Stay ConnectedTHAT’S WHAT SHE SAID takes an in-depth look at the world of NBC’s THE OFFICE. Each and every week we will offer audio highlights, episode commentary, news, reports on upcoming media appearances of the cast, retro reviews, a selection of podsafe music, and much more.
Often imitated, yet never equaled, TWSS is the longest continually running podcast dedicated to the best show on TV.
Please SUBSCRIBE to receive the most recent episodes.
Copyright: © Matthew R. Sommer
So I'm editing the "Dinner Party" episode of TWSS right now and watching the MY NAME IS EARL episode "Stole P's HD Cart" on TBS. What do I see in the background but the very burger joint that Pam & Jim hit at the end of the episode?The image is kind of small, but you can make it out:It's a "Winky Dinky Dog" franchise in MNIE. Not sure what it is in the universe of THE OFFICE. Best damn cheeseburgers in town, though.
Man o man, this is getting ridiculous: The NBC Universal store is now offering "Serenity by Jan" candle sets. There are three different sets, each with 4 different candles. I'm not sure how "bonfire" ends up smelling like hazelnut, but you can't expect a TRUE Jan original for only $15.
Hard to believe, but a new episode is finally here! From NBC.com:DINNER PARTY 9/8c TV-PG 04.10.2008 GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER - Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) find they have run out of excuses and are forced to go to Jan (Melora Hardin) and Michael's (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) house for dinner. When Andy (Ed Helms) and Angela (Angela Kinsey) are also invited to dinner, Dwight's (Rainn Wilson) jealousy gets the best of him. Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Smith, Paul Lieberstein, Mindy Kaling and Creed Bratton also star. As always, leave your comments below.
With the return of our favorite show tomorrow, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello dove into a triumvirate of The Office "spoilers" in today's column. I won't spoil the "JAM" stuff he mentions, but I definitely want to discuss the following in light of our "the spinoff is a horrible idea" stance:Question: What do you know about the Office spin-off? — J.R.Ausiello: I know that, contrary to speculation, it will not revolve around Dwight. According to an insider, the Michael-Dwight dynamic is "too integral to the show." The likelier scenario, according to a Peacock insider, has Ed Helms' Andy headlining Office 2.0. "That idea was batted around prior to the strike," whispers my source, "and NBC seemed interested."Despite my initial "no way!" reaction, this sort of makes sense. Ed Helms is definitely a "bigger name" than some of the other actors on the show, and while I've enjoyed him in season 4, both Ian and I always felt that the Andy character was a bit too redundant (half Michael/half Dwight). If anyone were to leave the current show, I think I'd miss Andy the least.The only problem I have with this is that it seems to imply a "more of the same" kind of sequel show. As I said in episode # 39, I do NOT want to see "The Office 2.0" in the spinoff. If they can take the Andy character and put him in an environment that's different enough from the Dunder Mifflin digs, it just might work. Until we see more concrete plans, however, I'm going to reserve any more judgement.(BTW, Ausiello also makes it clear in this column that Greg Daniels and NBC would be "insane" to not consider ex-Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham for the "new Michael" role in the spinoff. This just in: Ausiello smokes crack. News at 11...)Disclaimer: AFAIK, Michael Ausiello does not smoke crack.Thanks to Ian for the tip.
Timed to both promote "Leatherheads" AND the return of THE OFFICE this week, The Onion AV Club ran a rather lengthy interview with everyone's favorite football phenom/Office hearth-throb Johnny K.Most of the interview focusses on "Leatherheads," but it eventually shifts over to THE OFFICE towards the end. One quote on how the writer's strike affected the show:AVClub: How did the strike affect the show? The Office can do standalone episodes as well, but it also has plot developments. What happens when the strike blows a hole through the season? How do you recover from that and make a complete season out of it?John Krasinski: I didn't know how they were going to do it. But I think they've done a great job of sort of picking up and creating these little mini-arcs, and just planting seeds. But yeah, the strike definitely devastated any chances of long lead arcs or very intricate arcs. I was really interested to see where it's going to go, but it didn't affect the tone of the show. Some of our funniest episodes are coming up now. And every episode relies at least a little on having some prior knowledge of the show. For instance, on our first episode back, Pam and I finally go to dinner with Michael and Jan, which has been in the works for a long, long time. Read the rest of the article HERE.EDIT:The Sporting News posted a Q&A session with old JK today as well.
I always wonder how these reporters/writers convince their bosses to let them tie their favorite TV show into their job somehow (kind of like those people you read about who write their masters dissertation on "Lost"). Call me cynical, but I imagine lots of "expensed" DVD sets and many a working hour "taking notes" while the aforementioned DVDs play happily in the background. U.S. News & World Report is the latest in a long line of periodicals that have attempted to find some deeper meaning in the world of Dunder Mifflin. Check out their article on "7 Career Lessons From NBC's THE OFFICE."Now if only I could figure out some way to design a few lesson plan units around the show... hmmm...
