Thursday nights are funny again
After a long and brutal wait “The Office” has finally returned to brighten Thursday nights.
The big returning episode had been hyped up ever since the show’s fourth season was stopped after a mere eight episodes this fall due to the Writer’s Guild of America Strike. Back in November, Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam on the show, said on her MySpace page that the returning episode would be “the funniest of the year.”
The episode, titled “The Dinner Party,” was set up to be an extremely uncomfortable situation between most of the show’s main characters. Michael (Steve Carrel), invites Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam as well as the new office couple Angela (Angela Kinsey) and Andy (Ed Helms) to his home for a dinner party with his girlfriend and ex-boss, Jan (Melora Hardin).
The first eight episodes did not feature Jan’s storyline as often as the previous seasons, but at “The Dinner Party” she was back in shining glory. “The Office” has always been a perfect mixture of intense awkwardness and just plain comedy, but this episode focused more on the more awkward side of things. Throughout the episode Jan and Michael bicker with each other and embarrass themselves in front of their guests, and there are moments that are just too painful to watch.
Of course, “The Office” has a lot of lost time to make up for, and this was just the first in a hopefully long series of new episodes over the next few months. The writers should be commended for taking the show out of the actual office, where the show was stagnantly set for the most part during its earlier seasons. They have successfully mixed it up multiple times throughout this year.
“The Dinner Party” was a reminder of just how ridiculous yet fantastic “The Office” truly is. With a spin-off series reportedly coming next February, it better stay that way.
Contact Campus Press Reporter Emma Dessau at Emma.Dessau@Colorado.edu.
