Dream Team (The Office)

"Dream Team"
The Office episode
Michael and Pam setting up their new office.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 22
Directed by	Paul Feig
Written by	B. J. Novak
Production code	522
Original air date	April 9, 2009[1]
Guest stars
Idris Elba
Episode chronology
← Previous "Two Weeks" Next → "Michael Scott Paper Company"
List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes

"Dream Team" is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 94th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. In the episode, Pam and Michael try to keep each other motivated as the two form their new paper company together. Michael recruits Ryan for the company, which sets up a new office in the same building complex as Dunder Mifflin. Meanwhile, Jim tries to impress new boss Charles Miner by claiming to be a soccer enthusiast, but it backfires when Dwight convinces the two to face each other in a game.

The episode was written by B. J. Novak and directed by Paul Feig. It included a guest appearance by Idris Elba, who played new Dunder Mifflin vice president Charles Miner. The episode aired the same day as the Office episode "Michael Scott Paper Company"; the debut episode of the new NBC show Parks and Recreation was shown between the two episodes. "Dream Team" marked the return of Ryan, who had not appeared on the show since the November 2008 episode "Frame Toby". The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings, was watched by 7.2 million viewers and captured the most viewers in its time slot for adults between the ages of 18 and 49. "Dream Team" received 2009 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Editing in a Comedy Series.

Plot

In the cold open, Kevin struggles to correctly transfer phone calls, after having been moved to reception by Charles.

Michael (Steve Carell), having left Dunder Mifflin with Pam (Jenna Fischer) to form his own company, is having trouble starting his first day as president of the Michael Scott Paper Company. Pam tries to keep things together and suggests they create a list of things to do to maintain a positive working atmosphere. Michael sets up a meeting with a potential investor and makes a list of potential salesmen to join the company. He receives a letter from his realtor saying that running a business from his condominium is in violation of his residence agreement, so he needs to find office space for the company. Michael and Pam leave to find potential salesmen and then have their meeting with the potential investor.

Michael's first stop is his old part-time telemarketing job to pick up Vikram. Next, they stop at a bowling alley, where Ryan (B. J. Novak), with bleached blond hair, is now working behind the shoe counter. Michael successfully convinces Ryan to join them, despite initial reservations from Pam, and they head to the meeting with the investor. The investor turns out to be Michael's grandmother, whom he calls "nana," at a nursing home. Michael gives her his pitch, but she does not believe his new venture will yield success and refuses to fund his company.

Meanwhile, at the Dunder Mifflin office, Charles Miner (Idris Elba) is revealed to have an obsession with soccer, and the rest of the employees pretend to feel the same way about it. When Jim (John Krasinski) tries to play it coy about his feelings about it, Dwight (Rainn Wilson), attempting to humiliate Jim, requests that the staff play a game after work in the parking lot. Charles agrees, and Jim reluctantly does the same. During the game, when Charles kicks the ball towards Jim, he ducks and the ball hits Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) in the face. Charles berates Jim for ducking, and Dwight mocks him.

In the car on the way back from the nursing home, Vikram asks to be brought back to the telemarketing job after he learns "nana" is a term for grandmother. Back at Michael's condo, a frustrated Pam loses her composure and tells Michael she made a mistake leaving Dunder Mifflin with him and only did it because she became tired of being a receptionist. Michael gives her a pep talk, telling her the reality is they both quit and that their only option is to continue trying with the new company. Michael purchases office space in the Scranton Business Park, where Dunder Mifflin is located; it turns out to be a large closet directly underneath the Dunder Mifflin office. Michael and Pam put their company name in the office lobby directory where they encounter Charles, who is seemingly agitated with the presence of Michael's new company occupying the same space. Michael taunts Charles and informs him he cannot kick them out of the building now because they own their own space.

Production

"Dream Team" was written by B. J. Novak, who also returned to play Ryan for the first time in five months.

"Dream Team" was written by B. J. Novak and directed by Paul Feig. It originally aired on April 9, 2009, the same day as the episode "Michael Scott Paper Company"; the debut episode of the new NBC show Parks and Recreation was shown between the two episodes.^[2] It marks the first appearance of Novak as Ryan since "Frame Toby" in November 2008, when Novak briefly left the show to film his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.^[3][4] Mindy Kaling, an Office writer who also stars as Kelly Kapoor, thought of the idea of Ryan dying his hair blond.^[5] "Dream Team" was the third of six episodes guest starring Idris Elba, best known as Stringer Bell from the television series The Wire. Elba said he did not watch the episode when it aired because "I'm hypercritical about my work, so I try not to torture myself."^[6]

