Will Leitch on the ‘Office’ Webisodes Launch

During last year’s writers’ strike — remember that? It was when TV was full of the same junk it is now, only it was colder outside — the main writers of The Office (known best to you as Kelly, Toby, Ryan, and Mose Schrute) took to the picket line to mock networks for calling their Webisodes “promotions.� Michael Schur (Mose) pointed out that NBC wouldn’t even pony up the $28 for the Daytime Emmy they won for “The Accountants,� which featured ten short episodes about $30,000 missing from the company fund. They were funny, we suppose, but the plot pretty much consisted of “Look, it’s Kevin! Look, it’s Phyllis! Online!� And no: Steve Carell was too busy.

Well, now that the strike is “settled,� the Webisodes have returned, with episode one of “Kevin’s Loan� debuting on NBC.com last night. It has potential; it appears Kevin’s ongoing gambling debts (“If anyone gives you 10,000 to 1 odds on anything, you take that bet. If John Mellencamp ever wins an Oscar, I will be one rich dude�) have finally overtaken his life, to the point that he’s taking out bank loans to pay off bookies.

As always, Brian Baumgartner nails that perfect balance — satirized so well in last year’s final episode — between dull, sinister naïveté and blatant developmental disablement. And we’re promised more goodness down the line, with a substantial role for Darryl, without question the most underutilized character on the show. (The Webisodes probably should have been set in the warehouse, actually; we mean, the guy’s in Pineapple Express! He’s a breakout star waiting to happen!)

The first Webisode was written by new staff addition Anthony Q. Farrell, a name with whom we’re unfamiliar and whose most notable credit seems to be a role as a preacher in Pool Party: The Movie. (“From the producers who SAW American Pie.� Ho, ho!) We’ll assume, for now, he didn’t mind doing some “promotion,� gratis. —Will Leitch