Goodbye, Toby
Encyclopedia
"Goodbye, Toby" is the fourth season hour-long finale of the American comedy
television series
The Office, and the show's seventy-first (and seventy-second) episode overall. Written by Paul Lieberstein
and Jennifer Celotta
, and directed by Paul Feig
, the episode first aired in the United States on May 15, 2008 on NBC
.
In this episode, Toby spends his last day at Dunder Mifflin before moving to Costa Rica. Michael develops feelings for the new Human Resources Representative Holly Flax
, who makes her first appearance in this episode. Jim's plan to propose to Pam gets ruined after Andy makes a proposal of his own.
Dunder Mifflin's Scranton
branch is planning a going-away party for Toby
(Paul Lieberstein
) before he leaves for Costa Rica
. Michael
(Steve Carell
) is extremely happy that Toby is leaving, but when Angela
(Angela Kinsey
) balks at his unreasonable party demands, Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) accepts the duty of planning the party. She does fantastically, ordering carnival rides and hiring a band.
Michael's hatred of Toby has been transferred to the new human resources representative, Holly Flax
(Amy Ryan
), and he and Dwight
(Rainn Wilson
) plan to haze her. When she playfully affects disdain for Toby, Michael takes her seriously, and suddenly falls in love with her. Taking advice from Jim
(John Krasinski
), Michael succeeds in warming Holly up with small talk and jokes, and even tempers Toby's exit interview, which he had originally planned to be brutally insulting, because Holly attends. Dwight, however, continues the hazing
, telling Holly that Kevin
(Brian Baumgartner
) is mentally challenged, and putting a raccoon in her car. When Michael catches Dwight trying to release a raccoon into Holly's car, he loudly proclaims his esteem for Holly. Holly gives special attention to Kevin throughout the episode due to her belief that he is mentally challenged, but Kevin believes her attention is a sexual interest in him.
Pam
(Jenna Fischer
) reveals that she is spending the summer studying graphic design at Pratt Institute
in New York City
. Meanwhile, Jim calls Ryan
(B. J. Novak
) about a huge sale that he has recently made. Patronizing as ever, Ryan instructs him to enter the sale on the company's website before abruptly hanging up. Jim takes this as another sign that Ryan is trying to push him out of the company, and leaves Ryan a voice mail proclaiming that he will fight Ryan's attempts to fire him. Shortly afterward, the staff finds a video on YouTube
of Ryan being arrested for fraud
in the full presence of his peers who are all recording his arrest on their cell phones. It is revealed that Ryan's website was floundering, so he double-counted office sales as website sales, fraudulently inflating the firm's figures. Although Michael is deeply concerned for Ryan, Jim is pleased and leaves Ryan a second voice mail mockingly telling Ryan to disregard the last because he had his "hands tied."
Michael discovers that Jan
(Melora Hardin
) has artificially inseminated
herself from a sperm bank
when Kevin runs into her at the grocery store. She explains that she did this while she was dating Michael, but still wants him to be involved in the pregnancy. He initially is indecisive, but eventually calls and agrees to attend Lamaze
class with her.
Jim contributes several hundred dollars to the party-planning fund in order to buy fireworks, later revealing that he has decided to propose
to Pam, going back to their "first date". Pam notices the purchase and guesses his intentions; however, at the party, Andy
(Ed Helms
) ruins the moment by proposing to Angela, who bitterly accepts. Pam is visibly disappointed that Jim didn't propose to her. Michael has security escort Toby out of the office as a parting insult. Dwight is crushed that his ex-girlfriend is marrying someone else. In the last scene of the episode, Phyllis returns to the office, pleased at the success of her party, where she and the camera crew walk in on Angela and Dwight having sex on one of the desks.
. Feig had previously directed "Office Olympics
", "Halloween", "Performance Review
", "E-mail Surveillance
", "Survivor Man
" and "Dinner Party
". "Goodbye, Toby" was written by Paul Lieberstein
and Jennifer Celotta
. Lieberstein is also the actor who plays Toby Flenderson
. It took Lieberstein and Coletta four or five days to write this episode. Writer Anthony Farrell said that the idea for Dunder Mifflin Infinity to fail was inspired by the days that he was an administrative assistant for Countrywide Home Loans
. Farrell recalled watching the company try new online initiatives and seeing them all be unsuccessful. The title of the episode came from the song Michael sings at Toby's going away party, a parody of Supertramp's Goodbye Stranger.