Prior to the episode airing, NBC set up a web site for the new Michael Scott Paper Company at michaelscottpapercompany.com,^[4][7] which included a mission statement for the company, photos of the new office space and a downloadable copy of the coupon for "unparalleled customer service" featured in the episode "Michael Scott Company".^[8] Another official NBC site, dundermifflininfinity.com, created a Flash game inspired by the episode, in which the viewer attempts to kick a soccer ball past Jim in the office parking lot and hit Phyllis in the face.^[9][10]

The official The Office website included two cut scenes from "Dream Team" within a week of the episode's original release. In one minute-long clip, Andy continues brown-nosing to Charles; during a documentary interview, Andy says he was not the teacher's pet in school, but that he "walked the teacher's pet, and fed it, and bathed it".^[11] A second one-minute clip involves the soccer game itself: Dwight excitedly sets up the game, Jim tries not to show Charles he does not know what "offside" means and Creed picks up the ball and hurls it at Kelly.^[12]

Cultural references

Michael refers to his old telemarketing job where he met salesman Vikram; this is a reference to the fourth season episode "Money", in which Michael briefly works a second job as a telemarketer.^[13] The bowling alley Ryan works at is Idle Hour Lanes, an actual bowling alley in Dickson City, Pennsylvania, which is just outside the show's setting of Scranton.^[14] When Michael discusses song parodies, he names "My Stumps" in a reference to The Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps" and "Achy Breaky Fart" in a reference to the Billy Ray Cyrus song "Achy Breaky Heart".^[2] In discussing the formation of the new paper company, Pam refers to the early years of Apple Inc., which she said began in a garage. The seniors at the retirement center where Michael discusses his business are watching Maury, the talk show hosted by Maury Povich, in the background.^[13]

Reception

In its original American broadcast on April 9, 2009, "Dream Team" was watched by 7.2 million overall viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. The episode earned more ratings than the Parks and Recreation pilot that immediately followed it (which had 6.8 million viewers) but had less than "Michael Scott Paper Company", which came right after Parks and Recreation and had 8 million viewers.^[15] "Dream Team", as well as "Michael Scott Paper Company", had the most viewers in its time slot among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.^[16]

"Frankly, The Office kind of needed this sort of shake-up, even if it’s something as simple as another room to put all our characters in. (Though it’s smaller than Michael realized: “165 square feet seemed like a lot.”)"

Will Leitch of New York^[4]

"Dream Team" received generally positive reviews. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said he was enjoying the new paper company storyline and that "Dream Team" was funnier than "Michael Scott Paper Company". Sepinwall said the final scene with Michael trying to comfort Pam in the car was a "good payoff" which was well acted by Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer, and "yet another reminder that Michael does know what he's doing some of the time, which means Pam wasn't a complete idiot for following him out the door." He also liked Kevin's struggle with the phones in the beginning, but said the storyline between Jim and Charles was getting repetitive and, "It would help if the writers ever gave Idris Elba something funny to do."^[3] Steven Mullen of The Tuscaloosa News called the episode "stellar", said the Charles Miner soccer subplot ended "perfectly" and said, "Watching [Michael's] fears bubble beneath the surface and slowly erode Pam's confidence was a masterwork."^[17]

Travis Fickett of IGN said he was happy with the new, unpredictable direction The Office was taking. He particularly praised the Michael/Pam relationship in the episode, as well as soccer subplot involving Jim and Charles and the return of Ryan; he said Ryan's new bleached blond hair and his theft of bowling shoes were particularly funny moments.^[18] Will Leitch of New York magazine said the episode has provided a change the show needed, and said, "Considering how unlikely it was that The Office was going to allow Michael and Pam to degrade into homelessness and squalor, the show has handled the predictable transition as well as possible."^[4] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club said the episode included a good exploration of Michael and Pam's relationship; he said "they're weirdly good together". Phipps, who gave the episode an A- grade, also said the Dunder Mifflin material worked well, "although Idris Elba has been so good at portraying a heartless professional it almost doesn’t seem right for anything to break through his icy exterior."^[2]

Margaret Lions of Entertainment Weekly said the episode had "strong moments, and some interesting character play [but] I didn't get quite the same buzz from this week's installments as I did from the previous episode." She said "Dream Team" lacks the usual group interactions between the office co-workers, which she said are normally the funniest parts of the show. However, she praised Michael's pep talk to Pam in the final scene, and said the episode was "the best showcase Jenna Fischer has had in years".^[13] Entertainment Weekly listed Michael's pep talk to Pam at the end of the episode as one of the 13 highlights from that week in television.^[19]

