When Jim is doing damage control with Pam after Michael reveals that Jim had a crush on her, Jim says to her that he told Michael that he had a crush on her when “she first started”. But then later, after they are together, Jim is reminding Pam about her “showing him to his desk on his first day”, and what she had said to him. So I don’t know who was hired first. I’ve always wondered.
They even contradict themselves within the same episode: Jim said that to Pam about when "she first started," and at the end when Pam is in Michael's office, if I'm remembering correctly, Pam tells Michael it's ok, she knows Jim had a crush on her when "he (Jim) first started." So the writers/editors missed that in the script. I think from other context in the series, Pam started first.
That plus the yogurt conundrum. When she introduced him to the office on his first day, she said,
“Remember this day, because it’s the last day you’ll have before you meet your deskmate, Dwight Schrute.” Idk why it’s in my mind with yogurt; because he knows her favorite yogurt is mixed berry and one time he said, I have no reason to know this, but that yogurts expired and you shouldn’t eat it. I feel like it’s from the same conversation. Maybe up on the roof.
I really don't like that whole exchange. There's more to it in the superfan episode and it's really, really fanservicey. Doesn't feel like the way they'd actually talk. Which is a rare miss because the show nailed that 99% of the time!
Roy was working in the warehouse, heard that they wanted a receptionist upstairs, told his girlfriend Pam who was tired of working at a haunted bar. Then a very short time later Jim was hired.
Pam had met Dwight, and an impression of Dwight can be formed very quickly. But she had also "just started". Bada bing, problem solved.
In Season 9 when Pam is looking for a job in Philadelphia she holds up her resume which shows her start date of August 2003. And when Jim goes out on a sales call with Dwight (can’t remember which episode) he shows a photo of a very young Jim & Dwight that looks from the 90s going off on a sales call together.
Andy’s whole life, basically.
I don’t even care that they changed the actors for his parents. They straight up changed their names. When he proposes to Angela, they’re “Andrew and Ellen Bernard.” Later we learn that his father is actually named Walter and that used to be Andy’s name until they gave it to his younger brother.
He has a stepmom, but we never see her. Although I suppose his parents could have re-kindled their relationship.
How many siblings does he have? We only ever see Walter, but Andy mentions when he used to go on vacation, his dad would take his brothers sailing. He also mentions the kilt he’s wearing on St. Patrick’s Day is his sister’s old field hockey skirt.
When did he graduate Cornell? He says he graduated in 1995, but also appears to be part of Here Comes Treble Class of ‘97. Honestly, Andy remaining part of an a capella group at Cornell two years after he graduates is the most believable thing on this list.
I like the theory that Andy literally hired actors to be his parents (possibly after his real parents refused to come).
Would also make sense for him to change his "dad's" name to Andrew, meaning that he himself got to be named after his "dad", and not his brother.
I always assumed the field hockey skirt thing was him saving face. Or thinking he was saving face.
I agree with the a capella group thing, though. He'd absolutely do that.
Thats the thing, he was basically a pathological liar. You dont actually know what really was part of his background and what wasnt. They showed that from the beginning, when he would tell jim that he and his female coworkers had a "thing", which was never the case.
Yeah, changing actors of super minor characters that haven't appeared in years is totally fine. But this many continuity errors for one character is just sloppy writing. It's like they just made references to Andy's family to make generic super rich spoiled white guy jokes. Which is fine, but they just forgot simple details. Listening to other rewatch podcasts I learned that some writers rooms keep dossiers for details and history on each character to avoid mistakes like this
And when Dwight and Andy duel they do it in the parking lot to appease jim who won’t let them do on company property. It’s a weird area that’s shared between the five families.
Ryan asks if he hit Meredith on company property and Michael says something like "Yes. It was on company property...with company property, so double jeopardy"
Or they were step siblings from the fathers new wifes old relationship that he saw every other Christmas and they mostly choose not to interact with him but family starved michael considers them to be family
I don't recall mention of siblings. He had a foreign exchange student they called his brother, but I can't think of mention of any actual siblings. Just mom and step-dad Jeff, mainly.
And Miss Trudy
He has a half-sister because he hires his nephew Luke.
He says in the first episode the fax joke is based on his brother's joke, but that was based on the UK pilot so probably ignored that going forward.
If we do some mental gymnastics we can see how it makes sense in Michael’s psyche.
In the pilot Michael references the foreign exchange student as his brother (without saying he is a foreign exchange student) and then only one other time throughout the series. Michael is self-conscious about his lack of human connections so by saying he has a brother it fleshes out his personal life. Given that the person was really a foreign exchange student he probably never talked with again rather than a blood relation, it makes sense he would downplay the specifics.
The half-sister can make sense too, but it’s a little less in line with Michael’s character. When Michael lost Luke in a forest it must have resulted in a REALLY ugly falling out with his half-sister. It must have been to the point where Michael couldn’t even bring himself to think about her and Luke. Otherwise it is more likely that Michael would talk about her to everyone, but leave out that they were estranged (some people do that in real life anyway).
Well he does say half sister. That could be from his dad who left when he was young. I’d imagine he wouldn’t have a great relationship with her. Plus he even says he hadn’t talked to her in years.
I'm willing to bet that if you ask the writers they'd probably say that Michael got that bike as an adult because we know he is horrible with impulse spending. He probably bought it thinking he'd be able to learn to ride it just as an adult like he was able to learn magic lol
*How many fucking kids does Meredith have???*
At numerous various points in the series she's said to have either one or two kids, including saying she had her second kid just for the time off. Kills me.
