Here comes the Funcooker! / NBC
Two-for-one spoilers for The Office and 30 Rock coming up after the jump:
I could make this comment every week, but it’s amazing that The Office and 30 Rock can be so alike—workplace comedies on NBC, targeted at a similar demographic—and yet so different. There’s the tone (The Office dry, 30 Rock fast and zany), the setting (exurban vs. urban), the narrative (realistic vs. fantastical). But there’s also a difference in the basic premise, which last night’s episodes showed dramatically. The Office is about what it’s like to work for an idiot boss; 30 Rock is about what it’s like to manage idiot employees.
On The Office, Michael Scott is an idiot but not a complete idiot—he’s sort of an idiot savant, who for all his horrible management ideas and people skills also closes deals and somehow comes up with ideas that are idiotic enough to work. Last night worked that contradiction into the plot, as his loony Willie Wonka promotion actually turned out to be a boon to the company—but only after he panicked at the initial disaster, asked Dwight to fall on his sword and then mishandled claiming the credit back for himself.
Trying to fob off blame onto Dwight was one of the more ruthless, David Brent-like things we’ve seen Michael do, but it was interesting to see how he went about it. You see the flash of hesitation before he passes up the chance to blame Jim (either because he likes Jim better or because he realizes Jim will never take the fall). And the payoff was seeing an office of employees used to suffering the fallout of Michael’s brainstorms (like Pam with her list of phone excuses, e.g., “trapped in an oil painting”) rally behind the generally despised Dwight as a way of sticking it to Michael. (Particularly liked Pam rushing up, hugging Dwight and thanking him for helping the company.)
Meanwhile 30 Rock returned to the theme of Liz as overwhelmed middle manager, caught between a boss and a set of employees determined to make their problems hers. While it didn’t take the show anywhere new, the microwave subplot and Liz’s storyline meshed together nicely, and I’ll take Liz in Princess Leia getup (a callback to the Oprah episode) any day.
One thing The Office and 30 Rock do have in common: bizarre inventions. Which would you rather buy—a Funcooker (with Ham button!) or a Toilet Buddy?