"The Inner Circle" is the twenty-third episode of the seventh season of the American comedytelevision seriesThe Office and the show's 149th episode overall. The episode originally aired on May 5, 2011, on NBC. The episode also marked Will Ferrell's final appearance as Deangelo, having signed up for four episodes. Cody Horn also makes her first guest appearance for the series as Jordan Garfield.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, new office manager Deangelo begins picking favorites among the staff, revealing his true management style. After he only picks men to join his "inner circle", many of the female staffers begin to believe he is sexist.
The episode was written by Charlie Grandy and directed by Matt Sohn. The episode marks the first episode since Steve Carell left the series as a series regular. "The Inner Circle" received mixed reviews from critics, with many commenting on Ferrell's performance, with opinions ranging from positive to negative. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was viewed by an estimated 6.90 million households and received a 3.5 Nielsen rating and 10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 marking a drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Goodbye, Michael".
New office manager Deangelo Vickers (Will Ferrell) picks favorites among the staff, including Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), a sycophantic Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods), and Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson), who is attending business school thanks to Deangelo. He is also favorable towards Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), who he believes is the head of the customer service department and Kelly Kapoor's (Mindy Kaling) direct supervisor. Kelly is initially irate at the situation, but Ryan agrees to be a more dutiful boyfriend in exchange for Kelly keeping up the charade. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) desperately aspires to join the inner circle, while Deangelo repeatedly attempts to win over Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), who is still apathetic toward the new boss. Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) sees his style as sexist, as every member of the inner circle is male, which Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) agrees to, as Deangelo has repeatedly been acting coldly towards her; they persuade Jim to talk to Deangelo about it. To prove to the staff that he's not sexist, Deangelo hires a woman named Jordan Garfield (Cody Horn), who turns out to have no business experience (having previously worked at Anthropologie) over other qualified candidates, including a friend of Pam's. Kelly later attempts to tell Deangelo the truth about Ryan's actual position as a temp worker, but Deangelo simply appoints Ryan as the department head rather than figuring out the truth.
Jim is kicked out of the inner circle after pointing out what the women of the office had said, and an enthusiastic Andy replaces him (despite having previously denounced Deangelo after deciding that he was sexist). Pam interrupts a mock basketball session the inner circle is having in the office in order to quiet it down, and an annoyed Deangelo reinvites Jim back into the circle. Jim instead challenges him to try a real dunk, which Deangelo claims he can do, at the warehouse basketball hoop downstairs. Deangelo brings everyone down to the warehouse, including Dwight, who Deangelo finally loses his temper with and directly orders him downstairs or be fired (ironically earning Dwight's respect, as he "respond[s] to strong leadership"). Deangelo then attempts to dunk from the free-throw line, only to severely injure himself by crashing down with the basketball stand on top of him. He is immediately taken to the hospital, leaving Dunder Mifflin Scranton without a manager.
At the end of the episode, Deangelo makes it back to the office, still in his hospital gown, with an IV tube trailing from his arm. His attempts to tell a bar joke come out as random gibberish. Gabe and Jim lead him out of the office after Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) calls for an ambulance.
ProductionEdit
"The Inner Circle" marked Will Ferrell's fourth and last appearance on The Office.