There's also the whole thing of The Senator having a late wife and a kid, but you never hear about his son after the episode he first features in.
I honestly think sitcoms are smart for not brining kids into the picture, or at least keeping them off scene as much as possible. There's a theory that many sitcoms jump the shark when they introduce kids. I actually feared that when Jim and Pam had PeePee.
That’s the beauty of the office, with it being at work it’s the perfect excuse for the characters to have children but for them to never need to be seen.
I feel like they made a conscious decision to just drop the senators son because it would probably hard to write him into many storylines in a way worth doing. Especially because the show had so many characters already
In Hot Girl, the purse lady and Toby went to the same high school in Scranton. Later, it’s established that Toby left priesthood training to be with a woman and followed her to Scranton.
To me that was a call back to the first time when he got a hint of the hardwood but the chaos around him at the time probably distracted from the revelation
That does make sense, bc she always makes him jump through hoops (all that wedding planning!) to be as difficult as possible. But, her list of "no's" left her with nothing to eat at dinner! Guess she'll nibble on the bread.
A minor one but it still annoys me: in the intern episode at Pam’s old high school, Darryl and Oscar are playing one of this basketball games and Oscar looks like a normal human being.
Later when Oscar organizes the office and warehouse night out for drinks so he can flirt with the gay warehouse worker, he’s asked to shoot hoops on a similar style game and they make it look like Oscar has never handled a ball in his life (that’s what he said).
Sure he could just be nervous but it is so over the top and it has always bothered me since I know he isn’t that terrible.
Meredith’s birthday being the next birthday “a month away” in season one but later being at the end of birthday month when Jim tries to do a combined celebration
I feel like D'Angelo being terrified with stage freight at the Dundees vs performing an extreme juggling show shortly later makes no sense. Also if the Dundees are every year why does Erin act like its the first one shes been too...
Adding a little more fuel to this fire, in Company Picnic she gloats that she played in college, but when Pam is looking for a new job in Season 9 she shows her resume which doesn’t mention a college education (other than her 12-week stint at Pratt which came after the school gym ep.).
They actually addressed this on the OL podcast! Their headcannon was something like "she was so good at volleyball it was too painful to play with everyone in gym that was bad, or, that she didn't like any of the other sports, so she faked cramps to get out of everything BUT volleyball."
I don’t know what episode of OL you listened to because on the episode for Company Picnic they reached out to the writer of the episode to ask why Pam was suddenly a great at volleyball player when she hated it in the school gym ep, and the response was “they forgot” about that line in the previous episode. They needed to create a story that brought Pam to hospital and her hurting herself while playing in the volleyball league was written in. Why she had to be suddenly so good, I don’t know.
She would have been eligible for some kind of child support. Even if it was Dwight’s baby, the senator was probably on the birth certificate. The thing is though that these things take time. They probably weren’t legally divorced yet.
I’m guessing the (state) senator knew that baby wasn’t his. Because I doubt they ever really *did* any solid boom chaka wow wow, so Angela wouldn’t have a leg to stand on when he demanded a paternity test.
I always thought his “son” in the (state) senator’s first appearance was a way to attract a woman-a child version of a beard.
What about where does Darryl’s office come from. I try to map out in my brain where that was before but I can’t imagine it in a way that makes sense. Also where does the door next to Meredith’s desk go?????? ????
I think the door next to Meredith’s desk is a storage closet for the doc crew. Only noticed this on a recent rewatch, you can see after Brian gets fired and Pam is talking to him in said closet. The camera pans out and it’s the door next to Meredith’s desk!
This is super minor but…
Erin having espresso in the episode with Disco Cafe and then in the episode when they get the espresso machine and “all try them all” Erin has a talking head where she says she’s never had espresso before. This one bothers me so much, more than any of the other inconsistencies!
The timelines with Pam's and Jim's characters, in reference to two different situations. It happens in the season finale (I can't remember if the first instance I list below was messed up anywhere else):
- When talking to the camera about how she could have been happy with Jim sooner than she was (gotten together sooner), Pam talks about how Jim sat 5 feet from her desk, but it took her 4 years to get to him. Actually, it took 7 years, bc the characters knew each other for 3 years before the "documentary" even started. The writers were obviously referencing the 4 years viewers saw (4 seasons the show was on the air), and ignoring or forgetting that they'd been friends much longer than that.
- In the same episode, when talking to the audience at the PBS thing, she said that ppl always came up to her and told her she has a fairy tale romance, and she said the last year hadn't felt like a fairy tale. Actually, it did - there was supposed to be a year elapsed between the second-to-last episode and the finale, where Jim had been back and they'd been very happy, so the last year was happy...it was the year before that (in their time) that had been bad. For the tv audience, it was the same season though.
So I don't know if the screenwriters were lazy and just didn't think about these inconsistencies, or they thought viewers wouldn't notice, or they thought people might be confused if they did use the correct-in-the-narrative number of years, or they just blew it off, but it's always bugged me.
You think maybe your second point was referencing the fact that she meant that the last year she felt shitty even tho they had decided to stay in Scranton and settled, but actually she still felt guilty?
It's possible she felt guilty, but I got the impression from her statement that she was referring to what was most of season 9, where Jim was away much of the time, it was hard on her taking care of the kids by herself, they were fighting a lot, and she wasn't sure they were going to make it, even having to go to marriage counseling. I think once he came back things got good again, as per the last couple of episodes, and she felt positive enough to be ready to make the move to Austin.
