Quick Take: The Office, "The List"
The Office gang is still getting used to their new boss and their new CEO.
Review: The Office, "The List"
(S0801) Like many TV lovers, I always look forward to The Office because I know it will make me laugh a lot. For example, in this season premiere, I laughed out loud repeatedly before the opening credits. The planking, the pregnancies, Stanley's (Leslie David Baker) new catch phrase were all hilarious. Throw in James Spader as the best new character on TV and I am in heaven.
Andy (Ed Helms) is a great choice for new boss. For the past seven seasons we've seen the office pretty much run itself and Andy is the closest thing to Michael Scott (Steve Carell) that they have. He's focused on stupid things like Columbus Day, he's always supportive of the staff and most of all, he is not a threat in any way.
In case you had any doubt that Andy was the perfect choice, his confrontation with Robert should have made that clear. Andy is and always will be a really nice guy. It's very important that the rest of the employees have a role model to show them how to be a decent human being considering how many of them are terrible people.
As much as I would love to see Spader in every episode, I know it's not possible. His character is so powerfully funny that it's hard for him not to overshadow the rest of the cast, especially considering that is what Robert California is all about.
This was a great season premiere as it set the tone for this new version of The Office. In short, it's just like the old one but without Steve Carell and just as funny.
I found the planking bit amusing and Spader's performance great, I couldn't help feeling that the episode felt tired and not terribly interesting. I'll keep watching but I can't help thinking that the general creative slide that began several seasons back continues and that Michael's departure would have been a really natural place to close the series.
It was pretty risky, I think, having Stanley look at the camera and explicitly say what his new schtick is. I don't see there being very much payoff from this.
That being said, I absolutely loved Jim explaining how Robert convinced Jo to make him CEO. "He talked her out of her own job." Brilliance!
I doubt they will continue doing the up your butt joke, seeing how it's only funny because it's so lame.
It did make me a little happy to see Stanley so happy though, for pretty much the first time in the series. But I didn't love the episode. I had a lot of hope coming into the reboot of the show, but so far I don't think that's been followed through on.