The Job (17 May 2007)

Michael appoints Dwight as regional manager, anticipating that he will receive the job at corporate. Jim and Karen also interview for the same position. And Michael gets back together with Jan after she gets a boob job.

Director:

Ken Kwapis

Writers:

Greg Daniels (developer), Paul Lieberstein,

Stars:

Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Carell	...	Michael Scott
Rainn Wilson	...	Dwight Schrute
John Krasinski	...	Jim Halpert
Jenna Fischer	...	Pam Beesly
B.J. Novak	...	Ryan Howard
Melora Hardin	...	Jan Levinson
Ed Helms	...	Andy Bernard
Leslie David Baker	...	Stanley Hudson
Brian Baumgartner	...	Kevin Malone
Kate Flannery	...	Meredith Palmer
Mindy Kaling	...	Kelly Kapoor
Angela Kinsey	...	Angela Martin
Paul Lieberstein	...	Toby Flenderson
Oscar Nuñez	...	Oscar Martinez
Phyllis Smith	...	Phyllis Lapin

Storyline

Michael appoints Dwight as regional manager, anticipating that he will receive the job at corporate. Jim and Karen also interview for the same position. And Michael gets back together with Jan after she gets a boob job.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deedle-Dee Productions, Reveille Productions, NBC Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode is the second hour-long episode of the season.

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Goofs

When Mike and Jan are driving from New York to Pennsylvania, the scenery in the background of the car is clearly from southern California; mostly palm trees and stucco.

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Quotes

[During a talking heads segment about Jan's Boob job]
Meredith Palmer: I would never do that. Waste of money. In my experience, guys are way more attracted to the back of you than to the front.
Kevin Malone: I love fake boobs. Oftentimes, you find them on strippers.
Creed Bratton: I find it offensive. Au naturel, baby. That's how I like them. Swing low, sweet chariots.

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Connections

References Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

User Reviews

Season 3: Another strong season for the engaging and funny sitcom

I read a comment in the paper a few days ago that disputed someone's claim that 30 Rock was the best sitcom out there at the moment because the writer of this piece of blurb felt it was the US version of The Office. I didn't think too much about it because it is all opinion but I can see the point. In my opinion 30 Rock is by far the better comedy because it gets the biggest laughs out of me, but The Office is the better sitcom. The reason for this disparity is because The Office has a better narrative running through the jokes and has characters that the viewer cares about beyond their role as comedy material. This was seen in season 2 of The Office (the first good season) but the way they ended that season perhaps made me think that things would be awkward or difficult to carry on from – particularly in a show which I already know is on its 5th season.

I needn't have worried though because S3 does a very good job of moving on from the conclusion of the previous season and keeping the character threads going. We join quite some time after the end of the last season, with characters scattered a bit, new characters added, new unspoken complications but yet also the continuation of the same awkward relationships that I enjoyed from season 2. This continues till about the mid-point of the season where the dynamics are changed again, while also still keeping the same essential plots. It is to the writers' credit that it works as well as it does because the character-driven plots are evenly spread across the season and each episode; OK they have moments where they come to the fore but they never feel like they are sitting on a shelf waiting for the show to need a cliff-hanger or something like that.

Of course neither the characters nor their threads are strong enough to work if this were a drama series, but thankfully it is not and instead these factors compliment what is otherwise a consistently funny comedy show. The bad memory of season 1 is long gone now as The Office US has settled totally into what it is doing rather than what the UK did – almost to the point where comparison is like comparing apples and potatoes simply because they are both in the same colour box (although of course this is the internet so these arguments will continue forever). I found S3 to be funnier again than S2. The improved narrative threads prevented each episode feeling like a totally contained sketch while the dialogue and observational stuff continues to be frequently funny. I did also like the fact that S3 allowed for more moments where we get to see that the people in the office are not useless even if they are odd characters. The sales call episode is the clearest example of this but there are lots of little moments that offer similar. It is also surprisingly touching at times – again part of the reason that it works best as a sitcom rather than a "judge me by the laughs" comedy.

Yet again the cast deliver on this well and seem a lot happier doing what they are doing now as opposed to the jobs they were given in season 1. Carell is very good at his role and fits it very well. Fischer continues to be the best at the "pained" comedy as she always had been and this skill serves her very well within the comedy and also within her narrative thread. Krasinski is still a bit too much about the mugging for my taste but the lack of complexity or openness in his performance adds realism to a point. He works well with Jones, who is the best of the new additions and helps drive a lot of the character plot. Wilson continues to deliver great lines and a consistently good comedy character. The supporting cast continue to do the good work they did in S2 despite Baker's Stanley looking ever more like a cartoon version of himself. I continue to love Kaling and Bratton but everyone else is good again, with more use of everyone in terms of narrative and comedy (where perhaps S2 used the supporting cast just for comedy asides).