The members of Darryl
's band are the actual members of actor Craig Robinson's band: Chris Rob
played bass, Asa Watkins played drums, and David Sampson played guitar. On one take, Steve Carell
grabbed Sampson's guitar and played an Eddie Van Halen
guitar solo
, but that scene was cut because it did not match Michael's character. The talking head interview where Michael compares Holly to a baker
came after what the writers call "blitzes", in which all the writers write a talking head on a specific topic, such as "Michael's feelings to Holly". Then they'll read all of them out loud and see which one gets the biggest reaction. The YouTube
video of Ryan being arrested was set on a private account. After "Goodbye, Toby" aired, the video was released to the public. When writing the story for the episode, the show originally planned on having Dwight put a badger
in Holly's car, but after finding out that it was difficult to get a badger, it was switched to a raccoon. The script also called for the raccoon to attack Meredith, but that was decided against for safety reasons. After filming, the editors had about 72 minutes of material that they needed to cut down into 40 minutes.
Deleted scenes
The Season Four DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:
. This means that 4.1 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 8.07 million viewers.
"Goodbye, Toby" was generally well-received by critics. TV Squad's Jay Black said that "The Office is at its best when its exposing the dramas that take place at every workplace" [sic]; Black went on to say that Angela
's rudeness to Phyllis
"was a small thread throughout the show, but a hilarious one". Kelly West of Cinemablend.com wrote that even though the episode didn't play-out "the way [she] expected", she's "definitely not complaining". Alan Sepinwall, a writer for The Star-Ledger
, was critical of the proposal scenario, saying that "I really, really, really hope the writers aren't going to be foolish enough to try to create real strife in the PB&J (Pam Beesly and Jim) relationship over how long it's going to take Jim to propose." Sepinwall did wonder if "Goodbye, Toby" was the "best hour-long 'Office' ever?" The episode was nominated for an Emmy at the Primetime Emmys in the "Best Direction for a Comedy Series" category in 2008.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
The Office, and the show's seventy-first (and seventy-second) episode overall. Written by Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
and Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
, and directed by Paul Feig
Paul Feig
Paul S. Feig is an American director, actor and author. Feig is known for playing Mr. Eugene Pool, Sabrina's science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as well as Tim a camp counselor on the hit kids movie Heavyweights...
, the episode first aired in the United States on May 15, 2008 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
In this episode, Toby spends his last day at Dunder Mifflin before moving to Costa Rica. Michael develops feelings for the new Human Resources Representative Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
, who makes her first appearance in this episode. Jim's plan to propose to Pam gets ruined after Andy makes a proposal of his own.
Plot
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
branch is planning a going-away party for Toby
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
(Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
) before he leaves for Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
. Michael
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
(Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
) is extremely happy that Toby is leaving, but when Angela
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
(Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey is an American actress. She currently appears as the uptight accountant Angela Martin on the hit NBC television series The Office.-Personal life:...
) balks at his unreasonable party demands, Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) accepts the duty of planning the party. She does fantastically, ordering carnival rides and hiring a band.
Michael's hatred of Toby has been transferred to the new human resources representative, Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
(Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
), and he and Dwight
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
(Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
) plan to haze her. When she playfully affects disdain for Toby, Michael takes her seriously, and suddenly falls in love with her. Taking advice from Jim
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
(John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
), Michael succeeds in warming Holly up with small talk and jokes, and even tempers Toby's exit interview, which he had originally planned to be brutally insulting, because Holly attends. Dwight, however, continues the hazing
Hazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
, telling Holly that Kevin
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
(Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.-Personal life:...
) is mentally challenged, and putting a raccoon in her car. When Michael catches Dwight trying to release a raccoon into Holly's car, he loudly proclaims his esteem for Holly. Holly gives special attention to Kevin throughout the episode due to her belief that he is mentally challenged, but Kevin believes her attention is a sexual interest in him.
