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Sexual Harassment (The Office)

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Template:Office episode "Sexual Harassment" is the second episode of the second season of the television series The Office (U.S. version). It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis. It originally aired on September 27, 2005.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Michael's "best friend forever" Todd Packer shows up and starts expressing his off-color remarks about upper management, which continues to offend the staff. While Ryan the temp drives Packer around town for him, Pam waits for her mom to show up. One of Michael's forwarded joke emails gets around the office and offends certain employees. Toby informs the office that corporate will be having a briefing on company policies of sexual harassment, much to Michael's easy-going dismay.

He goes down to the warehouse to find some dirty jokes to tell, but ends up getting trash-talked. Toby briefs the office on the policies and Pam informs everyone to try and keep it clean when her mom arrives, but Michael arrives with a blow-up sex doll. He makes a speech on not losing the sexual humor around the office, but fails to get the support of the employees. So, for laughs, he and the warehouse staff watch the sexual harassment video in the meeting room. Toby briefs Dwight about the female anatomy. Jan shows up to the office with the lawyers.

Todd Packer returns as Michael talks with Jan and the lawyers about his inappropriate e-mail forwarding. He announces to the office that he will never tell a joke again, but gives up on that immediately. He introduces his "free-speech" lawyer to the others, but Jan explains that her lawyer is for Michael, not fighting against him. Pam's mom shows up and surprises Pam and, after Roy leaves, she asks her about Jim. Todd Packer shares some more inappropriate jokes with the employees and Michael tries to draw the line, but points the blame at Kevin. He gets teased by Packer and ends up saying how beautiful Phyllis is and saying the only thing he's worried about "is gettin' a boner."

Trivia

  • This episode aired with a warning that it contained adult content and subject matter, which is rare for a network comedy. Writer B.J. Novak later explained the reason was that he had to fight NBC to get the word "boner" on the air because the replacement - "schwing" - didn't have, according to Novak, "the same redemption for Michael at the end". The network compromised with adding the disclaimer before the show.[1]
  • This episode didn't air in the state of Kentucky.[2]
  • Although he is mentioned (and heard on the phone) in previous episodes, this marks the first appearance of Michael's best friend Todd Packer, played by David Koechner.
  • This episode was inspired by the fact that, as NBC employees, the cast and crew of the show had to go through a sexual harassment seminar themselves before the series began.[3]
  • When Dwight asks Toby about female anatomy, actor Rainn Wilson improvised the line "Where is the clitoris? The website says it is at the crest of the labia. Where is that?"[4]

References

  1. ^ Chun, Wing. "The B.J. Novak Interview" Televisionwithoutpity.com Page 8. Retrieved March 2, 2006.
  2. ^ Chun. Page 8. Retrieved March 2, 2006.
  3. ^ Carell, Steve (Actor). 2005. "Diversity Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
  4. ^ Fischer, Jenna. August 14, 2006. "Need to Kill Time? Check out this Blog.", MySpace.com
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