document_title: The Good Doctor (TV series)

question_text: the good doctor season 1 episode 2 air date

text: The Good Doctor (TV series)

text: Premise[edit]

text: The series follows Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome from a small town, where he had a troubled childhood. He relocates to join the prestigious surgical department at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.[1]

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text:
Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy: A surgical resident with autism and savant syndrome.[2] His savant abilities include near-photographic recall and the ability to note minute details and changes. He is portrayed in flashbacks to his teen years by Graham Verchere.[3]
Nicholas Gonzalez as Neil Melendez: Attending surgeon.[2]
Antonia Thomas as Claire Browne: A resident who forms a special connection with Shaun.[4]
Chuku Modu as Jared Kalu: A resident.[5]
Beau Garrett as Jessica Preston: A hospital board member who is a friend of Dr. Glassman and whose grandfather founded the hospital.[6]
Irene Keng as Sarah Chen: A resident.[7][8]
Hill Harper as Marcus Andrews: Chief of surgery.[7]
Richard Schiff as Aaron Glassman: President of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, who has been a mentor and good friend of Shaun since he was 14.[9][10]
Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki: Chair and Vice President of the foundation that controls the hospital.[11]

text: Guest[edit]

text:
Dylan Kingwell as Steve Murphy: Shaun's younger brother (in flashbacks).[3]
Jasika Nicole as Carly[12]
Eve Gordon as Nurse Fryday[12]
Michael Muhney[13]
Marsha Thomason as Isabel Andrews: Marcus' wife.[14]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: This section needs plot summaries. Please add some in your own words. (October 2017)

tag: table

text:
No.
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
U.S. viewers
(millions)

1
"Burnt Food"
Seth Gordon
David Shore
September 25, 2017 (2017-09-25)
11.22[15]

On the way to his job interview at the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, Dr. Shaun Murphy encounters a boy injured when a glass fixture shatters and falls on him and jumps in to assist, his unique perspective on the world guiding him through the procedure. He also helps another doctor who is there, by instructing him on how to stop the boy from dying. On the way to the hospital, Shaun notices that the boy’s vitals have changed, and argues that something is wrong, but no one believes him. Dr. Aaron Glassman, president at the hospital, tries to convince the board to hire Shaun despite his autism, while Dr. Marcus Andrews fights against him. Dr. Claire Browne tries to prove herself to her overconfident superior Dr. Neil Melendez. The doctors realize that Shaun is right and ask for his assistance in saving the boy's life, which they do. During his childhood, Shaun suffers due to an abusive father and bullies at school, but is protected and assisted by his younger brother, Steve, until tragedy strikes.

2
"Mount Rushmore"
Mike Listo
David Shore
October 2, 2017 (2017-10-02)
10.93[16]

3
"Oliver"
John Dahl
Bill Rotko
October 9, 2017 (2017-10-09)
10.69[17]

Shaun and Claire fly to San Francisco Municipal Hospital to get a patient a liver. They can't fly on their way back due to the fog rolling out and are forced to use a police escort. Problems keep coming one after the other; first, the liver's temperature went above the required maximum, forcing them to have a sudden stop at a local store, where they cool it by submerging in slush. As they proceed with their journey, Shaun discovers that the liver has a clot. With only two hours of viability left, the duo decide to perform an operation on the way in order to remove the clot and flash the left lobe, to protect it from the ice bath. Back at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, Chuck, the recipient of the liver is discovered to have alcohol in his system; a likelihood that he might be moved to the bottom of the list. Chuck later confesses that he actually took a drink on his daughter's graduation. In order to protect its reputation and the future patients, the hospital decides to move Chuck to the bottom of the list. To their dismay, Shaun and Claire arrive back, only to find out that the liver has to be taken to another patient in another hospital.

4
"Pipes"
Steven DePaul
Thomas L. Moran
October 16, 2017 (2017-10-16)
10.60[18]

5
"Point Three Percent"
Larry Teng
David Hoselton
October 23, 2017 (2017-10-23)
10.39[19]

Shaun notices a young boy with an indubitable resemblance to his deceased brother Steve, forming a bond with him. The boy's name is actually Evan and was brought to the hospital by his parents for reportedly breaking an arm; unbeknownst to Evan, he is in fact suffering from stage 4 Osteosarcoma. Shaun later suspects that he might been misdiagnosed with cancer but indeed suffering from Langerhans cell histiocytosis. In order not to give both Evan and his parents false hopes, Shaun decides to lie, attempting to perform a bone marrow arspiration, but he is caught red-handed by the parents. Subsequently, Evan starts coughing out blood, sending him to the OR. While on the operating table, Dr. Neil Mendelez and Dr. Claire Browne discover that the cancer had metastasized, undoubtable proof that he is indeed suffering with terminal cancer. The other doctors are trying to find a prognosis of a 55-year old man, brought to the hospital by his estranged son, with an allergy causing him to have convulsions. Dr. Browne later finds out that the man is suffering from Echinococcus, a cyst form of tapeworms. Saddened by Evan's fate, Shaun reads Evan the final few pages of To Kill a Mockingbird, a book of Steve's that he never finished reading before he died.

6
"Not Fake"
Michael Patrick Jann
Simran Baidwan
October 30, 2017 (2017-10-30)
10.60[20]

7
"22 Steps"[21]
David Straiton
Johanna Lee
November 13, 2017 (2017-11-13)
TBD

8
"Apple"[22]
TBA
TBA
November 20, 2017 (2017-11-20)
TBD

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: In May 2014, CBS Television Studios began development on an American remake of the hit South Korean medical drama Good Doctor with Daniel Dae Kim as producer. Kim explained the appeal of adapting the series as "something that can fit into a recognizable world, with a breadth of characters that can be explored in the long run".[23] The story of a pediatric surgeon with Asperger syndrome was to be set in Boston and projected to air in August 2015.[24][25] However, CBS didn't pick up the project and it moved to Sony Pictures Television, with a put pilot commitment from ABC in October 2016. The series is developed by David Shore, who is executive producing alongside Kim, Sebastian Lee, and David Kim.[26] ABC officially ordered the series to pilot in January 2017.[27]

text: On May 11, 2017, ABC ordered the show to series as a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios,[28] and it was officially picked up for a full season of 18 episodes on October 3, 2017.[29]

text: Casting[edit]

text: On February 17, 2017, Antonia Thomas was cast as Dr. Claire Browne, a strong-willed and talented doctor who forms a special connection with Shaun.[4] A week later, Freddie Highmore was cast in the lead role as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism; and Nicholas Gonzalez was cast as Dr. Neil Melendez, the boss of the surgical residents at the hospital.[2] The next month, Chuku Modu was cast as resident Dr. Jared Unger;[5] Hill Harper as head of surgery Dr. Horace Andrews; Irene Keng as resident Dr. Elle McLean;[7] and Richard Schiff was cast as Dr. Ira Glassman, President of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital and mentor to Shaun.[9] He was shortly followed by Beau Garrett as hospital board member Jessica Preston and a friend of Dr. Glassman.[6] With the series order in May, Modu's character was revealed to have changed to Dr. Jared Kalu; Harper's character changed to Dr. Marcus Andrews; and Schiff's character changed to Dr. Aaron Glassman.[28] In September 2017, Tamlyn Tomita was promoted to the principal cast as Allegra Aoki.[11]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Production on the pilot took place from March 21 to April 6, 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia.[30][31] Filming for the rest of the season began on July 26, 2017, and is set to conclude on March 1, 2018.[32] The Surrey, British Columbia city hall serves as the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital in exterior shots.[33]

text: Music[edit]

text: Dan Romer serves as the primary composer for the series.[34]

text: Release[edit]

text: Broadcast[edit]

text: The Good Doctor began airing on September 25, 2017, on ABC in the United States,[35] and on CTV in Canada.[36] Sky Living acquired the broadcast rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland.[37] Seven Network airs the series in Australia.[38]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: A full length trailer was released for ABC's May 2017 Upfront presentation, which /Film's Ethan Anderton described the concept as feeling like "House meets Rain Man, that just might be enough to make it interesting". However, he questioned "how long can audiences be entranced by both the brilliance of [Highmore's] character's savant skills and the difficulties that come from his autism in the workplace."[39] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter felt the trailer was "both kinda progressive and really dated". He added, "Too much felt on-the-nose—especially Hill Harper as the main character's detractor and Richard Schiff as his noble defender", while also commentating that "On-the-nose/premise is how you have to trailer a show like this, and maybe spaced out over 43 minutes it won't grate."[40] Ben Travers and Steve Greene for IndieWire called it "a serious trailer for a serious subject. The first glimpse of Highmore's character hints that they're toeing the line between presenting a thoughtful depiction of his condition and using his perceptive abilities as a kind of secret weapon."[41] The trailer had been viewed over 25.4 million times after a week of its release, including over 22 million views on Facebook.[42]

text: The pilot was screened at ABC's PaleyFest event on September 9, 2017.[43]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings[edit]

text:
No.
Title
Air date
Rating/share
(18–49)
Viewers
(millions)
DVR
(18–49)
DVR viewers
(millions)
Total
(18–49)
Total viewers
(millions)

