The Office 4/9/09 Second Episode "The Michael Scott Paper Company" Recap  4/14/09

Michael, Pam, and Ryan are having a difficult time adjusting to the new Michael Scott Paper Company office, which is a large closet but too small to work in. The water pipes run through it so they have to hear the toilets above them flush. Ryan openly goofs off in front of Pam and Michael, insulting the both of them to their faces while on the phone. Pam and Ryan start constantly bickering over their duties, which forces Michael to give them separate corners. When Pam is given the corner where the copier is, she goes upstairs and asks Charles Miner for her job back, but Charles had already given the job to someone new, Kelly "Erin" Hannon (Ellie Kemper).

Michael hosts a pancake luncheon to introduce the company to potential clients, but aside from one potential client, the only people to show up are Dunder Mifflin employees. When Michael, Pam, and Ryan come close to giving up, the one potential client from the luncheon calls them asking for paper. Pam ends up closing the sale with the client and the three cheer in celebration.

In the Dunder Mifflin office, Charles asks Jim for a "rundown" of his client information, and Jim can't figure out what that is. When he finally finishes what he thinks is a "rundown", Charles asks him to simply fax it to everyone on the distribution list without checking it. Since Jim does not know what a distribution list is either, he faxes a copy to his father. Dwight and Andy strike up an unlikely friendship and plan a hunting trip, but their new friendship is also tested by their mutual interest in Erin. Both of them hit it off with her, but then discover that their friendship is more valuable, over the course of an initially competitive duet of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver, with Dwight on a guitar and Andy on a banjo. Their duet is finally stopped by a frustrated Toby. Their friendship is made concrete by the end of the episode, much to Angela's annoyance.

"The Michael Scott Paper Company" is the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. In the episode, Michael, Pam and Ryan try to get their new paper company off the ground, but find themselves bickering among themselves due to the stress and cramped office space. Meanwhile, Jim tries to do a "rundown" for new boss Charles Miner without admitting he does not know what a rundown is, while Dwight and Andy compete for the affections of the new receptionist, played by Ellie Kemper.

The episode was written by Justin Spitzer and directed by Gene Stupnitsky. It aired the same day as the Office episode "Dream Team"; the debut episode of the new NBC show Parks and Recreation was shown between the two episodes. "The Michael Scott Paper Company" introduced a new title sequence with footage of the series characters in the new Michael Scott Paper Company office setting, rather than the Dunder Mifflin setting from previous episodes. The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen Ratings, was watched by 8 million viewers and captured the most viewers in its time slot for adults between the ages of 18 and 49.

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