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The Office Watch: Season 8 Premiere - The List

And now we know. The new Regional Manager at Dunder Mifflin was revealed to us tonight as The Office resumed with an episode that was reminiscent of earlier seasons for all of the right reasons. The Office is a work-place comedy, and with the exception of a lunch-break, tonight’s premiere focused on life inside the office.



No one wants to be on the wrong side of a two-column list. Tonight, half the DM staff found themselves in that situation, and the rest went out to lunch.



Robert California

An excellent name for a very bizarre man. James Spader returned to The Office tonight as Dunder Mifflin’s new CEO. He originally applied for Michael Scott’s job, but settled on talking Jo out of her position as CEO. I can only imagine what that conversation sounded like.



With the new CEO spending half his time camped out in the conference room at the Scranton Branch, everyone’s a little on edge. Especially because he has a tendency to slow-walk around the office like a teacher looking over his students’ work. Awkward small-talk usually ensues with whomever he decides to interrupt.



When Erin came across a list of names in Robert’s notebook, the staff grew concerned. Considering the list was split down the middle, with certain employees on one side and certain employees on the other, speculation ran rampant as to what the list meant and which side was the better side to be on. Given that Creed was listed on the right side as “Old man,” it was probably safe to assume from the start that the right side wasn’t the good side. Sure enough, Robert took the left side of the list out to lunch to reward them for being winners, leaving the rest back at the office to eat pizza and wonder what they were missing out on.



His rationale for drawing a big fat line down the middle of the branch was to encourage the winners to prove him right, and the losers to prove him wrong. Positive reinforcement for the people who are performing is a good thing, and there’s certainly an argument to be made for withholding rewards from people who aren’t. However, doing so in such an obvious way, and basing the list on early impressions may have been jumping the gun a bit. Then again, this is the man who talked the CEO out of her job. I suppose we’ll have to keep reminding ourselves of that every time he exercises his leadership abilities.



California succeeded in making some of the staff feel really good about themselves, while others felt bad about themselves, and a few just felt uncomfortable with the whole situation, including Toby, who got up and left the table mid-way through the lunch.



Andy Bernard, Regional Manager, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton

That’s right, Andy is the new Michael Scott, and I’m pretty pleased with the revelation. Ed Helms has proven to be crucial to the humor and heart of the series, despite the fact that he was not among the original Office crew. An import from Stamford (and the only remaining staff member from the merger), Andy came into the office hoping to be the boss’ Number 2. Now he’s Number 1 (not counting California).



Andy’s first official demonstration of his Regional Manager duties tonight was to secure an extra half-day for Columbus Day weekend. Getting an early start on a three-day weekend is a big win, as I’m sure anyone who works in an office would agree. Andy achieved that task in the end, but his bigger win came when he was tasked to deal with the list situation. Inquiring about it got him put on the right side of the list, however he redeemed himself in the end by defending the rest of the right siders, offering positive things to say about all of them, except for Gabe. I’m not sure anyone really likes Gabe, but given his history with Erin, Andy has an extra reason to kick Gabe further under the bus when given the opportunity.



Sticking up for the staff and point out their strengths was a very Michael Scott move. It’s going to take some getting used to Andy as the boss, and I’m curious to know if this is a permanent situation, or if, like Jim and Michael’s attempt to share the boss responsibilities, things will shift back to normal with Andy returning to sales eventually. Either way, it’s working.



Other notable moments...



Pam’s pregnant again! She and Jim are having a boy and they’re both extremely happy. Pam’s so happy, she can’t stop crying. Her first pregnancy included a lot of morning sickness, so I suppose in terms of the mess, the tears are small potatoes.



Angela is also pregnant. She and her husband (the senator) are having their first baby! I love that she reminds everyone that he’s a senator. It’s a little like how Phyllis was when she and Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) first started dating. A couple of bits of random speculation on Angela’s marital and pregnancy status. Does anyone think there’s a chance she’s carrying Dwight’s baby? I don’t know that we were given any hints of that tonight, however we know Angela’s not opposed to cheating and, if I’m remembering correctly, it was hinted, if not outright stated that the Senator might prefer men. I’d love it if it turned out she’s carrying a Schrute baby. If it’s extra thirsty, we’ll know for sure. Shrutes produce very thirsty babies.



Planking. Part of the cold open included a number of the staff members partaking in “Planking,” which involves laying like a log in random places, like under the men’s room urinals or on desks. Dwight put a stop to that by knocking the plankers over or spraying them with the fire extinguisher. Planking is dangerous when Dwight is around.



Phyllis took one for the team. When the staff was trying to copy the list, Robert California showed up and Phyllis created a diversion by falling over. The smirky look on her face when when she was helped up was really funny.



Dwight chucked a phone at the wall. Leave it to Dwight to use an innocent request as an opportunity to demonstrate his pitching skills by throwing his phone at the wall in response to Jim’s request to throw him his phone. The Office is most definitely back.