The Office

Season 5

Weight Loss

1. Near the end, Stanley delivers a soliloquy about losing seven pounds and then bows his head and raises his right fist. This scene is a homage to two black American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who won gold and bronze medals in the 1968 Olympics. They generated controversy by raising their fists while on the medal stand as the national anthem was being played.
2. We find out Pam's weight in this episode. According to the scale calculations, the entire team weighed 2,336 lbs when Pam was on the scale and 2,210 lbs when she got off. So Pam weighs 126 lbs.
3. When Jim visits Pam at her Residential Advisor room, Jim misdirects the cameraman away and closes the door. This is the only time where you hear the "documentary" camera crew, namely a sigh.
4. There is a point where Jim is talking about having to spend his lunch with different people while Pam is away, during this time Michael is shown without a goatee, which he has had the entire episode because Ryan has one. Michael is shown afterwards leading a meeting with his goatee still there.
5. Holly's real first name is Hollis.
6. Jenna Fischer actually kept the engagement ring that her future husband, Jim, gave to her in this episode. She has been seen wearing it sometimes in public and in interviews.

Business Ethics

1. Holly is the second person to tell Michael that The Office is a work place and not a family. Ed Truck was the first one.
2. Holly says she is from Des Moines, Iowa in this episode yet in later episodes she says she needs to go home to Boulder Colorado, where her parents live.

Baby Shower

1. Michael marks the watermelon (which he and Dwight are pretending is the baby) with his initials MGS. (Michael Gary Scott)
2. When Jim says it's 5:03pm it could be a reference to the episode. The third episode of the fifth season.
3. Phyllis laughs at the beginning while Dwight and Michael are pretending to have a baby.
4. The song that Jan sang to her baby was Son Of A Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield. The song showed the damaged state of mind that Jan had.

Crime Aid

1. Michael says that there is no Wikipedia entry for "office robbery statistics." Now, when you look up "office robbery statistics" on Wikipedia, it brings up the Crime Aid episode of the office.
2. The call from Michael to Pam at the beginning is a shout out to the Ricola commercial, famous at the time of release.
3. When Michael enters the office where obviously a robbery happened, he asks "What happened?" and Jim replies that "We're robbed last night". Then Dwight sarcastically calls Jim "Bravo Watson!" and gives some possible details about the robbery confidently. This is a comparison of Sherlock Holmes as Dwight and his companion Dr. John Watson as Jim.

Employee Transfer

1. While arguing with Andy, Dwight mentions Dartmouth. Actress Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly Kapoor, graduated from Dartmouth College in 2001.
2. Michael's favorite song is Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway".
3. Michaels says corporate decided to transfer Holly back to her old branch in Nashua however holly previously states she is from Des Moine Iowa and when she started Toby trained her in "the ways of the company" indicating she did not formerly work for Dunder Mifflin.

Customer Survey

1. This is the only episode in the series to be directed by Stephen Merchant, co-creator of the original The Office.
2. When Dwight is showing Andy and Angela the Schrute Farms photos, the man in the chair in the first photo is the same man from the Job Fair episode (S4: EP 13) who works at the funeral home.

Business Trip

1. The hotel that Michael and co. go to, is the same hotel featured in the movie Cedar Rapids, also starring Ed Helms.
2. The bar in Winnipeg that they go to is actually a bar in downtown Los Angeles called Seven Grand.
3. The song Jim is whistling just after the opening credits is "Might As Well" by Something for Rockets

Frame Toby

1. The Vance Refrigeration employees who sell Michael the 'drugs' are actually writers and producers for The Office.
2. In this episode references Scream 2 and its killer, Ghost Face. Ghostface in Scream 2 Is played by Timothy Olyphant, who also plays traveling salesman Danny Cordray on the Office.
3. 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. This is the location of Jim's parents house, the same house he purchases for Pam and himself.

The Surplus

1. B.J. Novak does not return until the episode "Dream Team" due to filming his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards (2009).
2. In the season five episode "Two weeks", it is revealed that the office ultimately purchased a new copier instead of the new chairs they agreed on in this episode.
3. Burlington Coat Factory, where Michael buys his coat and wishes to spend his share of the surplus, is an actual clothing chain with a store in Eynon PA, a few miles outside of Scranton.
4. When talking about the wedding procession in the barn, Dwight says to Angela, "after the readings by all of your sisters...." It is revealed in season 9 that Angela has just one sister, played by actress Rachael Harris.