1
"Burnt Food"
September 25, 2017
2.2/9
11.22[15]
2.2
7.86
4.4
19.21[44]

2
"Mount Rushmore"
October 2, 2017
2.2/9
10.93[16]
2.1
7.21
4.3
18.12[45]

3
"Oliver"
October 9, 2017
2.0/7
10.69[17]
2.2
7.53
4.2
18.22[46]

4
"Pipes"
October 16, 2017
2.0/8
10.60[18]
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

5
"Point Three Percent"
October 23, 2017
1.8/7
10.39[19]
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

6
"Not Fake"
October 30, 2017
1.9/7
10.60[20]
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

7
"22 Steps"
November 13, 2017
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

8
"Apple"
November 20, 2017
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

text: The series premiere earned a 2.2/9 rating in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, with 11.22 million total viewers, making it the most watched Monday drama debut on ABC in 21 years, since Dangerous Minds in September 1996, and the highest rated Monday drama in the 18–49 demographic in 8.5 years, since Castle in March 2009.[47] Factoring live plus seven-day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 19.2 million viewers and set a record for DVR viewers with 7.9 million, surpassing the record of 7.67 million set by the pilot of Designated Survivor in 2016.[48]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 44% approval rating with an average rating of 5.6/10 based on 25 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Good Doctor's heavy-handed bedside manner undermines a solid lead performance, but under all the emotionally manipulative gimmickry, there's still plenty of room to improve."[49] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 53 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[50]

text: Giving his first impression of the series' pilot for TVLine, Matt Webb Mitovich stated, "The Good Doctor boasts great DNA... [and] has the potential to be a refreshingly thought-provoking hospital drama, based on the buttons pushed in the pilot alone." He enjoyed the "warm dynamic" of Schiff and Highmore, while describing Thomas' character as "our emotional 'in' to Shaun's distinct, distant world". He noted that "it takes a while to build up momentum," but concluded that "the very final scene packs quite a punch, as Dr. Murphy unwittingly puts a colleague on notice."[51]


document_title: Michael Scott (The Office)

question_text: when does michael come back to the office

root

text: Michael Scott (The Office)

text: Casting[edit]

text: All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. NBC programmer Tracy McLaughlin 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.[2] 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.[3] Due to Carell being unavailable, Bob Odenkirk was selected as Michael Scott and was part of the cast presented to NBC executives.[4] However, Come to Papa was quickly canceled, allowing Carell to commit 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. On the audio commentary of The Pilot episode, director Ken Kwapis says that Carell's unfamiliarity with the British version of The Office and their experience working together on Watching Ellie influenced his being cast as Scott.[5]

tag: p

text: 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,[6] 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, 2007 and 2011 for his work in the series. Although The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a surprise success, Carell revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he had no plans to leave The Office. However, on the BBC Radio 5 Live Film Review show, he stated in an interview that his time on the show would probably end after his contract ran out after Season 7.[7] This was later confirmed on June 28, 2010, when Carell confirmed that the seventh season of the show was to be his last after his contract with NBC expired.

text: Character Information, Arc, and Backstory[edit]

text: Biography[edit]

text: Michael's hometown is also Scranton, Pennsylvania. His birthdate is March 15, 1964, as described in "Michael's Birthday" and "Dream Team". His full name is Michael Gary Scott, as said in the episode " Double Date". He came from a relatively difficult childhood of loneliness, describing to Jan's child Astrid that she will be able to survive not having a father figure around because he was in that position as a child. In "Diversity Day", Michael claims to be of English, Irish, German and Scottish ancestry. He also claims to be two-fifteenths Native American. He has mentioned a stepfather, Jeff, whom he despises. In "Nepotism", it is revealed that Michael had a half-sister, from whom he was estranged from 1995 through 2010. As a consequence of their reunion, Michael hires his nephew Luke as an intern for the office, but eventually confronts the incompetent and rude Luke and ends up spanking him in front of the office, leading Luke to burst into tears and quit.

text: In the episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Michael makes the claim that he was a child star on a kids' show called Fundle Bundle; however, it becomes clear that he simply appeared on the show as one of many guest children who usually watched from home. In the old recording being played, he speaks touchingly about what he wanted when he grew up: get married, have "100 kids" so he could then have "100 friends" and none of them could say no to being his friend. Michael did not attend college, having lost all his tuition money in a pyramid scheme.

text: He was hired as a salesman at Dunder Mifflin in the 1990s, where he proved to be extremely effective. Dwight praised him in a deleted scene from "The Coup" for winning consecutive awards for best salesman. In "Two Weeks", he claims to have acquired half of the Scranton branch client base. In "The Client", he impresses his then-manager, Jan Levinson-Gould, by singlehandedly acquiring an important client through somewhat unorthodox methods. Both Pam Halpert and Ryan Howard are impressed watching him make sales and negotiate their contracts when working in The Michael Scott Paper Company. Even Jim Halpert concedes that he might never become as good a salesman as Michael in "Koi Pond".

text: The skills that made him successful as a salesman, however, are not effective when applied to managerial duties and Michael is shown to be ill-suited to that position, injecting a lot of his personal feelings into the work environment. During a candid conversation in "The Fire", Michael tells Ryan that he became a salesman because he loved to make friends and, after being promoted to regional manager at a young age, continued to treat work-related relationships as personal friendships which he acknowledges is more difficult because his colleagues are all lower than him in the workplace's hierarchy. He seems to have few relationships outside the office. In his interactions with other characters, he is shallow, callous, ignorant and unaware of basic social norms. He tends to overestimate his own importance in the eyes of his co-workers and cannot understand why they do not seem to have much fun at work, as he believes an office to be the "place where dreams come true." However, Michael is somewhat loyal to the company and honestly tries to help his employees when he thinks they are having a problem. Michael has been at Dunder Mifflin (as of "Michael's Last Dundies") 9,986,000 minutes, meaning he would have been working at Dunder Mifflin since May 6, 1992.

text: Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often manifests itself in selfish behavior. For example, when he burns his foot in "The Injury", he expects Pam and Ryan to tend to his needs, despite Dwight's much more serious concussion. 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 by Phyllis' elderly father, eventually giving an insulting and overly familiar toast that gets him banned from the reception altogether. His desire to be liked often leads him to make unwise decisions or unfeasible promises without considering the consequences, only to back out when they result in an undesirable comeuppance. Michael appears to emphasize moments of sympathy or civility directed at him by his co-workers (mostly Jim) and inflates their importance in order to compensate for his loneliness.

text: Michael is irresponsible with his finances, and at one point is so heavily in debt he has to take up a second job as a telemarketer. Oscar makes a chart of Michael's spending habits and chides him for spending too much money on things "nobody ever needs" like multiple magic sets and professional bass fishing equipment. Eventually, Michael is forced to declare bankruptcy (which he thinks requires only standing up and shouting "I declare bankruptcy!")