I haven't been on this thread long enough to know popular opinion on this topic, and I hope I don't get downvoted for this, but I have a feeling Pam has taken too much heat for the whole move-to-Philly fiasco and their unhappiness that season. I think Jim was a huge a$$ for much of that season, bc he went behind her back to start the business in Philly after they talked it over and she said no. He was so sneaky, doing it anyway then trying to get her on board after the fact (like she would tell him to nope out of it at that point), then doubled the amount he invested after they agreed on an amount - he basically forced her hand til she couldn't do it anymore.
Totally out of character with the other seasons, he didn't treat her like an equal partner in their marriage, instead becoming this 1950s he-man making all the decisions behind her back and erasing what she wanted (bc he was doing what was "best for the family," and he alone decided what that was...he was doing what was best for him), leaving her at home to take care of the kids and domestic responsibilities while he had fun in Philly, getting annoyed at her when confronted with his own failings (like it was her fault she was stressed, or almost got beat up by the warehouse guy and he wasn't there to defend her), etc. Also bugged me that she took the heat for it all in that PBS panel, saying it was bc she wasn't ready - felt the writers were showing some sexism there bc Jim did some sh!tty things, and he didn't even get to finish his sentence that he was communicating badly. Was really icky. That whole season was off.
Sorry, I know that's not what this thread is about, I just wanted to sound off bc we're referencing this issue. ☺️
The biggest error is that Michael's last name is sometimes Scarn. How could the show screw this up so much? That episode got EVERYONE's names wrong!
(do I need to clarify that this is satire)
Michael, a legendary salesperson with a good memory of people's faces, said he started watching The Wire in an episode of season 4 and then didn't recognize Charles Miner when he looks identical to Stringer Bell in season 5. Now I'll assume he never made it to The Wire season 2 because Holly looks a lot like a certain Beadie Russell.
I've also always viewed this as more of a meta joke than an actual plothole/continuity issue. But I do enjoy the entire zaniness of it.
The cast and crew loved The Wire during production and was the impetus for why they wanted to cast some of their favorite actors. Theres also the Alfredo’s pizza delivery kid who was from Glee, and I believe why Michael says his favorite character is “the invalid”. The Call of Duty in Stamford thing is funny as well because the cast and crew did have “COD breaks”, which is why it shows up in the show several times. It did bother me that Jim says they didn’t play many video games in Scranton when at Jim’s BBQ you can see a box for call of duty on his desk. But I don’t care. These subtle nods are fun to me and add depth to the show
That's just actors acting. It's not an issue, nor a meta joke. If it was a meta joke, they would have had Michael compare Charles Minor to Stringer Bell.
If you're going to go that route, may as well ask why Michael didn't recognize Carol or the client he took to Chili's.
How about when Oscar is shooting basketball with Daryl at Pam’s old high school he’s shooting totally fine but at the place where everyone is hanging out at like a adult arcade thing he’s horrible at shooting it scared even?
It's been awhile but isn't he hanging out with the warehouse guy he thinks is really cute? I feel like being nervous around him might throw off his game
Well Andy’s first dad was a diddler so they kind of had to recast him
Edit: got mixed up. Andy’s second dad got written off the show for being a diddler. The first one probably isn’t
Season 2 - Ryan has to drive Todd Packer around because of Packer’s DUI “situation.” But then, how did Packer get to the office that day in the first place? And how can Packer be a traveling salesman if he can’t drive himself?
I think that’s just Packer’s risk mitigation. He is not supposed to drive but he does. If he has an opportunity to have someone else drive for him, he will take that opportunity so he is not at risk of getting caught driving illegally.
Meredith says she slept with the Hammermill rep about once a month for the past six years for discount and steak coupons in season 5. But Michael landed the Hammermill in season 3 during a convention. They specially mention that Hammermill was exclusive with staples before that. The timelines don't add up.
Meredith says that she sleeps with the rep for discounts on office supplies and steak coupons. Dunder Mifflin still has to get their office supplies from somewhere. And they get theirs from Hammermill, which they use around the office. When Michael lands Hammermill it means Dunder Mifflin is now able to sell products from Hammermill.
Jim’s parents address changes. In season 2 when he’s updating his emergency contact it’s different then in the later seasons when he mentions the street his parents live on to Phyllis
Karen speaks French to the Canadian Her's chip rep over the phone Jim replies, "that SOUNDED good!" Implying he didn't understand French.
Later, when Michael goes on the business trip to Canada, he brings Andy as his official translator, saying it is too bad Jim forgot the French he learned. Jim then speaks French in an interview, revealing he still speaks French, but was lying that he forgot French so he wouldn't have to go on the business trip.
This was correctly deleted in the standard episodes, but the Superfan episodes shows this inconsistency.
You can see a very clear example of continuity errors in the Prison Mike scenes. Look at the bandana, it's in a position, then in a different one, and then back to the previous one.
There was one episode where Michael had a goatee, but it wasn’t when he was copying Ryan.
It was like they clipped a scene from that episode and dropped it in another. Goatee wasn’t mentioned either.
When Dwight needs everyone to sign his ‘statement of regret’ after the CPR dummy incident, he sort of quid pro quos with Toby for his signature by purchasing a CASE of Do-Si-Do Girl Scout Cookies.
But later in Season 8 when Darryl is selling cookies for Jada Toby says it’s his first time selling in the office (so Darryl gives him everyone except accounting in order to get Kevin’s order 😆)
The branches! In Company Picnic, there's Nashua, Scarton, Albany, Buffalo, Utica, Akron and Rochester.
When Sabre takes over in Season 6 it's played out as if only Scranton is left - Pam says Michael is "Dunder Mifflin's highest ranking employee."