Moroccan Christmas

1. All the bars mentioned by Merideth, including The Bog, Coopers, Brixx's, Kelly's, Coopers, Carmen's and Andy Gavin's, are all real Scranton Bars. Ed Helms, Angela Kinsey and Brian Baumgartner have all visited The Bog, and Helms sat in with some local musicians there, performing on the banjo.

The Duel

1. Rainn Wilson appears to have a broken blood vessel in his right eye in the episode. It can be most clearly seen in the scene when Andy and Dwight are arguing over Angela (13:00-14:00).

Prince Family Paper

1. The Prince family has "World's Greatest Dad" and "World's Greatest Son" mugs in the same fashion as Michael has a "World's Greatest Boss" mug in his office.
2. When Stanley is presenting his argument to explain why Hilary Swank is hot, you can see John Krasinski on the bottom-right corner of the screen briefly as he can't contain himself and laughs at Stanley's lines.
3. Michael Scott goes undercover as Michael Scarn. That is the name of the main character of his screenplay 'Threat Level: Midnight'.

Stress Relief

1. This episode brought in over 20 million views, making it the most-watched episode of the entire series.
2. Bandit, the cat thrown into the ceiling by Angela in the opening, was in fact a real cat and not CGI. The man in the ceiling who was supposed to catch the cat missed. Thankfully Bandit was not harmed in the filming of his episode.
3. The downloaded movie named "Mrs. Albert Hannaday" Pam, Jim, and Andy were watching together, featuring Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman, is not a real movie. It was made specifically for this episode.
4. It won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
5. The opening scene, in which the characters frantically scramble to escape the Dunder Mifflin office due to what they believe is a fire, took about a day and a half to shoot. It took much longer than the average 45 minutes of shooting time for a scene of that length due to the amount of stunt work involved
6. This episode aired on NBC directly following Super Bowl XLIII between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.
7. The only people that Michael doesn't insult are Kelly, Phyllis, and Toby.

Lecture Circuit: Part 1

1. The car that Michael and Pam are driving for the lecture circuit road trip is a Ford Crown Victoria. With a V-8 engine, rear wheel drive, and plenty of trunk space, the Ford Crown Victoria was a popular vehicle for police departments throughout the country until 2011 when it was discontinued.

Lecture Circuit: Part 2

1. Emmy award winning editor Claire Scanlon is an uncredited extra when Michael Scott gives his lecture at the Nashua office. She is sitting in the front row in front of actor Rob Huebel who plays A.J. She however did not edit this episode.

Blood Drive

Golden Ticket

1. One of the excuses Michael gives Pam to use as a reason he can't come to the phone is "I'm trapped in a oil painting". This is something that happens in "The Witches", a book by Roald Dahl who also authored "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory".
2. Episode having the ever so popular Steve Carell 'Thank You' GIF that became viral.
3. When Michael asks Dwight why he has a diary, Dwight tells him it's "to keep secrets from my computer". This is a callback to the episode "Launch Party", when Jim and Pam pull a prank on Dwight, making him believe the Dunder Mifflin website had achieved sentience through his computer.

New Boss

1. When Charles Miner comes to Dunder Mifflin, he says he used to work at Saticoy Steel. Saticoy Street is the street where the building used for the exterior shot of "The Office" is located, as well as the sound stage where The Office is filmed, in Van Nuys, California.
2. While talking to David in New York Michael says "I've never driven my car to the top of Mt. Washington." This is a reference to Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the tallest peak in the Northeastern United States. Driving to the top of the mountain is a popular family activity for residents of the region and "This car climbed Mt. Washington" bumper stickers are commonplace in New England and other Northeastern states.

Two Weeks

1. Michael calls Prince Family Paper looking for employment but connects with an outgoing message that after 40 years of service they are now out of business. Michael and Dwight stole their best customers in S5E12 which most likely led to their demise.
2. An original draft for the episode included more dialogue between Pam and Jim about the decision, in which Pam brought up Jim's impulsive decision to buy his parents' house without consulting her in the episode "Frame Toby," but it was ultimately cut because they felt it added too much time to get to the resolution.
3. Executive story editor Charlie Grandy conceived the idea of Michael leaving Dunder Mifflin.
4. A number of documentary-style interviews with Dwight about Michael's defection and his thoughts about Charles Miner were cut for length issues.
5. Shure said there was a great deal of debate among the writers about Pam's decision to leave Dunder Mifflin with Michael, but they decided to move in that direction to demonstrate Pam was trying to figure out what she wants in life.

