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Michael Scott (The Office)
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Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original version. Michael, the central character of the series, is the regional manager of the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin.
Michael insists everyone in the office think of him as a friend first, a boss second, and "probably an entertainer third", as did David Brent in the original version. Michael holds inflated views of himself and considers himself an office comedian, but his attempts at humor tend to fail.
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Encyclopedia
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original version. Michael, the central character of the series, is the regional manager of the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin.
Michael insists everyone in the office think of him as a friend first, a boss second, and "probably an entertainer third", as did David Brent in the original version. Michael holds inflated views of himself and considers himself an office comedian, but his attempts at humor tend to fail. Often he says things that are inappropriate, offensive, or unwittingly mean in the hopes of getting a laugh. For instance, he objectifies his female employees and holds stereotypical views of black people. However, despite his general air of braggadocio, Michael can be very insecure and spineless when dealing with his staff. He lacks maturity and self-awareness, has few friends, and is quite lonely, made worse because his efforts to make friends with people usually backfire. Indeed, he seems to have a knack for putting people into awkward situations. His subordinates, with the exception of Dwight Schrute, think of him as inept. Before he was promoted to regional manager he was a great salesman; his promotion put him above his level of competence, making him an embodiment of the Peter Principle.
In spite of everything he does wrong, Michael often comes off as a sympathetic character because of his general lack of malice and his genuine desire to make people happy. On the other hand, Michael purposely points out peoples' character flaws and personal problems and will be rude or insensitive when it serves his agenda.
Casting
All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. NBC programmer Kevin Reilly suggested Paul Giamatti to producer Ben Silverman for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short, Hank Azaria, and Bob Odenkirk were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly canceled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations.
Two supporting roles in films helped get the attention of audiences: Bruce Almighty, in which Carell plays Evan Baxter (an arrogant rival to Jim Carrey's character), who gets a humorous comeuppance while co-anchoring the news. In Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Carell plays another news personality, as slow-witted weatherman Brick Tamland. Although the series premiered to mediocre ratings, NBC renewed it for another season because of the anticipated success of Carell's movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and the show subsequently became a ratings success. Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association award in 2006 for his role. He also received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007 for his work in the series. He played the lead role in the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he developed and co-wrote. Although the film was a surprise success, Carell revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he had no plans to leave The Office.
Character information
Family and childhood
Michael was born on March 15, (in "Michael's Birthday" Michael says he shares a birthday with Eva Longoria) at 11:23 AM (in that same episode, Dwight celebrates Michael's "birth moment" at that time), in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Michael considers himself "a virtual United Nations" being of English, Irish, German, Scottish, and (according to him) 2/15ths "Native American Indian" descent.
In "Michael's Birthday," Michael recalled a number of childhood memories that revealed the unfortunate trend of something embarrassing or traumatic happening on his birthday. Michael has at least one sibling, who is an older brother, and came from a broken home, once comparing an office situation to the time his mother "moved in with Jeff," and he "had to fix it." At one time, he shows the camera the video of his performance as a ring-bearer at his mother's second wedding: he wet his pants and threw the ring at his step-father, screaming "I hate you!" before running off. These actions were pathetically mirrored in how he behaved as an adult at Phyllis' wedding to Bob Vance. In the fourth season, it is implied that he was held back in the second grade, and that he didn't learn to speak until he was at least five.
In a childhood television appearance, Michael said his goal was to grow up and have 100 children because they would have to be his friends. When reminded that he has failed to find love as an adult, he gets very moody and depressed. He tends to attach himself too quickly to women, reading more into his evening spent with his boss Jan Levinson, proposing marriage to Carol Stills after only nine dates, and falling in love with Holly shortly after meeting her. He also invited a young waitress from Benihana to join him at Sandals, Jamaica despite not even knowing her name and confusing her with another young, Asian waitress from the same restaurant. After the waitress rejected him, he decided to ask Jan to go with him. She accepted but it later turned out to be a big mistake.
Character
Michael is a poor judge of character, given his tendency to judge people based on their looks rather than their talents, and his impetuous nature often leads to bad decision-making. He often makes lots of remarks based on peoples stereotypes about their race . A big asset is his ability to interact with children (he has often been compared to a child himself), and his fondest desire is to have a child of his own. He states that a boss should never share his paycheck/salary with his subordinates because "it would depress them." Nevertheless, warehouse worker Darryl, during the process of acquiring a raise, discovers that Michael barely makes more than he does, which in turn convinces Michael to ask for (and receive) a twelve percent raise.
Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often manifests itself in selfish behavior. For example, when he injures his foot in "The Injury", he expects Pam and Ryan to tend to his needs. When invited to be an usher in "Phyllis' Wedding", he assumes that his participation will be the high point of the ceremony and pouts when he is upstaged. Michael appears to emphasize moments of friendship between his co-workers (mostly Jim) and inflate their importance in order to compensate for his loneliness. In the episodes "The Secret" and "The Convention", Michael refers to Jim as his best friend after Jim merely told him a secret and shared a drink with him.
The people who surround Michael are well aware of his weaknesses, allowing him to be easily manipulated. For example, Jim goads Michael into challenging Dwight to a fight in "The Fight", and Jan easily wins back Michael's affections in "The Job" with the help of breast augmentation surgery. Moreover, Darryl regularly teaches him laughable handshakes and "black man phrases" such as "goin' mach five," "bippity boppity, give me the zoppity," "fleece it out," and "Dink an' flicka."
Interests
Michael writes song parodies. In Diwali, he writes a version of Adam Sandler's The Chanukah Song. In Goodbye, Toby, it is said that he had written songs such as "Beers in Heaven" (which he tells Holly is 'very sexual'") and "Total Eclipse of the Fart". He also changes the words to Goodbye Stranger for Toby's going-away party. His parodies are also shown in The Merger when he changes the lyrics to the Saturday Night Live sketch Lazy Sunday and it becomes Lazy Scranton. Michael's most common catch phrases are "That's what she said" and a whispered "Shut it" (most often said to Dwight, when he says something Michael deems inappropriate). When he does an impression or otherwise makes a reference to a person or character, he feels compelled to identify the source (although he sometimes identifies it incorrectly).
In "Women's Appreciation", Michael's ring tone is "My Humps" by the "Black Eyed Peas". It was previously "Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega. In another episode, the ringtone is "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire.
Michael also appears to have a history of playing ice hockey. In "Michael's Birthday", he takes the entire staff ice skating, and shows up in full hockey regalia, including pads, stick, and helmet. He is also an accomplished skater. Michael says he thought about playing in the NHL but wanted to settle down with a family instead. On multiple occasions, Michael has also expressed interest in basketball (in "The Fire" and "Basketball") and idolizes players such as LeBron James, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant because, like him, they never went to business school or college. He also once stated that he is a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.
Michael attends classes in improvisational comedy and believes his skills are among the best in the world. In improvisational skits, he tends to play his tough-guy alter-ego (FBI agent "Michael Scarn"—see "Characters" below—, the main character in a motion picture screenplay he authored) or his prisoner counterpart (Prison Mike), and guns down all the other players to steal every scene, regardless of the scene they set up; his rationale is that "a gun is the most exciting thing to happen in films, TV, or real-life". He constantly compliments his own performances, from joke-telling to impressions to videotape skits he creates for presentation in the office.
Michael loves wearing jeans, in particular a white pair he refers to as his "Fun Jeans." ("The Convention"). He is so fond of his jeans that he gets them dry cleaned; Pam surmises that he instituted Casual Friday just to show off his jeans ("The Client").
Michael treasures his "World's Best Boss" mug, even though he bought it for himself at Spencer Gifts and presumably has multiple replacements. The audience knows that he has purchased at least two, because Dwight precariously places one of them on Michael's desk, and Michael accidentally knocks it off with a golf putter that he was using to practice with in his office.
Michael occasionally uses dated phrases such as "T.M.I." (meaning Too Much Information) and goofy slang, calling pizza "'za" and Starbucks "the 'Bucks". One of his favorite gags is adding the phrase "that's what she said!" to some perfectly normal statements, implying a sexual connotation. He has done this so many times that the joke has essentially become meaningless and the opportunity for his staff to roll their eyes at him; despite this, he seems to have a Tourette's-like inability to stop. He has, however, retired "don't go there" from his phrasebook because it is "lame."