text: Due to his overall lack of common sense, Michael can withstand significant abuse from his peers and is often the butt of jokes. He is quick to take offense when he realizes he is being wronged and his response is often disproportionate to the harm suffered; similarly, he tends to unintentionally offend people, but will usually sincerely apologize on the rare occasion that he realizes he has inadvertently insulted someone, the most notable example being in "Gay Witch Hunt" when he cries upon realizing his use of the term "faggy" hurt Oscar's feelings. Even though he is generally oblivious to criticism, derision and sarcasm, Michael has some limits to his patience, and leaves to question the extent of offense that he can actually acknowledge (demanding professional respect from Stanley Hudson in "Did I Stutter?" or standing up to the employees in favor of Holly in "Business Ethics").

text: In "The Meeting", it is shown that Michael does not aim for his employees' betterment or his own, thinking that this would put his job at jeopardy; he unwittingly turns down a promotion that would put Jim in his position, choosing the status quo over his employees' ambitions, and sabotaging Jim with a bad recommendation because he mistakenly believes that Jim's promotion to his job would lead to his firing. He does, however, concede to a co-managerial position with Jim to avoid losing him.

text: Interests[edit]

text: Michael's catchphrase is "That's what she said!", a sexually suggestive double entendre he uses even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levinson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so.

text: He has diverse interests in media. Song parody writing is often referred to: in "Goodbye, Toby", he relates the titles of two of his songs, "Beers in Heaven" and "Total Eclipse of the Fart", before singing a rendition of "Goodbye Stranger" as a departing gesture to Toby. He performs his parody of "The Chanukah Song" to reflect the Diwali celebration Kelly invites Michael to. In Dream Team, he comes up with "Achey Breaky Fart" and "My Stumps" during a brainstorming exercise. He hopes to finish the video production of his script, "Threat Level: Midnight", whose script was found and read by the office and whose finished movie (after ten years of production) was viewed in the seventh season episode of the same name.

text: He adores the theatrical stylings of Meryl Streep, describing her in "The Job" as the "best actor around," and mimics her character from The Devil Wears Prada after seeing the film. He adores Wikipedia and YouTube, although he doesn't seem to really understand how they work and believes them to be news media organizations. Michael also likes the music of Billy Joel, the movies Mean Girls, Million Dollar Baby, Die Hard, What a girl wants, and television series such as ALF, Entourage, The L Word and Queer as Folk. Michael tends to be a bit "behind" when it comes to popular culture references, such as when he refers to his then-girlfriend Jan's youthful male assistant as "James Van Der Beek" or in his numerous ringtones, including "My Humps," "Mambo Number Five" and "Salt N Pepa."

text: He appears to have a history of playing ice hockey and demonstrates his talent in "Michael's Birthday", and mentions in "Dream Team" that in high school, after his math teacher told him he was going to flunk out, he went out the next day and "scored more goals than anyone in the history of the hockey team." He also has invited potential clients to "Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins" games. On multiple occasions, Michael has also expressed interest in basketball even though he is terrible at it (in "The Fire", "Basketball" and "Goodbye, Michael"). Michael is a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and does not like the New York Mets. This appears in episode 6 season 1, when he is on a phone call with Jan Levinson-Gould. In addition, He has also been shown wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates cap.

text: Other interests include a pair of Levi's he refers to as his "fun jeans", which he has professionally dry cleaned and likely instituted Casual Friday for, according to Pam, in "The Convention", his self-bought "World's Best Boss" mug he bought at Spencer Gifts, that he has duplicates of, and Chrysler automobiles. He drives a silver 2004 Sebring convertible for the first three seasons until he trades it in with Jan's Volvo for a shared Porsche Boxster in the episode "Money". After their relationship, he drives a red PT Cruiser convertible and later a newer-model Sebring as a benefit of the buyout of the Michael Scott Paper Company to Dunder Mifflin in "Broke". Michael enjoys planning fantasy entrepreneurial schemes that he would like to start, such as a men's shoe store called "Shoe La La", or another paper company simply called "Michael".

text: Personality and management style[edit]

text: Apart from his masterful salesmanship, Michael is lacking in almost any other skills, management or otherwise. Co-manager Jim Halpert once made a color graph of how Michael spends his time: 80% "distracting others," 19% "procrastination," and 1% "critical thinking", and added that he inflated the "critical thinking" percentage so people could actually see it on the graph. His laid-back approach more often results in lower than expected workplace productivity, particularly when Michael places his personal interests as a priority over work (such as his birthday, someone else's birthday, or his various seminars). To avoid being disciplined for his foolish actions, Michael often resorts to scapegoating employees to cover himself. Although his actions often lead to more problems for his employees, Michael believes that Scranton is "the cool, fun branch... like Animal House," 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".

text: 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. On the other hand, he also oversteps his authority by hosting events that Corporate disapproves of, such as The Dundies and a booze cruise.

text: It is revealed in the episode "The Duel" that, despite Michael's incompetence, the Scranton branch is the best-performing company branch, well ahead of Utica and Nashua. 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. They send him on a lecture tour for Michael to spread his wisdom; instead, he wastes time and annoys the workers who have to listen to his drivel.

text: Despite his apparent ineptitude, Michael is prone to brief bouts of surprising insight and is shown to have a kind heart as he shows deep, family-like affection towards most of the people working for him in the Scranton branch. The staff initially finds Michael annoying but he grows on them and is given emotional goodbyes during his final days in Scranton. In the episode "Broke", Michael displays self-awareness of his inability to keep secrets when he, Pam and Ryan all agree not to let Dunder Mifflin know that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke, yet moments later he is seen bent over and in a near panic when he admits that he's afraid he won't be able to keep himself from letting the truth slip. Later in the same episode, he displays a remarkable ability to negotiate with Dunder Mifflin and convince the company to hire himself as well as Pam and Ryan back with full benefits.

text: In the episode "Business School", Michael is one of the few Dunder Mifflin employees to show up to Pam's gallery showing. Unlike Oscar and his then-boyfriend Gil, who had shown up and were critical of Pam's drawings (which Pam overheard), Michael immediately marvels at her work and asks to buy Pam's drawing of their office building. In a moment of sincere kindness, Michael tells Pam that he is very proud of her. Pam begins to tear up and hugs Michael, who also seems touched by Pam's reaction. During "The Seminar", Michael advises a fledgling Andy Bernard to step up and begin selling at a seminar Andy's hosting, in order to boost his sagging sales.

text: While Michael's habits of joking around and treating professional colleagues as personal friends are often inappropriate for management, they are, along with his near encyclopedic knowledge of the paper industry, remarkably effective when utilized to sign clients, as seen in "The Client" and "Heavy Competition." In "Initiation", Pam balks at Michael's sugar-fueled phone calls to a local business, but later realizes that his silly conversation (including a Bill Cosby imitation) helped to secure a major sale for Dunder-Mifflin. He remembers people through word association starting with nicknames such as "baldy" and "fatso" which, while offensive to the individuals in question, works to his advantage. Although he is unsuccessful using his sales methods as a telemarketer in "Money", his social interactions with coworkers suggest that he would be a more popular presence in an office of peers as opposed to subordinates.

text: It seems clear that Michael loves Dunder Mifflin very much, but he has also shown signs that he sometimes feels underappreciated, given his long history with the company. In the episode "The Negotiation", Michael discovers that he is making only slightly more money than Darryl, the warehouse manager, even though at that point he had worked for the company for 14 years and was in a management position. Later in the episode he drives to New York and demands a raise from Jan at corporate headquarters.

text: In the episode "New Boss", after Dunder Mifflin's CFO David Wallace ducks Michael's calls throughout the day and Michael's 15-year anniversary party is cancelled by Michael's new superior, Charles Miner, Michael drives to New York to confront Wallace. Citing his long history of service with the company and his many sacrifices for Dunder Mifflin, Michael asks that he be treated more respectfully. Wallace, seeing Michael's heartfelt openness, promises Michael his party and pledges to attend, as well. But Michael surprisingly recognizes that the CFO is just humoring him, and stuns Wallace by quitting his job.

text: Relationships[edit]

text: Michael tends to overestimate his importance to his employees, but despite constantly offending some of them, he has a close bond with them. Most of the employees have been the focus of Michael's jokes at one point or another, usually in reference to their race, sex, size, attractiveness, or sexual orientation. Examples of Michael's difficult relationship with his staff include getting slapped by Kelly for being racist, hitting Meredith with his car, getting kicked out of Phyllis and Bob's wedding, and outing Oscar to the entire office without his permission. They are, however, generally sympathetic to his shortcomings and, while regularly losing patience when he interrupts their workflow, often try to assist him with his personal problems.