Dream Team

1. Mindy Kaling thought of the idea of Ryan dying his hair blond.
2. B.J. Novak wore a baseball cap in public between the times his hair was dyed and when the episode aired, in order to make the reveal a surprise, and even kept the cap on when he and the rest of the cast and crew did a public forum and Q&A session.
3. In the beginning of the episode, in Michael's condo, the flat screen TV Jan broke in the dinner date episode can be seen still hanging on the wall.
4. Last appearance of Ranjit Chowdhry as Vikram in the show.

Michael Scott Paper Company

1. This is the first episode to include 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 the previous episodes.
2. Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms practiced the guitar competition in Ed Helms' trailer during lunch the day of the filming; Helms, a proficient bluegrass banjo player, coached Wilson, who is proficient at guitar and drums.
3. Ed Helms said he was happy to have the opportunity to play banjo on screen, but did not feel the instrument made much sense for his character. Helms said, "It's so fun and weird, but he's a Connecticut preppy guy. How did he pick up a banjo? It's one of Andy's many mysteries, not all of which I even understand."
4. B.J. Novak came up with the story idea involving Jim and the "run-down" and worked it into Justin Spitzer's final script.
5. The first episode to feature Erin Hannon, played by Ellie Kemper.
6. In the back of the area where the Michael Scott paper company, the quote can be seen written on the white board "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky-Michael Scott"
7. At the end of the episode it's shown that Ryan's mom drives him to and from work.

Heavy Competition

1. Wilson said the moment Dwight spun around the HarperCollins secretary saying "Spin move", which was included in the script, was one of the most popular moments of the episode among the writers. Wilson said of filming the move, "We did like five spin moves and once I did a somersault. I thought I was being all nimble and quick, but no. I watch it and it looks like a manatee doing ballet at SeaWorld."
2. Rainn Wilson said he liked the episode because it demonstrated growth for his character and the relationship between Michael and Dwight; he said "I like the way they let characters grow and change on the show," and said of his character, "It's not the same acolyte ass kissing as season 2".
3. In the scene when Dwight is driving there is no key in the ignition.

Broke

1. According to Google Translate, the Bus really says "Scranton Hallelujah Church".
2. This episode was Steve Carell's submission for Emmy consideration.
3. In Michael's fish bowl, there is clearly a different colored fish than the orange one from the past episodes.
4. During their meeting, Jim and David Wallace are wearing blue shirts. Charles and Dwight are in white.

Casual Friday

1. While working as a writer on the show, Mindy Kaling was vehemently opposed to the premise for the cold open in which Kevin drops his chili. She became so upset that she stormed out of the writer's room, taking a case of water bottles with her, as she was sure that her actions would warrant her dismissal. They didn't, of course, and she returned to work.
2. It's learned that Ryan's mom drives him to work everyday.
3. While writing the second round of memos to the sales team, Dwight uses a mug with Ryan's face on it for the "invisible ink." This mug was one of several face mugs given to staff members who attended Kelly's America's Got Talentwrap party in S5E7, "Customer Survey."

Cafe Disco

1. Ed Helms, who describes himself as a poor dancer, said he found the dancing scenes very challenging and that he was very sore by the end of the filming.
2. The song Steve Carell's character uses to entice his staff to come down and party with him is the same song from "Evan Almighty" 2007 that is used at the end of the movie and features the cast and crew dancing and singing along. Steve Carell plays the leading role in both.
3. Phyllis wears the same blouse in this episode as the one in "Crime Aid," an earlier episode in season five. In both of these episodes, she and Dwight befriend one another and form a special bond.
4. The two warehouse workers shown in this episode are portrayed by writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky who worked on the show.
5. The song playing when Phyllis first enters Cafe Disco is Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) by David Bowie. This is the same song in Inglourious Basterds (2009) when Shosanna is applying her make-up, before the climactic ending. Both star B.J. Novak.
6. At the very end when Kelly is piercing Andy's ear he asks, "are you sure that's not the gay ear?". It was his right ear in the mirrors reflection but his left ear in real life. Therefore, not the gay ear.
7. When Dwight comes running to Michael's side wondering what happened to Phyllis he says, "who did this?! Was it Phillip?" (Referring to Michael's typo error). Dwight later goes on to have a child with Angela and she names their son Phillip.