Michael also greatly enjoys franchise restaurants such as Sbarro, choosing to eat there on his visit to New York City rather than one of the many independent pizzerias the city is famous for. He also only points out chain restaurants (Red Lobster and Bubba Gump Shrimp) when he visits New York City. He has held business meetings and company award nights at Chili's and scheduled others at Hooters. During the cleaning of his Sebring it is revealed that he eats McDonald's Filet o' Fishes. He also enjoyed a day out at the Japanese steakhouse Benihana. In Goodbye Toby, it is revealed that his favorite breakfast place is IHOP.
The framed certificate behind Michael's desk reads "Michael Scott is the proud owner of a quality Seyko [sic] timepiece." This becomes particularly amusing when he is tricked by Pam into giving his watch to his arch nemesis Toby Flenderson in Goodbye Toby to avoid looking like a jerk in front of Holly Flax who he had already started to fall in love with.
Education
Michael's plans for a college degree were thwarted when he lost his college savings (earned while employed at an Arby's Restaurant) in a pyramid scheme (a trap that would ensnare him again as an adult). He is moderately insecure about his lack of a degree, especially when he feels threatened by people with more education; Ryan Howard's business school attendance is especially destructive to his ego. His insecurities are magnified by Ryan's promotion to the corporate position that he also applied for. In the episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Michael reveals that he had to take the second grade at least twice.
At times, Michael struggles with his vocabulary and tends to mispronounce words such as "prodigal" ("The Convention"), or completely confuse words, such as when he calls himself a "philanderer" when he obviously meant "philanthropist" ("Casino Night"). A discussion about politics, commerce or any other topic of conversation that the educated or enlightened would talk about, would doubtless leave him in a state of confusion, as would cultural aspects of society (literature, art etc.).
This is not necessarily through lack of intelligence, but mainly through ignorance and obliviousness to the world around him. In addition, Scott appears to have deliberately studied grammar or used a computer thesaurus to feign higher intelligence by using the following words correctly in the show: egregious, indubitably, and acrimonious. Conversely, he either misused, invented, or misinterpreted: "misogynistic," "un-understandable," "convalescences," "protruberance", "approachabler," "whom's," "inferring" (instead of "implying"), and "afterbirth" (instead of "aftertaste"). However, he knew what humanism meant in reference to Oscar's religious profession of agnosticism. He frequently is unable to form complete sentences or insults on the spot.
He is known to take things literally: when he was told that all his money problems would go away by declaring bankruptcy, he then shouted," I declare bankruptcy!", assuming no further action was necessary. Michael also seems to have difficulty with math; he once thought a 5K race was five thousand miles long ("Fun Run"). Occasionally, in order to fit in, he implies that he attended college, though his specious "recollections" of his college days come across as bizarre (e.g. inviting professors to a college party, although this might have been said just to have himself invited to Jim's party in the episode "E-mail Surveillance"). Other times, Michael boasts of his executive status despite his lack of a degree. He was on the fast track to upper-level management, enjoying a brief career as a sales rep before being promoted to his current position. In a deleted scene (from "The Coup"), Dwight Schrute tells Angela that Michael is the most successful salesperson in Dunder Mifflin history and "I will never come close to putting up the numbers that he did", an impressive statement considering Dwight's own company-leading sales figures over the past few years (while Dwight's admiration of Michael may have brought some hyperbole into this statement, Michael's multiple "Salesman of the Year" awards for Dunder Mifflin indicate he was being accurate in this case).
Work demeanor and management style
Still a talented salesman, Michael has a way of relating to potential clients through regular conversation that has helped land his branch some big accounts. In addition, he advocates a personal touch in business relations. For instance, he initiated "old-fashioned" sales calls and has told one customer that he will personally deliver the order in his Sebring. However Michael's almost savant-like sales skills do not translate into good management skills. His laid-back approach more often results in workplace productivity not reaching 100% on a daily basis, particularly when Michael places his personal interests as a priority over work (such as his birthday, someone else's birthday, or a funeral for a deceased bird). To avoid being disciplined for his foolish actions, Michael often resorts to scapegoating employees to cover himself. This often backfires on him when he opens his mouth and ends up contradicting the facts. Nevertheless, Michael believes that Scranton is "the cool fun branch", and is genuinely upset when the top salesman from the Utica office trashes Scranton in a phone call by saying it's "worse than Camden".
