The Office Season 8: It Kinda Seems Like the Left Side is the Side to Be On

"Get the Girl" was really good! Loved Nellie's monologue at the end.

Nellie=David Brent w/bigger boobs.

Huh.

http://gawker.com/5901739/bears-beets-bad-ideas-the-office-may-be-rebooted-with-new-cast-of-characters

Nellie=David Brent w/bigger boobs.

Made even more clear with last night's episode and her borderline racist spiel at the beginning.

The Andy/Erin story, otoh, bleh. I can't even remember his fiance's name, and I've been watching every ep of this season.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17jgu3xepax5djpg/medium.jpg

you have to admit this promo picture is kind of bad-ass

yeah i like that.

i feel like this season is back on the right track, but the andy/erin thing just needs to go away.

Ryan was p hilarious in the newest one.

I'd rather she be alone than with somebody - is that love?

Also the poem thing was a++

Last night was very high quality -- the end of season eps almost always are -- and proof that Ryan posts to ILM regularly.

Nellie & the taco=A+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZIYYRRUhQ8

oh, spader

The season finale was pretty terrible.

Yeah, it was a letdown, and I say this as an Office apologist.

Me too. I spent a lot of time defending it this season, but I was really put off by that. It was like they had a bunch of decent ideas bubbling underneath but were really afraid to commit to anything. They usually manage to pull things together for a memorable finale, but this was such a subpar episode by any measurement.

It barely even stopped, let alone felt like a finale, and the desperate ...wrapping up? no, just stopping... of the neglected side-plotlines from this year was insulting.

Not that anyone cares, but David Denman (Roy) is returning for Season 9, while Lieberstein, Kaling, and possibly Novak are leaving and Clarke Duke and Jake Lacy are coming aboard. The story.

I care! ... sorta. Clarke Duke I'm guessing is gonna be the Dwight replacement, as the Weird Looking Guy.

Roy in one episode only, nbd

Daniels says Season 9 will be it for the series.

thank god, well overdue, etc.

someone on twitter pointed out that steve carell, who never won an emmy for the show, has a decent chance of winning a guest actor emmy if he comes back at the end of the season.

hmm i didn't see the bit where daniels is coming back to showrun the final season. i've long suspected his focus on parks and rec contributed to the office getting shitty, so this is good. otoh i don't want parks and rec to get shitty either.

Schur's staying on Parks & Rec.

This is w/o a doubt the best news about this show in forever.

schur's got a new show he's working on. hopefully more involvement from daniels plus wrapping things up will be good for some inspiration. the one thing i've seen about what the new guys will be doing did make me laugh. also apparently they will be addressing the documentary aspect. also the show had some serious issues before carell left but boy would the last michael scott episode made a good finale. i think for most ppl it is really anyway.

there was a snarky av club article about schur's pilot that said "y'know, people can think about more than one thing at a time," but that's lies imo. like when "the o.c." had its charming and soapy first season and josh schwartz was like "great, i'll branch out to other shows now!" and then "the o.c." became the worst show in the entire world.

yeah ppl have managed multiple shows but shows have also suffered from ppl stretching themselves thin. kinda worried that schur doing that new show - which nbc passed on, but fox snatched up right? - plus every show from that old block either officially wrapping up (office, 30 rock) or on life support (community) plus greenblatt's comments specifying that shows like those thursday comedies being not what he wants going forward = closer to the end than the beginning for p&r.

Is Peretti the only writer leaving P&R though? Wittels was signed on to act in Sarah Silverman's new show, but it didn't get picked up so he's staying on Parks. Seems everyone on that show on-screen and off has the same mindset about how to make it; as long as it stays good this year then the rest of NBC burning in flames around it is nbd afaic.

BTW from Daniels:

There are a lot of things that I’ve personally been wanting to do since season two … All questions will be answered this year. We’re going to see who’s behind the documentary

ugh this sounds terrible

We’re going to see who’s behind the documentary

please please please be Werner Herzog

literally the only remotely good theory i've heard for the documentary crew at this point (and really the best option is just ignore it, it's just a narrative device no need for explanation or even consistency in imo) is that the 'documentary' is just a class in a local community college, that the point of it is for students to learn how to shoot, edit, etc, that nobody will ever see the footage and that the ppl shooting it now aren't even the same ppl who were shooting it when the show began. i'm also certain this will not be the explanation and that the answer will be awful but not as awful as take yr pick from last season.

tbh i wanted to know more about the "story" of the documentary conceit in the early years, but they've abandoned its internal logic so many times at this point that it feels toothless. then again i'm still butthurt that the end of s2 was a lone cameraman managing to capture the spur-of-the-moment kiss between jim and pam, and then when we flashback to the same scene in s3, they show it from multiple different camera angles. part of the strength of that scene was the voyeuristic/naturalistic way it was captured -- like we were lucky to be seeing it at all. but then boom it's next season and they're showing it from all the traditional hollywood angles.

xp community college crew is more satisfying than anything i've come up with, i like it

it would also explain why the numerous lawsuit- or criminal charge-worthy incidents that have occurred aren't ever prosecuted on the basis of the film. didn't michael try to plant drugs on toby on camera fairly early on?

capri salad!

man i'm not one to worry about later lesser seasons harming a legacy or whatever usually but i think i may have actually forgotten how good this show was once

are we doing this again?

More like Clark Douche, amirite?

Anchorwoamn Erin: Yow to tha Za

This roots back to last season, but Nellie and Dwight are so going to do it by season's end or sweeps.

Overall, a better season strat than last year. I guess winding down has been good for them.

"Season START", even.

Nellie and Dwight already did it, didn't they? tbh I just remember a few things about last season, but it seems like that was one of them.

Nah, Dwight chickened out in the end

Teaching homeless people nautical flag signalling. Sounds like something Romney would say he does.

Creed: "The Taliban is the worst. <pause> Great heroin though."

Yeah this season is way better.

New Jim and Dwight are funny.

I like how Andy is less of a sad-sack and more of a completely oblivious white collar imbecile.

So crazy how professionally done-up they look compared to the beginning of the show. Just a thought.

LOL @ Darryl backing away from Dwight wielding a meat cleaver over Nellie's hand

So crazy how professionally done-up they look compared to the beginning of the show.

That kind of happens with any American show that starts out all realistic and then runs for years (Homicide, NYPD Blue, even Parks & Reacreation now).

That said, I was slightly shocked at how made-over Erin in the premiere compared to even last season. It's like she did a fashion mag cover shoot and she got to keep all the clothes and the make-up artist.

This roots back to last season, but Nellie and Dwight are so going to do it by season's end or sweeps.

I'm thinking Erin and the non-Clark intern (Nu-Jim) will hook up, based on the closing shot, when Andy was getting his last take in.

That said, I was slightly shocked at how made-over Erin in the premiere compared to even last season. It's like she did a fashion mag cover shoot and she got to keep all the clothes and the make-up artist.

― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, September 28, 2012 12:11 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is the only thing that kept me watching, to be honest.