text: Michael's relationship with the company warehouse employees is tense. He has a tendency to disrupt their daily work flow, and in a talking head interview, warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) explains that they have never been able to make a full year accident-free because of Michael's antics. CFO David Wallace tolerates Michael's antics because he values his loyalty to the company, but Michael offends CEO Allan and the rest of the executives during his only meeting with them.

text: Although many Dunder Mifflin employees are initially barely able to tolerate Michael, they gradually grow to appreciate his sincere intentions, even at times coming to find amusement in his sophomoric humor and behavior; this transition is most apparent in Pam Halpert, with whom he eventually develops a genuine friendship. His co-workers are overjoyed when Michael finds his soulmate in Holly Flax, participate in his romantic proposal to her and are shown to be emotional at his leaving Scranton to be with her. Jim Halpert even teared up while calling Michael "the best boss [he] ever had."

text: Dwight Schrute[edit]

text: Dwight has the most respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and is thrilled when asked to handle any task given to him, however ill-conceived it may be. Although on the surface, Michael usually appears dismissive of Dwight and generally views him as a suck-up, he is genuinely hurt and angry at the few times when Dwight has deceived him, such as when Dwight went over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job or when Dwight refused to reveal office secrets to Michael's new company, the Michael Scott Paper Company. In the episode "Heavy Competition" of Season 5, Dwight steals Michael's Rolodex and finds his own business card, on the back of which, Michael had written (before leaving Dunder Mifflin): "Dwight Schrute, tall, beets". Michael also cares how Dwight feels about him. After Michael beats Dwight at his own dojo, Michael finds out that Dwight no longer wanted Michael as his primary contact in case of an emergency which causes Michael to promote him from "Assistant to the Regional Manager" to "Assistant Regional Manager", with a three-month probational period. Dwight told Michael in Season 6 that Michael's pathetic career path hurt Dwight and he regretted working for him instead of taking a fast-track job at Home Depot, but they buried their differences later on. When Deangelo Vickers arrives to be the new Branch Manager, Dwight is depressed that he didn't get the job after Michael recommended him, only to learn from Gabe that Michael didn't recommend him after all. At first Dwight is angry with Michael, but they make amends when Michael gives him a letter of recommendation on his final day at Dunder Mifflin. They end the day with a paintball fight behind the building. In the series finale, Michael is the best man at Dwight's wedding after Jim arranges it.

text: Ryan Howard[edit]

text: Michael has a one-sided mancrush on Ryan, which makes Ryan uncomfortable. Examples of this are when Michael gave Ryan a $400 iPod for the staff's Christmas Secret Santa exchange, despite an agreed upon office limit of $20 per person, and when in "The Dundies", Michael gives Ryan the "Hottest in the Office" award. Michael appears to view Ryan both as an idolized friend, such as when he grew a goatee just because Ryan also grew one, and as a son, which he says he views Ryan as in "Secret Santa". In "The Deposition", a page from Michael's diary reveals he describes Ryan as being "just as hot as Jan, but in a different way." He is horrified when he finds out about Ryan's arrest for fraud, and much to the dismay of David Wallace, he re-hires Ryan despite the fact that he was fired by corporate office for his crime. He later earns Ryan's respect when Ryan sees Michael's talents as a salesman over the phone. In "Prince Family Paper", Michael acknowledges that his heart has led him astray before, naming Jan and Ryan as examples of this. In Season 7, Michael shows the full gamut of his ties to Ryan: he heavily invests in WUPHF.com and won't agree to sell his majority shares when it's clear Ryan is incapable of saving the venture from bankruptcy, although Ryan exploits Michael's goodwill in their friendship to keep his venture going. But Ryan is later stunned when Michael later calls out his negative qualities and makes it clear Ryan only has nine days with no wiggle room before he fails everyone. Michael is later relieved when Ryan sells the project and everyone gets their money back. Ryan later appears as part of the group to help Michael brainstorm a perfect proposal to Holly.

text: Jim and Pam Halpert[edit]

text: Michael doesn't hesitate to compliment or criticize Pam for her looks and he frequently mentions her breasts. In the episode "Diwali" Michael mistakenly thinks that he and Pam have a connection, and is rejected when he tries to kiss her. Throughout their relationship, Pam has served as something of a shoulder angel for Michael by encouraging him to be more productive and discouraging his bad ideas, with varying degrees of success. She grows closer to Michael as he supports her goals in pursuing sales and art. Pam is visibly touched when, after many art show attendees dismiss her artwork, Michael is so impressed that he asks to buy her painting of their office building. Their relationship comes to a rocky point when he begins dating her mother Helene. This is only repaired after he breaks up with Helene and allows Pam to slap him in the face in the parking lot. He trusts and respects Jim, although when they were co-managers they clashed due to their polar-opposite management styles. In "Secret Santa", Michael mentions that in a future vision he sees himself and his future wife living next door to Jim and Pam and that their children will play together. He often also refers to Jim as his best friend in the office, although, based on his impersonation of Jim using surfer slang in "Michael's Last Dundies", does not have a very good understanding of his personality. While Jim and Pam are both shown to care about Michael, his clingy nature makes them reluctant to socialize with him outside of the office; such as when, after numerous unsuccessful invitations, Michael is forced to trick them in order to have them over for a disastrous dinner in the episode "Dinner Party." In a Season 5 episode, Michael also shows his admiration for Jim, when Jim wears a tuxedo to work and goes on and on about having a 'classy party' for the party planning committee, and frequently suggests all of the ideas Dwight had offered that Michael had then rejected, only to bother Dwight by having Michael accept the same ideas from him. During Cecilia Halpert's baptism, Michael approaches Pam referring to himself as "the godfather" while imitating Don Corleone, after which she sympathetically but emphatically asks him to acknowledge that he won't be Cece's godfather, he is disappointed but does so and is hurt to learn that the godparents are a couple they'd only recently met. Pam is shown to have a soft spot for Michael, consoling him after he finds Holly to be in a relationship with AJ, and her advising him on ideas on how to propose to Holly. In "Goodbye, Michael" it is revealed that Michael is secretly planning to leave for Colorado at the end of his penultimate work day, thereby avoiding having to say goodbye to everyone. Jim figures this out and goes along with it, telling Michael that he will tell him what a great boss he was the following day at lunch, which they both know Michael will not be around for; Michael and Jim both get sentimental during this final conversation between them. The strength of his relationship with Pam is revealed as he continuously asks about her whereabouts, not wanting to leave without saying goodbye. Pam, who spent the better part of the day away from the office, finds Michael at the airport and says goodbye in a touching scene just as he's about to board his plane for Colorado. She watches from the window as his plane flies off. In a deleted scene of "The Inner Circle", Pam is flattered that Michael named his new dog "Pamela Beasley." Pam later teases Jim that their second child will be named "little Michael Scott" displaying the friendship she had developed with her former boss.

text: Toby Flenderson[edit]

text: Despite liking the majority of the staff, Michael fiercely hates Human Resources Manager Toby Flenderson, likely due to Toby's requirement to enforce the rules of proper office behavior that Michael loves to flout. Michael once reasoned that "Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for Corporate. So he's really not a part of our family. He's also divorced so he's not a part of his family either". His longtime goal is to get rid of Toby and any attempts at reconciliation between the two usually backfire, with Michael resorting to name calling or jokes at Toby's expense. In the episode "Goodbye, Toby", Michael is thrilled when Toby decides to move to Costa Rica and gives as his going away present a rock with a note that reads "Suck on this". The next season, after Toby's replacement Holly is transferred, Michael is horrified when Toby returns to Dunder Mifflin. In "Frame Toby", he goes to great lengths to get him fired, trying to frame him for possession of marijuana (which turns out to be a caprese salad). In "The Chump", Michael says if he had a gun with two bullets and was in a room with Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Toby, he would shoot Toby twice (which disgusts the rest of the office). In "Nepotism", after Michael spanks Luke, the office intern who is also his nephew, he is ordered to attend counseling sessions moderated by Toby, much to Michael's horror. At first Michael is uncooperative but is gradually tricked by Toby into discussing therapeutic details of his life and childhood. In "Classy Christmas", Michael is happy to hear the news that Toby is going to be on a leave of absence for jury duty and that Holly will be taking his place. In "Michael's Last Dundies", Michael eggs Toby's house in the cold open while yelling, "you suck", while he and Deangelo are handing out Dundie nominations. Ironically, Michael is shown to have befriended Toby's daughter Sasha in "Take Your Daughter to Work". In "Goodbye, Michael", Michael is seen saying goodbye to Toby without insulting him, possibly indicating that he will miss Toby on some level. Toby suggests Michael visit his brother Rory, who also lives in Colorado.