Although his position as Regional Manager gives him broad decision-making authority on branch operations, he often places those responsibilities secondary to his desire to be friends with his employees. For example, he shirks the unpopular task of cutting medical benefits by assigning it to Dwight ("Health Care"), and he later lateraled the assignment to Toby. On the other hand, he also oversteps his authority by hosting events that Corporate disapproves of such as "The Dundies", and a "Booze Cruise".
Michael fancies himself an entertainer, particularly a comedian with a variety of middlebrow influences, including Dane Cook, Eddie Murphy's "Raw", and Chris Rock. He keeps several joke books in his desk for reference and has a turban so he can imitate Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent. Michael stages an annual full comedy show during "The Dundies" office party and awards show.
Michael enjoys telling jokes and tortures the office staff with them on a daily basis. Many of the jokes are offensive or insensitive to his diverse audience, which often results in his backing up and trying to deliver the joke in a less offensive manner to remain "popular" among his staff.
One of the more frequent things Michael does is host seminars that range from diversity, sexual harassment, the handicapped, public speaking, drugs, homosexuality, grief counseling, prison, obesity, religion, and women's appreciation in an attempt to educate his staff, who all seem more aware of and more mature about the subject matter than Michael. Michael's ignorance results in these seminars being an embarrassing disaster every time, alternately amusing and shocking the staff. Michael does his best to thwart the efforts of other seminar leaders. He does seem to realize that he can pretty much force everyone to listen to him during seminar time.
It is revealed in the episode "The Duel" that, despite Michael's unorthodox and seemingly ineffective management style, the Scranton branch outperformed both Utica and Albany, reporting strong sales despite the foundering economy. Michael is called to Corporate to answer the question, "What are you doing right?" After several minutes of Michael's inarticulate babble, his superiors concede that while Michael is definitely doing something right, they will probably never know exactly what.
Michael seems to remain loyal to the company and his superior David Wallace because he seems to give Michael a good deal of respect. Although, there have been moments when Michael has questioned his loyalty to the company. After Michael gets upset that the company transferred Holly out of Scranton, Michael says that he has stayed at the company for a long time not because of the pay, but because his superiors give him enough respect that he could talk them down and nothing would happen. Also, when David Wallace sends him to do reconnaissance on a small local paper company, he ends up finding himself unable to report to Wallace when he sees the company is run by a very kind family and the thought of them losing their business when Dunder Mifflin would take over their region puts too much emotional pressure on him. He ends up giving his information to Wallace, saying that the good thing about it is that he pleased Wallace, despite having possibly ruined the family's business.
Co-worker relations
Michael's relationship with the company warehouse employees is tense. Michael has a tendency to disrupt their daily work flow, even ending their record of more than two years without any on-the job accidents. In a talking head interview, warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin reveals that they have never been able to make a full year, because of Michael's antics. Darryl seems to dislike Michael in early episodes, but by the fourth season has begun to deal with him by making jokes at Michael's expense that Michael will not pick up on (including invented slang and gang techniques). Darryl nonetheless seems to understand the branch manager's sensitive personality and makes attempts to be civil. When Michael's girlfriend Holly is transfered to Dunder-Mifflin-Nashua, Darryl not only assists with the move, but also comforts Michael after their break up. Lonnie, another warehouse employee, cannot stand Michael and shares Darryl's respect for workplace safety. Lonnie makes no attempt to hold back by insulting Michael in front of the staff after Michael makes another immature remark. There are also times when Michael takes Darryl way too seriously. When Darryl is working on a song for the company ad, Michael says he wants a rap instead of the song he made up, Darryl claims he does not know what rap music is, to which Michael responds, "Wow, Darryl. You really need to learn more about your own culture."
