Friday Notebook: "The Office," "Grey's Anatomy"
Posted May 16th, 2008 by Rich Heldenfels
Come on. Admit it. Just looking at this picture is making you laugh again …
Great, great, great episode of "The Office." Am dying to see more of the fabulous Amy Ryan as Holly, the new HR rep. In addition to the whole Kevin confusion (and how long can they keep that going?), there's her Michael side. And how it's going to be for Michael to work with someone who is so clearly his soul mate while also trying to be part of Jan's pregnancy.
Beyond Holly, too, there's the Dwight/Angela/Andy situation (and of course you all stayed for the very last shot). And Pam and Jim, of course.
Phyllis triumphant.
"Goodbye Stranger."
"Did you go near my Propecia?"
Andy yanking away Daryl's keyboard.
The raccoon.
The Jim/Dwight phone bit at the beginning.
Ryan's arrest. All right, we knew something bad was going to happen to Ryan, and that this sets up the possibility of Jim taking the corporate job if Pam decides not to come back after Pratt, and — oh, stop! I'm making myself crazy just thinking about the long wait until next season.
But what a great way to wrap up this one.
"Grey's Anatomy" nicely demonstrated that last week's episode wasn't a fluke. It seems to have really found its voice again. Good mix of humor and drama. Nice character flourishes with Cristina, Meredith, Callie, George, the Chief, Hahn, Sloan. I'm still not a Lexie fan but I'm getting used to her. I just hope that next week's show doesn't try too hard for the Big Statement.
One more note re "Grey's": Anyone else get spoiled by watching the opening credits? When I saw Jeffrey D. Sams's name, but he wasn't in the early part of the episode, I knew that he would show up as the "imaginary" boyfriend.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Given that this was Toby's farewell party, and with Ryan being arrested, does this mean that Paul Lieberstein and BJ Novak are developing the spinoff? Or do you think that Ryan's trial will unfold next season? If that happens, I wonder if Jim's voice-mails may come back to haunt him.
Overall, that episode really made the season for me, particularly since we didn't get a Christmas episode due to the strike. The baby stuff seemed very muddled to me, given what happened earlier this season, but the rest of it was terrific.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
In a live blog after the finale (which, by the way, includes lyrics for "Beers in Heaven" and "Total Eclipse of the Fart"), Paul said: "Toby has left Dunder Mifflin and is going to Costa Rica. If they want to go down there and film on the beach, that's fine with me. As for Paul, I'll be here working as a writer on season 5. Jen Celotta and I are running the show with Greg." Apparently that's so the other writers can focus on the spin-off. And so many possibilities: not only if Toby comes back, but Ryan may get short jail time and have to re-enter the working world, Jim (as many have suspected) could get Ryan's job and go to NYC to be with Pam (although Pam's three months of study sounds like a "how I spent my summer" deal, or Andy could go work somewhere else since it appears his marriage plans are not going to work. Also from the blog, they wrote Holly with Amy Ryan in mind…