Scranton Insider On “Branch Closing” and “The Merger”
As always, here is our Scranton Insider on recent episodes of The Office.
Oh. My. God. I barely know where to begin with this week’s post. Actually, I’ll be starting with last week’s episode. First I’ll talk about “Branch Closing,” and then “The Merger.” It’s two posts in one this week! Here we go.
Last week during “Branch Closing,” the gang was trying to coordinate a lunch to celebrate the fact that the Scranton branch wasn’t actually closing. Kevin mentioned several options, all of them real places.
DJ’s is a wing type of place on North Main street, and it’s pretty good. My favorite wing place in Scranton, Uncle Mike’s (where I spent my 21st birthday), no longer exists. Sigh.
Cooper’s (which also showed up at the tail end of “The Merger”) is almost a Scranton institution. What started out as a small seafood restaurant has branched into several locations in the area. The original Scranton location (just a hop, skip and a jump from Dunder-Mifflin) is quite an impressive building. The main bar area is actually within an enormous pirate ship, featuring life-sized pirates positioned all around, battling sea creatures and singing (see photo above). It’s not as cheesy as it sounds.
Among Cooper’s claims to fame are: The extremely good crab bisque, the fact that former President Bill Clinton once ate there (Mr. Clinton’s late father-in-law is buried in Scranton. I stood out in the rain for hours just to watch his car drive by on the way to the burial. Classy, I know), the Cooper’s “Beer Club” features more that 200 beers from around the world and most importantly, I spent two years of my life working as a busboy at Cooper’s when I was in high school. There’s nothing quite like coming home at 1 in the morning smelling like stale lobster innards. Yum.
Next up was Cugino’s which, as Kevin mentioned, is in neighboring Dunmore. It’s an unassuming neighborhood place. Finally, the gang ended up at
Finally, I noticed a “Sal’s Pizza” flyer in the Dunder-Mifflin break room. Sal’s, as you may have guessed, is a real pizza joint. Oddly enough, the Abe’s Deli menu seems to be missing this year (it used to be on the side of the refrigerator). What’s going on, prop department?
But enough about “Branch Closing.” “The Merger” may go down as one of my all-time favorite episodes, if only for the Lazy Scranton video. You may remember that, a few weeks ago, we reported that a crew from the show had taken some exterior shots from around town. Apparently, now we know why. I think it’s safe to say that the Lazy Scranton video will go down in popular Scranton history with other legendary tidbits like Manny Gordon’s “Enjoy, enjoy” ads and just about anything Miss Judy ever did.*
First off, Dwight is wearing a Rock 107 T-shirt under his button-down. Rock 107 is, dare I say, THE rock radio station in Scranton. When I was a wee lad in Scranton, 107 (as the cool kids call it) was the only station I listened to. Every morning, I enjoyed the Daniels and Webster show. If that names sounds a bit familiar to you, it’s because half of that team, John Webster, is a frequent commenter here at LITO. Hi, John! You can read John’s blog here. When I first left Scranton to attend Berklee College of Music on Boston way back in 1989, it was with a Rock 107 bumper sticker on my drum cases (it’s still there, in fact). You may also remember last season Dwight was trying to win a Jethro Tull box set from 107 by being the 107th caller (John assures us that they don’t make their poor listeners call in that many times).
Michael’s T-shirt seems more generic and says “Electric City.” That is Scranton’s nickname, by the way, and you can see a photo that I took of the sign that Michael is next to right here. All of the locations that appeared in the video are real. The Anthracite Heritage Museum is located in a park called McDade Park. The short story is (this post is getting a bit long) that coal mining was a real boom for Scranton a long time ago, and many of our grandfathers were coal miners. In fact, when I was growing up, or house and hot water was heated by a coal furnace in our basement. Last season, Michael mentioned the coal mine tour, which is also in McDade and really cool. Seriously, check it out if you’re in town.
Montage Mountain is a ski resort that can be seen from West Side. During the summer they host concerts and other kinds of fun stuff. I used to ski there all the time when I was in jr. high.
Whew, what a post. What a great show. As an aside, I’ll say that I don’t know how much you all enjoy my posts, especially readers who have never even been to Pennsylvania, but I sure as heck enjoy writing them. Though I moved away from Scranton many years ago and have built a nice life for myself since then, I still miss it so very much. It’s as much a part of me as my skin, my thoughts and my heart. I still have family there and I still visit, but it’s not the same. I love The Office for the writing and acting, of course, but the fact that it’s set in what I’ll always consider “my hometown” makes it even more fantastic. I know you love the show, but I bet you don’t get just a tiny bit teary-eyed when you watch the opening credits, or when the gang goes to Cooper’s for lunch. I do.
Thanks to the producers and prop department of The Office. You’re making this old Scranton boy very happy.
*Ok, so those references were strictly for other Scrantonians. I’ve got to throw my people a little love, understand?