Salesman Dwight Schrute, Michael's assistant in name only, hero-worships Michael; Michael tends to put down Dwight but apparently likes the attention. Michael sometimes panders to Dwight by giving him more responsibility than he deserves, such as appointing Dwight to choose a health care plan for the office, ordering Dwight to urinate in a cup for him so he could pass a drug test, and changing Dwight's job title from "Assistant to the Regional Manager" to "Assistant Regional Manager" (which Michael later admits is meaningless). Many of these duties stem from Michael's need to compensate for being liked, or to save himself from getting in trouble. While Michael often tries to distance himself from Dwight, they do spend some time outside of the office together: It is revealed in "The Fight" that they spent one New Year's Eve together watching Armageddon. Michael's respect for Dwight seems to be threatened by the presence of Andy Bernard, an obnoxious employee from the Scranton-Stamford branch merger with intentions of moving up the corporate ladder.
Michael is particularly cruel toward Toby Flenderson, the human resources representative, partially because Michael considers his position "corporate," and therefore not a member of the Scranton branch "family." Ironically, Michael, being in "upper management" once claimed, "I am corporate." Michael freely insults Toby by bringing up his divorce or making hurtful remarks. Michael's resentment stems from the fact that Toby is quite often concerned about Michael's mental health and that he openly shows his objections to Michael's fun ideas; like a rebellious child, Michael lashes out at Toby in an attempt to alienate him from the office, therefore protecting himself from Toby's ability to understand people's emotional needs. However, Toby still offers comforting advice to Michael when he is dejected about not having yet settled down and had children, and Michael bonds with Toby's young daughter. Also, Michael's hatred of Toby appears to have its limits, as show in "Frame Toby", where when he learns of Toby's return, he tries to kick Toby out of the office by having him framed for drug possession. When the police are called and find the drugs in Toby's desk, Michael claims that the drugs are his to prevent Toby from being arrested, even though the so-called drugs he purchased to frame Toby with was in fact a Caprese salad.
Michael has made fun of Angela on occasion for being small, calling her Booster Seat and in a deleted scene lied to Jim and Pam, saying Stanley called Angela a midget.
Michael's old high school classmate, Phyllis, is often a target for Michael's ridicule. Although they are the same age, which Phyllis likes to remind him of, Michael often refers to her as the grandmother of the group. He reduced her to tears one Christmas for getting angry with her Secret Santa gift of a home made oven mitt. He also found it funny when she was flashed at, and looked at her when saying the word "overweight". When Phyllis married Bob Vance, Phyllis gave Michael the task of wheeling her father down the aisle, but only to get six weeks off for her honeymoon. He later almost ruined the wedding with an offensive speech and Bob had him barred from the party.
Michael also has a tendency to reveal personal information about staff members to the entire office. Notable examples include Michael reading aloud confidential complaints given to Toby by staff, revealing Jim's feelings for Pam, and outing Oscar Martinez. In addition, he unintentionally caused Kevin's anal fissures to be made public when he put Dwight in charge of choosing a healthcare plan.
After "The Merger", his attempts to "educate" the newly constructed staff resulted in three resignations from former Stamford employees. Michael thinks they are just quitters but has no clue it is actually his incompetence as a manager that is prompting them to quit.
Michael fixates on Ryan Howard, an employee (temp in Seasons 1-2, full-time in Seasons 3 and 4) at the office, in what can only be described as a man-crush, buying him inappropriate gifts and making inappropriate comments. He describes Ryan as "just as hot as Jan" in his diary and stated--perhaps jokingly--that if he could have sex with one person in the office, it would be Ryan.
Michael views Jim as a friend because Michael was the first person to whom Jim admitted that he has a crush on Pam (an admission Jim comes to regret). Shortly thereafter, Michael began mimicking Jim's appearance (rolling his sleeves up, loosening his tie and collar, combing his hair down). This phase of the relationship ended after Michael was unable to keep Jim's "secret," but Jim has since claimed to be Michael's "friend" ("The Convention") Also in this episode, Jim says that Michael was "a great boss" when Michael thinks he left the Scranton branch for a better job. Jim seems to be one of the few employees at the branch who recognizes Michael's good personality, and appreciates it. In season 3, when Jim transfers to a new branch, and his current boss uses his promotion as a way to get a better job offer from Staples, Jim says "Say what you will about Michael Scott, but he would never do that." Jim is usually Michael's go-to person for relationship advice, and has frequently called on him for it when Holly worked in Scranton.
