Sexual Harassment (The Office)

"Sexual Harassment" saw the first on-screen appearance of recurring character Todd Packer (played by David Koechner) after first being heard through a phone call in the first episode.

The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is concerned when he believes Dunder Mifflin is targeting him for sexual harassment training.

Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) anxiously awaits the arrival of her mother, and Michael's obnoxious friend Todd Packer spends the day in the office.

Michael Scott's "best friend forever" Todd Packer offends the staff with crude gossip about an upper management scandal.

Toby Flenderson informs Michael that he will conduct a review of the company's sexual harassment policies because the CFO resigned after allegations made by his secretary.

Michael's indignation that this will put a damper on his easygoing office environment rises to outrage when he learns that the corporate headquarters is sending down a lawyer to talk to him.

Michael and the warehouse staff mock the sexual harassment video, but the crude remarks come to a halt when Jan Levinson and the lawyer arrive from corporate.

[7] When it came time to cast Todd Packer, the crew's first choice was David Koechner, who had starred alongside Carell in the hit 2004 comedy movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Novak commented that Koechner was one of the few actors who was "talented enough to make Steve Carell break up on set", a feat that he said was "worth" the delays.

[2] Cochran was unable to return to play the character for the season six episode "Niagara", due to scheduling conflicts with a year-long theater contract, and was thus replaced by Linda Purl.

Michael later compares the members of the office to the cast of Friends, saying that he is both Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani and Pam is Rachel Green.

Todd Packer's license plate reads "WLHUNG", a reference to a large penis, but Ryan interprets it to mean he is a fan of singer William Hung.

[17] Adams was slightly critical of the main plot, noting that the show had "difficulty maintaining the comedic momentum", but he reasoned that this was probably largely due to "Michael-on-defense" being a "difficult character to write", because "there aren’t many good ways of displaying his humanity while he’s also fighting for the right to be an asshole.