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

"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.

not great but better than last season for sure. new guys are funny. elle kemper did look kind of ridiculously stunning and then in the 'anchorwoman' getup - mother of god. re: how professionally done-up everybody looks now when mac got fat last season on it's always sunny in philadelphia the reasoning i heard him give in an interview is that tv shows the ppl get better looking as the show goes on while in real life the opposite happens.

A bunch of the actors got producer titles and, according to Jenna Fischer, significantly more writing input this season, and they unanimously wanted to be less cartoony. So far, so good.

...the show is actually good this season, but I think I may be the only living person watching.

I agree, that episode was p classy. Dwight was top notch.

Also throwing Oscar Núñez, maybe the best actor on the show, a good plotline again after so many years is not a bad idea either.

I really enjoyed that too. Erin calling herself Mr Hannon when she was told she'd be the boss.. Jim's "Sexy Batman" voice..

Yeah, this show is good this year. Jan looking pretty good. I dont seem to remember this thing she had for younger guys though.

That was a brilliant unspoken subtext of the super awesome Dinner Party episode.

Oh - oh! The slideshow, guys. "Mommy you're a superstar..." - it took me a second to realize the song wasn't *to* the kid.

It's gotten so much better with Daniels' return that it's a shame it's ending.

This last season is pretty awesome. I think it would be funny if Andy just never returned and this is the last we ever see of him.

haha yes

except it was maddening that Jim didn't use his empty office for the conference call

Erin's cute sister wrote the episode and played Jan's assistant!

There are now going from strength to strength. I am going to pretend that every episode after "Cafe Disco" up until the beginning of this season never happened. Even the group scenes which have made this show so embarrassing in the last couple of years are terrific now. And Greg Gethard was awesome.

I guess I should finally get around to watching this show. Is there a good season/episode entry point? If I'm happy to skip the "finding itself" early seasons, where should I start?

Want to say it's fine after the first couple of seasons, when it diverges from the British blueprint. Then it's pretty solid for a couple of years.

I would say first five seasons (the first is mostly very weak, but also short and has the first really strong non-English office episode, "Diversity Day"), cherrypick season 6, 7, & 8, and watch this last series live.

skip season one, start with season 2 episode 1, watch on through season 4 then yeah it gets very iffy really at around s5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLMme9ItKCw

"Diversity Day" remains one of the greatest things I've ever seen on television (and instantly made me into a Mindy Kaling fan)

i'm watching diversity day on netflix because i don't remember it and i didn't realize how much the appearance of the show has changed. it looked a lot cheaper and more handheld before and it was better. i had also completely forgotten about michael somehow.

they only used real office lighting on the first six iirc

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

Fixed.

I wonder if they'll do a extended cut of this one--certainly felt it could have gone on longer.

Show is firing on all cylinders right now, but completely differently than its previous peak. Some of the faces are the same, but this is a completely different show than it was in seasons 2-4 and every bit is great.

That was a fucking awesome episode. Dwight just ruled.

I'm glad they're ending on a high note so far

also wau Toby

Is Toby the Scranton Strangler though? I kind of wonder after this episode.

I could see that twist happening.

Justifying Michael's suspicion and hatred of him for all of those years.

Dwight's xmas character was a renamed Krampus (can't remember his name, Bel-something). He even had a Black Peter sidekick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belsnickel

Ah, I guess there's a whole world of lore out there.

Krampus not obscure enough.

Anybody else catch this last night? Another quality ep, Erin getting to shine.

Yeah, it's nice to watch this show again with some level of expectation.