The Office: "Local Ad" (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
21

[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom]
Ah! I was wondering what was with all the glances to the camera. Thank you!
[/QUOTE]
It’s an inconsistent but fun conceit. Sometimes the “crew” gets shots that they would never get in real life, and follows characters to places that stretch credulity. And yet, it can be really funny, like when Pam and the (unseen) camera operator team up to uncover Dwight and Angela’s relationship, or the funny use of the camera in the ep where Michael’s carpet is defiled.

Loved this one - again, Michael is back to being balanced: “And, I have just sealed my destiny . . . in a good way.” Loved his ad, even if the narration didn’t make sense.

Darryl: “What’s rap?” :smiley: He just can’t help himself, can he?

I think my favorite part is when Jim engages with Second Life for the sole purpose of seeing what dorky loserish stuff Dwight is doing, then gets caught up and becomes “Philly Jim,” with his awesome guitar on his back.

N.B.: B.J. Novak, who plays Ryan, wrote this episode.

22

[QUOTE=PunditLisa]
I’m soooo glad that the episodes are back to a half hour. The tempo was much better this time.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed. Maybe that’s why popular TV shows made into movies so often suck.

23

[QUOTE=Rubystreak]
Yeah, it was weird and nonsensical in places, but in a way it showcased the best side of Michael, selling paper in his own enthusiastic, wacked-out but somehow effective way. Thing is, he IS creative. He comes up with the most bizarre ideas and unconventional thoughts, and if he were an otherwise normal person, I bet his creativity would be more recognizable. His social ineptitude and lack of contact with everyone else’s consensual reality really impedes the ability to see the good qualities. Especially by Ryan, who is the anti-Michael in so many ways except his pathetic eagerness to be cool and looked up to.
[/QUOTE]

I dunno. He actually killed what would’ve been the very best part of the commercial – Darryl’s tune, and went with some of his own idiotic ideas, including Stanley as a convict. That isn’t being creative, that’s just me, me, me, me! I don’t know if it’s correct, either, to refer to Michael’s commercial versus Ryan’s commerical. Ryan isn’t running DM, and as far as I can tell, corporate’s commercial was from someone else’s department, even though Ryan was the one who initially had to tell Michael not to interfere. And I believe it was someone else who reluctantly gave Michael the go-ahead to make his commercial. Could be I’m wrong on that, though – it was a bit tough to know who was talking during one of Michael’s phone calls to corporate.

Ryan/Michael is a big problem for me. I can’t shake the notion that Ryan’s first act as Michael’s boss should have been to fire Michael and a few other people in the office. It doesn’t matter that Michael can make sales, he should’ve been fired ages ago, along with Creed and maybe Kevin. Obviously, that can’t happen, but they haven’t handled it very well. I come to the same conclusion every week: Ricky Gervais was a genius to shut his production down after two seasons.

24

I was hoping we’d see Darryl play keyboard at some point. Check out the actor, Craig Robinson, on YouTube as “Chucky” in this touching number about love: Somebody’s Fuckin’ My Lady.

25

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
I can’t shake the notion that Ryan’s first act as Michael’s boss should have been to fire Michael and a few other people in the office. It doesn’t matter that Michael can make sales, he should’ve been fired ages ago, along with Creed and maybe Kevin.
[/QUOTE]
Jesus. If you owned a company, would you honestly think it doesn’t matter if someone can sell the inventory you’re indebted for?

26

[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon]
I think my favorite part is when Jim engages with Second Life for the sole purpose of seeing what dorky loserish stuff Dwight is doing, then gets caught up and becomes “Philly Jim,” with his awesome guitar on his back.
[/QUOTE]
That was very telling, wasn’t it. I thought that was the most interesting part, too.

27

[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon]
It’s an inconsistent but fun conceit. Sometimes the “crew” gets shots that they would never get in real life, and follows characters to places that stretch credulity. And yet, it can be really funny, like when Pam and the (unseen) camera operator team up to uncover Dwight and Angela’s relationship, or the funny use of the camera in the ep where Michael’s carpet is defiled.

[/QUOTE]

So after four years of constant filming when are they going to be done?

I’m surprised that none of the folks in the office have ever gotten pissed at the camera poking in their faces constrantly.

They do react on occasion and certainly the “blow-ups” could be edited out.

BTW… the above comments aren’t meant to be complaints about how people in the real workld would act. Just thoughts on story-lines, opportunities etc the writers could be missing.

28

I loved that episode. I admit it, I like it when Michael has a victory and that ad was terrific!

“Limitless paper in a paperless world” Excellent.

ETA: Beaten to the punch by so many others… still love it though…

29

They’ve made it clear on more than one occasion that the Scranton branch always hits its numbers in sales and it’s been implied that Michael has some good, longstanding relationships with some big clients so I don’t think Ryan could justify firing him right out of the box. I doubt that Ryan would really even be allowed to make a move like firing a branch manager without clearing it with corporate first.

I’m sure Lunar’s idea to remove all the most entertaining people from the cast and just make it a show about an efficiently run branch office in a paper company would make the show much funnier, though.

30

[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]

I’m sure Lunar’s idea to remove all th most entertaining people from the cast and just make it a show about an efficiently run branch office in a paper company would make the show much funnier, though.
[/QUOTE]

ooh, pop a big bowl of popcorn and let’s watch! :slight_smile:

31

I don’t remember the line verbatim but Andy had some hilarious zinger about his own aromatherapy and then made a fart noise. That nearly killed me.