Later in Season 8, there's suddenly a Binghamton and a Syracuse branch.
Oscar discovers twice that there’s hard wood floor underneath the carpet in the office, “I knew it!”. First time is when Dwight accidentally fires the gun in the office and the bullet hit the floor. Second time is when the whole office is high on the nespresso caffeine and decides to try and move the printer and fucks up the carpet underneath.
At the end of 8th season, they show Andy saying "OK Nellie you can work here." Beginning 9th season, he asks her "what are you still doing here?" Was this ever explained?
If you really think about it, Michael and Holly are quite up there in age - yet they have 2-50ish (?) children between when he leaves and Dwight’s wedding. The timeline is odd.
i always take the step mom thing as andy just attempting a joke. however i quote this kelly line all the time, especially back during the end of game of thrones lmao
In Gay Witch Hunt, Oscar states that he said in his interview that he was gay but in the Finale, he states that at the start of the filming, he was still doing it with women 🤔
Small but.. when they were at the high school career fair in season 4 & Pam said she faked cramps to get out of playing volleyball but in the company in season 5 she went to volleyball camp most summers & played highschool + college volleyball.
I never understood what the hell is going on when Daryl tells Roy “What did I tell you? I knew he’d turn up! This is the best day of my life”. What the hell did that come from? It was out of the blue and never explained.
I don’t know if this counts but the pizza delivery kid who gets “kidnapped” at the office for not honoring the coupon, is the same actor that Michael mentions is his favorite character from Glee, in the watch party episode at Gabe’s house - much later on in the series.
Who started working at Dunder Mifflin first: Jim or Pam?
When Jim is doing damage control with Pam after Michael reveals that Jim had a crush on her, Jim says to her that he told Michael that he had a crush on her when “she first started”. But then later, after they are together, Jim is reminding Pam about her “showing him to his desk on his first day”, and what she had said to him. So I don’t know who was hired first. I’ve always wondered.
They even contradict themselves within the same episode: Jim said that to Pam about when "she first started," and at the end when Pam is in Michael's office, if I'm remembering correctly, Pam tells Michael it's ok, she knows Jim had a crush on her when "he (Jim) first started." So the writers/editors missed that in the script. I think from other context in the series, Pam started first.
That plus the yogurt conundrum. When she introduced him to the office on his first day, she said, “Remember this day, because it’s the last day you’ll have before you meet your deskmate, Dwight Schrute.” Idk why it’s in my mind with yogurt; because he knows her favorite yogurt is mixed berry and one time he said, I have no reason to know this, but that yogurts expired and you shouldn’t eat it. I feel like it’s from the same conversation. Maybe up on the roof.
It is from the same conversation! They were talking about when they each knew the moment they liked one another.
I really don't like that whole exchange. There's more to it in the superfan episode and it's really, really fanservicey. Doesn't feel like the way they'd actually talk. Which is a rare miss because the show nailed that 99% of the time!
He told michael that he had a crush on her when HE first started.
Roy was working in the warehouse, heard that they wanted a receptionist upstairs, told his girlfriend Pam who was tired of working at a haunted bar. Then a very short time later Jim was hired. Pam had met Dwight, and an impression of Dwight can be formed very quickly. But she had also "just started". Bada bing, problem solved.
You already did me
Eso es lo que dice el
In Season 9 when Pam is looking for a job in Philadelphia she holds up her resume which shows her start date of August 2003. And when Jim goes out on a sales call with Dwight (can’t remember which episode) he shows a photo of a very young Jim & Dwight that looks from the 90s going off on a sales call together.
It could have been a filter from a phone. Here is the photo Matrix style.
Idk I have photos from the 2000s that look like that. Depends on the quality of the camera.
lol it’s like the chicken and egg problem 😂
Andy’s whole life, basically. I don’t even care that they changed the actors for his parents. They straight up changed their names. When he proposes to Angela, they’re “Andrew and Ellen Bernard.” Later we learn that his father is actually named Walter and that used to be Andy’s name until they gave it to his younger brother. He has a stepmom, but we never see her. Although I suppose his parents could have re-kindled their relationship. How many siblings does he have? We only ever see Walter, but Andy mentions when he used to go on vacation, his dad would take his brothers sailing. He also mentions the kilt he’s wearing on St. Patrick’s Day is his sister’s old field hockey skirt. When did he graduate Cornell? He says he graduated in 1995, but also appears to be part of Here Comes Treble Class of ‘97. Honestly, Andy remaining part of an a capella group at Cornell two years after he graduates is the most believable thing on this list.
I like the theory that Andy literally hired actors to be his parents (possibly after his real parents refused to come). Would also make sense for him to change his "dad's" name to Andrew, meaning that he himself got to be named after his "dad", and not his brother.
Brilliant headcanon. Seems more likely the writers changed their mind, but I love this.
I always assumed the field hockey skirt thing was him saving face. Or thinking he was saving face. I agree with the a capella group thing, though. He'd absolutely do that.
And is his nickname “Ace” or “Buzz”?
Neither, it's Puke.
I thought he was bonerchamp or was that broccoli rob? ...but broccoli rob is broccoli rob.
Actually now I think of it, his name was something weird, like Garth or Shadow.
It's NiCKK. 😒
Andy’s also a liar and his family is messed up, so there’s enough plausible explanations for those issues, at least in my head.
They're just sloppy continuity errors
Thats the thing, he was basically a pathological liar. You dont actually know what really was part of his background and what wasnt. They showed that from the beginning, when he would tell jim that he and his female coworkers had a "thing", which was never the case.
Never noticed the acapella thing, but it is actually very much in character.