Pam
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley....
(Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...
) reveals that she is spending the summer studying graphic design at Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Meanwhile, Jim calls Ryan
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
(B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
) about a huge sale that he has recently made. Patronizing as ever, Ryan instructs him to enter the sale on the company's website before abruptly hanging up. Jim takes this as another sign that Ryan is trying to push him out of the company, and leaves Ryan a voice mail proclaiming that he will fight Ryan's attempts to fire him. Shortly afterward, the staff finds a video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
of Ryan being arrested for fraud
Securities fraud
Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....
in the full presence of his peers who are all recording his arrest on their cell phones. It is revealed that Ryan's website was floundering, so he double-counted office sales as website sales, fraudulently inflating the firm's figures. Although Michael is deeply concerned for Ryan, Jim is pleased and leaves Ryan a second voice mail mockingly telling Ryan to disregard the last because he had his "hands tied."
Michael discovers that Jan
Jan Levinson
Janet "Jan" Levenson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. Though her last name is commonly misspelled as "Levinson", NBC spells it as "Levenson". Her counterpart in the UK version is Jennifer Taylor-Clarke...
(Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
) has artificially inseminated
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
herself from a sperm bank
Sperm bank
A sperm bank, semen bank or cryobank is a facility that collects and stores human sperm mainly from sperm donors, primarily for the purpose of achieving pregnancies through third party reproduction, notably by artificial insemination...
when Kevin runs into her at the grocery store. She explains that she did this while she was dating Michael, but still wants him to be involved in the pregnancy. He initially is indecisive, but eventually calls and agrees to attend Lamaze
Lamaze
The Lamaze Technique, often referred to as Lamaze, is a prepared childbirth technique developed in the 1940s by French obstetrician Dr. Fernand Lamaze as an alternative to the use of medical intervention during childbirth...
class with her.
Jim contributes several hundred dollars to the party-planning fund in order to buy fireworks, later revealing that he has decided to propose
Proposal of marriage
A marriage proposal is an event where one person in a relationship asks for the other's hand in marriage. If accepted, it marks the initiation of engagement. It often has a ritual quality, sometimes involving the presentation of an engagement ring and a formalized asking of a question such as "Will...
to Pam, going back to their "first date". Pam notices the purchase and guesses his intentions; however, at the party, Andy
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
(Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
) ruins the moment by proposing to Angela, who bitterly accepts. Pam is visibly disappointed that Jim didn't propose to her. Michael has security escort Toby out of the office as a parting insult. Dwight is crushed that his ex-girlfriend is marrying someone else. In the last scene of the episode, Phyllis returns to the office, pleased at the success of her party, where she and the camera crew walk in on Angela and Dwight having sex on one of the desks.
Production
"Goodbye, Toby" was the seventh episode of the series directed by Paul FeigPaul Feig
Paul S. Feig is an American director, actor and author. Feig is known for playing Mr. Eugene Pool, Sabrina's science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as well as Tim a camp counselor on the hit kids movie Heavyweights...
. Feig had previously directed "Office Olympics
Office Olympics
"Office Olympics" is the third episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's ninth episode overall. Written by Michael Schur, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired in the United States on October 4, 2005 on NBC.In the episode, Michael...
", "Halloween", "Performance Review
Performance Review
"Performance Review" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fourteenth episode overall. It was written by Larry Wilmore and directed by Paul Feig...
", "E-mail Surveillance
E-mail Surveillance
"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...
", "Survivor Man
Survivor Man
"Survivor Man" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-fourth episode overall. Written by Steve Carell, who also acts on the show as Regional Manager Michael Scott, and directed by Paul Feig, it originally aired on NBC on...
" and "Dinner Party
Dinner Party (The Office)
"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...
". "Goodbye, Toby" was written by Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
and Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
. Lieberstein is also the actor who plays Toby Flenderson
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
. It took Lieberstein and Coletta four or five days to write this episode. Writer Anthony Farrell said that the idea for Dunder Mifflin Infinity to fail was inspired by the days that he was an administrative assistant for Countrywide Home Loans
Countrywide Financial
Bank of America Home Loans is the mortgage unit of Bank of America. Bank of America Home Loans is composed of:*Mortgage Banking, which originates purchases, securitizes, and services mortgages. In 2008, Bank of America purchased the failing Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion...
