Life In The Office

Anytime an Office episode is primarily set outdoors, I feel an overbearing sense of dread. The show has occasionally used stock news footage of northeastern Pennsylvania, but mostly they just try to fake it with judicious camera angles and editing room special effects. Sometimes they go all out to get it right, like spending a fortune to “recreate” Jim’s truck stop proposal to Pam in Season Five’s “Weight Loss.” Other times, they attempt (and spectacularly fail) to substitute southern California for the Pennsylvania wilderness, like in Season Four’s “Survivor Man.” So how did they do with “Garden Party?” Well, the Schrute Farm didn’t come off too badly; Instead of an overbearing sense of dread, I was left with a quite underbearing sense. It could have been worse.

The episode starts out with Andy being informed of the unfortunate Dunder-Mifflin billboard defacements. He is holding a red coffee cup with an out-of-focus white circular logo that I haven’t identified yet, but I think I will eventually. Meredith strolls in and mentions the billboard on Washington Street. One of the main arterials running through Scranton is Washington Avenue, and I’ll bet that “Meredith” just read the script incorrectly, and the mistake was deemed too inconsequential to fix. Anyway, I googled “outdoor advertising in Scranton,” and a list popped right up with the location and photos of all seven billboards on Washington Avenue. What an amazing, if ultimately utterly useless chart for a fictional quest!

Dwight is shown standing at a whiteboard, having drawn a crude “map” to Schrute Farms. This was a hilarious bonanza of bogus information about northeastern Pennsylvania. TripAdvisor® has a popular webpage dedicated to Schrute Farms, which is “located” in Honesdale, Pa. There is even a Google Map showing the fictional beet farm/Bed & Breakfast Inn. Dwight’s cartoon-y “map” shows the Dunder Mifflin office, with the real-life Route 6 crossing over what is probably the real-life Interstate 81, leading to the farm. There are various stand-out landmarks that Dwight has listed, such as the “pond,” the cemetery, “good sushi” and the “gay district.” The “pond” could refer to either nearby Bunnells Pond or Cadjaw Pond. Since “The Office” is a comedy, my money is on “Cadjaw,” which seems like a “funnier” pond. The cemetery off of Route 6 could conceivably be Montdale Cemetery, where many of my relatives are buried! (OK, that’s a stretch.) The “good sushi” might very well refer to “Blu Wasabi,” a Japanese restaurant on Route 6 in Dickson City that “The Office has referenced before. And the “gay district?” Well, it’s been awhile since my wife and I moved away, so I’ll have to rely on locals to fill me in here; Google Maps doesn’t make geographic notations of “gay districts.” That would be an exclusive feature of, uh… Dwight Maps.

When Pam is shown in the break room chatting with Angela, she is eating a Wegman’s Peach Yogurt, and a bag of Herr’s Potato Chips. I was not able to determine the flavor of the bag of chips, which disappointed me for some odd reason. Were they the Herr’s Sour Cream and Onion? Herr’s Cheddar Horseradish? Herr’s Creamy Dill Pickle? Now, that sounds like a flavor a mom-to-be might like!

When Cousin Mose is parking the cars at the garden party, none of the vehicles have front license plates, which are not required in Pennsylvania. One of the cars did have an advertising plate on the front bumper. It was an ad for, uh… something. It looked like a royal blue jelly bean with stick-legs, riding a surfboard against a white sun in a royal blue sky. I’ll keep sniffing around for that one. It sure would feel good to identify that hallucinatory image. Also, kudos to “The Office” for at least finding a reasonable facsimile Schrute Farms in southern California. The vegetation is acceptable as northeastern Pa. Only the scrub brush/barren hillsides in the distance are jarring.

Finally, we’re at the garden party. When Ryan “toasts” the troops, (both sides) a bunch of glasses are raised. One hand is holding a clearly labeled Stegmaier Beer. Oddly enough, the label, which is white and orange, does not match any beers pictured on the Stegmaier website. Hmm… Either the “prop” beer, or the website is not up-to-date. Maybe the beer is a seasonal Octoberfest, which would make perfect sense in this case. Then Jim Halpert, Oscar, and Andy are shown drinking red cans of Lion’s Head Ale. Meredith and Gabe are drinking green cans of Lion’s Head Light. I wonder if any thought at all went into that product placement, or did the propmaster just hand the cans out randomly before the director yelled “action?” This is interesting, because it conjures up LITO reader Amanda’s masters thesis, in which she extensively researched product placement on “The Office.” A trustworthy stand-up guy like Jim Halpert drinking your beer is more desired by marketers than a plug by a sniveling, corporate suck-up like Gabe… not to mention a substance-abusing, loose-morals train-wreck like Meredith.

In the last scene, as Dwight and his waitstaff torch-dance the closing ceremony, a brown paper grocery bag sits on the picnic table. The print on the bag is partially hidden, but it appears to be advertising Wegman’s Organic Farm produce. That’s odd… You’d think Dwight would at least be serving his own harvested beets.

~ Bob