“I knew exactly what to do, but in a much more real sense I had no idea what to do.” — Michael Scott (Doesn’t that pretty much sum up Michael Scott in one sentence?)
First of all, I think we all know that Michael is way too sensitive to survive a roast, and this one wasn’t even as scathing as some of the ones we’ve seen. Does that make it even more mean-spirited that the rest of the team went ahead and threw him under the bus? Surely they knew he would be devastated by their comments.
I’m incredibly disappointed that we didn’t get to see Creed roast the maestro. I can’t say for sure he would have been any better than what we did see, but more Creed is always a good thing. Still, there were some good digs, particularly from Pam and Andy. iPod Shuffle? Ouch!
The Office is a unique flavor of comedy on television, and thus an odd choice for an episode to air after the Super Bowl. There were some good moments throughout, particularly the sequences with Andy, Jim and Pam and that May-December romance movie with Jack Black and Cloris Leachman. But the roast was the heart of the episode, and it came more than halfway into it.
I also would have liked to see more of the bits that the staff came up with, most only got one or two lines and then we moved on. And while it was no surprise that Michael ran away when it came time for him to respond to their chides, I was impressed that he was able to show up the next day and get in his own digs. I was even more surprised when Stanley burst out laughing at his own dig.
I’d be curious to see how many new viewers tuned in after the big game and what they thought of this introduction into the Dunder-Mifflin world. As a long-time fan of The Office, this had a lot of the elements that I like about the show. It was a little odd when Kelly began dancing to Andy’s singing of “Staying Alive,” but almost every other element was solid.
Even Dwight’s over-the-top behavior is pretty consistent with his portrayal throughout the series. Perhaps the reactions to the “fire drill” were a little extreme, but it was worth it to see Angela throw her cat into the drop ceiling and have it fall back out.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Feb 02, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
I laughed so hard when Michael was chanting and Meredith sat in front of him and gave him a peep show. The way he went from ‘Ooooom’ to ‘Oh my God!’ was classic. I wish I knew what Oscar was saying in Spanish during the roast.
That was some rapid-fire Spanish…I asked my husband and he said the jist of it was “and I have to get up in the morning and go to work for you! For YOU!”
The Fire Drill may have been over the top, but it was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on television. I literally had to pause my DVR and go and get a drink of water before I could watch the rest of the show.
I wish I knew what Oscar was saying in Spanish during the roast.
+eleventybillion
I thought the Cloris/Jack Black romance was creepy…
This episode was one of the funniest that I’ve seen in awhile. Thank God for our DVR, because we had to rewind the whole fire drill scene at least 5 times to watch again and again. Angela’s cat- FUNNY!!! I literally had tears coming down my face. Classic Office! The deleted scenes on nbc.com were great also. However, I’m inclined to agree about the whole Jack Black/Cloris Leachman thing- yuck!