The episode was written by supervising producer Charlie Grandy, his sixth writing credit of the series. It was directed by the series' cinematographer Matt Sohn, his second directing credit of the series.[1] This is the first episode of The Office without former lead actor Steve Carell as Michael Scott. The feeling during filming was initially "weird", but the mood eventually changed to "very hopeful, excited and anticipatory feeling" according to Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein.[2] The episode marked the final appearance in Will Ferrell's four-episode arc on the series after first appearing in "Training Day".[3] The episode is also the first appearance of Cody Horn as Jordan Garfield, Deangelo's executive assistant, and the first of three new roles since Carell's departure. The role was originally said to be recurring at first with a chance of her becoming a series regular.[4] She eventually did not return for the eighth season.[5] In the final scene, Krasinski can be seen breaking character and putting his head down.[6]
The official website for The Office included three cut scenes from "The Inner Circle" within a week of its release. In the first 38 second clip, Deangelo invites Dwight on a weekend trip to a Los Lobos concert which Dwight declines once he learns he can't drive the bus. In a talking head, Dwight reveals that Deangelo makes his skin crawl.[7] In the second 144 second clip, Andy tries to become Deangelo's new executive assistant while in a talking head Pam decides to give up trying to impress Deangelo. It is also revealed in the same talking head that Michael named his new dog after Pam.[8] In the third 82 second clip, Jim attempts to get back into the inner circle.[9]
ReceptionEdit
RatingsEdit
In its original American broadcast on May 5, 2011, "The Inner Circle" was viewed by an estimated 6.90 million households and received a 3.5 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.[10] This means that it was seen by 3.5% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 10% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a 17% drop in the ratings from the previous episode, "Goodbye, Michael", but marked a rise from the last regular episode, "Michael's Last Dundies".[10] The episode tied for first in its timeslot beating Bones which received a 3.2 rating/9% share in the 18–49 demographic, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which received a 2.3 rating/6% share and Nikita which received a 0.8 rating/2% share. The episode also tied for first in its timeslot with Grey's Anatomy.[10] "The Inner Circle" was the fifth most-watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49.[11]
ReviewsEdit
For now, at least, the show is no longer about discomfort, and it's no longer about drudgery. It's about all the quirky characters in an office, which isn't much different than any workplace sitcom that has been on TV in the last forty years. If this show didn't have seven years of history to back it up, this episode would have made you feel like you were watching Suddenly Susan without a laugh track.
The episode received mixed reviews from critics. The A.V. Club writer Myles McNutt compared the episode to "Training Day" commenting that "'The Inner Circle' is more successful than that episode ['Training Day'] on some levels", but "both episodes suffer from the same problem: They’re simply not very funny or meaningful, which I'd argue is even more problematic for "The Inner Circle" given its position in the season."[13] He ultimately gave the episode a C−.[13]TV Squad writer Joel Keller wrote that while "the episode did have its funny moments", "overall, you can just feel that the show has changed in a very fundamental way".[12] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix criticized the writers for still not finding Deangelo's character out commenting that "the fact that the writers so clearly had no idea what to do with Ferrell doesn't fill me with confidence for whatever guest stars turn up in the final episodes – nor do I feel especially great right now about the idea of an outside character coming in as the permanent new regional manager."[14]
IGN reviewer Cindy White praised the writing for Deangelo's character saying that "Ferrell is much better carrying the show on his own than being second banana to Carell. It seemed like he was having more fun with the role in this episode".[6] She ultimately gave the episode a 7.0/10.[6]New York's Phoebe Reilly wrote that "while it was nice to see the staff responding to someone new, it didn't feel like enough to make an audience antsy to come back after a long summer."[15] Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly also gave the episode a mediocre review commenting that "judging by tonight's episode alone, the transition from the Carell era to the post-Carell era is going to be shaky, to say the least".[16] "The Inner Circle" was voted the fourth lowest-rated episode out of 24 from the seventh season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally.[17] In another poll, the episode was voted the third lowest-rated episode out of 24 from the seventh season and was rated 6.86 out of 10.[18]