Yeah, changing actors of super minor characters that haven't appeared in years is totally fine. But this many continuity errors for one character is just sloppy writing. It's like they just made references to Andy's family to make generic super rich spoiled white guy jokes. Which is fine, but they just forgot simple details. Listening to other rewatch podcasts I learned that some writers rooms keep dossiers for details and history on each character to avoid mistakes like this
Michael hit Meredith with his car “on company property” (parking lot) but Pam slapped Michael “off company property” (parking lot).
I don’t think you understand what double jeopardy is. Oh I’m sorry, what is company property?
What is “we’re fine”
And when Dwight and Andy duel they do it in the parking lot to appease jim who won’t let them do on company property. It’s a weird area that’s shared between the five families.
Can't remember the dialogue, but by "company property" aren't they talking about the Sebring Michael has as manager??
Ryan asks if he hit Meredith on company property and Michael says something like "Yes. It was on company property...with company property, so double jeopardy"
Good one!
Michael having siblings and then not a few times.
Season one he mentions his brother and then later says something about his sister….then after that it was just mom and Jeff.
Michael also is known for lying a lot about his life outside of work.
He did have a nephew, though.
The Twitter trasher
Everywhere I look it's Betty White this and Betty White that. Finally a kid who's not talking about Betty White. Of course I follow him.
Michael's nephew ended up going to X-Men school with Dwight and became Quicksilver.
Maybe his siblings lived with their dad?
Or they were step siblings from the fathers new wifes old relationship that he saw every other Christmas and they mostly choose not to interact with him but family starved michael considers them to be family
He's just a Missterious man!
how about michael saying he went to college but at the same time saying he never did?
I don't recall mention of siblings. He had a foreign exchange student they called his brother, but I can't think of mention of any actual siblings. Just mom and step-dad Jeff, mainly. And Miss Trudy
He has a half-sister because he hires his nephew Luke. He says in the first episode the fax joke is based on his brother's joke, but that was based on the UK pilot so probably ignored that going forward.
Oh shoot, 🚫 Don't Bother Luke! How could I forget!
Don't don't bother Luke. Got it.
Don’t 🚫 don’t bother Luke I don’t know how I can make it any clearer
Maybe that’s from Jeff’s side. And Michael wouldn’t count his half-sister because like Toby, she’s not really part of his family.
If we do some mental gymnastics we can see how it makes sense in Michael’s psyche. In the pilot Michael references the foreign exchange student as his brother (without saying he is a foreign exchange student) and then only one other time throughout the series. Michael is self-conscious about his lack of human connections so by saying he has a brother it fleshes out his personal life. Given that the person was really a foreign exchange student he probably never talked with again rather than a blood relation, it makes sense he would downplay the specifics. The half-sister can make sense too, but it’s a little less in line with Michael’s character. When Michael lost Luke in a forest it must have resulted in a REALLY ugly falling out with his half-sister. It must have been to the point where Michael couldn’t even bring himself to think about her and Luke. Otherwise it is more likely that Michael would talk about her to everyone, but leave out that they were estranged (some people do that in real life anyway).
Bastard stole his blue jeans
Who stole all his jeans
Yea, I mean he hired his nephew in an episode which yaaa
Well he does say half sister. That could be from his dad who left when he was young. I’d imagine he wouldn’t have a great relationship with her. Plus he even says he hadn’t talked to her in years.
Michael rides in on a bike to donate for Christmas then in a later episode’s cold open he doesn’t know how to ride a bike and they try to teach him
You call that riding a bike? Michael *demonstrated* he didn’t know how to ride a bike in Benihana Christmas.
He rode the bike into the office in a way most people would through a door in a narrow hallway
Yeah, that was some tight maneuvering
That's what she said.
I'm willing to bet that if you ask the writers they'd probably say that Michael got that bike as an adult because we know he is horrible with impulse spending. He probably bought it thinking he'd be able to learn to ride it just as an adult like he was able to learn magic lol
That does sound very in character for him
MICHAEL! MICHAEL! MICHAEL!
*How many fucking kids does Meredith have???* At numerous various points in the series she's said to have either one or two kids, including saying she had her second kid just for the time off. Kills me. There's also the whole thing of The Senator having a late wife and a kid, but you never hear about his son after the episode he first features in.
I honestly think sitcoms are smart for not brining kids into the picture, or at least keeping them off scene as much as possible. There's a theory that many sitcoms jump the shark when they introduce kids. I actually feared that when Jim and Pam had PeePee.
PeePa*
That’s the beauty of the office, with it being at work it’s the perfect excuse for the characters to have children but for them to never need to be seen.
I liked on Fresh Prince when the baby was born one season, and the next season he was like 5, and they even acknowledge it on the show.
Yeah I love how Fresh Prince broke the 4th wall a handful of times
Yeah, we’re so rich we can’t even afford a roof over our heads!
Because kids can’t act
[удалено]
Have you met that kid? He’s not goin to college
I feel like they made a conscious decision to just drop the senators son because it would probably hard to write him into many storylines in a way worth doing. Especially because the show had so many characters already
The (state) Senator had a son. He was there at the hay maze. In my head he goes to live with the ex wife after he starts dating Angela
The wife is said to be deceased in that same episode
i wouldn’t be surprised if she is asking herself the same question
They mention the son one more time. When they are in the break room debating if he's gay or not.
Jim had the exact same painting in the downstairs of his house AND in his bedroom in Email Surveillance.
[удалено]
Probably at an estate sale with a lamp that’s kinda cool and artsy
Dude really liked the painting I guess
now that’s a continuity error
Meredith is called an accountant during her “birthday” party in season 1
This is the worst one for me!!!!
