The Office - "The List"

Season 8, Episode 1

A premiers that's too afraid to mix things up

“I mean, it’s unbelievable”

-Andy

It kind of is, isn’t? After all that hubbub of what big name star the show was going to pick to put in Carrell’s place, and they end up promoting someone from in-house, a move that’s a bit disorienting, giving what most people were probably expecting. The move to promote someone from in-house is one of those overly-safe moves that irritates me as it seems the show has no sense of creative responsibility, and yet I can’t get too mad at the show for trying to upset the balance too much in an attempt to avoid something truly horrendous. Or maybe I can.

Andy is essentially Michael Scott 2.0. He has the same need to be liked as Michael does, even if it manifests itself in a different way; he’s a showman who cares more about appearance than getting the job done; and it’s the combination of these first two characteristics that happen to make him look incompetent, even though he’s really not. But in that “he’s actually competent!” scene, where Andy challenged Robert’s preconceptions of the office, sold me on something that makes Andy different: his sweetness. Sure, Michael could at times be a sweet person, but this was often overshadowed by his petulant side. Andy doesn’t really have a petulant side, or at least not a large one, and it’s generally nicer to the people around him, even if he’s not getting what he wants. I’ll reserve final judgment until I see a few more episodes under Andy’s rein, but for now I just hope that the show at least tries to focus on what make Andy different, and not what’s the same.

Now, as for James Spader…I’ve had a few months to steel myself for his presence, but I’m still not sure that I’m okay with his being picked for the new boss, even if that boss replaces Kathy Bates’ overly broad performance. Back in last season’s finale, his performance was too big and intense for my taste, and I much preferred Catherine Tate, who’s British bitchiness I felt could be a good addition to the show. My stump for Tate still stands, but I do have to admit that I’m glad that Spader has toned down his performance here. Yet I’m still not sure about his presence. While I certainly like the idea of Spader as this serious boss for everyone else to bounce off of, I don’t think he’s particularly funny in his own right – both as written and in the way Spader plays him – and that’s not really going to make for a good character dynamic.

The actual plot meanwhile, is the perfect example of the trouble of decay facing the show as it goes into its eighth season. While I like that the show would try something low key that allows the focus to remain on the office and the employees, I’m not sure if some secret list is the way to do it. Moving beyond the fact that I’ve seen this plot device in dozen on other sitcoms past, the real problem is that the idea of the list isn’t A) inherently funny and B) a good source of dramatic tension.

As to the former: “Office Olympics” is funny. A fun run for rabies is funny. A list is not funny. It’s an inanimate object that can’t actually interject into people’s lives to any larger extent than they allow it. And I get that they point was for the list to serve as an impetus for the office, for an extent for the employees to become jealous and paranoid and to be at each other’s throats, which is something that it did, but it was only fitfully funny. (Frankly, the whole planking gag got bigger laughs out of me.)

As to the latter: If you really thought that anything serious was going to come out of that list, then welcome to the world of network TV. After such a big change-up with Michael Scott leaving, don’t expect the show to be shaking things up any more than it has to for a while.

And that’s a problem: The Office seems intent on playing it safe for the foreseeable future, and that’s not what the show needs right now. I’m not saying that the show keeps shaking things up just for the sake of being unpredictable – in fact it shouldn’t do that either. But what it does need to do is be engaging and be exciting for viewers, as it was back in the heydays of seasons 2, 3, and 4. But it’s not doing that, it’s being safe. And safe is boring. And boring will get this show killed.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

I know it seems I dogged on it, but I really rather enjoyed that planking gag. I mean, I hate planking, so on some level this should have irritated me, but something about the acknowledgment of how stupid is was from the show, and to the extremes that they took both the planking and Dwight’s attempts to deter it, just made it hilarious.

Also while we’re here: I hope the show makes good use of the idea of Dwight as Andy’s no. 2, and I specifically hope that they make it different than Dwight’s relationship with Michael. Dwight and Andy’s relationship may have gone through several changes over the past few seasons, but I’ve always enjoyed watching the two of them work together to accomplish the same goal.

So both Pam and Angela are pregnant? What’s with these actresses getting themselves knocked up? No, I kid, but seriously, how many babies are we going to have on our hands before this show is done?

“Sometimes you get run over. Welcome to the internet.”

“Yeah, I wanted the manger position, but I got something much better…this soda. This is mine.”

“And then I say ‘shove it up your butt.’”

“Kids, don’t try planking. It’s dangerous. Especially with me around.”

“Here we go…Robert California, let’s have a conversation.”

“Number 3, time permitting, we lost our biggest client.”

“Kind of a medium year for women’s soccer, no?”

“Pam, come on, don’t be such a right-sider.”

“Funny how the houses are always colonial, and the penises are always circumcised, don’t you think?”

“God save, us the Elmo era.”

“The thing I like about Elmo is the tickling.”

“When I was a salesman, I used to think, ‘Not by job, not my prob. I’m going to the warehouse to polish my knob.’ Metaphorically, of course.”

“And just to show you I’m being fair, you had Gabe in the loser column. I think that is astute.”