text: Erin Hannon[edit]

text: Once Pam is promoted to salesperson following Dunder Mifflin's buyout of The Michael Scott Paper Company, Michael keeps Erin Hannon as her replacement. He is initially unkind to her as he misses having Pam as his receptionist, but she is able to earn his respect by cheering him up after his disastrous school visit in "Scott's Tots." Unlike her predecessor, Erin loves working as a receptionist, admires Michael and cheerfully accommodates many of his unusual requests (such as serving him a plate of ants on a log every day at 2:30 and spinning him in his chair until he's dizzy) that Pam likely would have been apprehensive about. Although he generally enjoys Erin's thoughtful treatment, his dismissive feelings towards Erin continue until "Secretary's Day" when he reluctantly agrees to take her out to lunch. Erin relishes the opportunity to spend time with her boss while Michael finds their conversation awkward and mentions that her then-boyfriend Andy Bernard was previously engaged to Angela Martin of which Erin was previously unaware, she is upset to learn this and ends her relationship with Andy. Later that day, Michael apologizes to Erin; the two are finally able to relate to each other over their mutual fondness for silly humor, stemming from their similar immature tendencies (with Michael's ignorance and Erin's naïveté). Their working relationship then develops smoothly while they bond by making each other laugh with childish jokes, such as Erin pointing out that the phrase "it's not" sounds like "snot." In "Viewing Party", Erin throws a Glee party with her new boyfriend, Gabe Lewis. Throughout the night, she unsuccessfully attempts to get Michael and Gabe to bond. Michael is jealous that the office looks to Gabe as the boss and attempts to sabotage the party. After being confronted by Erin in private, Michael questions why his opinion matters so much to her as he is not her father. In a moment of insight, Michael realizes that Erin, who was raised in foster care, does indeed look to him as a father figure and he instigates a playful fight as father and daughter by saying "go to your room, young lady!" Erin becomes protective of Michael to the point where she is hostile towards Holly Flax, saying in a talking head interview that she doesn't understand what Michael sees in her, until The Search when she, Dwight and Holly go searching for a missing Michael. Erin sees that Holly is able to sense where Michael is, and when she sees them reconcile, she finally understands their love for each other and smiles. Later in "Goodbye, Michael", Erin talks to Michael about her love life and wishes that she knew her birth mother so she could tell Erin what to do. Michael advises Erin that she shouldn't rush things and that she'll know what to do when the right guy comes along. Michael then tells her that she won't need her mother for advice, because she will always have his personal phone number when she needs advice and kisses her on the head.

text: Holly Flax[edit]

text: Shortly after the dissolution of his troubled relationship with Jan, Michael found love with Holly Flax (Amy Ryan), Toby's replacement as HR Representative, who appears for a while to be Michael's best chance at love, with the two sharing a similar sense of humor and social awkwardness. However, after David Wallace witnesses them kissing, Holly is transferred to the Nashua branch and she and Michael break up after choosing not to pursue a long-distance relationship. Despite the breakup and Holly's new relationship with another man, their affection for each other doesn't go away, as it's shown that Holly had been writing a note for Michael on her work computer, as well as their subtle romantic glances at one another during the summer company picnic. Throughout her absence in Season 5 (excluding Company Picnic) and carrying on into Season 7, Michael hooks up with a few other women, but ultimately he realizes that they're nothing compared to her. Around Christmas in Season 7, Toby is forced to leave the office due to being selected as part of the jury duty for a local murder case, resulting in Holly returning as the temporary HR replacement. There's initial tension between the two of them and hesitation on her side (mostly after her sudden break-up with A.J.), but Holly finally reunites with Michael after realizing they're both soulmates. The two continue dating for a few weeks, and on Valentine's Day, they tell each other they love each other, decide to move in together, and resolve that they will not allow Dunder Mifflin to interfere with their future together. With her time at the Scranton branch almost up and the recent knowledge that her aging parents need to be taken care of, they ultimately become fiancees. Holly later moves back to Colorado and Michael follows her soon after. In the finale it is revealed that they have children together. It was revealed in a photo album on NBC that they have 3 children and are expecting their 4th child.

text: Other romantic relationships[edit]

text: Michael's longest relationship to date has been with Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin), his original-then-former boss from Corporate. Starting with a one-night stand after they closed their business deal at Chilli's in "The Client" (which featured guest star Tim Meadows as the eponymous client), Michael and Jan begin awkward dating, become an official couple, and eventually move in together after Jan is fired from her job — although it should be noted that Jan usually treated Michael with contempt. After Michael fails to defend Jan in her Wrongful Dismissal suit against Dunder Mifflin, they remain together for a short while, but end up blowing up at each other during an ill-fated dinner party and eventually break up. He also dated Carol (played by Carell's wife Nancy Walls), a real estate agent from whom Michael bought his condominium. Michael was much more interested in Carol than vice versa, and after he made an unwanted and rejected impromptu public marriage proposal, Michael's decision to Photoshop pictures of himself over Carol's ex-husband in her family pictures resulted in their breakup. On a business trip to Winnipeg, Michael & "Concierge Marie" become close, and Michael does not wish to leave her after they are caught necking in her suite. After Jim and Pam's wedding, Michael begins dating Pam's mother Helene (much to Pam's horror), but he breaks up with her on her birthday after discovering she is turning 58. Near the end of season six, Michael begins dating Donna (Amy Pietz), the manager of a local bar, but later finds out that she's married and he is, as he puts it, "the mistress". He continues seeing her until the disgust of his employees drives him to listen to his conscience and break things off with her. In Season 7's "Sex Ed", Michael reunites (in person or by telephone) with all of his aforementioned past girlfriends when he believes that he has contracted herpes. In doing so, he realizes that Holly was the only one he truly loved.

text: Alter egos of Michael Scott[edit]

text: Given his proclivity for constantly trying to keep his employees entertained (and coupled with his juvenile personality), Michael has created a variety of different alter egos which he uses for both entertainment, and, at times, educational purposes. Often at times he uses these characters names to hide transacting information, and at one point his credit card uses "Michael Scarn", instead of Michael Scott.

