I didn't get the whole "everyone has to stay because Jo is staying late" idea. I could see Michael or the salesmen feeling some pressure to stay, but is there a whole lot of extra work that accounting or warehouse are getting done after hours?

I demand that the Aylum put MEGASHARK VS. MEGADESK into production immediately. Andy's powerwalk to his car...in his sister's skirt was magnificent.

I was worried about that happening with the Dwight & Angela contract from Delivery but it'll be addressed soon, according to press releases. That Dwight & Ryan alliance lasted all of 2 actual episodes I think. It made me wonder if they had an idea that had to be scrapped, because this show is so much better than that.



I think it's more of a "do you really want to leave your job with the boss there actually working?". The boss might take it as you think your time is more valuable than theirs that you're comfortable leaving before them. I mean, in all reality, Jo gave Michael the option of leaving on time but she guilted them all into staying.

For what its worth I thought this was the funniest episode of the season by far. Great, great shit.

I thought it was a waste of an idea also. I understand the angle, but the boss is supposed to be there last. It just didn't make sense. They get off at five every day and that scenario had never happened before so you'd have had more people reluctant to go sit back down because Michael said "nope" than what happened. It just didn't translate.

They get paid by the hour right?

I don't think the sales staff does. Creed, Meredith, the accountants, Erin, Kelly and Ryan probably do. I just remember Pam organizing the people to visit Meredith in the hospital in "Fun Run" and separating the sales team and the rest.

It's sort of a special situation, as the boss is new & just bought the company. No doubt she's looking to trim some dead weight to save money. Nobody wanted to been seen as expendable by jumping out of there at 5:00 on the button.

Making 'The Office' like a real office was a turn that is so obvious and yet the idea never once entered my mind.

"To find the leads, seek out the one who never breeds."

Last night was kind of a weird episode. The staff were being such jerks, I actually thought Michael was in the right for a change.

Andy playing "hot/cold" with Erin was my highlight.

So it is my imagination or was the trash dump just a giant painting on a set?

This episode reminded me of Casual Friday, and not in a good way. I've really come to hate Phyllis. Like...loathe the character.

Well, it's because she's mean. Phyllis used to be really nice who would get shit on and it caused you to feel bad for her. But when she's mean, it's not in the, "oh that person deserves it for being mean to Phyllis" it's more of the, "why is Phyllis being mean for no reason?" It's almost like Meg Griffin syndrome, although Phyllis is a far more likable character.

I think I say this every week now, but Andy/Erin is just incredibly sweet. Such a weird time and place for their "moment", but it worked great.

That was the worst episode of the entire series. Far worse than the old king "Job Fair". The only laugh I had was Andy with his "rat tat tat a doo" after the kiss with Erin. Boring, unfunny, and they did a great job at making me dislike every single character that had a line of dialogue.

Going into this tv season if you'd have told me that Community and Parks and Rec would be blowing The Office and 30 Rock out of the water in terms of quality I wouldn't have believed it. As is, I find myself eagerly looking forward to Community and Parks and catching the other two whenever I get the chance.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to say I think it was the worst episode of the series. I don't even think it would be the worst in the season. Nothing has come close to topping "Survivor Man" for me.

I haven't been down on the series lately as much as everybody else. But that was one of the funniest episodes in a long time.

I was starting to get tired of it, and "Idiot Michael" is a lot less funny than "Oblivious Michael", but this one was really good.

I really liked last night's episode. Andy & Erin are totally ruling the show now but Dwight & Isabella has amazing potential. I would love to see more of Isabella. Michael was a little too much for me a time or two and retard Kevin is always a turn off for me. The boob gag did nothing for me -- and I can assure you I never ever thought I'd type those words in that order. But when he's too stupid I hate it. I also liked a couple of nice touches like Creed on DDR and Darryl Relationship Counselor, but this one was owned by Andy & Erin for me.

Throw out the Michael plot and it was a good episode. I don't really understand why Pam would EVER want to set Micheal up with ANYBODY after he pretty much dumped her own mother, so it was hard for me to go with that storyline. Even harder to believe the bar manager would somehow find his asshole behavior charming just because he owned a book.

I do like Andy becoming the anti-Michael in that he is equally socially retarded, but he at least gets a clue before he screws things up too much. I do like the ensemble episodes where everybody gets a little storyline, so if you don't like one thing, if you wait thirty seconds, something better will come along.

What Kevin was doing was some of the creepiest stuff ever...I would almost be happy if they just got rid of that character at this point.

Also, Isabella...Wow...She's too hot for this show.

Yep, this is really what the show needs to gravitate towards in my opinion.

The last 2 episodes have been decent, although the Homer Simpsonish level of Michael's stupidity is borderline unbearable as well as the damn office romances which is a recurring theme that I'm sick of as well. Everything else has been great. Creed playing DDR was the highlight of the show.

I'm a week late on this question, but why was Andy dressed like Jim Cornette during the "leads" episode?

This was addressed elsewhere, but apparently red pants are a trend now. Andy was actually trying to look fashionable. I, too, thought there was a joke in there somewhere, but since it was never brought up by any character, I can assume that's all it was.

All this time, I thought my pharmacist was stuck in a time warp when in fact he's been ahead of the fashion curve for the past 15 years or so.

The Cornette comparison never even entered my mind, but it is quite spot on.

It's nothing to do with being fashionable. Andy has been wearing oddly colored pants for the last few seasons. Can't remember the episode off the top of my head, but there's one in season five where he's wearing a pair of robin egg blue slacks. He wore a strange pair of checkered colored pants too.

