"Casual Friday" is the twenty-sixth episode of the fifth season of the television series ''
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series of ...
'', and the 98th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in the United States on April 30, 2009. In this episode,
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
,
Pam and
Ryan return to
Dunder Mifflin
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in the American television series ''The Office''. It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original of the series, and Papiers Jennings ...
as salespeople, and other members of the sales staff become upset when they do not get their old clients back that the Michael Scott Paper Company stole from them. Meanwhile,
Jim
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim ...
tries to remain neutral about the situation and plays board games with
Creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
, and
Casual Friday
Casual Friday (also known as dress-down Friday or casual day) is a Western dress code trend in which businesses relax their dress code on Fridays. Businesses that usually require employees to wear suits, dress shirts, neckties, and dress shoes, ...
is reinstated in the office, with mixed results.
The episode was written by
Anthony Q. Farrell
Anthony Q. Farrell (born May 13, 1977) is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer. He has written for ''The Office'', presided as executive story editor for ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' as well as produced and performed in various stand-up and s ...
and directed by
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer and producer, who has written for 6 Emmy Award-winning television comedies. He wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom ''The Simpsons'' between 1993 and 1997. He has worked as a writer on ''T ...
. The episode received generally positive reviews, with several commentators expressing relief that the series appeared to remain fresh following the six-episode "Michael Scott Paper Company" story arc, which had ended in the previous episode, "
Broke". According to
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
, "Casual Friday" was watched by 7.3 million viewers during its original broadcast, marking the lowest original episode rating of the fifth season until the May 14 season finale, "
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009. In the episode, Michael plans to ...
".
Synopsis
In the
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
,
Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Office (US TV series), The Office''. He is portrayed by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the The Office (UK TV series), UK TV series is Keith Bishop, who sha ...
(
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner (born November 29, 1972) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Kevin Malone, a character in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013).
Early life and career
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Baumgartner attended Holy In ...
) arrives early and brings in a huge pot of chili for the staff to enjoy. As he narrates (in voice-over) the pride he takes in his chili and how much hard work went into it, he accidentally spills the pot’s contents all over the floor and begins using nearby binders to shovel it back into the pot while getting it all over himself.
Michael Scott (
Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...
) has returned to his old job as regional manager of the
Dunder Mifflin
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in the American television series ''The Office''. It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original of the series, and Papiers Jennings ...
Scranton
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...
branch and announces that
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan Halpert (née Beesly) is a fictional character on the U.S. TV series, television sitcom ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'', played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of ''The Office (British TV ...
(
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
) and
Ryan Howard
Ryan James Howard (born November 19, 1979), nicknamed "the Big Piece", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Howard spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, from to . He is ...
(
B. J. Novak) have joined the sales team, retaining their old clients from the Michael Scott Paper Company.
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III () is a fictional character on ''The Office (U.S.)'' and is portrayed by American actor Rainn Wilson. Dwight's character was a salesman and the assistant to the regional manager, at the fictional paper distribution compan ...
(
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Emm ...
),
Andy Bernard
Andrew Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the NBC comedy television series ''The Office'', portrayed by Ed Helms. He is introduced in Season 3 as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford branch of paper distribution co ...
(
Ed Helms
Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom ''The Offic ...
),
Phyllis Vance
''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments wi ...
(
Phyllis Smith
Phyllis Smith (born July 10, 1951) is an American actress and casting associate. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series ''The Office (U.S. TV series), The Office'' and her critically acclaimed voice role as Sadness ...
) and
Stanley Hudson
''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' is an Television in the United States, American television series based on The Office (British TV series), the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the ...
(
Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker (born February 19, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for playing disgruntled paper salesman Stanley Hudson in ''The Office'' for nine seasons (2005–2013).
Early life
Baker was born on February 19, 1958 in Chicago, Il ...
) are upset because most of those clients were ones Michael previously stole from them. They are also upset that Michael treats Pam and Ryan with more respect because they were the only people to follow him to his new company, with Michael believing his company operates within the branch despite the buyout. Dwight calls a secret meeting in the warehouse with the salespeople, minus Pam and Ryan, to think of a way to get their clients back.
Jim Halpert
James "Jim" Duncan Halpert is a fictional character in the U.S. version of the television sitcom ''The Office'', portrayed by John Krasinski. He is introduced as a sales representative at the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder ...
(
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nine ...
), trying to remain impartial, informs Michael of the potential mutiny and heads to the break room to play board games with
Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider, February 8, 1943) is an American actor, singer and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom ''T ...
