Just Another Day At The Office Retro 05.23.08: Pilot Review

Posted by Seth Roy on 05.23.2008

The first episode of the Office. Seems a bit familiar to you blokes in the UK, eh? Michael offends Jews and black people, tells Pam she's fired and learns his branch may close.

Hello, and welcome to the first retro edition of Just Another Day At The Office. Today, we take it all the way back to the beginning, with the Pilot episode. Yes, it is a good one. But, why do I get the feeling that it’s not exactly original? Hmmmmm…

Cast:
Steve Carell ... Michael Scott
Rainn Wilson ... Dwight Schrute
John Krasinski ... Jim Halpert
Jenna Fischer ... Pam Beesly
B.J. Novak ... Ryan Howard
Brian Baumgartner ... Kevin Malone
Angela Kinsey ... Angela Martin
Phyllis Smith ... Phyllis Vance
Leslie David Baker ... Stanley Hudson
Kate Flannery ... Meredith Palmer
Paul Lieberstein ... Toby Flenderson
Mindy Kaling ... Kelly Kapoor
Creed Bratton ... Creed
Oscar Nuñez ... Oscar Martinez
Ed Helms ... Andy Bernard
Amy Ryan (for now?) ... Holly Flax

Quick note: This episode is very similar to the pilot of the British show. In fact, it’s nearly a shot-for-shot, quote-for-quote copy. (Americanized, of course, with Hillary Clinton references instead of Camilla Parker-Bowles.)

To the show!

The series starts with Jim in Michael’s (with a bit more weight and less hair than in later seasons) office, talking about job performance. Jim couldn’t close an account with the library, which Michael asks if that’s why Jim wanted to talk to him. Jim: “Actually, you called me in here.” So, Michael calls the library’s office manager to talk about them using Dunder-Mifflin paper. The deal gets done, and Michael calls the other manager “A gentleman and a scholar,” only to find out it is a woman. He blames her low voice for his mistake.

Next, Michael introduces himself to the camera. He’s been with the company for 12 years, spending the past four as regional manager in the Scranton branch. He shows the camera into the office, to introduce the employees, starting with Pam. Pam! Pam! “If you think she’s cute now, you should have seen her a couple years ago.” (Inappropriate?) He asks Pam if there have been any messages, and she hands him a fax. It’s from corporate. He tells her she should have put it in the special filing cabinet: The trashcan. She doesn’t think it’s funny.

Michael: “People say I am the best boss. They go, God, we’ve never worked in a place like this before. You’re hilarious. And, you get the best out of us.” He then pulls out his World’s Best Boss mug. He bought it at Spencer Gifts.

Next, we get introduced to Dwight, who is singing some sort of hard rock version of “Little Drummer Boy.” This is a great introduction to the character, as it shows his neurosis by keeping his phone in his desk, and he’s a bit goofy. Jim, in the background just looks at Dwight.

Talking head Jim talks about his job. It’s very boring.

Michael comes out of his office for a resounding chorus of “Waaaaaaaaaazuuuuuuuuup!” Jim still loves it, after seven years. Michael tells them to get back to work. (In a cutaway scene, we get the first glimpse of Angela and Kevin, who has food on his face.)

Jan walks into the office for a meeting with Michael, whose special nickname for his boss is Hillary Rodham Clinton, but not to her face. Jan asks Michael if he wants to add anything to the agenda, which he says he didn’t get and blames it on Pam, who tells him it was the thing he threw in the garbage. Michael looks at Jan’s agenda. We find out that the company’s board decided the Scranton and Stamford branches would need to be combined, though it isn’t certain which one would be dissolved. Michael doesn’t like the idea of downsizing. “Is Josh (the other manager) concerned about downsizing himself? Not downsizing himself…” Ha!

Characterization: Dwight taps Jim’s shoulder and walks on the other side of him. Jim looks toward the tap, and Dwight cracks up.

Back in Michael’s office. Michael’s “good friend” and sales rep Todd Packer calls in. Michael takes it, telling Jan that Todd is a great rep. Todd: “Hey, you big queen! Hey, is big Godzillary coming in today? Look, I’ve been meaning to ask you one question: Does the carpet match the drapes?” Michael hangs up on Todd quickly…Jan looks happy (Or not.) Then Jan doesn’t want Michael to tell people about the downsizing, which he promises to do.

Of course, the employees already know a little bit about it, and Phyllis asks Stanley (I guess we don’t technically know their names yet) what downsizing means. Oscar tells them to update their resumes.

Michael, in a talking head, says he won’t tell the office about the downsizing. “As a doctor, you would not tell a patient he had cancer.”

