• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Remember when Michael pranked Pam into thinking she was fired?

Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,962
First episode of the Office.

While talking to the camera and trying to show how "relaxed and cool" he is, Pam gives him a fax from corporate. He laughs and throws it away in the trash.
Later in a meeting with Jan, she asks Michael where the agenda she faxed is. Michael asks Pam why she didn't give it to him-she brings up that he threw it away. Embarasses Michael in front of Pam.

Later, while having a 1:1 with new guy Ryan, Michael tries to show off how good he is with pranks-and invites Pam into the closed door meeting. He then "Pranks" Pam by telling her she's the first victim of the planned downsizing. I know Michael is a dufus and out of it-but, man...

 
Stopdoor

Stopdoor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,778
Toronto
I've only watched the first season of the Office and I can tell it must have been very primordial. There's one episode where Micheal has to choose Health Benefits for everyone and it literally just ends with the most awkward, serious confrontation, played straight, and he exits the office ignoring everyone, and the episode is over. And then never mentioned again. The cringe goes too far and doesn't pay off as lighthearted.

You probably just have to let that stuff fly.
 
OP
OP
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,962
Stopdoor said:
I've only watched the first season of the Office and I can tell it must have been very primordial. There's one episode where Micheal has to choose Health Benefits for everyone and it literally just ends with the most awkward, serious confrontation, played straight, and he exits the office ignoring everyone, and the episode is over. And then never mentioned again. The cringe goes too far and doesn't pay off as lighthearted.

You probably just have to let that stuff fly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The show specializes in cringe moments. Don't watch Scott's Tots unless you want to take 10 years off your life.
 
Yams

Yams

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,846
Stopdoor said:
I've only watched the first season of the Office and I can tell it must have been very primordial. There's one episode where Micheal has to choose Health Benefits for everyone and it literally just ends with the most awkward, serious confrontation, played straight, and he exits the office ignoring everyone, and the episode is over. And then never mentioned again. The cringe goes too far and doesn't pay off as lighthearted.

You probably just have to let that stuff fly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The last two episode of the series make the entire thing worth it.

JIM DA GAWD
 
Shark

Shark

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,126
Raleigh, NC
It's a show about an office where the boss is a buffoon with no self-awareness that becomes more likable and grows up over time. That's the entire point.
 
Haribokart

Haribokart

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,065
This is how it was meant to be done.




The US Office is mostly great, but very different in tone to the original and the actors did not have the range to pull this off. When the series became its own thing it vastly improved before driving into a lake and never recovering.
 
LL_Decitrig

LL_Decitrig

User-Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,334
Sunderland
I'm not at all a fan of The Office (UK or US incarnation) but isn't a key point of the show that the principal character is self-absorbed and lacking in social skills? Of course his attempts to humour are cruel and dehumanising. I don't find that funny, but it seems to be how the show is built.
 
Dice

Dice

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,365
Canada
Stopdoor said:
I've only watched the first season of the Office and I can tell it must have been very primordial. There's one episode where Micheal has to choose Health Benefits for everyone and it literally just ends with the most awkward, serious confrontation, played straight, and he exits the office ignoring everyone, and the episode is over. And then never mentioned again.
.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not true, it gets brought up another couple episodes that they [still] have "a terrible health plan". :P
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,132
Sydney
It doesn't really work because it's ripped from the UK version, where it does absolutely gel with David Brent as a character.

One of the reasons the US office succeeded was that they realised pretty early on Steve Carrell is not all that good at doing nasty and is much better at being a dufus.
 
shaneo632

shaneo632

Weekend Planner
Member
Oct 29, 2017
29,008
Wrexham, Wales
The UK version of the scene is way better executed because the show doesn't really have the sentimentality present in the US version, and Gervais doesn't really try to make David Brent at all charming or even endearingly stupid like Michael Scott.
 

waffleboy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
672
shaneo632 said:
The UK version of the scene is way better executed because the show doesn't really have the sentimentality present in the US version, and Gervais doesn't really try to make David Brent at all charming or even endearingly stupid like Michael Scott.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I thought the US version of the scene was bad because it was in the season where they were trying too hard to imitate the tone of the UK version. It became more successful when it did it's own thing
 
Slappy White

Slappy White

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,208
Early Michael Scott is not a good person at all. There's definitely a shift in that characters overall tone after that first season.
 
lmcfigs

lmcfigs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,091
Stopdoor said:
I've only watched the first season of the Office and I can tell it must have been very primordial. There's one episode where Micheal has to choose Health Benefits for everyone and it literally just ends with the most awkward, serious confrontation, played straight, and he exits the office ignoring everyone, and the episode is over. And then never mentioned again. The cringe goes too far and doesn't pay off as lighthearted.

You probably just have to let that stuff fly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I noticed they also did something similar in superstore. the whole store goes on strike to get healthcare. they don't get it. and it never gets brought back up.
 
wenis

wenis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,113
Boy do I!

Hydrus said:
Why is "Scott's tots" so bad? I've never really watched this show.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Michael Scott promises a free college education to every child in a classroom, 10 years later he returns to that same class of kids, because they all remember what he promised and he has to tell them he doesn't have the money to do so after they lavish him with a dance number and many thanks. It's a whole thing.

Hydrus
 
OP
OP
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,962
Hydrus said:
Why is "Scott's tots" so bad? I've never really watched this show.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Oof

250
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
On Break
Oct 25, 2017
32,776
Hydrus said:
Why is "Scott's tots" so bad? I've never really watched this show.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It is the most cringe moment of all time. Basically, when he was younger he promised a bunch of kids that if they made it into college that he would pay for whatever school they got into. His assumption was that he would have made it big by the time they got to that age. He didn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.