text:
Ping ("The Dundies", "The Seminar", "Goodbye, Michael"), a Chinese caricature based on Michael's Chinese food delivery man.
Agent Michael Scarn ("Threat Level Midnight", "The Client", "E-mail Surveillance", referenced in "Product Recall", "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 and photocopied so the staff could stage a rollicking reading of it while Michael was on a sales call. 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 on 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. ("Prince Family Paper")
Prison Mike ("The Convict") wears a purple bandana 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". In the cold open for "Nepotism", he is seen performing numerous, albeit repetitive, magic tricks.
Michael Klump ("Weight Loss", referenced in "Garage Sale") 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.
Michael Scotch ("New Boss") was co-created when Michael and Dwight were trying to contact David Wallace to complain when Charles Miner cancelled Michael's fifteenth anniversary party because of budget cuts. Michael Scotch is an overly aggressive character who threatens that he has kidnapped David Wallace's son.
Blind Guy McSqueezy ("The Lover") is a character Michael created at his improv class so he could feel up women.
Caleb Crawdad ("Murder") is a Southern persona used for the purposes of a murder mystery game.
Date Mike ("Happy Hour") is a personality Michael takes on when on a date. Michael creates this personality when Jim points out to him that Pam's friend likes him. Up to that point, Michael had been charming and likable, but Date Mike completely ruined things and the friend fled in disgust. Ironically, Michael felt Date Mike was successful because he impressed Donna, while Jim thought Date Mike was a disaster because he didn't know about Donna. Michael says Date Mike is inspired by watching dating competitions, saying " I absorb information, from the strategies of winners. And the losers! Actually I probably learn more from the losers.". Date Mike comes off as egotistical and introduces himself with the line "Hi, I'm Date Mike. Nice to meet me. How do you like your eggs in the morning?"
Scranton Strangler ("Happy Hour")(Bloopers Season 6) occurs in the same episode as Date Mike, although he only appears in the blooper reel for the sixth season. Michael claims that "Oh, I'm working on a new one. Scranton Strangler... 'Hey, I'm going to kill you...'" The character was cut from the aired version of the episode.
Mike Leno is an interview personality that is a parody of Jay Leno.[8]
Santa Bond is an obvious parody of James Bond that Michael uses to help make Holly Flax notice him sexier in ("Classy Christmas"). However, it only appeared in that episode so far, and was replaced by a Santa Claus outfit later in the episode.
Reginald Poofta is Michael's English character, briefly mentioned but never actually seen in "The Seminar". Michael brings up the character after running into David Brent.
Mykonos ("The Seminar"), a Greek character whose persona he develops with the help of Holly, used in order to pretend he is a potential customer interested in Andy's product. Michael states Mykonos was based on another character, Spiros, who is never again mentioned.
Orville Tootenbacher ("The Search") is Michael's briefly mentioned "millionaire character that farts popcorn".
Lord Rupert Everton is Michael's hopeful identity for his dream to be in the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.

tag: ul

text: Legacy of "That's What She Said"[edit]

text: The show often uses the joke "that's what she said" which was popularized by the Wayne's World sketch on Saturday Night Live.[9] In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais's character David Brent frequently used the similar phrase "as the actress said to the bishop" as an inappropriate joke. Michael inserts the phrase as a sexually suggestive double entendre even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levinson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so. The phrase has become so associated with the character that the television show 30 Rock in the episode "TGS Hates Women" there was a scene in which Liz Lemon became infuriated at another character's use of "TWSS" because "Steve Carell owns 'That's What She Said,' okay? He owns it!" In the episode, "Goodbye, Michael", "that's what she said" was Steve Carell's final (inaudible) line as a series regular, and was his first line upon returning as a guest star in "Finale".

text: Comparison with David Brent[edit]

text: 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 who is unwisely promoted to a management role to which he appears completely ill-suited. (In a scathing performance review during episode eight of season two, Jan Levinson suggests that Scott should be removed from his management role and return to sales). Scott is thus an apt example of the Peter Principle which states that competent persons in a hierarchical organization will "rise to the level of their incompetence" after which they will not advance.

text: Despite his failings, Scott has been oddly successful as regional manager. This is attributed, in part, to his weakness of procrastination wherein he typically forfeits a bad choice by seeking the advice of his more competent subordinates (such as Jim, Oscar, or Darryl) and uses their recommendations. Scott's success is also partly attributed to his main strength: genuinely caring about the well-being of the office and treating his employees like family. When he took over the Scranton Branch he decreased costs by 17%, 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.

text: 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. Scott's need to be liked by his staff and his belief that people see him as a genuine friend leads him to become very hurt when he realizes this is not the case. Most, if not all, of Scott's managerial blunders can be directly correlated with the degree to which he desires to be liked by his employees or jealously seeks their approval.

text: 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.

text: 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.

text: In the seventh season episode "The Seminar", Michael in fact briefly meets David Brent in the lobby and they establish an immediate rapport, joking together and generally signalling that they would have been good friends.

text: Behind the scenes[edit]

text:
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."[10] On the audio commentary for "Valentine's Day", Daniels notes that he included a meeting between Michael and two other branch managers in order to contrast Michael's level of competence with theirs: while Michael is not as dynamic as Josh Porter who would later be hired in a senior management position at Staples, his management skills are superior to those of the hopelessly inept Craig and could be regarded as an adequate but unexceptional branch manager who is, despite his antics, just competent enough to avoid being fired.[11]
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.[12]
After the airing of "Garage Sale", Colorado governor John Hickenlooper issued a press release appointing Michael Scott to the position of Director of Paper Distribution in the Department of Natural Resources.[13]
Until "The Inner Circle", the character Michael Scott had appeared in every episode.


document_title: The Man Who Invented Christmas (film)

question_text: who played charles dickens in the man who invented christmas

text: The Man Who Invented Christmas (film)

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Two years after the success of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) is suffering financial hardship from the failure of his last three books. Rejected by his publishers, he sets out to write a new book to restore his finances. Seeing inspiration around London, most notably a rich man's funeral that is largely unattended, he begins writing A Christmas Carol, due in six weeks in order to be published by Christmas. As Charles begins to develop his story, he interacts with the characters he is writing about, most notably Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer). Helping Dickens is one of his servants, Tara, an Irish immigrant who is literate and able to provide advice.

text: While writing his book, Charles is greeted by the arrival of his father, John Dickens (Jonathan Pryce), who views him as immature and fiscally irresponsible. Charles's relationship with his family is increasingly strained as he struggles to finish the book in time, as he is unable to resolve Scrooge's story. Hearing that Charles intends to let Tiny Tim die, Tara suggests a resolution for Scrooge by having him save Tiny Tim instead. Charles rejects her help, and soon sends her away from his house in a fit of rage. Additionally, Charles has a falling out with his father and sends him away upon learning that he has been selling Charles's signature.

text: It is revealed that much of Charles's animosity towards his father is from his childhood embarrassment of working in a blacking factory after his family was taken to debtor's prison. Returning to the long-abandoned factory, Charles is forced to confront his own insecurities through Scrooge. Charles realizes that his story should be one of redemption, and races home to finish his manuscript. As he leaves to submit it to his illustrator, he encounters Tara, and invites her back. His wife suggests he do the same with his father, who is about to board a train to leave London. Reconnecting with his family, Charles submits the manuscript in time for publishing before Christmas. The film ends with the Dickens family celebrating the holidays, while a title text explains the overnight success of A Christmas Carol, and its lasting impact on the Christmas holiday.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens

Ely Solan as young Charles

Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge
Jonathan Pryce as John Dickens, Charles Dickens' father
Simon Callow as John Leech, an illustrator
Donald Sumpter as Jacob Marley
Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Fisk
Morfydd Clark as Kate Dickens
Justin Edwards as John Forster/Ghost of Christmas Present
Miles Jupp as William Makepeace Thackeray
Ian McNeice as Edward Chapman
Bill Paterson as Mr. Grimsby
John Henshaw as Mr. Fezziwig
Annette Badland as Mrs. Fezziwig
Anna Murphy as Tara/Ghost of Christmas Past
Jasper Hughes-Cotter as Walter Dickens
Eddie Jackson as Scam Artist
Neil Slevin as Italian Workman
Paul Kealyn as Warren's Foreman
Aleah Lennon as Mamie Dickens
Ger Ryan as Elizabeth Dickens
Valeria Bandino as Tart

text: Release[edit]

text: The film was released in the United States in 500 theaters on 22 November 2017.[6]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Man Who Invented Christmas adds holiday magic to the writing of A Christmas Carol, putting a sweetly revisionist spin on the story behind a classic yuletide tale."[7] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 60 out of 100, based 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
Result
Ref.

