I will. Please don’t go!
I love the fact that he’s nothing like Michael Scott, and that he doesn’t react the same way. My least favorite episode is when he had a near-Michael experience-- the one where he stands up to his father in an embarassingly-public manner.
On another note: Why does Robert California live in Scranton? I thought the company was based in Florida? Shouldn’t he (and his wife) be living in Florida where the company is based?
Me too.
It’s not that he doesn’t react the same way–he often doesn’t react at all. You could substitute a puppet for many episodes and get the same effect. He’s the empty center of a once-great comedy, a classic second-banana trying to carry the lead.
Part of that (no doubt) is because the writers don’t want to make him a second Michael, but IMO they need to figure out something to do with him soon of that center is going to be filled more and more by James Spader. That IMO is why we’re seeing so much of Robert California this season. In past years, the outside executive (Ryan, David Wallace, Kathy Bates) were pretty much limited to setting up the various situations which Michael and the rest of the office would spin into a good 1/2 hour of comedy. This season CEO California is involved a lot more, to the extent that much of the comedy derives from his specific actions rather than members of the office.
Here’s an example that could illustrate the difference. An alternative opening could have had Robert call Andy in advance telling him under no circumstances to hire his wife–maybe on speaker with Jim still in the room. Andy could then have followed the instructions at first, but then slowly come to think that Mrs. California could be a valuable asset to his office. Jim could act as a Greek chorus reminding Andy of Robert’s instructions, or Andy might start to cave and call Robert to discuss the matter–kind of like an alcoholic calling a sponsor. In short it would highlight the conflict and reaction of Andy rather than California. IMO the writers didn’t follow this path because they don’t see much potential in Andy’s character–you have to have James Spader active in the plot in order to drive the funny.
Sabre is based in Florida IIRC. Dunder Miflin (a Sabre Company) is based out of NYC. And I think all their regional offices are in minor cities in the Northeast - Scranton PA, Nashua NH, Stamford CT, Albany NY, etc. I think he’s only the CEO of D-M, not all of Sabre.
Andy is one of those characters who has dramatically changed over the years. I caught an old episode from a few years back and he was a lot more of an aggressive Ivy League douche when he worked with Big Tuna up in Stamford. Then there was the time he had to go to anger management for punching the wall. It seems like every season they made him more of an affable overly preppy chump.
Ryan is another character who is very different from the early seasons. He went from ambitious MBA student / youngest VP in the company to hipster slacker. Although he did have that whole drug problem / busted for fraud thing that probably took a lot of the wind out of his sails.
No, he’s the CEO of Sabre. He talked Jo out of her own job.
Robert California already lived in Scranton before getting the job so maybe he decided to relocate where the CEO would work from, hasn’t relocated to Florida yet, or is splitting his time and all episodes are set during the two days a week he spends at home.
This has bothered me, too. Can you imagine the Andy of today acting the way he did years ago when he orchestrated the scheme that got Dwight fired? They are two completely different characters.
Maybe they should show some glimpses of the old Andy as the job starts getting to him.
You know, if we really want to deconstruct this show, how about the fact that nobody recognized the unimaginable wealth and unlimited potential revenue streams from something that happened this season? (In a throwaway gag)
Robert California asks the office for profitable ideas. Ryan comes up with origami. But as an MBA student, he should have recognized the unbelievable opportunity for incredible wealth for practically no work (since the project is already done and demonstrated to be working). The “hardly any work needed” to monetize the idea should really appeal to a slacker like Ryan.
Can you guess what is this fabulous business opportunity? Please take a moment and really try to guess.
Dwight implemented a “doomsday” system that automatically sends the CEO an email after 5 mistakes are made in a day. However, the hard part is detecting the mistakes. If the system can detect every possible mistake, they can use it like a “spell check” to detect mistakes in a contract before it gets sent out. In fact, they could quit selling paper and printers altogether and simply patent this technology and sell or license it to other corporations. The potential monetary savings from eliminating mistakes would justify a gigantic price tag… they could charge a ton for this and still have deep-pocketed corporate buyers lined up around the block.
Yeah, that plot element (in your spoiler) had to be one of the dumbest things the show has come up with in any season. If you had a program like that which could detect any mistake in seconds, why wouldn’t it let you fix the mistake before you submitted it? It’s like a spell checker that points our your errors after you hit ‘Send’.
Um, ok. Piss off now, plz.
Ryan’s character is the same: douche.
What’s funny is how many different ways he attempts to portray it. There was one season (maybe last season, maybe the one before it) where Ryan mostly stayed to the background but every single week was a new attempt at reinterpreting his douchiness though clothes and mannerisms and actions. It was funny if you paid attention to him.
Knock off the nasty, useless comments. Plz.
Bu they started it.
Noted
Well in this specific case, the main reason is because Dwight is a jerk. The whole point was being a jerk.