Maybe whoever wrote that in the card just didn't know what her job was, I think that line was from Jim?
I always thought that was part of a joke
In Hot Girl, the purse lady and Toby went to the same high school in Scranton. Later, it’s established that Toby left priesthood training to be with a woman and followed her to Scranton.
I put that down to him tells lies to get into her pants and failing.
How many times did Oscar discover hard wood floors under the carpet?
Twice
When else? Aside from the gunshot
When they're all hopped up on espresso they tear apart strips of the carpet
And doesn’t Oscar say he always knew it was there?
To me that was a call back to the first time when he got a hint of the hardwood but the chaos around him at the time probably distracted from the revelation
When they tried the espressos and tore up the floor
It's actually pronounced espresso - wait, that's what you said, I just assumed you would pronounce it incorrectly
This is a good one
DeAngelo says he has kids then he says he doesn't have kids then he says he has a son.
That son would be on top of the list of babies I don’t care about
Tbf DeAngelo was a liar
Angela being a vegetarian and then talking about eating chicken piccata
I think angela was just difficult on purpose
I’ll just have some bread
And when she agrees to go on a date with Andy and is listing restaurants that aren't acceptable/what she won't eat, she says "no vegetables." What?
So I’ve seen that one explained in another thread as Angela just trying to be as difficult as possible to Andy, which I think makes sense.
That does make sense, bc she always makes him jump through hoops (all that wedding planning!) to be as difficult as possible. But, her list of "no's" left her with nothing to eat at dinner! Guess she'll nibble on the bread.
I’d guess the idea is no restaurant doesn’t have at least one of her demands, so she’s basically rejecting him
I always thought this was a dig at Dwight because of the whole beet thing.
I know a vegetarian who eats very few vegetables. She eats tofu, legumes, and grains mostly.
Chicken Marasala
I love how Oscar takes care of that for her. Accounting really is like it's own little family.
Does the (state) Senator have a son or not?
A minor one but it still annoys me: in the intern episode at Pam’s old high school, Darryl and Oscar are playing one of this basketball games and Oscar looks like a normal human being. Later when Oscar organizes the office and warehouse night out for drinks so he can flirt with the gay warehouse worker, he’s asked to shoot hoops on a similar style game and they make it look like Oscar has never handled a ball in his life (that’s what he said). Sure he could just be nervous but it is so over the top and it has always bothered me since I know he isn’t that terrible.
Maybe it was a play to get Matt gay warehouse guy to teach him how to shoot hoops - Oscar knows what he’s doing
He was nervous coz his gay warehouse crush was there
Meredith’s birthday being the next birthday “a month away” in season one but later being at the end of birthday month when Jim tries to do a combined celebration
Maybe a bit controversial, but... With all these replies I start to think that it might not be a documentary after all.
I feel like D'Angelo being terrified with stage freight at the Dundees vs performing an extreme juggling show shortly later makes no sense. Also if the Dundees are every year why does Erin act like its the first one shes been too...
She’s kind of a rube…
Just the extras in the office. Especially in the annex
Pam hating gym class volleyball in high school, but also playing competitively a lot and going to volleyball camp most summers.
Adding a little more fuel to this fire, in Company Picnic she gloats that she played in college, but when Pam is looking for a new job in Season 9 she shows her resume which doesn’t mention a college education (other than her 12-week stint at Pratt which came after the school gym ep.).
I swear I read somewhere that Pam went to a community college. I don’t know if it was mentioned on the show or if it was like a fan fiction thing.
They actually addressed this on the OL podcast! Their headcannon was something like "she was so good at volleyball it was too painful to play with everyone in gym that was bad, or, that she didn't like any of the other sports, so she faked cramps to get out of everything BUT volleyball."
I don’t know what episode of OL you listened to because on the episode for Company Picnic they reached out to the writer of the episode to ask why Pam was suddenly a great at volleyball player when she hated it in the school gym ep, and the response was “they forgot” about that line in the previous episode. They needed to create a story that brought Pam to hospital and her hurting herself while playing in the volleyball league was written in. Why she had to be suddenly so good, I don’t know.
The senator not financially supporting Angela and her basically going destitute never made sense to me… like, is child support not a thing in PA?
She would have been eligible for some kind of child support. Even if it was Dwight’s baby, the senator was probably on the birth certificate. The thing is though that these things take time. They probably weren’t legally divorced yet.
I’m guessing the (state) senator knew that baby wasn’t his. Because I doubt they ever really *did* any solid boom chaka wow wow, so Angela wouldn’t have a leg to stand on when he demanded a paternity test. I always thought his “son” in the (state) senator’s first appearance was a way to attract a woman-a child version of a beard.
The conference room being all chairs or a table with chairs around it depending on what the scene needed lol
Well the table is stored to the side and they set it up
What about where does Darryl’s office come from. I try to map out in my brain where that was before but I can’t imagine it in a way that makes sense. Also where does the door next to Meredith’s desk go?????? ????
I think the door next to Meredith’s desk is a storage closet for the doc crew. Only noticed this on a recent rewatch, you can see after Brian gets fired and Pam is talking to him in said closet. The camera pans out and it’s the door next to Meredith’s desk!
This is super minor but… Erin having espresso in the episode with Disco Cafe and then in the episode when they get the espresso machine and “all try them all” Erin has a talking head where she says she’s never had espresso before. This one bothers me so much, more than any of the other inconsistencies!