Saturn Awards
June 2018
Best International Film
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Pending
[9]


document_title: Meet the Fockers

question_text: who are little jack's parents in meet the fockers

question_tokens: who are little jack 's parents in meet the fockers

text: Meet the Fockers

text: Plot[edit]

text: Set two years after the events of the first film, Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Stiller) and his fiancée Pam Byrnes (Polo) decide to introduce their parents to each other. They first fly to Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island, to pick up Pam's father, retired CIA operative Jack Byrnes (De Niro), her mother Dina (Danner) and one-year-old nephew Little Jack (the son of Bob and Debbie Banks). But rather than going to the airport as planned, Jack decides to drive the family to Miami to meet the Fockers in his new RV.

text: Once they arrive, they are greeted by Greg's eccentric but fun-loving and amiable father, Bernie (Hoffman), and mother, Roz (Streisand), who is a sex therapist for elderly couples. Worried that Jack may be put off by the Focker's lifestyle, Greg convinces Roz to pretend that she is a yoga instructor for the weekend. However, small cracks begin to form between Jack and the Fockers, due to their contrasting personalities. The meet gets off to a bad start when a chase between the Focker's active dog, Moses, and the Byrnes's cat, Jinx, culminates with Jinx flushing Moses down the RV's toilet, forcing Bernie to destroy it to save Moses. Later, Bernie accidentally injures Jack's back during a game of football.

text: Meanwhile, Pam informs Greg that she's pregnant, and the two decide to keep it secret from Jack. Jack again becomes suspicious of Greg's integrity and quality, when they are introduced to the Fockers' housekeeper, Isabel Villalobos (Alanna Ubach), with whom Bernie reveals Greg had a sexual affair fifteen years before. Jack later takes the RV to Isabel's fifteen-year-old son, Jorge (Ray Santiago), to fix the toilet, but is disturbed by Jorge's striking resemblance to Greg, and the fact that Jorge never met his father, and jumps to the conclusion that he may be Greg's son with Isabel. Meanwhile, Roz, Bernie and Dina realize Pam is pregnant, but promise not to tell Jack. Growing envious of Bernie and Roz's active sex life, Dina consults Roz on sex tips in order to seduce Jack, but none of them work.

text: Greg and Jack's relationship goes off with a bang when Greg is left alone to babysit Little Jack, whom Jack has been raising via the Ferber method. Despite Jack's instructions to leave Little Jack to self-soothe, Greg cannot stand to listen to Little Jack's cries and tends to the boy to cheer him up by hugging him, letting him watch TV, acting funny and inadvertently teaching Little Jack the word "asshole." Disaster strikes when Greg answers a brief phone call from Roz, which is long enough for Little Jack to wander out of his playpen (after Jinx opens it), put on Scarface and glue his hands to a bottle of rum. After a furious argument with the Fockers and his own family (though amends are quickly made), Jack resumes his spying on Greg and sends Greg and Jorge's hair samples for a DNA test, while inviting Jorge to the Fockers' planned engagement party in the hope of getting Greg to admit he is Jorge's father. At the engagement party, Jack, who automatically assumes that Greg knew about Jorge and has deliberately been keeping him a secret from Pam, introduces Greg to Jorge. Later, when Greg denies knowing anything about Jorge, Jack does not believe him and drugs him with truth serum to make him talk. On stage, Greg uncontrollably blurts out that Pam is pregnant and that Jorge is, without a doubt, his son (in a comically Darth Vader-esque manner) before losing consciousness.

text: The next morning, Pam questions Greg about Jorge, and Greg does not confirm or deny that he is Jorge's father, but insists that he knew nothing about him before the previous evening. Pam believes him, and is willing to work things out with him. Jack reaches his breaking point with Greg's dishonesty and demands that Pam and Dina leave the island with him. Dina refuses and reveals Jack's actions to everyone. Everyone turns against Jack, with Pam announcing her intent to marry Greg regardless of him having Jorge with Isabel, and Dina admits that they all knew of Pam's pregnancy. A shocked and hurt Jack leaves with his grandson.

text: Bernie and Greg pursue Jack, but are soon tasered and arrested by an incompetent deputy sheriff, Vern LeFlore (Tim Blake Nelson), for speeding. Jack returns to defend them after being informed Greg is not Jorge's father (his real father turns out to be a baseball player who also resembles Greg), but the overzealous LeFlore tasers and arrests him as well. In their cell, Greg, Jack and Bernie are released by the local judge, Ira (Shelley Berman), who is a client of Roz and close friend of the Fockers. Before they leave, Greg asks both Jack and Bernie to stop their feud. Jack admits that he made a mistake regarding Jorge and reveals his past career in the CIA to Bernie, before apologizing for his actions and making up with the two of them.

text: Greg and Pam are married that weekend by Pam's ex-fiancé, Kevin (Owen Wilson), who is now an ordained interfaith minister. During the party, Jack asks Roz for some sex tips and sneaks into the RV with Dina.

text: During the post-credit scene, Jack watches hidden baby-cam footage of the Fockers giving attention to Little Jack over Jack's previous objections: Roz gives Little Jack chocolate, Bernie advises him to use his crying to disagree with everything Jack says, and Greg pretends to drunkenly tell Little Jack to keep it a secret that he left to smoke pot, not answer the phone, when he left Little Jack unattended and that Pam is not really pregnant and only said it so that Jack would let them get married. Greg then pretends to only just discover the camera but then after making mocking gestures at it, Greg reveals that he knew about it all along and none of the things he said before were true.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Robert De Niro as Jack Byrnes
Ben Stiller as Gaylord "Greg" Focker
Dustin Hoffman as Bernard "Bernie" Focker
Barbra Streisand as Rosalin "Roz" Focker
Teri Polo as Pam Byrnes-Focker
Blythe Danner as Dina Byrnes
Spencer and Bradley Pickren as "Little" Jack Banks
Alanna Ubach as Isabel Villalobos
Ray Santiago as Jorge Villalobos
Tim Blake Nelson as Officer Vern LeFlore
Shelley Berman as Judge Ira
Owen Wilson as Kevin Rawley

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The film received mixed or average reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 39% of 157 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 5.2 out of 10.[2] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 with reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 34 reviews.[3]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film was a commercial success and is currently the highest-grossing film starring Robert De Niro.[4] The film grossed $46,120,980 on its opening weekend in North America (5,000 screens at 3,518 theaters, averaging $13,110 per theater, or $9,224 per screen).[5] At the end of the film's 149 days of release, it grossed a total of $279,261,160 in North America, and $237,381,779 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $516,642,939, with an estimated 44 million tickets sold in the US. The film's budget was $80 million.[6]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
2005: Casting Society Of America, USA: Nominated for Best Feature Film Casting: Comedy.
2005: Teen Choice Awards: Nominated for Choice Movie: Blush, Choice Movie Actor: Comedy, Choice Movie Actor: Comedy, Choice Movie: Liar.
2005: MTV Movie Awards Won: Best Comedic Performance.
2005: ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Won Top Box Office Films.
2005: MTV Movie Awards in Mexico: Nominated for Best International Movie.


document_title: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

question_text: when did arizona make mlk day a holiday

question_tokens: when did arizona make mlk day a holiday

text: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

text: History[edit]

text:
This article is part of
a series about
Martin Luther King Jr.

Biography
Sermons and speeches

Campaigns

Montgomery bus boycott
Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
Youth March for Integrated Schools
Albany Movement
Birmingham campaign
Walk to Freedom
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
St. Augustine movement
Selma to Montgomery marches
Chicago Open Housing Movement
March Against Fear
Memphis sanitation strike
Poor People's Campaign

Death and memorial

Assassination
American federal holiday
National memorial
National Historical Park

v
t
e

text: The idea of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday was promoted by labor unions in contract negotiations.[2] After King's death, U.S. Representative John Conyers (a Democrat from Michigan) and U.S. Senator Edward Brooke (a Republican from Massachusetts) introduced a bill in Congress to make King's birthday a national holiday. The bill first came to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1979. However, it fell five votes short of the number needed for passage.[3] Two of the main arguments mentioned by opponents were that a paid holiday for federal employees would be too expensive, and that a holiday to honor a private citizen would be contrary to longstanding tradition (King had never held public office).[3] Only two other figures have national holidays in the U.S. honoring them: George Washington and Christopher Columbus.

text: Soon after, the King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician Stevie Wonder released the single "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, termed by a 2006 article in The Nation as "the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. history."[2]

text: Senators Jesse Helms and John Porter East (both North Carolina Republicans) led opposition to the holiday and questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. Helms criticized King's opposition to the Vietnam War and accused him of espousing "action-oriented Marxism".[4] Helms led a filibuster against the bill and on October 3, 1983, submitted a 300-page document to the Senate alleging that King had associations with communists. New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared the document a "packet of filth", threw it on the Senate floor and stomped on it.[5][6]

text: President Ronald Reagan originally opposed the holiday, citing cost concerns. When asked to comment on Helms' accusations that King was a communist, the president said "We'll know in thirty-five years, won't we?", in reference to the eventual release of FBI surveillance tapes that had previously been sealed.[7] But on November 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, to create a federal holiday honoring King.[8][9] The bill had passed the House of Representatives by a count of 338 to 90, a veto-proof margin.[4] The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986.

