If you caught the post-Superbowl episode of The Office on Sunday night, you saw the bootleg movie that Andy had featuring Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman. It was funny enough with a creepy May/December romance between Black and Leachman, but I’m wondering what purpose it really served.
To me, it seemed like someone (whether it was a suit at the network or someone who works on the show) decided that because this was a “very special” hour long episode, it needed a bunch of big name guest stars. With the way that 30 Rock has been going with guest stars this year, my guess is that it was someone at the network.
The real question, though, is did they serve any purpose? It seemed to me like the whole plot with the movie was very secondary and that it was just a blatant attempt to stuff the guest stars into the show without disrupting the rest of the story. I can almost see the conversation in the writer’s room:
Writer 1: So… the network is forcing us to work Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman into the big Superbowl episode.
Writer 2: That blows! We already have a great story written up…
Writer 1: I know, I know, we’re totally being Will-and-Grace‘d!
Writer 2: Well… Maybe we can just shove them into some pointless B plot.
Writer 1: Better yet, let’s not have them interact with any of the regular cast at all!
Writer 2: Brilliant!
Writer 1: Brilliant!
And then they started drinking Guinness….
Seriously, though, I’m a bit ambivalent with what they did. I am glad that the big guest stars didn’t really interfere with the Dunder Mifflin crew, and I thought the roast and accompanying storyline was really funny. At the same time, however, I think that Jack Black and Cloris Leachman are great comedians. They definitely could have added something to The Office in a more direct manner. Wouldn’t it have been great if Leachman guested as one of our office worker’s mothers? I think she and Steve Carrell could have made some comedy magic.
Well… what do you think?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Feb 05, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
I laughed a lot during this episode and thought it was the most non-Office like episode ever. Extremely irritating to be honest.
There are two movies Jack Black was good in (ok maybe three): High Fidilety, School of Rock and Shallow Hal. Everything that came after that was just horrible and that’s why I’m glad he’s been stuck into this storyline that so totally fits – being an actor in a really bad movie and just seen on a laptop monitor during the episode.
Because I think anything other than this would’ve interfered with the show even more than the whole storyline. I mean what Dwight did simply isn’t acceptable anymore. He endangered lives here and excuse me but isn’t the whole Angela/Dwight thing still not finished? The guys simply dropped her both? That’s it? Sorry but Michael’s love interest had to move because of company policy but Dwight basically going apeshit is ok?
I mean Dwight can now basically simply kill one of his co-workers and get away with it. Maybe he sets one on fire. Who cares. He can do whatever he wants it seems.
So to be honest Jack Black isn’t so much my main concern about the Superbowl episode.
Cloris Leachman as Dwight’s mom.
Nuff said.
I thought they did a really good job with this. I was really wondering how they could incorporate these three in the Office environment and just couldn’t see it. They used a great device to do it.
looks like the joke worked on you