It may be inferred that Michael has a thing for Pam, since he once claims that he "likes her boobs" and suggests that his position as her boss precludes him from taking a bath with her ("Sexual Harassment"). Michael has been caught staring at her (or Ryan; this could be a habit, as Jim did it as well) from his office. In one instance, Michael attempted to kiss Pam ("Diwali"), who promptly rejected him. Michael also lied to Jan that he and Pam used to date ("Dinner Party"). More often than not, Pam has had to deal with Michael not so much as a boss, but as a child behaving badly either by comments he makes or job duties he does not perform as required. Despite his inappropriate behavior towards Pam, he shows a genuine care for her. Likewise, Pam, like Jim, appreciates his good personality and doesn't like to see Michael genuinely depressed. In "Business School" he told Pam he was proud of her after seeing her art work. In "Crime Aid", he gets her a job at corporate so she can afford to live in New York. He also displayed great joy when he found out Jim and Pam were dating in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" and again when he found out Jim and Pam were engaged in "Business Ethics".
Despite all his flaws, Michael genuinely cares for his co-workers. In ("Halloween"), he is very upset at having to fire Devon. Michael is very protective of his office and went to New York ("Branch Closing") in order to try and stop his branch from closing. He also makes a sincere, if misguided attempt to stage an intervention when he thinks Meredith's alcoholism has crossed the line. Although his care for his employees can be overlooked by his personal agenda as evident in "Chair Model" when Michael orders the staff to provide him with phone numbers of their single female friends so he can be fixed up with them. An order he enforces by threatening them with getting fired if they don't follow through.
Romantic and personal life
In a childhood appearance on the fictitious children's show Fundlebundle, Michael stated his intentions as a grown-up: "I want to be married and have a hundred kids so I could have a hundred friends and no one could say 'no' to being my friend."
Even though he enjoys showing off how much he gets to have sex with women, he often inadvertently reveals his inexperience with relationships and shows traits resembling a fear of women. In the episode "Weight Loss", Michael indirectly reveals that he lost his virginity when he was 28, and didn't have sex again for seven years. In the pilot, he refers to his nickname for Jan as Hillary Rodham Clinton, but he quickly and awkwardly explains that it is not because he is afraid of her. At the cocktail party in the episode "Cocktails," Jan attempts to have sex with Michael in David Wallace's bathroom, but Michael awkwardly refuses to go along with it, upsetting Jan. This was observed and first voiced by Ryan in "Initiation" when Dwight asked him what Michael Scott's biggest fear was, to which Ryan replied: "Loneliness...maybe women."
Michael also began dating Carol (played by Carell's wife, Nancy Walls), a real estate agent with whom Michael worked to buy his condominium; according to Michael, he and Carol have had sex, but it was implied that he only said so to make Jan jealous. He frequently claims he is dating two women at the same time: Carol and Jan. Michael proposed to Carol during a "Diwali" celebration, but since they had only gone on nine dates up until that point, she rejected him and left the party angrily. Carol breaks up with Michael soon after because of a Christmas card of Carol's family that he sent out, with his head photoshopped in place of her ex-husband's head, leaving him heartbroken. But later in the same episode, Michael invites Jan Levinson to go on a trip to Jamaica with him that he originally intended for Carol.
In "Cocktails," Michael is thrilled at the prospect that he and Jan are making their first public appearance as a couple, though this leads to some friction between them at the cocktail party of CFO David Wallace (where their relationship is to first become public).
In "Women's Appreciation", Michael admits his relationship with Jan is "complicated" and he is not happy. Later in that day he broke up with her via voice mail after realizing Jan's increasingly bizarre and unpleasant behavior is making him miserable in the relationship. However, in the season finale "The Job", Michael gets back together with Jan, mostly because of her new breast implants. Michael is obviously not happy when she moves into his condo. Jan later spends a lot of Michael's money, which along with his terrible individual money management starts causing him severe financial problems.
Michael allows himself to be dominated throughout his dysfunctional relationship with Jan. He first mentioned that Jan would record videos of their lovemaking and immediately play them back to critique his form in the episode "Women's Appreciation", and a video camera is present in their bedroom in "Dinner Party". During that episode, it is also revealed that Jan makes him sleep on a small bench at the foot of her bed, and made him have a vasectomy, have it reversed, and then have another vasectomy while she debated whether or not to have children. Michael and Jan eventually break up afterward, and Michael begins to feel lonely again.