(
Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider, February 8, 1943) is an American actor, singer and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom ''T ...
) until the conflict is resolved. In response, Michael, Pam and Ryan eat the rest of the sale's staff lunch after they explain their disappearance by stating they went out to lunch together. Things take a turn for the worse when Dwight interrupts a sale call Ryan is having with one of his former clients (who is making his first complaint in 10 years as a result of a mistake by Ryan), causing him to lose the client for which Pam blames Dwight. Having finally had enough, Dwight calls the two of them out for their inexperience as salespeople and Michael steps in and demands that Dwight make up with Ryan. Dwight refuses and he, Andy, Phyllis and Stanley threaten to quit and start their own paper company unless they get their clients back. When Michael calls their bluff and starts rudely throwing "seed money" at them and demands an apology from them for having not followed him when he quit, Phyllis breaks down and says that they were the real victims of Michael's company, not corporate, and that they were hurt since Michael had treated them like family. Michael is taken aback by her words.
It is
Casual Friday
Casual Friday (also known as dress-down Friday or casual day) is a Western dress code trend in which businesses relax their dress code on Fridays. Businesses that usually require employees to wear suits, dress shirts, neckties, and dress shoes, ...
and most people dress too loosely at the office.
Angela (
Angela Kinsey
Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The ...
) complains to
Toby Flenderson
''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments wi ...
(
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as writer, as executive producer, and as supporting cast member Toby ...
) about
Oscar Martinez (
Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez (The Office), Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office (U.S. TV series) ...
) wearing sandals to work and having to look at his feet.
Meredith Palmer
''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments wi ...
(
Kate Flannery
Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sh ...
) disgusts the rest of the employees by wearing a very short dress without any panties or a bra, thus exposing herself to the rest of the office as she tries to adjust it to meet Toby's requests. Toby calls a meeting with everyone regarding Casual Friday. When Dwight tries to take charge of the meeting, Toby is finally stern with him and cancels Casual Friday, much to everyone's disappointment.
Michael calls a meeting with Dwight, Andy, Phyllis and Stanley to give them a formal apology, but they do not accept it since all they want is their clients back. Michael reluctantly agrees to give back their clients. In doing so, however, there are not enough clients to keep both Pam and Ryan on the sales team, leaving Michael to decide which one to keep. He talks it over with Jim, who suggests Pam would be better suited, but Michael argues that Jim is biased since Pam is his fiancée. Michael calls a meeting with Pam and tells her she did not get the sales job. Pam is visibly disappointed, but Michael starts laughing and tells her that she did get it, having offered Ryan a temp position again. Pam tells him he should stop with the "fake-firing" joke, but Michael decides to pull the joke on the new receptionist,
Erin Hannon
Kelly Erin Hannon (born May 1, 1986) is a fictional character from the U.S. comedy television series ''The Office'', played by Ellie Kemper. She is the optimistic office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously ...
(
Ellie Kemper
Elizabeth Claire Kemper (born May 2, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She has been nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Satellite Awards, and seven Scre ...
).
Production
"Casual Friday" was written by
Anthony Q. Farrell
Anthony Q. Farrell (born May 13, 1977) is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer. He has written for ''The Office'', presided as executive story editor for ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' as well as produced and performed in various stand-up and s ...
and directed by
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer and producer, who has written for 6 Emmy Award-winning television comedies. He wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom ''The Simpsons'' between 1993 and 1997. He has worked as a writer on ''T ...
. The official website for ''The Office'' included two cut scenes from "Casual Friday" within a week of its original release. In the first 50-second clip, Jim welcomes Pam to her new sales desk with a gift of a model of an island with figures representing Jim, Pam and Dwight, who share the office pod together. Dwight insists he did not have anything to do with the gift and does not welcome Pam to the desk because she "obscures my view of the shredder." In the second 50-second clip, Dwight tells Andy, Stanley and Phyllis that they should "put our balls in the guillotine, as they say," by threatening to quit if Michael does not give their clients back. The others express doubt and wonder if they should keep quiet in order to protect their jobs.
Cultural references
Ryan makes reference to
Michael Chiklis
Michael Charles Chiklis ( born August 30, 1963) is an American actor, television director, television producer and musician. He is best known for his role as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama ''The S ...
in ''
The Shield
''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt poli ...
