| "The List" | |||
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| The Office episode | |||
The titular list |
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| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 1 |
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| Directed by | B. J. Novak | ||
| Written by | B. J. Novak | ||
| Production code | 801 | ||
| Original air date | September 22, 2011 | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of The Office (U.S.) episodes | |||
"The List" is the eighth season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 153rd episode overall. The episode original aired on NBC in the United States on September 22, 2011.[1] It was written and directed by executive producer B. J. Novak. In the episode, Robert California stops by for the first time as CEO and leaves behind a mysterious list that has a line down the middle and every member of the office on either one side or the other. The office members frantically try to figure out what it means. Meanwhile, the new manager Andy Bernard faces a crisis.
The episode received mostly positive reviews with many commenting that it proved the series could survive without the lead actor, Steve Carell. According to Nielsen Media Research, "The List" drew an estimated 7.63 million viewers and received a 3.9 rating/10% share in the 18-49 demographic making it the lowest rated season premiere since the first-season premiere.
Contents |
Robert California (James Spader) is appointed Regional Manager of the Scranton Branch, but quits on his first day, travels to Florida and convinces Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) to give him her position as CEO of Dunder Mifflin-Sabre. Andy (Ed Helms) is then appointed Regional Manager in Scranton, and makes it his goal for the office to receive a half day off on the Friday before the Columbus Day weekend.
Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) finds Robert's notebook recording a list of Scranton's employees on two columns with a line down the middle. This causes the office to become frantic with what the list attributes to. Andy asks Robert about it, who brushes it off as "doodles," and conspicuously moves Andy's name from the left column to the right. Later that day, Robert invites the employees on the left column to lunch, including Jim (John Krasinski), Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Angela (Angela Kinsey), Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), Phyllis (Phyllis Smith), Toby (Paul Lieberstein) and Oscar (Oscar Nunez). After they leave, Andy treats the remaining staff to a pizza party, but they are not happy about being left behind and do not respond to his sincere efforts to make them feel better.
During lunch, the "left-siders" pester Robert about the list, who, in-between beers, informs them that the left-siders are "winners" while the right side are "losers". Jim is astonished, but the others become cocky. Kevin sends a mass text to the right-siders, mocking them as "losers", and later squirts Meredith with a water pistol. Andy does not like this and confronts Robert with a demand to alter the list. Robert refuses, and then speaks to everyone by admitting to calling certain members of the office losers, but also saying he will be working with them a long time and that his opinions on certain people may very well change, finishing with "Winners, prove me right; losers, prove me wrong". Andy, unfazed, lists off the qualities the right-siders have, stating that Stanley (Leslie David Baker) may be a grump, but has the best sales record in the office (something Robert admits to being unaware of); Meredith (Kate Flannery) is persistent and does not know what the word "no" means; and Pam (Jenna Fischer) is one of the kindest people he knows. Andy concedes to Robert that putting Gabe (Zach Woods) in the losers' column was "astute". Andy then demands the Columbus half day, responds to Robert's comment about Columbus being responsible for genocide with "I DON'T CARE" and exits, prompting a respecting smile from Robert. Though the office annually gets the half day in any case, they happily wish him good evening as they depart, and Andy looks very pleased with his work as the boss.
Pam is pregnant with her and Jim's second child (revealed to be a boy) and is emotional, easily brought to tears throughout the day. Angela is also pregnant, having married the state senator Robert Lipton over the summer, and says that she's "Little Preg" to Pam's "Big Preg". When Jim picks up his things to leave for the day, he knocks over a piece of paper. Pam picks it up and sees Jim's personal winners and losers list: Pam, CeCe and their new baby are on the left, and everything else is on the right. Pam tearfully vows to frame it.
