S01.E06: Respect in the Workplace

[dubbel zout]

Quote

A mandatory staff meeting derails plans for the team's favorite day of the month.

Airs 2/4/20

[Quickbeam]

As a veteran of a million of these, I did laugh hard. And Nell. That was a chuckle too. 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Quickbeam

[DrSpaceman73]

I just can't with arpi.  She isn't funny. The monochromatic denim?  I think that five smile thing was supposed to be like a big funny moment and it wasn't.  

Best line though was 'i went to a hooters with oj in the 90s'. 

[AnimeMania]

I thought it was boring before Jayden got run over, but after that they really caught fire and I had a great time.

[Phishbulb]

I thought the line about "There's a special place in hell for gay men who don't help women" was funny. Tina Fey is still salty about her "feud" with Taylor Swift, all these years later. 😄

[Gregg247]

I like the actress who played the seminar leader, although I don't know her name.  She was a lawyer on "The Grinder" (great show!) and played Tom's girlfriend on "Parks & Recreation".  She would be much more believable as the Mayor's chief-of-staff than Michaela (who comes across as a high schooler writing a term paper about local government rather than an adult in a professional, high-pressure job).

[Quickbeam]

34 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

"The Grinder" (great show!) 

Wonderful show, laugh a minute!

I know there is a split decision on Holly Hunter but I really find her deadpan delivery funny. Plus they make tremendous use of her height, visually. She’s like the mouse that roared. 

[dubbel zout]

37 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

I like the actress who played the seminar leader, although I don't know her name.

That's Natalie Morales.

[Browncoat]

Uneven episode for me.  There were parts that I really liked, and other parts that I really didn't.  No middle ground at all.  I've liked Holly Hunter since "Raising Arizona", and I still like her here.  And I just love it every time Ted Danson kicks up his heels.  I also actually liked it when the staffers at the end mocked the training video scenario -- something I would do.  But I can't really identify with the food truck obsession.  

[tennisgurl]

14 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Best line though was 'i went to a hooters with oj in the 90s'. 

"I'm so hungry that actually sounds good."

As someone who has sat through several of those sorts of mandatory seminars, this was quite funny to me, especially the terrible acting of the people in the video. I also loved them all getting into the "narrative" of the videos and trying to connect them all into an actual story, I feel like I end up doing that every time I have to watch those things. Gunther was the villain all along! 

Always nice to see Natalie Morales, she is just so very likable and engaging, even while playing the straight man to more wacky characters. They really enjoy playing up the height difference between Holly Hunter and Ted Danson, it cracks me up. 

[iMonrey]

I really liked this one. I especially liked Jayden talking like a British child and driving everyone crazy with it. The training videos were silly and I loved everyone misunderstanding them in their interpretations. Plus I enjoy Natalie Morales in everything I see her in. When her wife walked in at the very end looking exactly like a female Ted Danson it took me a beat to realize it, then I thought it was hilarious. 

I have to say, I'm starting to understand the criticism of Holly Hunter. It's not that she isn't good, it's just that her character doesn't really fit very well. It feels like she should be on a different show.

Again - no daughter this week. They should just dump that character, send her off to college or wherever.

[Irlandesa]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

As someone who has sat through several of those sorts of mandatory seminars, this was quite funny to me, especially the terrible acting of the people in the video. I also loved them all getting into the "narrative" of the videos and trying to connect them all into an actual story, I feel like I end up doing that every time I have to watch those things. Gunther was the villain all along!

Those videos and the reactions were perfect.  I've been there as well.  The acting is bad.  The writing is bad.  But then your mind starts to get into the narrative of how everything fits together--like the soap opera of it all. 

What I'd love, if this show gets renewed, is for next year to have this training again with the exact same videos AND for people to fail again.  I've found that whenever I do the training videos and get an answer wrong, I tend to make the same damn mistake next year.

I thought Holly Hunter's character probably fit in the best in this episode than it has in the past.  I like the actress and do think the character has a place in the show but it's not as well defined as other characters so far. 

My favorite gag was that the presenter's wife looking like the mayor.  It was a nice twist on that kind of misunderstanding where a show will show someone being more friendly than usual or more friendly to one person over others only to reveal that the person is gay or a lesbian.  Superstore had a similar joke the same night.

So having that similarity was a nice capper which explained why she probably was unconsciously friendlier to Neil.

 

[appositival]

6 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I can't really identify with the food truck obsession.

I suspect that this is a reflection on the City Hall Cafeteria's cuisine, but I have actually eaten decent food from a "roach coach".

I liked the Mayor asking for credit for knowing when to keep his mouth shut. From what we've seen that was probably a hard won lesson.

So now we know that everyone in the office is evil except for Jayden, who has his own set of problems. Going head-down in the carry-out bag was oddly hilarious.

[DrSpaceman73]

11 hours ago, Gregg247 said:

I like the actress who played the seminar leader, although I don't know her name.  She was a lawyer on "The Grinder" (great show!) and played Tom's girlfriend on "Parks & Recreation".  She would be much more believable as the Mayor's chief-of-staff than Michaela (who comes across as a high schooler writing a term paper about local government rather than an adult in a professional, high-pressure job).

