What's not to understand? I would have expected him to be happy that she had left like 7 messages on his machine, clearly missing him, but he didn't crack a smile, looked bored and miserable. And they played most of the messages as he was in the elevator and walking out so wasn't sure if he heard them or not.

Didn't it show him calling his voice mail first?

And he did smile a little, I thought.

OK you took it how I took it but I thought they left enough room for doubt there that I wasn't sure exactly what they were implying and that I might have misunderstood it.

Anyway, I think most of us agree, good episode.

While I love the light drama with the whole Pam/Jim thing, I have to agree with Archie. When they do full-blown comedy, they're at their very best. I just finally got to watch "The Injury", and it was hilarious. I'm suggesting that they hold off on the Jim/Pam thing until the finale (Pam's wedding?), because they have the perfect position for it where they can stretch it out a bit and not start anything serious between them yet.

Glad it wasn't just me, I never knew that show could be so funny as that episode. I love when Pam is saying she'll miss concussion-Gareth.

Another good episode on Thursday. Better than last week's.

I liked the women's conference with Jan. And Kelly's "...yeah, and what does Michael mean when he says 'second base'?"

And when Pam started crying. That just broke my little heart.

Yes it was a very well done "dramedy" episode of the show. Pam was touching. I don't mind the dramedy as long as they have some flat out comedy ones often enough. I noticed this episode said it was written by BJ Novak. Isn't he the dark haired temp?

I loved the part where Gareth mentioned Lost and the others. That guy is so repulsive yet probably the most deserving of an emmy nom for his comic timing.

Who is this Gareth you speak of!? Dwight, you mean?

He's funny, but I think he's a bit much at times. I think John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer are the ones who deserve the Emmy noms.

And yeah, BJ Novak is Ryan, the temp. IMDB actually lists him as an associate producer for the show, so... hm.

Hah. Yeah Dwight. I guess Gareth is the english version name of that character.

I didn't see the episode yet, but BJ Novak has written some of the funnier episodes of the show, "Diversity Day" and "Fire". He also wrote "Sexual Harassment" which I'm sure was funny, but I don't really remember it. So, he's not new to writing for the show.

I actually prefer the mixture of drama and comedy on the show. It's only during those moments that it begins to match the brilliance of The Office UK.

I agree. I'm a big fan of the British Office and I love the American one all the same. I'm a sap. I love shows like the Office, Scrubs, Love Monkey, and Arrested Development. The characters can be so out there and whacky but there's something so human about them, it makes you laugh and then three to four seconds later want to cry.

Welcome!

Any fan of The Office and Arrested Development is a fan of mine.

Or something.

Please stay and chat. We always need people with good taste in TV.

Slough makes Scranton Redundant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060208b.php

UK "The Office" star Ricky Gervais has agreed to write an episode of the US version of "The Office". Gervais and co-writer Stephen Merchant have acted as executive producers on the remake, but have not previously written an episode reports The BBC.

The comedy, starring Steve Carell in Gervais' manager role, is to return for a third US series after attracting an average of 10 million viewers. NBC has commissioned another 22 episodes of the show.

The American version re-locates the action from a dreary office block in Slough to an equally uninspiring working environment in Pennsylvania. Gervais recently wrote and appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons".

Very nice. Gervais rocks.

Just watched "Boys and Girls". Another great episode. It's funny, many of the episodes are written by people on the show. Mindy Kaling (Kelly) wrote a few episodes, including "The Injury" episode a few weeks back. Paul Lieberstein (Toby) wrote last week's episode, "The Carpet". And BJ Novak (Ryan) wrote "Boys and Girls", as well as "Fire", "Diversity Day" and "Sexual Harassment".

Favorite line: "Remember on 'Lost' when they met the others?" -Dwight, as the men of the office go down to the warehouse

Kind of odd when cast members with little to no writing credits are writing good quality episodes of the show. It makes me wonder if what they are really doing is just sitting down with the regular writers and hashing it out and their name gets put on it.

I kind of assumed that they were writers who got to have small roles on the show, because many of the people playing minor characters don't have many (movie or TV) acting credits.

One thing I didn't realize at the time was that Amy Adams has been on a few episodes of the show.

Yep, the purse girl.

Nice effort tonight. Pam looked great. I was sorta expecting a V-Day gift from Jim for Pam, but the writers went with making Roy look like more of a jackass. Nice. I'm still enjoying the slow development between Jim and Pam. I say they're a better Ross and Rachel than Ross and Rachel were!

Conan!

Loved the excessive gifts from the fridge man. Expressions are The Office's best quality. Dwight's expression after his smooth talk with his "girlfriend" was the funniest thing of the night. Michael - just unnecessary again. Liked seeing Conan though.

I forgot the Conan thing. That was great! Even though he looked like he just woke up.

For me the thing that sends the show over the top is the knowing looks into the "documentary" camera. Like when Jim stated within an hour Michael would shout "I'm king of the world" on the booze cruise, then when Michael did it the camera panned to Jim assuredly pointing to his watch, or the time when Kelly was asking about "second base" then the camera caught her making an overt wink. The best one was in the British version when Gareth went home with a married woman from a bar riding a motorcycle sidecar and he had that mixed look of fear and acceptance on his face as the camera "accidently" caught his reaction. I couldn't stop laughing after that one. The show is just brilliant. I hope they continue the quesy mix of hilarity and almost unbearably innapropriate behavior.

I think Steve Carroll is great as the lead (I wasn't so sure at the start, Ricky Gervais is a hard act to follow). I think he is brilliant enough to be hysterical as Michael Scott, but secure enough in letting the supporting crew shine. The show can go from being the Michael Scott show, to being a true ensemble, to being mostly about the rest of the office from week to week and not miss a beat, which is difficult to do and not suffer in quality.

I just started Netflixing the BBC version, which is, yes, brilliant.