The episode was written and directed by executive producer B. J. Novak, who also portrays Ryan Howard in the series. It is Novak's fourteenth writing credit and third directing credit for the series. Before this episode, series star Steve Carell left the series and the following episodes featured several different managers.[2] In the season finale, several guest actors appeared in the episoe including James Spader and it was left up in the air on who would become the manager.[3] On June 27th, 2011, co-creator and executive producer Ricky Gervais announced Spader was to join the cast on a permanent basis.[4] This marks his second appearance of James Spader, having appeared in the previous episode, the seventh season finale.[5] He will appear in at least 15 episodes and will serve as a replacement for Jo Bennett as CEO of Sabre, portrayed by Kathy Bates, who left the series due to her commitment for the NBC drama series, Harry's Law.[5]
The episode revealed who the new office manager would be after lead actor Steve Carell, who portrayed Michael Scott.[6] Executive Producer Paul Lieberstein had told Ed Helms his character, Andy, would be the manager during lunch in June.[7] The writers had gone through the main contenders for the job, Darryl, Dwight and Andy, with Andy being the best choice.[7] The episode also confirmed that Pam is pregnant with her second child, which corresponds to Jenna Fischer's real-life pregnancy.[8] The episode also started filming on July 25, 2011.[9] The official website for The Office included three cut scenes from "The List" within a week of its release. In the first 73-second clip, Ryan explains where trends comes from and Gabe explains why he's back in a talking head.[10] In the second 61-second clip, Andy attempts to calm everybody down while they try to figure out what the list means.[11] The third 127-second clip features more scenes with the winner's lunch and the loser's pizza party.[12]
The cold open features multiple workers "planking", an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. This is the third season premiere to include a internet trend in the cold open in a row. The first was in Gossip where Michael, Dwight and Andy try to film a video of them attempting parkour. The second was in Nepotism where the office make a lip dub video of the song Nobody but Me.[13] Throughout the episode, Pam is seen crying at a commercial for The Travelers Companies featuring a dog trying to keep his dog bone safe.[14]
In its original American broadcast on September 22, 2011, "The List" was viewed by an estimated 7.63 million viewers and received a 3.9 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.[15] This means that it was seen by 3.9% of all 18–49 years olds, and 10% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a 11 percent fall in the demographic from the seventh-season premiere, "Nepotism", making it the lowest rated season premiere since the pilot episode.[15] The episode ranked second in its timeslot beating Person of Interest which received a 3.1 rating/8% share in the 18-49 demographic and The Secret Circle which received a 0.9 rating/2% share, but was defeated by The X Factor which received a 4.4 rating/11% share and tied with Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.9 rating/10% share.[15] "The List" was the twenty-second most-watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49.[16]
The curse of recent seasons of The Office has been unevenness, so until they've made it through a few episodes, it's tough to give a diagnosis of the post-Carell show. But that was about as good a first outing as they could have hoped to have.
"The List" received mostly positive reviews. HitFix reviewer Alan Sepinwall complemented the final scene featuring Andy confronting Robert calling it "sweet and felt genuine, in the way that made the show's early days feel special."[14] Despite this, he said the "story fell a little flat."[14] Linda Homles of NPR praised the choice of adding James Spader, making Andy the manager, and praised the writers for differentiating Andy as manager from Michael.[17] IGN writer Cindy White praised the episode for being an "ensemble affair" writing that "And when you've got an ensemble this strong, that's a smart way to go".[13] She concluded that "In context with the rest of NBC's hilarious Thursday-night lineup [...] The Office can't help but seem a little long in the tooth. But you can always rely on it for at least a few laugh-out-loud moments [...] I'm not ready to call time of death on this show just yet.[13] She ultimately gave the episode an 8.0/10.[13] TV Guide writers Joyce Eng and Kate Stanhope called the promotion of Andy as manager the third best television moment of the week.[18] James Poniewozik of Time gave the episode a positive review commenting that it "it at least showed that a season 8 Office is capable of delivering the funny as well as the character grace notes".[19] In a poll taken by an Office fansite Officetally.com, fans gave the episode a 7.48 out of 10 rating.[20]
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