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November 19th, 2006 23:13
I was born and raised in Dunmore, and I now live in Seattle. I’ve GOT to get back for a visit so I can eat at Cugino’s! My wife and I plan on wearing our Dunder-Mifflin shirts to dinner. I hope we can find parking now near Dunmore Corners, with all this publicity!
November 19th, 2006 23:22
I like your posts Insider Man…
November 20th, 2006 06:24
Great post. Will have to check out Coopers when I am there!
November 20th, 2006 07:26
“Branch Closing” reference within a reference… When they go to the CEO’s door, Michael said it was like Bowling for Columbine, which he thought would be a bowling movie. Like “Kingpin”. Woody Harrelson’s character in “Kingpin” is from Scranton.
Also, Dwight Schrute will be at the Steamtown Mall in downtown Scranton on Sunday December 17 from 12:30-3:30.
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17448508&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=450444&rfi=6
November 20th, 2006 07:27
LOVE the Scranton Insider posts! Thanks!!!
November 20th, 2006 07:58
I like your posts. It’s always interesting to put real places with the references, and it’s cool to see how much work they put into making sure they are accurate.
November 20th, 2006 08:12
Nice post. I pass by Scranton on the way up to Canada and my wife once lived in Wilkes-Barre so I enjoy reading about the area. Thanks.
Hey Brian, if you’re reading…
Had an idea for a post this week seeing as it’s a rerun week:
The buzz around the office here after the Branch Closing episode was that the Future Dwight intro may well have been the best intro yet. How about a poll to see what people think was the best intro. Would be a good way to reminisce… I think the IT guy intro ranks right up there!
November 20th, 2006 08:19
EB, that’s a great idea. I’d like to have more polls and will have a couple this week.
Thanks for the idea.
November 20th, 2006 08:27
I’ve never been to Scranton, but I love these Scranton Insider reports!
November 20th, 2006 09:16
Great posts! We moved away a few years ago and the references to all the places we used to haunt are fantastic! I remember a great free lobster meal at Coopers on my birthday.
I read somewhere that the crew is filming an episode in Scranton during the St. Patrick’s Day festival… Is there any truth to this?
November 20th, 2006 13:40
Hey Scranton Insider! I Love your posts! I live in Archbald, PA…..short drive from Scranton and work in Scranton at Marywood University. I thought that I heard a mention of Marywood on the show…..does it ring a bell? I can’t quite remember what the reference was! I hope the St. Patrick’s Day rumor is true, I’ll hop a COLTS bus downtown for that one! Can’t wait til December 17th to see Dwight!
November 20th, 2006 14:11
Hey, Rachel! I went to Marywood, and I never heard a reference to the college on the show. But on “Pam’s” Myspace page “biography,” it says she attended Marywood, and majored in art. It’s all made up, but it’s still a hoot to read it. By the way, my wife is from Jermyn, Pa, just up Route 6 from Archibald.
November 20th, 2006 14:17
Rachel, another reference you might get a kick out of… Michael Scott’s mother “lives” in Dickson City. He sent Ryan to her house on an errand.
November 20th, 2006 14:19
Thanks Bob! That must have been it. “Pam” went to Marywood! I currently attend Marywood, as well as work for them! Jermyn is quite close, walking distance. Have a great Thanksgiving!
November 20th, 2006 14:55
Hey Dave,
Thanks for the mention. As always, another insightful Insider! We’re hoping to get a hold of Rainn for a few minutes when he comes to town 12/17 but I hear the mall is playing footsie with certain radio stations and he may not be as available as we’d like even though we have a studio IN THE MALL! We may have to resort to some nefarious tactics, but if it’s at all possible, we’ll have some Rainn audio for you on my blog, webster107.blogspot.com and on rock107.com.
Thanks Dave and always look forward to your posts,
Best,
John
webster@rock107.com
webster107.blogspot.com
November 20th, 2006 15:42
Hi Dave!
Love the Scranton Insider and the responses!! I’m a Scrantonian born and raised and I feel the same way you do when I see and hear the local references on the show! Hopefully, soon they’ll have some new pics for the opening sequence. i.e. Courhouse Square, the Everhart or the falls in Nay Aug, the Radisson, the “U” or Marywood campus, Wachovia Arena,Lackawanna County stadium with the new NYY logo featured, etc. There are so many! Can’t wait to see Rainn at the mall!!
BTW I forwarded the “Lazy Scranton” video to my friend in Italy and she absolutely loved it!! She downloads the episodes from the internet and when she comes to visit she wants to see the places that are mentioned!
Keep up the good work! You make your fellow NEPA’s proud!!!
November 20th, 2006 21:55
Another excellent rundown of all things Scranton. Lazy Scranton is great. As a Dunmorean, I was glad to see yet another mention of my hometown. But you must admit - Cooper’s pirate ship IS cheesy. And the best wings IMHO are at the Windsor.
Can’t wait to head back up for Thanksgiving.
