Watching The Office

Tuesday’s Office Guest Star is a feature I started about a week ago. What I do is I pick a character from a popular show and then place them into the world of The Office; just to see what would happen. My picks are usually characters that embody the atmosphere already present at Dundler Mifflin. To date, my picks have been Chloe O’Brian from 24, Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock, Sanjaya Malakar from American Idol, and James “Sawyer” Ford from Lost.
This week I choose Jo Frost from ABC’s Super Nanny.
Alright, I have to admit it, but I have, on rare occasions, indulged in watching Super Nanny. I watch mostly for the shock value. If you’ve ever seen it, perhaps you know what I’m talking about. Some of these families that get visited by Jo Frost the Super Nanny are unbelievable. For those who haven’t heard of the show, Super Nanny travels to various dysfunctional homes and give the family Jo Frost for a week or so to straighten things out. I think Jo Frost would be an excellent addition to The Office. Look how many Dwight and Jim conflicts there are! We also have several dysfunctional romances and mildly unbalanced angry folks that could use the skills of Super Nanny.

Jo walks into the Office for her first day. Her British accent will get immediate attention from Michael who will then try and mimc the accent. After initial introductions are made, Super Nanny is keen on every little dysfuctional cubicle in the Office. She first notices the tension between Dwight and Jim. She pulls Dwight aside and councils him on this awkward working relationship. She might say something to this effect. “Dwight, I’ve noticed some tension between you and Jim. It seems Jim thinks he can walk all over you. What discipline strategies have you tried?” Dwight stares at her blankly. “How about this. Every time that Jim pulls a prank on you, you give him a frowny face on this chart.” Jo shows an elaborate chart designed to record good and bad behavior. She continues, “And when he does something you like, you give him a smily face.”
Head shot of Jo: “I really think this might help out Dwight. Dwight has really let Jim take over and Jim needs to learn that Dwight doesn’t like it when he misbehaves. I think the chart will do wonders for them.” She smiles confidently.
At the end of the day, the chart is covered with frowny faces.

She will go throughout the Office all day correcting behaviors and pulling psychological problems from people when they’d rather have them tucked safely away. Phrases like “Naughty Step” and “Your behavior is naughty” will echo off the walls of Dundler Mifflin.

Michael will ask Jo at some point to show him how to get better control over how the warehouse guys treat him. She teaches Michael her nanny phrases(mentioned above) and gives him a chart as well. She also teaches him about “timeout” which will prove disastrous for Michael in a following episode when he tries to put Darryl in timeout.

At the end of the week Jo will report that she has fixed everyone and will go about her way.

Credits roll

The Office, Super Nanny, ABC, NBC, features

-Anna