130 days down, 17 to go until The Office returns with “Dinner Party” and “Parking”
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- March
- 24
Just because it puts me in a good mood to read them, here are the official episode summaries of the first two episodes of The Office.
THE OFFICE
DINNER PARTY
04-10-2008 9:00PM
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER-Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) find they have run out of excuses and are forced to go to Jan (Melora Hardin) and Michael’s (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) house for dinner. When Andy (Ed Helms) and Angela (Angela Kinsey) are also invited to dinner, Dwight’s (Rainn Wilson) jealousy gets the best of him. Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Smith, Paul Lieberstein, Mindy Kaling and Creed Bratton also star.
This spins an episode out of a throwaway joke from an earlier episode in which Pam and Jim try desperately to avoid accepting a dinner invitation from Michael. You can see the wheels spinning in the writers room on that one.
This is the most hotly anticipated episode in a while, and not just because it marks the return from the writers strike or because every cast member said the November table read was the funniest ever.
In my opinion, the very premise of dinner at Michael’s is the classic Office setting, even if it’s outside the office setting. The potential for awkwardness and conflict, this show’s comedic cornerstones, is enormous. The Dwangelandy conflict alone should be epic.
THE OFFICE
PARKING
04-17-2008 9:00PMMichael’s (Steve Carell) fascination with a woman modeling a chair in an office supply catalog makes him feel things he hasn’t felt in a while. With Michael distracted, Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) and Andy (Ed Helms) team up to win back Dunder-Mifflin’s stolen parking spaces, forcing them into a showdown with the bosses of the five businesses of the office park. Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Oscar Nunez, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Mindy Kaling, Leslie David Baker, Melora Hardin, Kate Flannery and Creed Bratton also star.
Five simple words: “Kevin and Andy team up…” That’s a recipe for greatness in Office-land. Talk about unexpected chemistry. The idea of Michael distracted by melancholy aroused by an office supply catalog model is beautiful.
The dynamic of inter-office park conflict is also genius. Whenever I think they’ve run out of ideas, they prove it’s just me that’s run out of ideas of what they could try next.
And I love that it’s the “bosses of the five businesses of the office park.” Kind of has a “Godfather” feel to it.
Episode photos courtesy NBC Universal
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 8:27 pm by Brian Howard.
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