After a series of failed blind dates and attempts to just have sex, Michael somehow falls in love with the new HR representative, Holly, despite having a prejudice against Human Resources workers, and, on advice from Jim, tones down his typical behavior to make himself more appealing to her. Amazingly, Holly is also attracted to Michael and it looks like the two have hit it off, but a brief meeting with a clearly pregnant Jan changes Michael's plans, as he is more taken with the idea of playing dad to her artificially inseminated child. However, Michael still continues to bond with Holly successfully, as the two appear to have a lot in common. Jan has the baby, Astrid, without Michael present, and she comes in to show her off. Despite his obvious skills with, and liking of, children, Michael finds himself unable to bond with the baby. This realization spurs Michael into finally asking Holly out, despite Jan asking Michael not to date her.
The two begin happily dating each other, and have sex in the office on one of their date nights, leading to the office break-in. The two organize an auction fundraiser to recoup the value of the items stolen, and Michael is the only one to bid for Holly's auction item, a yoga lesson. One of the attendees of the auction is CFO David Wallace, who is shown to be visibly displeased at the sight of Michael and Holly kissing each other. As a result, Holly gets transferred to the branch in Nashua, New Hampshire. Michael helps her move and the two have intentions of continuing their relationship. However, during the trip, they are forced to come to the realization that it is not going to work. Michael begs Holly not to break up with him for fear that he will end up back with Jan, whom he openly admits for the first time to hating. After moving her stuff in, Michael decides to head back with Darryl instead of spending the weekend with Holly like he originally planned. The two share one last embrace before he leaves. To save face regarding his break-up, he tells everyone that he is engaged to Holly. However, his employees force him to call his mother about it and she doesn't believe him, forcing him to reveal the truth.
In the following episode, it seems Michael is moving on, as he hooks up with a concierge in Winnipeg. However, after the business trip, Michael calls David Wallace, complaining about a variety of things on the trip. He finally gets to the real point of the phone call, telling Wallace that sending Holly away was "a really sucky thing to do" and promptly hangs up on him.
When Michael goes on his lecture circuit with Pam, he decides to visit the Nashua branch to find closure with Holly. When they arrive at the branch, Holly is not there because she is on an HR retreat. They also find out she has a new boyfriend, one of the salesmen at the branch, which devastates Michael. Michael then calls out her boyfriend about their relationship during his presentation before leaving. He goes to Holly's desk and finds a file titled "Dear Michael" on her desktop. He copies it onto his flash drive and tells Pam about it. Pam tells him it's not a good idea for him to read it because it violates her trust, but she volunteers to read it herself, deleting it afterward and telling Michael it basically said she still has feelings for him and that it isn't over between them yet. Michael becomes visibly happy and feels like he found closure.
Characters of Michael Scott
Given his proclivity of constantly trying to keep his employees entertained (and coupled with his juvenile personality), Michael has created a variety of different characters which he uses for both entertainment, and, at times, educational purposes.
Ping ("The Dundies"), a racist Asian caricature based on Michael's Chinese food deliveryman.
Agent Michael Scarn ("The Client", "E-mail Surveillance", referenced in "Money", "Dinner Party", "Prince Family Paper") is the star of Threat Level: Midnight, a derivative spy/action hero screenplay written and illustrated by Michael. He had kept it hidden in his desk drawer until it was discovered by Pam without his knowledge.
A thinly-veiled portrayal of himself, Michael also adopts the persona in one session of his improv comedy class, ignoring the rule to base his dialogue off of his scene partners, and ultimately shooting everyone in the room, regardless of their participation in the scene. He also uses the alias in another episode to go undercover in a local paper competitor to attain information from it.
Prison Mike ("The Convict") wears a purple bandanna over his head, speaking in a caricature of New York English, and explains that he is in prison for theft, robbery and kidnapping the president's son for ransom (although he claims, in knee-jerk defensiveness, that he was never caught). He proceeds to paint an awful, and somewhat fanciful, picture of prison life. He states that the scariest part of prison is the Dementors. The character is likely the result of Michael's take on the Scared Straight documentary series.
