The Office

The Office (2001)

3 continuity mistakes in season 1 - chronological order

(1 vote)

Downsize - S1-E1

Continuity mistake: After Gareth hits Tim on the head with his newspaper the following shot shows that the briefcase and newspaper have swapped hands. (00:04:25)

New Girl - S1-E5

Continuity mistake: When Donna comes in late and David is asking her where she has been, as it changes shots between Donna and David, in the background Dawn's right sleeve changes from being down to up at wrist height several times but she is in the same posture all the time.

Judgement - S1-E6

Continuity mistake: In the scene with David and Gareth in David's office, David gives a hole-punch to Gareth as a souvenir. The hole-punch has a guide accessory sticking out of it (to punch holes in the middle of different sizes of paper), which is adjustable. At the beginning of the scene it only sticks out by about 2 cm, but by the time David hands it to Gareth it is about 5 cm - even though no-one has touched it. (00:15:35)

Christmas Special: Part 2 - S3-E2

Plot hole: Lee and Dawn overstay their tourist visa in the US, then fly back to the UK for the Office Christmas party. They then get into a taxi to go out to the airport in order to return to the US. They're kidding themselves. As I know (to my cost) when you overstay a tourist visa, the US Immigration Service finds out when you check in at the airport on departure. They'll be refused reentry, and probably barred from entering the US for up to six years. (I got a three year ban.) Neither Lee nor Dawn could possibly be unaware of this nor think they could beat the system as they would have been arrested when they checked in in Florida on departure (as I was), and they would have remained in small holding cells until the paperwork banning their return had been processed and their passports stamped 'Invalid for U.S. Entry', as mine was. (All this takes about seventy two hours, so they'd have missed the Christmas party anyway.) The mistake is NOT that they were able to leave the USA - that is explained (it's still not possible, but in the context of the show and the suspension of disbelief we are meant to believe it) the mistake is that they are on the way back to the airport to return. That's absurd. They would have been under no illusions as to their banned status re reentry to the USA.

More mistakes in The Office

Gareth: That's one reason why gays shouldn't be allowed into the army. Because if we're in battle, is he going to be looking at the enemy, or is he going to be looking at me and going "Ooh. He looks tasty in his uniform." And I'm not homophobic, all right? Come round, look at my CDs. You'll see Queen, George Michael, Pet Shop Boys. They're all bummers.

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Show generally

Question: If David Brent is such a poor unresponsible boss and no good at his job as he is portrayed, then how did he get into such a good position of being a branch manager in charge of so many staff?

pierpp

Answer: In the Christmas specials, David states the documentary crew stitched him up. In other words, he was made to look like an idiot by the way it was put together, but in actuality, he may not have been as bad as the documentary had made out. In addition, it's clear he let his upcoming celebrity status get to his head, something that would not have happened prior to the documentary crew's arrival. At the end of series 1, he mentioned one of his achievements was cutting expenditure without losing any staff.

Chosen answer: This is known as The Peter Principle - the theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.

Myridon

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