Company Picnic

1. When the Pam character discusses her impressive volleyball ability, she says she played volleyball in junior high, senior high, college and went to volleyball camps most summers. However, in the episode "Job Fair", she said her high school gym brings back memories of her faking PMS to get out of playing basketball and volleyball. Writer Jen Celotta acknowledged this was a continuity error: "Yeah, we screwed up. I didn't remember that she said that, specifically about volleyball. And we really do try to be careful about those things."
2. The extras were told not to laugh or react at all to the "SlumDunder Mifflinaire" sketch, but Carell and Ryan were not told of those instructions in order to create a genuine stage fright awkwardness among the two actors; Ryan in particular was thrown off guard by their lack of response.
3. After filming wrapped, the cast and crew held a 100th episode party, where Dave Rogers presented a montage of "100 Moments" of The Office, with one moment from each episode.
4. The opening credits were trimmed down to ten seconds and no post-credits scene was used in order to keep the episode within the network-mandated 21 minutes and 35 seconds.
5. Jennie Tan, the creator of The Office fansite OfficeTally.com, appeared as an extra during the picnic scenes; her site has grown so large she has become known by the cast and crew of the show, who invited her to appear on the season finale.
6. The episode featured about 360 extras, and was shot over the course of four days
7. Carell and Ryan also made up the Jaws song parody ("Dunder...Dunder...") while filming, and Carell made up the subsequent line "We're circling it" about their good sketch idea.
8. In an interview with The Office fansite "OfficeTally", Celotta said she and Lieberstein had only about one weekend to finish the script and distribute it to the actors, so there was little discussion about their individual volleyball abilities. Once the scripts were circulated, the writers learned that Jenna Fischer was not very good at volleyball and had trouble making certain motions with her arm over her head due to a previous injury. As a result, director Ken Kwapis arranged for stunt doubles to perform some of the volleyball moves; a handful of scenes were also shot with Pam doing an overhead motion with the ball being added later using CGI.
9. The first scene with Michael and Holly discussing their sketch possibilities in a secluded area was filmed with three cameras: one focusing on each side of the two actors, and one from the front of both of them to establish that the picnic was still going on behind them. Due to space limitations, the latter angle was filmed through a mirror (with the actors appearing to be opposite sides) and then the image was reversed and undistorted in post-production.
10. Lieberstein and Celotta originally planned to have Mose Schrute, Dwight's cousin and a popular minor character, appear in the episode along with Dwight, but actor Michael Schur was unable to attend because he was busy directing "Rock Show", the first season finale of the NBC series Parks and Recreation, which Schur co-created along with The Office creator Greg Daniels. Instead, the writers created the role of Rolph, and several of the actors suggested James Urbaniak be cast in the role. Celotta said she intends to have both Urbaniak and Schur come back to the show in future episodes; she said of Schur, "Who knew Mose would run a show some day? We'll get him one of these days, rest assured."
11. The producers considered making the episode an hour long like other season finales from past seasons, like "The Job" and "Goodbye, Toby", but they found they did not have enough plot points to conclude in "Company Picnic" and would have had trouble filling a full hour.
12. The Office editor, Dave Rogers, makes a cameo appearance as the volleyball player who tells Andy he is wearing expensive sunglasses.
13. Brian Stack, a writer and actor on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, had a small role as the Buffalo branch employee.
14. Dwight's friend Rolf, played by James Urbaniak, met Dwight in a shoe store. Urbaniak played a shoe salesman in Sex and the City, season 2 episode 12.
15. When Pam is taken to the hospital it is Sacred Heart Hospital that is the center of the TV show Scrubs.
16. Although the "SlumDunder Mifflinaire" skit and the scenes in which it was prepared were all scripted, Carell and Ryan improvised several of the moments including Michael's "Yay!" cheer upon getting an answer right, the bow Carell and Ryan take at the end while the Buffalo branch employees are angry, and Michael's Indian accent. Carell improvised with several different accents on the set, with the producers settling on the one that sounded most like the character from the film, although he used his regular accent when answering the final question in the skit.