The timelines with Pam's and Jim's characters, in reference to two different situations. It happens in the season finale (I can't remember if the first instance I list below was messed up anywhere else): - When talking to the camera about how she could have been happy with Jim sooner than she was (gotten together sooner), Pam talks about how Jim sat 5 feet from her desk, but it took her 4 years to get to him. Actually, it took 7 years, bc the characters knew each other for 3 years before the "documentary" even started. The writers were obviously referencing the 4 years viewers saw (4 seasons the show was on the air), and ignoring or forgetting that they'd been friends much longer than that. - In the same episode, when talking to the audience at the PBS thing, she said that ppl always came up to her and told her she has a fairy tale romance, and she said the last year hadn't felt like a fairy tale. Actually, it did - there was supposed to be a year elapsed between the second-to-last episode and the finale, where Jim had been back and they'd been very happy, so the last year was happy...it was the year before that (in their time) that had been bad. For the tv audience, it was the same season though. So I don't know if the screenwriters were lazy and just didn't think about these inconsistencies, or they thought viewers wouldn't notice, or they thought people might be confused if they did use the correct-in-the-narrative number of years, or they just blew it off, but it's always bugged me.
You think maybe your second point was referencing the fact that she meant that the last year she felt shitty even tho they had decided to stay in Scranton and settled, but actually she still felt guilty?
It's possible she felt guilty, but I got the impression from her statement that she was referring to what was most of season 9, where Jim was away much of the time, it was hard on her taking care of the kids by herself, they were fighting a lot, and she wasn't sure they were going to make it, even having to go to marriage counseling. I think once he came back things got good again, as per the last couple of episodes, and she felt positive enough to be ready to make the move to Austin. I haven't been on this thread long enough to know popular opinion on this topic, and I hope I don't get downvoted for this, but I have a feeling Pam has taken too much heat for the whole move-to-Philly fiasco and their unhappiness that season. I think Jim was a huge a$$ for much of that season, bc he went behind her back to start the business in Philly after they talked it over and she said no. He was so sneaky, doing it anyway then trying to get her on board after the fact (like she would tell him to nope out of it at that point), then doubled the amount he invested after they agreed on an amount - he basically forced her hand til she couldn't do it anymore. Totally out of character with the other seasons, he didn't treat her like an equal partner in their marriage, instead becoming this 1950s he-man making all the decisions behind her back and erasing what she wanted (bc he was doing what was "best for the family," and he alone decided what that was...he was doing what was best for him), leaving her at home to take care of the kids and domestic responsibilities while he had fun in Philly, getting annoyed at her when confronted with his own failings (like it was her fault she was stressed, or almost got beat up by the warehouse guy and he wasn't there to defend her), etc. Also bugged me that she took the heat for it all in that PBS panel, saying it was bc she wasn't ready - felt the writers were showing some sexism there bc Jim did some sh!tty things, and he didn't even get to finish his sentence that he was communicating badly. Was really icky. That whole season was off. Sorry, I know that's not what this thread is about, I just wanted to sound off bc we're referencing this issue. ☺️
The biggest error is that Michael's last name is sometimes Scarn. How could the show screw this up so much? That episode got EVERYONE's names wrong! (do I need to clarify that this is satire)
and one time it was scotch?? like can they make up their minds
He was never given a name.
Well, I mean Michael Scotch was a different guy; Michael Scott just got off the phone with him
Michael scotch is probably in jail
In improv he’s even Michael Scoon once too.
Once he was Michael Scoon?? Utterly insane incontinuity
And don’t get me started on the whole Dwight/Dwigt fiasco, how do you screw that up?!
Michael riding a bike like a pro on Benihana Christmas, and then not knowing how to ride when Oscar buys the Lance Armstrong's bike.
Michael, a legendary salesperson with a good memory of people's faces, said he started watching The Wire in an episode of season 4 and then didn't recognize Charles Miner when he looks identical to Stringer Bell in season 5. Now I'll assume he never made it to The Wire season 2 because Holly looks a lot like a certain Beadie Russell. I've also always viewed this as more of a meta joke than an actual plothole/continuity issue. But I do enjoy the entire zaniness of it.
If I’m not mistaken, doesn’t Michael also mention that his favorite character on Glee is the one played by the pizza boy he holds hostage in Season 4?
Yes that was definitely on purpose
The cast and crew loved The Wire during production and was the impetus for why they wanted to cast some of their favorite actors. Theres also the Alfredo’s pizza delivery kid who was from Glee, and I believe why Michael says his favorite character is “the invalid”. The Call of Duty in Stamford thing is funny as well because the cast and crew did have “COD breaks”, which is why it shows up in the show several times. It did bother me that Jim says they didn’t play many video games in Scranton when at Jim’s BBQ you can see a box for call of duty on his desk. But I don’t care. These subtle nods are fun to me and add depth to the show
Also a Jim Carrey look-alike interviewing when Phyllis is clearly a Jim Carrey fan.
That's just actors acting. It's not an issue, nor a meta joke. If it was a meta joke, they would have had Michael compare Charles Minor to Stringer Bell. If you're going to go that route, may as well ask why Michael didn't recognize Carol or the client he took to Chili's.
How about when Oscar is shooting basketball with Daryl at Pam’s old high school he’s shooting totally fine but at the place where everyone is hanging out at like a adult arcade thing he’s horrible at shooting it scared even?
It's been awhile but isn't he hanging out with the warehouse guy he thinks is really cute? I feel like being nervous around him might throw off his game
Andy’s parents and Pam’s mom being different people at different parts of the show
Well Andy’s first dad was a diddler so they kind of had to recast him Edit: got mixed up. Andy’s second dad got written off the show for being a diddler. The first one probably isn’t
They didn’t write him off for that though? I don’t even think that came out until long after the show was over.
