Matt925

When they showed his name plate "Andrew Bernard" my first thought was that someone who doesn't give a shit would pick the first person alphabetically.

I thought it was pretty damn hilarious. Felt inspired. I don't recall so much physical comedy in one episode, but man it was really strong.

MLBFan24

I couldn't stop laughing about the bit where Robert walks around the office and you hope he doesn't talk to you (or maybe you do...)

my boss does that.

windom

I saw a clip of Robert California from his first episode and realized something...he has mentioned Sesame Street (or The Street) in both of his episodes. I wonder if this was intentional or not. After his interview he told Dwight that he saw an episode of Sesame Street where they showed how to make paper. Good character continuity at least.

fumanstan

Great episode. Didn't miss Michael at all, and there was great comedy bits with the planking and line up fight, as well as great heart with Andy sticking up for his team. I didn't like Spader last season either, but thought he was real good here and actually showed reasons for his behavior. Jim's note to Pam at the end was real sweet too.

I'm surprised at why anyone would question Andy being picked as manager, or missed that he was on the winner side entirely.

Original Desmond

I personally think this show is done

majorjoe23

Take attendance at work?

Mr. Cinema

Michael Scott was goofy, but one of his strong qualities was sales. There are various episodes throughout the series that suggested that. I don't really like Andy being the new boss. I'd much rather they had brought in an outsider to run the local office.

Red Dog

Kevin's "Warning! Warning!" warnings and "Suck it, losers" text were great.

at the over-analysis in this thread.

MLBFan24

At the first shot of Pam, I knew she was pregnant again. Not sure if she's really pregnant in real life, but she definitely looked it (before they showed her belly)

Draven

Fixed. It always blows my mind. I guarantee the writers don't think as hard as DVDTalkers do about this stuff.

I called Andy as the manager last season because he was the only person who made logical sense. Both from an actor perspective and a character one. I did laugh out loud at his little "right before the title screen" shot. Nice way to mix that up.

I thought this was a good episode. And I was surprised. I still don't like James Spader as an actor, but hopefully he will fade a bit more into the background as the season progresses. I liked Andy sticking up for the group and he does have some similarities to Michael but won't be a clone and that's what they needed to do.

And I'll never understand the haters - I still love Jim and Pam and I think they have one of the most realistic relationships on TV. In the span of 7 years I went from being in college to being married with one kid and another about to arrive and you definitely change as a person. I've always thought they've handled those transitions pretty well.

Red Dog

True. I'm always amazed how it gets so many posts.

DJariya

Great 1st episode. Kevin's "Suck it losers" texts was hilarious and him squirting water at Meredith was funny.

I liked Andy as the new Manager. It makes perfect sense to use Ed Helms that way since he's a big comedy movie star right now.

Robert should be fine as long as they use him in small doses. But, is it really necessary for the SABRE CEO to hang out at the Dunder Mifflin office all the time? Since Spader is only scheduled to appear in 15 of the 20 something episodes, I assume California will need to do business elsewhere from time to time.

BTW, what is up with Spader's hair? He had a full head of hair on Boston Legal's entire run and barely 3 years after it ended he had a major receding hairline.

Count me in also as a fan of Jim and Pam. I don't know why so many people hate or are annoyed by them. One of my old colleagues hates their relationship and always wants to gag everytime they appear on screen. I also think they are one of the most realistc TV couples. And yes, Jenna Fischer is 100% pregnant.

DJariya

I personally think your wrong. Go back and watch your old Office UK torrents then.

fujishig

So why was Spader, CEO, at the Scranton office all the time?

andicus

He's probably overseeing the placement of a new regional manager...

chuckd21

They said he comes in two days a week.

Goldblum

I thought the list was pretty well distributed.

Good:
Spader
Dwight
Kevin
Jim

Bad:
Everyone else

Not a great start, but I'm willing to give it a few more episodes.

cungar

You could have posted this 2 years ago and it would have been true then.

The planking segments were the most cringeworthily bad moments in the show's history.

andicus

Really? The planking was worse than Michael driving into the lake because the GPS had to be right?

fumanstan

I don't see how the planking segments were that cringe worthy. It's a stupid thing, but people actually do it in real life. And it led to a funny scene with Dwight stopping everyone from doing it, which was great.

Michael Corvin

I thought Spader made this episode. Face it, after all these years, the cast was growing kinda stale. This is a good shake up. Everyone in the Office knew everything about Michael Scott and the way he worked, California is good because it's keeping everyone on their toes.

I'm indifferent about Andy as boss. On paper his character's qualifications and Ed Helm's rising star make sense, but I'm unsure about him in charge. I would have preferred someone new but bringing in two new players the same season just wouldn't have worked.

GuessWho

Another point for Andy being the boss--Michael gave him his client list

cdollaz

Yeah, the planking thing was funny. It's exactly the kind of stupid shit that I can see those people doing.

windom

It's just not as fun without having someone who hates Toby as much as Michael did.

So is RC the CEO of the entire Sabre corporation? Or just the Dunder-Mifflin portion? It's hard to believe Jo would give up control of the company unless she retired and she didn't seem like the type to retire before she had to.

DJariya

Did you not hear? Jo retired to star in Harry's Law..

No seriously, Dunder Mifflin is part of Sabre and I think California is now the CEO of the entire corporation, but just hanging out in Scranton for some reason. In the episodes that Spader isn't in, I'm sure they will mention that he is doing business in Florida at the corporate office.