Next, we are introduced to a pre-drugs, pre-felon Ryan, who is in his first day at the office from the temp agency. Michael does an impression of Moe Howard, then of Hitler. Because it’s funny. (Is Ryan Jewish?)

Pam says she wouldn’t be too disappointed if she were fired. She talks about doing illustrations (as a video of her using whiteout shows.) “Jim thinks they’re good.”

Jim is on the phone when Dwight uses a ruler to shove Jim’s overflowing papers off his desk onto Jim’s. Dwight can’t concentrate. Dwight: “One word, two syllables: Demarcation.” Jim retaliates by placing a border of sharpened pencils around his desk so his stuff doesn’t flow onto Dwight’s, who informs him that he can’t do that. Dwight: “Safety violation. I could fall and pierce an organ.” Dwight knocks down the pencils, to which Jim says he wouldn’t mind if he were downsizing. We find out that Dwight has been suggesting downsizing since his job interview.

After break, Michael does a bad impression of the 6 million dollar man that Pam doesn’t find funny. Michael scolds Pam for talking about her pay.

Michael calls all employees into the conference room. We hear about his heroes: “Bob Hope, Abraham Lincoln, Bono, and probably God, would be the fourth one. I just think all those people really helped the world in so many ways that it’s really beyond words. It’s incalclalasble.” (Yes. That spelling is on purpose.)

In the conference room, Michael is going to talk about the downsizing. Dwight demands Michael tell him first because he is the assistant regional manager. Michael reminds him that he is the assistant to the regional manager. Michael promises the employees that Jan is talking about downsizing, but tells them it won’t be Scranton. Stanley (a black man…in case you didn’t know) asks him if he can be sure. Michael says, “No one messes with my chillun’” to which Stanley just looks at him sideways. Pam says that Jan said it could be the Scranton branch that gets the ax, to which Michael scolds her about.

Jim knows Pam’s favorite flavor of yogurt. They would make such a cute couple…

Next, Michael introduces Dwight to Ryan. Dwight discovers that his stapler has been put in Jell-O. Michael tells Dwight to eat the stapler out of the Jell-O. Jim is eating Jell-O. Jim and Ryan exchange dessert-related insults. (funny scene, overall). Michael can’t retaliate.

Jim asks Pam, “Do you like going out at the end of the week for a drink?” Awkward way of asking that, eh? He gets Pam to agree to come out. Then, Roy walks in and Jim stands up from leaning on Pam’s desk. We find out Pam and Roy have been engaged for three years. Roy doesn’t want Pam to go out for a drink. Pam gets up to do her faxes. Jim asks Roy to come with them. They stand, side-by-side for a few awkward seconds, until Roy leaves. Jim muses about whether he’ll be invited to the wedding.

In Michael’s office, he is talking with Ryan. He decides that he is going to pull a practical joke on Pam, with Ryan’s help. He “punks” Pam by telling her she’s fired. He lets her break down and cry, before telling her it was a joke. She calls him s jerk because, well, he is.

Michael talking head: “What is the most important thing for a company? Is it the cash flow, is it the inventory? Nuh-uh. It’s the people, the people.” His proudest moment was when he was the Godfather for a Guatemalan guy’s baby, rather than increasing profits by 17% or cut expenses without losing employees.

Next, Pam walks out to find Jim in the office. He decided he’s not going to go out for a drink. They go to walk out together, but Roy hits the horn and Pam leaves alone.

Jim motions to the camera, and puts Michael’s World’s Best Boss mug, in Jell-O, on Michael’s desk.

Roll Credits

Thoughts: When I saw this episode for the first time, I thought it was great. Since then, having seen the British version and four seasons of The Office, this episode really isn’t that great.

The most important part of the show, of course, is the introduction of each of the characters, which is done very well. We see that Michael is kind of stupid, inconsiderate and not funny. But, somehow, he is a decent boss because of his successes.

We also see that Pam is shy, and caught in a place, with a guy, that she doesn’t necessarily want to be with.

It’s also apparent from the beginning that Jim and Pam are the Ross and Rachel of The Office, except they don’t have a thing for Monkeys, old dead things or Brad Pitt…

Jim’s dissatisfaction with his job actually played a part in season 4, mainly the last couple episodes.

Dwight was easily my favorite part of the episode.

So, how do we rate this? It was good, but not near great. If you haven’t seen it, you should. If you have seen it, then there’s no reason to watch it again, except for the Todd Packer conversation, the Dwight/Jim interactions and Michael’s “Chillun’” line.

Next week, we visit the best episode of season 1, Diversity Day.

The 411: Good, not great episode. Watch it for the historical value, and to see if Michael, Jim, Dwight and Pam's series introductions did a good job of foretelling where they would go.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]