever to happen.

[Oldcity]

It was predictable that Michael was going to kiss Oscar? At what point, when he was leaning in towards him?

[giffted1]

I thought it was a great episode. The Jim and Pam thing has been going on forever, so you kinda had to expect this. The Michael kissing Oscar thing was a little wierd, but its totally Michael. Great Show.

[valpocrewsader]

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It was predictable that Michael was going to kiss Oscar? At what point, when he was leaning in towards him?

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Whenever he had Oscar come up to the front of the room.

[Fatter than Joey]

"Who works with anybody like that? Given all the other characters are realistic."

 

Dwight is realistic... His character is unique, however, I have certainly worked with people that could be inspirations for Dwight. I know The Office may seem over the top, however, I have run an office for 12 years now, and here are my top things that could be included in that show.

 

1.) I had an employee bring a TV to work.

 

2.) The owner at the time blessed all of the computers in the office with actual holy water, during office hours of course.

 

3.) I got a call at 3AM from a recently fired and drunk salesperson, who just informed me that he just got off a conference call with all the retail store buyers and that they all agreed to never buy our products again.

 

4.) About every 4 months, the company would get letters from this dude in Virginia that would use "numerology" to predict the end of the world. I would readdress and remail the letter to the owner who blessed all of the computers, and add the owner's personal effects to the letter, like his most recent check gross pay, his licence plate, etc...

 

5.) I had to field a sexual harrassment complaint between a janitor (female), and our accountant from Venezuela. He spoke broken English, and the he told the janitor she was making him crazy -- he was referring to the vaccuuming noise she was referring to something else...

 

6.) The owner used to work for a coffee distribution company -- like the kind who sell beans and grinders to supermarkets and 7-11s. He ordered coffee for one day so he could rub his former co-workers nose into his "success".

[Oldcity]

Well Jim is returning to Scranton already, according to the preview for next week's episode. Like some others were saying, I'm glad that won't be dragging on any longer.

[molitor fan]

Actually, that preview was just showing them all together at a paper convention. Halpert is not supposed to be back in Scranton until (Mild Spoiler below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

week 8 from what I have heard

[BrewCrewForever]

Creed lines about the outdoor sex was very funny. A lot of Michael's line in the show were just great. And the stuff with Jim putting that guys calc in jello and the gaydar stuff. I loved this episode.

[Oldcity]

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Actually, that preview was just showing them all together at a paper convention. Halpert is not supposed to be back in Scranton until

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Well then that preview was misleading. The narrator specifically said, "And the return of Jim!"

[Fatter than Joey]

I suspect they will keep Jim where he is -- so that the writers can have him interact with different characters w/o jamming them in the Scranton office.

[Rob]

the gaydar was absolutely hilarious.