ReferencesEdit
^"The Office: The Inner Circle, 7.23". OfficeTally. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
^Keller, Joel (May 18, 2011). . AOL TV. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
^Fleming, Mike (January 26, 2011). "Will Ferrell Helping Steve Carell's Exit From 'The Office' With Four-Episode Arc". Deadline. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
^Ausiello, Michael (February 15, 2011). . TVLine. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
^Sepinwall, Alan (August 2, 2011). "Interview: 'The Office' showrunner Paul Lieberstein on James Spader and more". HitFix. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
^ abcWhite, Cindy (May 6, 2011). "The Office: "Inner Circle" Review". IGN. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^. NBC.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^. NBC.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^. NBC.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
^ abcSeidman, Robert (May 6, 2011). . TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
^Seidman, Robert (May 10, 2011). . TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
^ ab"'The Office' Season 7, Episode 22 Recap". TV Squad. May 6, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^ abMcNutt, Myles (May 5, 2011). "The Inner Circle". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^Sepinwall, Alan (May 6, 2011). "Review: The Office – The Inner Circle: The rise and fall of Deangelo Vickers". HitFix. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^Reilly, Phoebe (May 6, 2011). "The Office Recap: Deangelo Vickers, We Hardly Knew Ye". New York Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^Busis, Hillary (May 6, 2011). "The Office recap: Daft Dunk". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
^"Survivor Poll: Season 7". OfficeTally. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
^"The Office Season 7 Fan Ratings". OfficeTally. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
inner, circle, office, inner, circle, twenty, third, episode, seventh, season, american, comedy, television, series, office, show, 149th, episode, overall, episode, originally, aired, 2011, episode, also, marked, will, ferrell, final, appearance, deangelo, hav. The Inner Circle is the twenty third episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show s 149th episode overall The episode originally aired on May 5 2011 on NBC The episode also marked Will Ferrell s final appearance as Deangelo having signed up for four episodes Cody Horn also makes her first guest appearance for the series as Jordan Garfield The Inner Circle The Office episodeEpisode no Season 7Episode 23Directed byMatt SohnWritten byCharlie GrandyFeatured music Bring Me to Life by EvanescenceCinematography bySarah LevyEditing byClaire ScanlonProduction code7023Original air dateMay 5 2011 2011 05 05 Guest appearancesWill Ferrell as Deangelo Vickers Cody Horn as Jordan GarfieldEpisode chronology Previous Goodbye Michael Next Dwight K Schrute Acting Manager The Office American season 7 List of episodesThe series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company In this episode new office manager Deangelo begins picking favorites among the staff revealing his true management style After he only picks men to join his inner circle many of the female staffers begin to believe he is sexist The episode was written by Charlie Grandy and directed by Matt Sohn The episode marks the first episode since Steve Carell left the series as a series regular The Inner Circle received mixed reviews from critics with many commenting on Ferrell s performance with opinions ranging from positive to negative According to Nielsen Media Research the episode was viewed by an estimated 6 90 million households and received a 3 5 Nielsen rating and 10 share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 marking a drop in the ratings from the previous episode Goodbye Michael Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Production 3 Reception 3 1 Ratings 3 2 Reviews 4 References 5 External linksSynopsis EditNew office manager Deangelo Vickers Will Ferrell picks favorites among the staff including Kevin Malone Brian Baumgartner Jim Halpert John Krasinski a sycophantic Gabe Lewis Zach Woods and Darryl Philbin Craig Robinson who is attending business school thanks to Deangelo He is also favorable towards Ryan Howard B J Novak who he believes is the head of the customer service department and Kelly Kapoor s Mindy Kaling direct supervisor Kelly is initially irate at the situation but Ryan agrees to