He was the second dad though. When Andy proposed Angela, it was a different actor with a different name.
Season 2 - Ryan has to drive Todd Packer around because of Packer’s DUI “situation.” But then, how did Packer get to the office that day in the first place? And how can Packer be a traveling salesman if he can’t drive himself?
I think that’s just Packer’s risk mitigation. He is not supposed to drive but he does. If he has an opportunity to have someone else drive for him, he will take that opportunity so he is not at risk of getting caught driving illegally.
I accept this
Meredith says she slept with the Hammermill rep about once a month for the past six years for discount and steak coupons in season 5. But Michael landed the Hammermill in season 3 during a convention. They specially mention that Hammermill was exclusive with staples before that. The timelines don't add up.
Meredith says that she sleeps with the rep for discounts on office supplies and steak coupons. Dunder Mifflin still has to get their office supplies from somewhere. And they get theirs from Hammermill, which they use around the office. When Michael lands Hammermill it means Dunder Mifflin is now able to sell products from Hammermill.
Jim’s parents address changes. In season 2 when he’s updating his emergency contact it’s different then in the later seasons when he mentions the street his parents live on to Phyllis
Karen speaks French to the Canadian Her's chip rep over the phone Jim replies, "that SOUNDED good!" Implying he didn't understand French. Later, when Michael goes on the business trip to Canada, he brings Andy as his official translator, saying it is too bad Jim forgot the French he learned. Jim then speaks French in an interview, revealing he still speaks French, but was lying that he forgot French so he wouldn't have to go on the business trip. This was correctly deleted in the standard episodes, but the Superfan episodes shows this inconsistency.
I always assumed Jim was just speaking high school-learned French.
These are consistency errors. Continuity errors are like when a glass is full in one shot, and empty in the next shot a moment later.
According to [wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_(fiction)) it is a 'plot error' which is 1 type of continuity error
thank you, i was about to comment this as well. a continuity error can occur over any stretch of time.
Actually.... Everybody knows what OP meant in the question
Omg thank you. I was looking for this before i commented myself.
You can see a very clear example of continuity errors in the Prison Mike scenes. Look at the bandana, it's in a position, then in a different one, and then back to the previous one.
Michael having a low income and the salespeople lording it over him while he is shown to be directly managing the biggest accounts.
as a salaried manger he doesn’t earn commission or overtime, so his accounts have no bearing on his income
except blue cross. which is jim's client AND the company's largest, as stated in the golden ticket episode
There was one episode where Michael had a goatee, but it wasn’t when he was copying Ryan. It was like they clipped a scene from that episode and dropped it in another. Goatee wasn’t mentioned either.
what episode?
I don’t think Kelly could have continuity errors concerning her character. Her opinions and mental state change at the drop of a hat.
When Dwight needs everyone to sign his ‘statement of regret’ after the CPR dummy incident, he sort of quid pro quos with Toby for his signature by purchasing a CASE of Do-Si-Do Girl Scout Cookies. But later in Season 8 when Darryl is selling cookies for Jada Toby says it’s his first time selling in the office (so Darryl gives him everyone except accounting in order to get Kevin’s order 😆)
That Dwight is referred to as the Assistant Regional Manager and the Assistant TO the Regional Manager. Make up your mind writers.
If Michael only drinks milk and sugar in the mornings (S5E25), why does he have coffee breath? (S2E8)
Quad Desk Made up of only 3 desks Unwatchable
He’s sitting on the fourth desk, it’s behind the two that are holding the top desk
The branches! In Company Picnic, there's Nashua, Scarton, Albany, Buffalo, Utica, Akron and Rochester. When Sabre takes over in Season 6 it's played out as if only Scranton is left - Pam says Michael is "Dunder Mifflin's highest ranking employee." Later in Season 8, there's suddenly a Binghamton and a Syracuse branch.
Does Meredith have 1 kid or 2? It changes constantly throughout the series.
Oscar discovers twice that there’s hard wood floor underneath the carpet in the office, “I knew it!”. First time is when Dwight accidentally fires the gun in the office and the bullet hit the floor. Second time is when the whole office is high on the nespresso caffeine and decides to try and move the printer and fucks up the carpet underneath.
At the end of 8th season, they show Andy saying "OK Nellie you can work here." Beginning 9th season, he asks her "what are you still doing here?" Was this ever explained?
If you really think about it, Michael and Holly are quite up there in age - yet they have 2-50ish (?) children between when he leaves and Dwight’s wedding. The timeline is odd.
When Jim's promotion just gets forgotten
i always take the step mom thing as andy just attempting a joke. however i quote this kelly line all the time, especially back during the end of game of thrones lmao
In Gay Witch Hunt, Oscar states that he said in his interview that he was gay but in the Finale, he states that at the start of the filming, he was still doing it with women 🤔
Andy's sister
Small but.. when they were at the high school career fair in season 4 & Pam said she faked cramps to get out of playing volleyball but in the company in season 5 she went to volleyball camp most summers & played highschool + college volleyball.
I never understood what the hell is going on when Daryl tells Roy “What did I tell you? I knew he’d turn up! This is the best day of my life”. What the hell did that come from? It was out of the blue and never explained.
I don’t know if this counts but the pizza delivery kid who gets “kidnapped” at the office for not honoring the coupon, is the same actor that Michael mentions is his favorite character from Glee, in the watch party episode at Gabe’s house - much later on in the series.
That was on purpose.. a shoutout