That's right.  ....thank you.  I looked her up because I knew her from somewhere but couldn't place her.  Imdb said parks and rec but still couldn't figure it out, but Tom's girlfriend!

Also she was on the underrated And too short lived santa clarita diet.  

[giovannif7]

34 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

That's right.  ....thank you.  I looked her up because I knew her from somewhere but couldn't place her.  Imdb said parks and rec but still couldn't figure it out, but Tom's girlfriend!

Also she was on the underrated And too short lived santa clarita diet.  

I loved her in this - I've been a Natalie Morales fan since the one-and-done underrated classic The Middleman back in 2008.

 

[MisterGlass]

I did laugh pretty hard at the melt down that crescendoed into a double macing.  I think this is the first time they've taken Arpi down a notch by putting her in a position where she isn't at the leading progressive edge anymore.

I woudn't mind if they used this as an excuse to retool the characters a little.

[foxfreakinmulder]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Again - no daughter this week. They should just dump that character, send her off to college or wherever.

Amen to that!

I've sat through my share of training videos and that was spot on with the out of date clothes/hair style and the bad acting, Also, there is always that one person that ask a million questions when you just want the training to end so you can get out of there.  I have one now in my weekly zoom meetings that won't STFU and it drives me crazy!

I'm still on the fence with this show. Ted Danson is great but I still don't like any of the characters and I don't know what type of comedy they're going for because the characters act so childish and dumb. I know on shows like The Office and Parks and Rec they had dumb characters but also smart characters and a lot more likeable characters. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I like the actress who played the seminar leader, although I don't know her name.  She was a lawyer on "The Grinder" (great show!) and played Tom's girlfriend on "Parks & Recreation".

She was in Santa Clarita Diet and Dead to Me too. She's been everywhere lately.

[DrSpaceman73]

I keep criticizing arpi.   But then I also recall I HATED year one Andy of parks and rec.  He was a loser boyfriend mooching off ann.   By the end I loved him and in particular he and April together.  

Also they got rid of mark and brought in ben and Chris.

So I guess I'm not giving up on this.  But the difference is Andy was a secondary, not a lead character. 

[Court]

I loved this episode. I was dying during the meltdown. Natalie Morales is great in everything.

[marketdoctor]

This reminded me of what would happen if you did a mash-up of The Office episodes of "Diversity Day" and "Free Pretzel Day", and it was amazing.  Then again, I've liked everything I've seen Natalie Morales in; I wonder if she's going to show up again.  As noted up-thread, this would be a good annual event, or have her come in for other kinds of training.  (Safety training has room for parody.)

[iMonrey]

Quote

I keep criticizing arpi.   But then I also recall I HATED year one Andy of parks and rec.  He was a loser boyfriend mooching off ann.   By the end I loved him and in particular he and April together.  

Also they got rid of mark and brought in ben and Chris.

So I guess I'm not giving up on this.  But the difference is Andy was a secondary, not a lead character. 

I can see the temptation to compare this to Parks and Rec since both are more or less local government/political parody. But Parks and Rec was a Greg Daniels/Michael Schur show and this is Tina Fey. I'm more inclined to compare it to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The humor is more like that show. It's just sort of silly and absurd, and you never really laugh out loud very much at it, you just sort of smile at it.

One thing Fey seems to do a lot is a room full of dumb people and one normal/smart person trying to reason with them. I see that a lot in her shows. That was pretty much the basis of this episode and the reason why this one in particular seemed to work well.

Edited February 7, 2021 by iMonrey

[MisterGlass]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

One thing Fey seems to do a lot is a room full of dumb people and one normal/smart person trying to reason with them. I see that a lot in her shows. That was pretty much the basis of this episode and the reason why this one in particular seemed to work well.

That makes sense to me.  Maybe part of the problem with the series set up is that all the characters are comic relief and they haven't picked someone to be normal and drive the plot.

[joanne3482]

On 2/5/2021 at 11:14 AM, Browncoat said:

But I can't really identify with the food truck obsession.

I work for a City and we get so excited when the food trucks come.  We don't get them a lot because the restaurants surrounding city hall complained the trucks were taking their customers, but it's like a party when they come! It's different food and they're always good. It's just something new and different.  Plus, per my bestie who lives in LA, they have some awesome food trucks there. And if they come to you, you don't have to drive any place.  

I loved this episode. I loved the situations and how many were not actually HR issues. The questions guy, yes the mayor, that you kind of want to murder because he won't shut up.  Jayden memorizing the right answers so he could get his empanadas and then freaking out and buying an excessive amount of food.  The end with the wife looking like Ted Danson had me laughing out loud. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

On 2/5/2021 at 12:14 PM, Browncoat said:

l've liked Holly Hunter since "Raising Arizona", and I still like her here. 

Thank you!!! That movie delighted me. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Where’s the props for Bobby Moynihan?  I think he’s hysterical.