be a more dutiful boyfriend in exchange for Kelly keeping up the charade Andy Bernard Ed Helms desperately aspires to join the inner circle while Deangelo repeatedly attempts to win over Dwight Schrute Rainn Wilson who is still apathetic toward the new boss Angela Martin Angela Kinsey sees his style as sexist as every member of the inner circle is male which Pam Halpert Jenna Fischer agrees to as Deangelo has repeatedly been acting coldly towards her they persuade Jim to talk to Deangelo about it To prove to the staff that he s not sexist Deangelo hires a woman named Jordan Garfield Cody Horn who turns out to have no business experience having previously worked at Anthropologie over other qualified candidates including a friend of Pam s Kelly later attempts to tell Deangelo the truth about Ryan s actual position as a temp worker but Deangelo simply appoints Ryan as the department head rather than figuring out the truth Jim is kicked out of the inner circle after pointing out what the women of the office had said and an enthusiastic Andy replaces him despite having previously denounced Deangelo after deciding that he was sexist Pam interrupts a mock basketball session the inner circle is having in the office in order to quiet it down and an annoyed Deangelo reinvites Jim back into the circle Jim instead challenges him to try a real dunk which Deangelo claims he can do at the warehouse basketball hoop downstairs Deangelo brings everyone down to the warehouse including Dwight who Deangelo finally loses his temper with and directly orders him downstairs or be fired ironically earning Dwight s respect as he respond s to strong leadership Deangelo then attempts to dunk from the free throw line only to severely injure himself by crashing down with the basketball stand on top of him He is immediately taken to the hospital leaving Dunder Mifflin Scranton without a manager At the end of the episode Deangelo makes it back to the office still in his hospital gown with an IV tube trailing from his arm His attempts to tell a bar joke come out as random gibberish Gabe and Jim lead him out of the office after Erin Hannon Ellie Kemper calls for an ambulance Production Edit nbsp The Inner Circle marked Will Ferrell s fourth and last appearance on The Office The episode was written by supervising producer Charlie Grandy his sixth writing credit of the series It was directed by the series cinematographer Matt Sohn his second directing credit of the series 1 This is the first episode of The Office without former lead actor Steve Carell as Michael Scott The feeling during filming was initially weird but the mood eventually changed to very hopeful excited and anticipatory feeling according to Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein 2 The episode marked the final appearance in Will Ferrell s four episode arc on the series after first appearing in Training Day 3 The episode is also the first appearance of Cody Horn as Jordan Garfield Deangelo s executive assistant and the first of three new roles since Carell s departure The role was originally said to be recurring at first with a chance of her becoming a series regular 4 She eventually did not return for the eighth season 5 In the final scene Krasinski can be seen breaking character and putting his head down 6 The official website for The Office included three cut scenes from The Inner Circle within a week of its release In the first 38 second clip Deangelo invites Dwight on a weekend trip to a Los Lobos concert which Dwight declines once he learns he can t drive the bus In a talking head Dwight reveals that Deangelo makes his skin crawl 7 In the second 144 second clip Andy tries to become Deangelo s new executive assistant while in a talking head Pam decides to give up trying to impress Deangelo It is also revealed in the same talking head that Michael named his new dog after Pam 8 In the third 82 second clip Jim attempts to get back into the inner circle 9 Reception EditRatings Edit In its original American broadcast on May 5 2011 The Inner Circle was viewed by an estimated 6 90 million households and received a 3 5 rating 10 share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 10 This means that it was seen by 3 5 of all 18 to 49 year olds and 10 of all 18 to 49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast This marked a 17 drop in the ratings from the previous episode Goodbye Michael but marked a rise from the last regular episode Michael s Last Dundies 10 The episode tied for first in its timeslot beating Bones which received a 3 2 rating 9 share in the 18 49 demographic CSI Crime Scene Investigation which received a 2 3 rating 6 share and Nikita which received a 0 8 rating 2 share The episode also tied for first in its timeslot with Grey s Anatomy 10 The Inner Circle was the fifth most watched scripted show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18 