. Farrell recalled watching the company try new online initiatives and seeing them all be unsuccessful. The title of the episode came from the song Michael sings at Toby's going away party, a parody of Supertramp's Goodbye Stranger.
The members of Darryl
Darryl Philbin
Darryl Mathias Philbin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Craig Robinson.-Overview:Darryl Philbin is the foreman of the warehouse of the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin....
's band are the actual members of actor Craig Robinson's band: Chris Rob
Chris Rob
Chris Rob is an American musician, native to Chicago and currently resides in New York City. His twist of jazz and cool funk can be witnessed firsthand on the new Leon Ware release "Moon Ride" with the lead single, 'Smoovin', which Chris produced for the industry heavyweight...
played bass, Asa Watkins played drums, and David Sampson played guitar. On one take, Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
grabbed Sampson's guitar and played an Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
, but that scene was cut because it did not match Michael's character. The talking head interview where Michael compares Holly to a baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
came after what the writers call "blitzes", in which all the writers write a talking head on a specific topic, such as "Michael's feelings to Holly". Then they'll read all of them out loud and see which one gets the biggest reaction. The YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video of Ryan being arrested was set on a private account. After "Goodbye, Toby" aired, the video was released to the public. When writing the story for the episode, the show originally planned on having Dwight put a badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
in Holly's car, but after finding out that it was difficult to get a badger, it was switched to a raccoon. The script also called for the raccoon to attack Meredith, but that was decided against for safety reasons. After filming, the editors had about 72 minutes of material that they needed to cut down into 40 minutes.
Deleted scenes
The Season Four DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:
- Michael compares Toby to the flu.
- Toby gives his going-away speech and then is interrupted by Michael.
- More cut scenes of Michael and Holly.
- Holly asks Pam if Kevin just ate before jumping in the bounce castle. She replies, "He's always eating."
- Jim is not sure whether Ryan is going to downsize him.
- Jim and Pam browse for apartments online.
- It's revealed that Kevin's band Scrantonicity played 30 full Police songs, all out of tune and off-beat, during Phyllis' wedding .
- Kelly watches Ryan's YouTube arrest video over and over again at Jim's desk. She states that it's cool that Ryan is being arrested while wearing a suit.
- Jim asks about the website but does not get an answer from Dwight or Andy.
- When Troy Underbridge, Ryan's friend from "Night OutNight Out"Night Out" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixty-eighth episode overall. The episode was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Ken Whittingham. It first aired in the United States on April 24, 2008 on NBC...
" shows up in Scranton, Jim asks where Ryan is. After Troy says Ryan is unavailable at the moment, Jim asks if Troy will pass on a message to Ryan, but Troy then says that he reports to David Wallace now (instead of Ryan) and Jim asks in a shocked way "OK, what is going on?"
Reception
"Goodbye, Toby" received 4.1/10 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. This means that 4.1 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 8.07 million viewers.
"Goodbye, Toby" was generally well-received by critics. TV Squad's Jay Black said that "The Office is at its best when its exposing the dramas that take place at every workplace" [sic]; Black went on to say that Angela
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
's rudeness to Phyllis
Phyllis Lapin
Phyllis Margaret Vance is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. She is played by Phyllis Smith.-Biography:...
"was a small thread throughout the show, but a hilarious one". Kelly West of Cinemablend.com wrote that even though the episode didn't play-out "the way [she] expected", she's "definitely not complaining". Alan Sepinwall, a writer for The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, was critical of the proposal scenario, saying that "I really, really, really hope the writers aren't going to be foolish enough to try to create real strife in the PB&J (Pam Beesly and Jim) relationship over how long it's going to take Jim to propose." Sepinwall did wonder if "Goodbye, Toby" was the "best hour-long 'Office' ever?" The episode was nominated for an Emmy at the Primetime Emmys in the "Best Direction for a Comedy Series" category in 2008.
External links
- "Goodbye, Toby" at NBC.com