In her list of the top ten moments from the fifth season of The Office, phillyBurbs.com writer Jen Wielgus ranked Michael's formation of the Michael Scott Paper Company in the downstairs storage closet as number one, citing the "Dream Team", "Michael Scott Paper Company" and "Heavy Competition" episodes in particular. She also said she specifically enjoyed the attempt to solicit investments at the retirement home from "Dream Team". Ryan's return to the series, along with his brief return as a temp in the episode "Weight Loss", ranked number 5 in that list.^[20] "Dream Team" was voted the fifteenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 8.00 out of 10.^[21]

"Dream Team" and the episode's editor, Claire Scanlon, received a 2009 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Editing in a Comedy Series. It marked one of 10 Emmy nominations The Office received during the show's fifth season. The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be held September 20, 2009.^[22]

References

1. ^ "The Office - Dream Team". NBC Media Village. http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20090409200000.html. Retrieved 2009-03-28. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b c} Phipps, Keith (2009-04-09). "The Office : Season 5 : Episode 20 & 21 "The Dream Team" / "The Michael Scott Paper Company"". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dream-team-the-michael-scott-paper-company,26458/. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Sepinwall, Alan (2009-04-10). "The Office, "Dream Team" & "Michael Scott Paper Company": Michael's new business". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/04/the_office_dream_team_the_mich.html. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Leitch, Will (2009-04-10). "The New Office Same As the Old Office". New York. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/04/the_new_office_same_as_the_old.html. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
5. ^ Ghosh, Korbi (2009-04-16). ""The Office": Scoop on couples, cast members & The Michael Scott Paper Company". Zap2it. http://blog.zap2it.com/korbitv/2009/04/the-office-scoop-on-couples-cast-members-the-michael-scott-paper-company.html. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
6. ^ Chaney, Jen (2009-04-19). ""I've Been Just the Ordinary Chap for 30-Odd Years": From Stringer Bell to DJ Driis, Idris Elba Is a Looker With Many Faces". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041700054.html?hpid=artsliving. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
7. ^ "Michael Scott Paper Company Website". NBC. 2009-04-09. http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/news/2009/04/09/michael-scott-paper-company-website/. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
8. ^ "Michael Scott Paper Company Inc.". NBC. http://www.michaelscottpapercompany.com. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
9. ^ "Dream Team Soccer Game". NBC. 2009-04-09. http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/news/2009/04/09/dream-team-soccer-game/. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
10. ^ "Games: Dream Team Soccer". NBC. http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com/games/soccer/. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
11. ^ "The Office - Dream Team - Clip One - Video". NBC. 2009-04-10. http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/clips/dream-team-clip-one/1084215/. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
12. ^ "The Office - Dream Team - Video". NBC. 2009-04-14. http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/clips/dream-team-clip-two/1084842/. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
13. ^ ^{a b c} Lyons, Margaret (2009-04-10). "'The Office' Recap: Paper Chase". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20271641,00.html. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
14. ^ McAuliffe, Josh (2009-04-13). ""Dream Team"/ "Michael Scott Paper Co." Mini Recaps". The Times-Tribune. http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/theoffice/archive/2009/04/13/quot-dream-team-quot-quot-michael-scott-paper-co-quot-mini-recaps.aspx. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
15. ^ Lyons, Margaret (2009-04-10). "Ratings: "Southland," "Parks & Recreation" score decent debuts". Entertainment Weekly. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/04/cbs-wins-anothe.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
16. ^ Ryan, Joal (2009-04-10). "Parks and Rec's Solid Approval Rating". E!. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b118103_parks_recs_solid_approval_rating.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
17. ^ Mullen, Steve (2009-04-10). "Office, P&R, 30 Rock". The Tuscaloosa News. http://videogameblog.tuscaloosanews.com/default.asp?item=2362201. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
18. ^ Fickett, Travis (2009-04-10). "The Office: "Dream Team" Review: Michael and Pam find some help in an unlikely place". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/971/971816p1.html. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
19. ^ Lyons, Margaret (2009-04-10). "TV Watch: 13 Highlights from the Week Ending April 10". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20271757,00.html. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
20. ^ Wielgus, Jen (2009-05-14). ""The Office": Top 10 moments from Season 5". phillyBurbs.com. http://www.phillyburbs.com/opinions/blog_post/article/409/2009/may/14/the-office-top-10-moments-from-season-5.html. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
21. ^ Tan, Jennie (2009-05-19). "The Office Fan Ratings, Season 5". OfficeTally. http://www.officetally.com/the-office-highest-rated-episodes-season-5. Retrieved 2009-05-21. 
22. ^ Tan, Jennie (2009-07-16). "The Office 2009 Emmy post". OfficeTally. http://www.officetally.com/the-office-2009-emmy-post. Retrieved 2009-07-16. 

External links

• "Dream Team" at NBC.com
• "Dream Team" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Dream Team" at TV.com