Episode # 39 of THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID finds Matt alone at the switchboard, gearing up for the big return next week. Two audio clips this week, including Kevin and I teaming up with Sarah from THE OFFICE ALLIANCE to discuss our thoughts on movies, what to expect in the rest of season 4, and the proposed Office spinoff series. Then join me as I talk to Jeremy Wisnewski, editor and contributor for a new book entitled THE OFFICE AND PHILOSOPHY. I prank, therefore I am? Find out more inside. Incidental music provided by the Podshow Podsafe Music Network. Email us at TWSSpodcast @ gmail.com, or leave a comment on our blog page at TWSSpodcast. com. Check out Kevin's blog and podcast at the-frat-pack. com. iTunes reviews are always appreciated! Help spread the word!
Now that the file finally posted, I guess I'll change this "Libsyn stinks" post into a "please leave your comments about episode # 39" post (since comments seem to be AWOL on the real post above).
WARNING: THAR BE SPOILERS BELOW!LEATHERHEADSRating: CFunny thing is, I've seen at least two "screwball" comedies from the 1930s in the last month and a half-- "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town," and "It Happened One Night." George Clooney's "Leatherheads" takes a generous helping of inspiration from BOTH of these classic films, and while it gets some of the tone and trappings right, it just can't seem to find the HEART.John Krasinski, as many of you know, plays and "up and coming" college phenom nick-named "The Bullet." He's an all-American guy, great football player and a war hero to boot. He's got endorsements up the wazoo, and a promising law career ahead of him after he graduates. Clooney plays the sort of manager, sort of press agent, sort of "star" of a rag-tag bunch of losers collectively known as the Duluth Bulldogs. Professional football is still a joke, and the Bulldogs succumb to low ticket sales and general disinterest. Rather than find other work, Clooney comes up with a plan-- do whatever it takes to make sure Krasinski plays for HIS team. Back in Chicago, Renee Zellweger plays a "gal reporter with moxie," who, much like Jean Arthur's character in "Mr. Deeds...," is charged with getting close to and then getting the DIRT on "The Bullet," who seems too good to be true. Just like Claudette Colbert's character in "It Happened...," Zellweger ALSO starts falling more and more for Clooney's "Clark Gable-esque" rascally ways as they spend more and more time together. To make it a classic triangle, she ALSO seems to be falling for Krasinski, and he definitely seems to be falling for her-- so much so that he lets her in on a rather damning secret which may or may not end his career or damage his good name (it's never really clear WHAT will happen as a result of this information leaking out, actually).This is essentially where the movie lost me. The antics showing the early days of football were mostly amusing and interesting, and if the film would have STUCK with that angle, it might have been more entertaining in the long run. Instead, it focusses on the love triangle. No big deal, right? Colbert had to throw off her drip of a fiance in order to be with Gable. Surely, like Arthur's character, Zellweger will suffer a crisis of conscience, repent of her evil, deceptive ways, beg forgiveness of the man she's double-crossed, and ultimately come to his defense... right? WRONG. Bafflingly, the movie wants to set up Krasinski as the "villain" to Clooney's hero, but it just doesn't work. We LIKE "The Bullet," we know his war story wasn't really his fault, and we never see him acting like a jerk or using his fame to manipulate people or do anything worse than take a swing at a man who has stolen his girl. Zellweger, far from having to search her soul about what to do with the hot story, sells him out in a heartbeat... and the movie wants the audience to be on HER side when she's then threatened with being fired. Frank Capra would have known that for the audience to be on her side we need Krasinski to be a total douche, twisting his mustache and threatening to "ruin her" or something. But Krasinski, as I said, is a NICE guy. I don't want to see him ruined, and I certainly wasn't on the side of a woman who'd romance a secret out of a guy and use it to crucify him (the scene Clooney orchestrates to humiliate him into confessing is also rather painful).As if that wasn't enough, the film sends Krasinski's character to the arch-rival Chicago Buffalos team mere days before the Bulldogs are set to play them. I guess this was also supposed to get us to see Krasinski as a bad guy or a traitor, but it still doesn't work: there are absolutely no stakes in the final game, I didn't really care if the Bulldogs won or not, and I still wasn't quite sure why Clooney-- and the audience-- was supposed to be rooting against Krasinski's character.In the end, The Bulldogs win, Krasinski promisses to "fess up," Clooney gets the girl, and they ride off into the sunset towards connubial bliss. As the credits began to roll, I realized a few things: one, that the movie was an interesting attempt to recreate a certain long-lost film style, and two, I simply couldn't have cared less that Clooney and Zellweger got together. After further review, though, maybe they deserved each other after all.BONUS! Fun "Leatherheads" Trivia!Did you know that WWI (a.k.a. "the great war") ended in 1918? Given the year "Leatherheads" takes place (1925), and the fact that Carter seems to imply that he is 24 years old, he would have been all of 17 years old (maximum) when the "incident" took place.
Aside from Steve Carell's role in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, I haven't seen any of films starring the various Office cast members (MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND? Looked dumb... WALK HARD? Killed by bad reviews... LICENSE TO WED? Do I really have to have a reason? HORTON and EVAN? No thanks). I am kind of curious to see LEATHERHEADS, though. Maybe it's because I used to play football, or because I enjoy a "screwball" comedy, or maybe just because the cast looks solid. The reviews, however, haven't been very kind (currently earning a whipping 55% freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes).Still, 96% of critics drooled over JUNO, so what the hell do they know, right? (-_^)Anyone see the film? What did you think?
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
