"The Office"
Local Ad (2007)

Director:

Jason Reitman

Writers:

Greg Daniels (developer)
B.J. Novak (writer) ...

TV Series:

"The Office" (2005)

Original Air Date:

25 October 2007 (Season 4, Episode 5)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Michael tries to make a local Dunder Mifflin commercial that is better than the one the professional ad agency made for them. Meanwhile, Andy tries to confide in Dwight about his new relationship with Angela.

Plot Keywords:

Awkward Silence | Tension | Office | Frat Pack | Awkward

Cast

Steve Carell	...	Michael Scott
Rainn Wilson	...	Dwight Schrute
John Krasinski	...	Jim Halpert
Jenna Fischer	...	Pam Beesly
B.J. Novak	...	Ryan Howard
Ed Helms	...	Andy Bernard
Leslie David Baker	...	Stanley Hudson
Brian Baumgartner	...	Kevin Malone
Creed Bratton	...	Creed Bratton
Kate Flannery	...	Meredith Palmer
Mindy Kaling	...	Kelly Kapoor
Angela Kinsey	...	Angela Martin
Paul Lieberstein	...	Toby Flenderson
Oscar Nuñez	...	Oscar Martinez
Craig Robinson	...	Darryl Philbin

Trivia:

The restaurant that the Kevin orders the replacement pizza from in Local Ad, Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, is an actual restaurant in South Scranton. Pizza by Alfredo, where Michael originally orders it from is not.

Quotes:

Jim Halpert: Playing that game again?
Dwight Schrute: Second life is not a game. It is a multi-user, virtual environment. It does have points or scores; it doesn't have winners or losers.
Jim Halpert: Oh it has losers.

Soundtrack:

Dunder Mifflin

Shooting an Ad... Michael at his best/worst

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is the fifth episode in this season, and also the first episode to go back to the 1/2 hour slot. Most regular watchers probably viewed this switch back with a mixture of emotions, because it has been a joy to have an hour of The Office every week, but I think there's a part of most people that know the hour-long slots are best saved for the really pivotal episodes that need that much more time for exposition.

This episode was a great example of the love/hate relationship that probably a lot of us have with Michael Scott. Steve Carell imbues Michael with those glimpses of vulnerability that make us keep coming back and putting up with him, but there are still those moments that just make you want to throttle Michael Scott. For me, in this episode, it was the really fun theme song Darryl was putting together with the other singers in the office... and frankly, if Michael had gone with it, it might just have been what convinced David Wallace to allow them to go with their own ad. But, then again, he wouldn't have been Michael Scott if he HAD gone with it.

The writers are doing a great job at doling out the Pam/Jim relationship in small doses. This is one of the first times a series has succeeded in keeping a successful relationship interesting once it is official (of course, they are using the Dwight/Angela/Andy plot to sustain that area of tension.

Questions that are starting to surface for this season, have to do with past characters: Is Karen Filippelli going to make any more appearances. Here's a piece of trivia on Rashida Jones - she sang a capella in college. Will she maybe hook up with Andy at a singing conference? (probably not, Karen seemed to have objections to singing (Diwali/Initiation).

Where will we see Roy again? Will Pam and Jim run into him at some inopportune time? (maybe out to dinner with Katy) The most satisfying thing about this season is watching this show continue to improve AND gain a larger and larger following (in my own office, Schrute Bucks are pinned up in more cubicles every week.)