November 22nd, 2006 08:43
Hey SJB…true that (Windsor’s Wings are great…Barret’s wings in Archbald..a close second). I mentioned in another post that the phone rings during the commercil break after Lzy Scranton bit…Who would dare call me during The Office…then I knew it was my brother who is now living in Nazareth PA. It had to be him..all I could hear was hysterical laughter on the other end. Great references to NEPA stuff..BTW brother and I grew up in Throop. Now living in Virginia.
November 22nd, 2006 09:19
Just so our readers get it straight, the town Dan mentioned in his comment above is pronounced “troop,” not “throop” (actually, now that I think about it, “Chroop” is more accurate).
November 22nd, 2006 09:47
AND, Throop is just a stone’s throw from Dickson City, where Michael Scott’s mother “lives.”
November 22nd, 2006 10:10
Route 6 runs through Dickson City. That is the highway where poor Ed Truck’s “capa” was “detated.”
November 23rd, 2006 19:15
I’m from Throop, and it is called Troop, hopefully we get a mention on the show some day.
November 27th, 2006 12:25
What about Coopers free lobster or steak dinner on your birthday? You get a crab hat.
November 27th, 2006 16:03
Embarrassing as it may be, we gathered a mini collection of those ridiculous, red crab hats resulting from birthday celebrations at Coopers. However, once we experienced fresh lobster from Cape Cod…………….
November 29th, 2006 08:14
Hey, I’m from the Hill Section and you’re totally right because everytime I watch the opening credits I get a little tear in my eye and also freak out a little bit when I see things like the Abe’s menu.
December 1st, 2006 10:44
I think it will be great if they actually film an episode here, but they shouldn’t do it on the day of the St Patrick’s Day parade. The parade is an embarrassment to Scranton. Its a drunk festival where bars open at 6 a.m. and serve 17 cent beers. Try and picture a bunch of people at a parade that starts at noon and have been driking 17 beer for 6 hours prior. Its a mess. Fights. Public urination. Profanity. You name it. And then they have the nerve to market the parade as a “family” event. I live in Scranton, but I steer clear of downtown on parade day, and pretty much try to stay home and off the roads. The drunks are everywhere that day. And I definitely would not take my children anywhere near that parade.
BUT…it should be no surprise….an interesting tidbit that I remember learning in a college health class at PSU-Scranton: Scranton and Lackawanna County have one of the highest rates of alcoholism in the nation.
Come on, Dunder Mifflin, pick a good day to film an episode here….maybe for La Festa Italiana or the Christmas Parade. They are events to be proud of, as opposed to the St Patty’s Day drunkfest.
December 1st, 2006 13:51
Pretty broad paintbrush you got there, Pat.
Sure there are places to be avoided on Parade Day if you go with your family, such as the areas in front of Rocky’s, near Farley’s, Tink’s, and Flashback’s. Probably any parade anywhere that draws that sort of crowd will have it’s share of less than family friendly areas. Think about it, the Macy’s Day Parade and the Rose Parade must surely have similar drunken patches in the crowd. Not saying Scranton’s parade is on that same level, but to label it a drunkfest is just ignorant, catering to stereotype, and forming generalizations based on a very small percentage of the crowd. You said yourself that you avoid the downtown on Parade Day, but I’ve been taking my kid for the last 6 years, and plan on taking him again. We avoid the bar areas as well, and have a fantastic time. The bars opening at 6 are not part of the parade, nor are they part of the parade route for the most part.
Granted, the police tend to look the other way on a lot of things that day, but public urination and fighting are not taken lightly. The crowd is generally fairly well behaved. And you don’t honestly believe that that there isn’t drinking, fighting, swearing, public urination at La Festa, do you?
To film an episode featuring the fourth largest St. Patrick’s Day in the nation would indeed be a good thing. It can be filmed at the locations where you’ve apparently had bad experiences and be an embarassment, or it can be filmed everywhere else along the parade route and be a wonderful backdrop featuring an event that over 100,000 people look forward to every year.
December 4th, 2006 16:59
Pat…. For Family Viewing, go to in front of the Chancery, across from the cathedral on Wyoming Ave. The parade has just started, and being near Church and early in the parade ( as well as away from many bars) it is a pretty subdued, family friendly atmosphere.
Just don’t take MY spot!
December 8th, 2006 15:37
Gosh,
The Scranton Insider is great. I’ve been catching some episodes and love The Office. Couldn’t believe the mentions, including Poor Richards and Coopers. Was just at Coopers and we used to play at Poor Richards in the 80s.
Kewl stuff.
~Lace~
October 19th, 2007 07:26
To all fans of the Office and ex-Dunmoreans I am pleased to anounce that the formation of the Dunmore Historical Society is moving along , we need old photos and stories of days gone by so please contact me at golden6727@aol.com
Thank You ,
Tony Ranella Jr.
V.P. Dunmore Historical Society
October 23rd, 2007 18:42
Hi everyone,
What happened to the Scranton Insider this season? As someone no longer living in NE PA, I like reading the Insider’s analysis of the Scranton references and the validity of each of them (any any additional background). Has the Insider mob=ved to a difference site? If so, can someone please provide a link.
Thank you.