Michael the Magic ("Cocktails") attempts to escape from a straitjacket but fails because of a lost key (actually hidden by Jim). Michael's fondness for magic is referenced throughout the series, including an off-screen visit to a children's magic camp. Michael also attempts to utilize a magic prop briefcase (which included a working chainsaw) while speaking at Karen's Utica branch in "Lecture Circuit".
Michael Klump ("Weight Loss") attempts to show that overweight people are people too. Michael wears a partially-inflated sumo suit underneath a business suit, and is patterned after the Eddie Murphy character in the Nutty Professor remakes.
Comparison with David Brent
Although originally based on David Brent, Scott has developed into a significantly different character than his British counterpart. Whereas Brent is shown to be irredeemably incompetent, Scott is portrayed as an outstanding salesman, unwisely promoted to a management role to which he appears completely ill-suited (see Peter Principle). A scathing performance review written by Jan Levinson stated that he should be removed from the Branch Manager position and put into a more suitable position in Sales. However, Scott has been oddly successful as regional manager. When he took over the Scranton Branch he decreased costs by 13%, without firing any personnel. After the merger of the two branches Scott does not lose a single client despite a great deal of employee turnover (much of which he was directly responsible for). He received a $3,000 bonus for firing Devon, most likely because his doing so saved the company around $50,000. Although it is suggested that Brent has had similar success, such claims only ever come from Brent himself, thus making them unreliable.
Scott's social immaturity and inability to cope with responsibility is balanced with a personality that is much more caring than Brent's, even if both make unwise comments in the heat of the moment. Unlike Brent, who pretends to be friendly with many of his employees purely for the benefit of the cameras, Scott seems to genuinely like his colleagues, with the exception of Human Resources Director Toby Flenderson. Brent appears much more aware of his own social awkwardness, whereas Scott's belief that people see him as a genuine friend leads him to become very hurt when he realizes this is not the case.
The DVD commentary to the Pilot episode suggests that Scott's character continues a process begun in the second UK series, in which Gervais and Merchant intentionally made Brent less nasty, and more of a buffoon. It is said in the commentary that Gervais and Merchant suggested that this be applied to Scott. This also reflects a general change in the US version's attitude, which is more sympathetic to the characters, and tones down the cruel humor of the original. The commentary also says that Steve Carell had not seen more than a few minutes of the original UK series when he was offered the role of Scott, and has since made a conscious decision not to watch it in case it influences his own performance.
The show's writers have said that the 2005 hit movie The 40 Year Old Virgin provided very useful guidance as they refined the character along with Steve Carell between the 1st and 2nd seasons. Michael Scott wore a large amount of hair gel and dressed sloppily in Season 1, but by Season 2 he had a more conventional haircut and dressed much more neatly. Also, while Michael is often rude and nasty in Season 1, he is generally nicer and less hard-edged in subsequent seasons.
Behind the scenes
- U.S. Developer Greg Daniels envisioned Michael Scott behaving as if "I was hoping that the documentary about this would one day be seen by Jennifer Aniston, and I was just trying to impress her any way I possibly could" and notes the occasional need to show Michael being competent or even effective, to justify why he is not simply fired.
- Writer B.J. Novak explains that Michael Scott drives a Sebring because it is the most ostentatious car he can afford, opting for a convertible even though the climate in Scranton is cool even in the summer.
- The script for "Gay Witch Hunt" called for Oscar to turn his head and Michael to kiss him on the cheek. Steve Carell improvised the lip-kiss.
- In most episodes written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupinsky, Michael will make a reference to Pam's breasts:
- In "The Secret", Michael tells Jim that what he likes best about Pam is "her boobs, definitely."
- In "Michael's Birthday", Michael tells Pam she should give herself a breast self-examination. "Those things are like ticking time-bags."
- In "The Convention", Michael advises Pam to "unbutton that top button, let those things breathe" when she goes on her date.
- In "Traveling Salesmen", Michael uses a speech synthesizer to say "boobs" after Pam leaves the room.
- In the producer's cut of "The Return", Michael holds a pair of maracas in front of his chest and tells Pam, "I will shake mine, and then you will shake yours."
- In "Women's Appreciation", Michael says, "If Pam wants to show more cleavage, she should be able to. I encourage it." In a deleted scene, Michael suggests that Pam "show 'em the twins" to entice a passing motorist to stop and help.
External links
- — a fan site written under the persona of Michael Scott
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