Great episode, and I'll go on and say that I thought Michael was terrific in it. That wasn't "Homer Simpson" Michael in the least. He's at his best as a socially awkward goof, and that's all he was this week.

Also positively loved the last scene with the story about the Yakuza boss. I thought it was hilarious.

Dancing on a pool table etc etc wasn't socially awkward, it was fucking dumb. He was acting like a tool throughout, and not the usual "say stupid things, mix up metaphors, and make shit jokes" kind of toolery.

That's because he was DATE MICHAEL~!

I just took it as him trying so hard to impress that woman that he was trying to act like a showoff...dancing on the table, spinning the pool stick. That to me isn't really all that dumb. It's misguided and awkward, but not really dumb. Dumb is parking in a no parking zone at the hospital and then throwing the keys away when confronted about it. That's something that no real human being would ever do. I've seen douchebags acting like Michael was at the bar...I could buy into it.

Personally, I think Michael's at his best when he's dead serious and hating on Toby or something similar.

Date Mike was that trainwreck you could see coming a mile away. I actually think the bigger thing about this episode is that Date Mike worked with the hot bar manager. To me, that twist made everything worthwhile.

Andy & Erin fucking ruled. Creed fucking ruled. Dwight & Isabelle fucking ruled. Angela fucking ruled.

Good, solid episode.

Date Mike is awesome. Fuck the haters.

Dwight's ability with women is bizarre.

Erin from the Office was on Craig Ferguson tonight. It was a fun interview and she looked super cute in a black dress. If you have a TV crush on her like I do, check out Ferguson on CBS.com when they put it up. It's the episode with Willie Nelson.

I have a crush on Willie Nelson so I'll definitely check it out, thanks!

There was a new episode this week, ya know. Not a bad one either. If their mission is to make me feel as sorry as possible for Andy, they are succeeding.

The only issue I had with it, is that Erin went from quirky fun to batshit insane. I mean the whole lunch thing was so bizarre. Her being upset was a normal reaction, but they just made her seem so crazy that to me they crazied the cute out of her.

Well, pretty much every character on the show (other than Jim) goes bat shit insane sooner or later. She'll be back to just 'quirky' in a week or two.

Ya know I'm not really feeling the show these past 2 seasons. I want to, but its like they are trying too hard to do and be the things that they think the show should do and be rather than just being the show. Like it insists upon itself. I still dig it, but it's not turn my phone off, can't miss TV for me like it was in seasons 2-3.

i would milk pam

Steve Carell did an interview with the BBC and said his contract ends after the seventh season, and he doesn't think he'd return for an eighth year. That seems like a fine place to end things.

Sounds about right, I figured he would be the one to leave since he had three movies come out this year. I hope they end it and have a big series finale, I think if they tried to keep the show going it would be a shell of its former self. Some argue it is now, but without Carell it wouldn't even seem like The Office. On the other hand, if they could get him to agree to a do a half season of episodes, then they could probably still pull it off.

The Office has hardly been funny at all this year...I haven't seen this week's ep, and have no desire to clear my schedule to open up Hulu. Parks on the other hand is a priority. Yeah...put a bullet in it already.

I think it says alot that many people are in that same boat. I know I am. I still watch it every week, but on Friday when I get around to watching all my "stories" from the week, The Office is usually the last thing I watch. Modern Family, Cougar Town, Community, 30 Rock, hell, even Kitchen Nightmares all come first. It's starting to feel like Scrubs during seasons 5-7, in that there are still great moments here and there, but for the most part, it's a shell of what it was. Hopefully, like Scrubs, it can pull itself up and have a homerun final season(speaking of the final season of the TRUE Scrubs, that is).

Well said, and a very good analogy.

Although I really loved season 9 of Scrubs.

EDIT: And no sooner than we start talking about the show potentially winding down...

Steve Carell says next season of The Office will "probably be my last"

I see them trying The Office without Michael for one season, the experiment being met with so-so results, and the show runners calling it a wrap at the end of season 8. Very respectable run, I think, although I guess it wouldn't shock me if they wrapped it up at the conclusion of 7 and didn't try the show at all without Michael. I see them trying for season 8 though.

Jim and Pam are not so hot when they are not playing off Michael Scott. If they do a season 8 I hope they make Andy the boss and have them play off his brand of insanity. Andy is what keeps me watching these days.

Erin came across to me as someone who has never been in an actual relationship before, and became nuts because she found out her boyfriend had. Hits close to home, because one of my best friends married a woman like that. :)

To me, The Office has suffered by rushed/mismanaged "booking". There was no need to end last year with Jim & Pam's pregnancy especially with the wedding on the horizon. Sure, it "pushed up" the wedding this fall but I think there were ways to get it out of the way without a shotgun style ceremony. You could've also pushed it back to February/March where they had the delivery episodes.

In my head, it would've been easier to end Season 5 on Michael pissing David Wallace off so much at the company picnic that he makes Jim co-Regional Manager right on the spot. That leads to the first half of this season being strictly about Jim vs. Michael like it was without any pregnancy stuff. And actually, as much as I liked "Manager and Salesman", the Michael returning to sales story could've been stretched out to like 3-4 episodes. Imagine him on a cold call with Pam or Jim having to run things by himself. Then you have the wedding and at the end of this season, you could've ended with Jim & Pam being pregnant.

This season has lacked that big storyline that builds to everything at the end. I thought we might get it with the "insolvency" storyline that turned into the Sabre one. Neither really did a whole lot. There are four episodes left, counting tonight. It'll be interesting to see if they start building to anything.