''; Michael is not familiar with the show, but recognizes the actor from ''
The Commish
''The Commish'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC in the United States from September 28, 1991, to January 11, 1996. The series focuses on the work and home life of a suburban police commissioner in Eastbridge, New ...
''. Erin says that Kelly looks like J-Lo in her outfit, a reference to the actress and singer
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
.
Kevin is shown to drive a
Honda CR-V
The Honda CR-V (also sold as the Honda Breeze in China since 2019) is a compact crossover SUV manufactured by the Japanese automaker Honda since 1995. The early model was built using the same platform as the Civic.
Honda began producing the CR ...
.
"Casual Friday" included several callbacks to previous episodes. The scene in which Michael pretends to fire Pam, and she tells him, "Maybe you shouldn't fake fire people anymore," is a reference to
the first episode of ''The Office'', in which Michael pretends to fire Pam as a prank and she becomes very upset, which he then does exactly to Erin.
Michael compares the difficult choice of choosing between renting the movies ''
The Devil Wears Prada'' and ''
Sophie's Choice
''Sophie's Choice'' may refer to:
* ''Sophie's Choice'' (novel), a 1979 novel by American author William Styron
** ''Sophie's Choice'' (film), a 1982 American drama film directed by Alan J. Pakula
** ''Sophie's Choice'' (opera), an opera by the ...
'', both of which star
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
.
The reference to the former film is a callback to the
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
to
fourth season episode, "
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
", in which Michael discusses having watched the movie recently and acts rudely toward Pam in the same fashion as
Miranda Priestly
Miranda Priestly (born Miriam Princhek; October 25, 1949) is a character in Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel '' The Devil Wears Prada'', portrayed by Meryl Streep in the 2006 film adaptation of the novel.
She is a powerful New York City-based edi ...
, the film's antagonist, who is played by Streep. When Dwight is writing the secret messages, he uses Ryan's coffee mug that Kelly gave to him from the "
Customer Survey" episode, to hold the urine.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on April 30, 2009, "Casual Friday" was watched by 7.3 million viewers, according to
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. It was the lowest original episode rating of the fifth season at the time of its broadcast,
although the season finale "
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009. In the episode, Michael plans to ...
", would later receive a lower rating on May 14, being watched by 6.72 million viewers. "Casual Friday" received a 4.2 rating/12 share among viewers aged between 18 and 34, and a 3.7 rating/10 share among viewers between 18 and 49.
The episode received generally positive reviews. Most reviewers particularly praised the opening scene with Kevin dropping his pot of
chili;
Fickett called it "a great silent comedy moment
nda quintessential ''Office'' moment".
Alan Sepinwall of ''
The Star-Ledger
''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...
'' praised the episode, saying that it proves the show will still be good following the "Michael Scott Paper Company" arc, which he referred to as one of the best storylines in the show's history. Sepinwall said he thought all the supporting characters were excellent, and that he particularly liked the new adversarial dynamic between Michael and Dwight.
Margaret Lyons of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' said, "This was the episode I've been waiting for ''weeks''." She said she particularly enjoyed many of the subplots involving Kelly's clothing, Creed's chess game with Jim, and Toby dealing with casual Friday problems.
Nathan Rabin of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave "Casual Friday" a B+ grade, and said the episode had good character moments and a bit of dramatic depth in addition to a few good laughs.
Travis Fickett in
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
said Creed, Kevin, Meredith and Toby were all in top form in "Casual Friday", and said he enjoyed the changes that resulted in Michael's departure from and return to the company. However, Fickett questioned what direction the show would go now that so many questions have been resolved.
Jay Black of
TV Squad
Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...
said the conflict between Michael and his co-workers was very good, and he enjoys the way Phyllis revealed how hurt she was by Michael's departure from the company; however, Black said he did not like that the episode included a "Casual Friday" even though the office had never had one before. Rick Porter of
Zap2it said the supporting characters were all in top form and that the episode demonstrated how Michael, in offering a genuine apology, has grown this season. Porter also praised the scenes with Jim and Creed, and described Kate Flannery as "one of the most fearless actresses on TV" for her scene with the short bathing suit. Josh McAuliffe of ''
The Times-Tribune'' called the episode "yet another winner in what's shaping up to be a terrific last third of the season".
"Casual Friday" was voted the sixteenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite ''OfficeTally''; the episode was rated 7.95 out of 10.
References
External links
"Casual Friday"at
NBC.com
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
*
{{The Office US Episodes
2009 American television episodes
The Office (American season 5) episodes