49 11 Reviews Edit For now at least the show is no longer about discomfort and it s no longer about drudgery It s about all the quirky characters in an office which isn t much different than any workplace sitcom that has been on TV in the last forty years If this show didn t have seven years of history to back it up this episode would have made you feel like you were watching Suddenly Susan without a laugh track Joel Keller TV Squad 12 The episode received mixed reviews from critics The A V Club writer Myles McNutt compared the episode to Training Day commenting that The Inner Circle is more successful than that episode Training Day on some levels but both episodes suffer from the same problem They re simply not very funny or meaningful which I d argue is even more problematic for The Inner Circle given its position in the season 13 He ultimately gave the episode a C 13 TV Squad writer Joel Keller wrote that while the episode did have its funny moments overall you can just feel that the show has changed in a very fundamental way 12 Alan Sepinwall of HitFix criticized the writers for still not finding Deangelo s character out commenting that the fact that the writers so clearly had no idea what to do with Ferrell doesn t fill me with confidence for whatever guest stars turn up in the final episodes nor do I feel especially great right now about the idea of an outside character coming in as the permanent new regional manager 14 IGN reviewer Cindy White praised the writing for Deangelo s character saying that Ferrell is much better carrying the show on his own than being second banana to Carell It seemed like he was having more fun with the role in this episode 6 She ultimately gave the episode a 7 0 10 6 New York s Phoebe Reilly wrote that while it was nice to see the staff responding to someone new it didn t feel like enough to make an audience antsy to come back after a long summer 15 Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly also gave the episode a mediocre review commenting that judging by tonight s episode alone the transition from the Carell era to the post Carell era is going to be shaky to say the least 16 The Inner Circle was voted the fourth lowest rated episode out of 24 from the seventh season according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally 17 In another poll the episode was voted the third lowest rated episode out of 24 from the seventh season and was rated 6 86 out of 10 18 References Edit The Office The Inner Circle 7 23 OfficeTally Retrieved April 21 2011 Keller Joel May 18 2011 Paul Lieberstein of The Office on Steve Carell s Exit amp the Star Studded Season Finale AOL TV Archived from the original on October 2 2012 Retrieved October 21 2011 Fleming Mike January 26 2011 Will Ferrell Helping Steve Carell s Exit From The Office With Four Episode Arc Deadline Retrieved February 23 2011 Ausiello Michael February 15 2011 Exclusive Meet the Newest Office Staffer TVLine Archived from the original on June 13 2011 Retrieved April 30 2011 Sepinwall Alan August 2 2011 Interview The Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein on James Spader and more HitFix Retrieved August 5 2011 a b c White Cindy May 6 2011 The Office Inner Circle Review IGN Retrieved May 7 2011 The Inner Circle Clip One NBC com Archived from the original on May 9 2011 Retrieved May 7 2011 The Inner Circle Clip Two NBC com Archived from the original on May 14 2011 Retrieved May 7 2011 The Inner Circle Clip Three NBC com Archived from the original on May 13 2011 Retrieved May 11 2011 a b c Seidman Robert May 6 2011 TV Ratings Thursday Bones American Idol Parks amp Rec 30 Rock Private Practice Nikita Rise Grey s Anatomy The Office Big Bang Theory CSI Fall TV by the Numbers Archived from the original on May 9 2011 Retrieved May 6 2011 Seidman Robert May 10 2011 TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25 American Idol The Voice Modern Family Dancing with the Stars NCIS Top Week 33 Viewing TV by the Numbers Archived from the original on May 12 2011 Retrieved May 11 2011 a b The Office Season 7 Episode 22 Recap TV Squad May 6 2011 Retrieved May 7 2011 a b McNutt Myles May 5 2011 The Inner Circle The A V Club Retrieved May 7 2011 Sepinwall Alan May 6 2011 Review The Office The Inner Circle The rise and fall of Deangelo Vickers HitFix Retrieved May 7 2011 Reilly Phoebe May 6 2011 The Office Recap Deangelo Vickers We Hardly Knew Ye New York Magazine Retrieved May 7 2011 Busis Hillary May 6 2011 The Office recap Daft Dunk Entertainment Weekly Retrieved May 7 2011 Survivor Poll Season 7 OfficeTally Retrieved June 17 2011 The Office Season 7 Fan Ratings OfficeTally Retrieved July 24 2011 External links Edit The Inner Circle at NBC com The Inner Circle at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Inner Circle The Office amp oldid 1177948054, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