32

[QUOTE=Liberal]
Jesus. If you owned a company, would you honestly think it doesn’t matter if someone can sell the inventory you’re indebted for?
[/QUOTE]

Oh, come on. You could make Jim boss and if you made it worth his while (bonuses) he’d probably sell tons more than Michael, and he’d help other people to sell more as well, instead of getting in their way, like Michael does. Michael is a disaster in every way. Just because we’ve seen him make a few sales doesn’t mean he should be running the office. Lots of people can make sales.

33

[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
They’ve made it clear on more than one occasion that the Scranton branch always hits its numbers in sales and it’s been implied that Michael has some good, longstanding relationships with some big clients so I don’t think Ryan could justify firing him right out of the box. I doubt that Ryan would really even be allowed to make a move like firing a branch manager without clearing it with corporate first.

I’m sure Lunar’s idea to remove all the most entertaining people from the cast and just make it a show about an efficiently run branch office in a paper company would make the show much funnier, though.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that’s what I was suggesting when I wrote:

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
Obviously, they can’t do that, but they haven’t handled it very well.
[/QUOTE]

I’d like to see them make a show about boring people where nothing ever happens. That’s what I’d like.

Michael makes sales. The Scranton branch always hits its numbers. Those two lines are very, very worn out. They need a new justification for Michael’s existence as boss.

34

[QUOTE=Max the Immortal]
I want to see the scene where Michael suggested that Stanley play a convict.

[/QUOTE]

What’s great is that Stanley is still wearing his suit under the prison jumpsuit.

35

[QUOTE=msmith537]
What’s great is that Stanley is still wearing his suit under the prison jumpsuit.
[/QUOTE]
I love how even when Stanley is pissed off, it’s in a weary, unsurprised way, like when Michael uses “urban” as a codeword for black: “I grew up in a small town. What about me seems ‘urban’ to you?” The only time he’s really flared up was when he thought Ryan was coming on to his teenage daughter.

36

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
Michael makes sales. The Scranton branch always hits its numbers. Those two lines are very, very worn out. They need a new justification for Michael’s existence as boss.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure what other justification a business needs…

The only unrealistic thing about the situation to me is that as far as I can remember, the only money Michael has cost the firm was buying Oscar out for a little while. You would think there would have been dozens of lawsuits and lots of money spent on Michael’s antics. Maybe Toby is the greatest corporate HR guy ever.

37

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
Oh, come on. You could make Jim boss and if you made it worth his while (bonuses) he’d probably sell tons more than Michael, and he’d help other people to sell more as well, instead of getting in their way, like Michael does.
[/QUOTE]
As a boss of mine would have said, “You can’t put probably in the bank.” It would be a disastrously bad business decision to fire your top seller. The person who did the firing would likely be fired.

38

[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon]

I think my favorite part is when Jim engages with Second Life for the sole purpose of seeing what dorky loserish stuff Dwight is doing, then gets caught up and becomes “Philly Jim,” with his awesome guitar on his back.
[/quote]

[QUOTE=gigi]
That was very telling, wasn’t it. I thought that was the most interesting part, too.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, I liked this as well; it let a little of the air out of his his “know-it-all” persona, something that has been bothering me somewhat this season (cynics–Diogenes aside–are better in small doses). He tries to ridicule Dwight for his somewhat unimaginative foray into a fantasy world (one where, hilariously, ewven his “Second Life” character develops a “Second life” character), but in doing so reveals more of his own frustrated ambition.

[QUOTE=What the…?!]
So after four years of constant filming when are they going to be done? I’m surprised that none of the folks in the office have ever gotten pissed at the camera poking in their faces constrantly. They do react on occasion and certainly the “blow-ups” could be edited out.

BTW… the above comments aren’t meant to be complaints about how people in the real workld would act. Just thoughts on story-lines, opportunities etc the writers could be missing.
[/quote]

At this point, the “documentary” is simply a storytelling conceit, equivalent to, say, dinner settings on TV where the characters sit on only three sides of the table or characters reading printed notices/office memos outloud.

Once you start remarking on things like this in a comedy, it paints you into a corner. For example, as soon as a filmed character has a major blow-up with the camera, the “documentary crew” becomes a character on the show, you lose the ability to have a semi-omniscient point of view for the storytelling, and the audience will interpret it as the character blowing up at them for watching; none of those is a good thing for storytelling. In fact, I think they were dangerously close to crossing the line when they showed Jim and Pam watching video shot by the crew of theier clandestine meeting, but I don’t know of any other way they could confront Jim and Pam into admitting the truth about their relationship. It was handled well, but IMO they were playing with fire by getting the documentary crew more involved in the story.

I do think, however, that when “The Office” ends its run, it will end it with the film crew packing up; they will step out from behind the camera and interact with the characters on the show. It would be perfect closure to have the characters see the finished documentary during a premiere in Scranton, and gauge their reaction.

39

[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
I doubt that Ryan would really even be allowed to make a move like firing a branch manager without clearing it with corporate first.
[/QUOTE]

Heck, Ryan’s attempt to have Kelly, who’s a much smaller fish than Michael, fired needed to be run past corporate.

40

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
including Stanley as a convict.
[/QUOTE]

Convict? I thought he was just highway cleaning crew.

[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick]
And I believe it was someone else who reluctantly gave Michael the go-ahead to make his commercial. Could be I’m wrong on that, though – it was a bit tough to know who was talking during one of Michael’s phone calls to corporate.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, it was David Wallace, the C.F.O., who gave his reluctant permission (“This is weird”).