The List (The Office)

The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

In the episode, new CEO Robert California (James Spader) writes a mysterious list that has a line down the middle and every member of the office on either one side or the other.

Jim Halpert explains to the camera that Robert California was appointed Regional Manager of the Scranton Branch, but on his first day traveled to Florida and convinced Jo Bennett to give him her position as CEO of Dunder Mifflin-Sabre.

Robert accidentally leaves his personal notebook at Erin Hannon's desk, and she notices it contains a list of Scranton's employees on two columns with a line down the middle.

Later that day, Robert invites the employees on the left column to lunch: Jim, Dwight Schrute, Darryl Philbin, Angela Martin, Kevin Malone, Phyllis Vance, Toby Flenderson and Oscar Martinez.

The workers are satisfied, but Andy is not, and lists off the qualities the right-siders have, stating that: Stanley Hudson may be a “lazy grump”, he but has the best sales record in the office (something Robert admits to being unaware of); Meredith is persistent and the word "no" is not in her vocabulary; and Pam Halpert is "easily the most creative and kind person [he has] ever worked with".

"The List", which commenced filming on July 25, 2011,[2] served to redefine and reorient The Office, as the series's former lead actor Steve Carell had left the show following the previous season's twenty-second episode, "Goodbye, Michael".

[4] On June 27, 2011, co-creator and executive producer Ricky Gervais announced that James Spader was to join the cast on a permanent basis.

[9] The cold open features multiple workers "planking", an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location.

[10] In its original American broadcast on September 22, 2011,[11] "The List" was viewed by an estimated 7.63 million viewers and received a 3.9 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.

"[15] He was slightly critical of the episode's tone, noting that it "eschew[ed] subtlety" and, instead, yielded, "a thesis statement for the transitional season to come".

[15] HitFix reviewer Alan Sepinwall complimented the final scene featuring Andy confronting Robert calling it "sweet and felt genuine, in the way that made the show's early days feel special.

[16] TV Guide writers Joyce Eng and Kate Stanhope called the promotion of Andy as manager the third best television moment of the week.

[17] James Poniewozik of Time gave the episode a positive review commenting that "it at least showed that a season 8 Office is capable of delivering the funny as well as the character grace notes".