text: The bill also established the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to oversee observance of the holiday, and Coretta Scott King, King's wife, was made a member of this commission for life by President George H. W. Bush in May 1989.[10][11]

text: State-level passage[edit]

text: Although the federal holiday honoring King was signed into law in 1983 and took effect three years later, not every U.S. state chose to observe the holiday at the state level until 1991, when the New Hampshire legislature created "Civil Rights Day" and abolished "Fast Day".[12] In 2000, Utah became the last state to have a holiday named after King when "Human Rights Day" was officially changed to "Martin Luther King Jr. Day."[13]

text: In 1986, Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, created a paid state MLK holiday in Arizona by executive order just before he left office, but in 1987, his Republican successor Evan Mecham, citing an attorney general's opinion that Babbitt's order was illegal, reversed Babbitt's decision days after taking office.[14] Later that year, Mecham proclaimed the third Sunday in January to be "Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day" in Arizona, albeit as an unpaid holiday.[15] In 1990, Arizona voters were given the opportunity to vote on giving state employees a paid MLK holiday. That same year, the National Football League threatened to move Super Bowl XXVII, which was planned for Arizona in 1993, if the MLK holiday was voted down.[16] In the November election, the voters were offered two King Day options: Proposition 301, which replaced Columbus Day on the list of paid state holidays, and Proposition 302, which merged Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into one paid holiday to make room for MLK Day. Both measures failed to pass, with only 49% of voters approving Prop 302, the more popular of the two options; although some who voted "no" on 302 voted "yes" on Prop 301.[17] Consequently, the state lost the chance to host Super Bowl XXVII, which was subsequently held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.[16] In a 1992 referendum, the voters, this time given only one option for a paid King Day, approved state-level recognition of the holiday.[18]

text: On May 2, 2000, South Carolina governor Jim Hodges signed a bill to make King's birthday an official state holiday. South Carolina was the last state to recognize the day as a paid holiday for all state employees. Prior to this, employees could choose between celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day or one of three Confederate holidays.[19]

text: Alternative names[edit]

text: While all states now observe the holiday, some did not name the day after King. For example, in New Hampshire, the holiday was known as "Civil Rights Day" until 1999, when the State Legislature voted to change the name of the holiday to Martin Luther King Day.[20]

text: Several additional states have chosen to combine commemorations of King's birthday with other observances:

text:
In Alabama: "Robert E. Lee/Martin Luther King Birthday".[21]
In Arizona: "Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day".[22]
In Idaho: "Martin Luther King Jr.–Idaho Human Rights Day".[23]
In Mississippi: "Martin Luther King's and Robert E. Lee's Birthdays".[24]
In New Hampshire: "Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Day".[25]
In Virginia: it was known as Lee–Jackson–King Day, combining King's birthday with the established Lee–Jackson Day.[13] In 2000, Lee–Jackson Day was moved to the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday in its own right.[26]
In Arkansas: it was known as "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday and Robert E. Lee's Birthday" from 1985 to 2017. Legislation in March 2017 changed the name of the state holiday to "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday" and moved the commemoration of Lee to October.

text: Workplace observance[edit]

text: Overall, in 2007, 33% of employers gave employees the day off, a 2% increase over the previous year. There was little difference in observance by large and small employers: 33% for firms with over 1,000 employees; and, 32% for firms with under 1,000 employees. The observance is most popular among nonprofit organizations and least popular among factories and manufacturers.[27] The reasons for this have varied, ranging from the recent addition of the holiday, to its occurrence just two weeks after the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, when many businesses are closed for part or sometimes all of the week. Additionally, many schools and places of higher education are closed for classes; others remain open but may hold seminars or celebrations of King's message. The observance of MLK Day has led to some colleges and universities extending their Christmas break to include the day as part of break. Some factories and manufacturers used MLK Day as a floating or movable holiday.[citation needed]

text: King Day of Service[edit]

text: The national Martin Luther King Day of Service[28] was started by former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, who co-authored the King Holiday and Service Act. The federal legislation challenges Americans to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of King. The federal legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 23, 1994. Since 1996, Wofford's former state office director, Todd Bernstein, has been directing the annual Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service,[29] the largest event in the nation honoring King.[30]

text: Several other universities and organizations around the U.S., such as Arizona State University, Greater DC Cares and City Year, participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. In honor of MLK, hundreds of Volunteer Centers, and volunteers across the country donate their time to make a difference on this day.[citation needed]

text: The only other official national day of service in the U.S., as designated by the government, is September 11 National Day of Service (9/11 Day).[citation needed]

text: Outside the United States[edit]

text: One place outside the U.S. where Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed with equal importance is in the Japanese city of Hiroshima under mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, who holds a special banquet at the mayor's office as an act of unifying his city's call for peace with King's message of human rights.[31]

text: The City of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada, is another city that has officially recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day, although not as a paid holiday: all government services and businesses remain open.[32]

text: In 1984, during a visit by the U.S. Sixth Fleet, Navy chaplain Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff conducted the first Israeli presidential ceremony in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, held in the President's Residence, Jerusalem. Aura Herzog, wife of Israel's then-President Chaim Herzog, noted that she was especially proud to host this special event, because Israel had a national forest in honor of King, and that Israel and King shared the idea of "dreams".[33] Resnicoff continued this theme in his remarks during the ceremony, quoting the verse from Genesis, spoken by the brothers of Joseph when they saw their brother approach, "Behold the dreamer comes; let us slay him and throw him into the pit, and see what becomes of his dreams." Resnicoff noted that, from time immemorial, there have been those who thought they could kill the dream by slaying the dreamer, but – as the example of King's life shows – such people are always wrong.[34]

text: Every year, since 1986, the Dr. Martin Luther King Tribute and Dinner is held in Wassenaar, The Netherlands.[35] The Tribute includes young people and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement as well as music. it always ends with everyone holding hands in a circle and singing "We Shall Overcome." The Tribute is held on the last Sunday in January and bridges Dr. King's birthday and Black History Month.[citation needed]

text: Dates[edit]

text:
Year

January 21
1985
1991

2002
2008
2013
2019

2030
2036
2041
2047

2058
2064
2069
2075

2086
2092
2097

January 20
1986
1992
1997
2003

2014
2020
2025
2031

2042
2048
2053
2059

2070
2076
2081
2087

2098

January 19
1987

1998
2004
2009
2015

2026
2032
2037
2043

2054
2060
2065
2071

2082
2088
2093
2099

January 18
1988
1993
1999

2010
2016
2021
2027

2038
2044
2049
2055

2066
2072
2077
2083

2094
2100

January 17

1994
2000
2005
2011

2022
2028
2033
2039

2050
2056
2061
2067

2078
2084
2089
2095

January 16
1989
1995

2006
2012
2017
2023

2034
2040
2045
2051

2062
2068
2073
2079

2090
2096

January 15
1990
1996
2001
2007

2018
2024
2029
2035

2046
2052
2057
2063

2074
2080
2085
2091


document_title: AP Poll

question_text: when does the ap basketball poll come out each week

text: AP Poll

text: College football[edit]

text: The football poll is released Sundays at 2pm Eastern time during the football season, unless ranked teams have not finished their games.

text: History[edit]

text: The AP college football poll has a long history. The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine who was, by popular opinion, the best football team in the country at the end of the season. One of the earliest such polls was the AP College Football Poll, first run in 1934.[3] In 1935, AP sports editor Alan J. Gould declared a three way tie for national champion in football between Minnesota, Princeton, and Southern Methodist. Minnesota fans protested, and a number of Gould's colleagues led by Charles "Cy" Sherman suggested he create a poll of sports editors instead of only using his own list, and the next year the poll was born.[4] It has run continuously from 1936.[5]

text: Due to the long-standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high-paying bowl games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl, the NCAA had not held a tournament or championship game to determine the champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As a result, the public and the media began to acknowledge the leading vote-getter in the final AP Poll as the national champion for that season.

text: While the AP Poll currently lists the Top 25 teams in the nation, from 1936 to 1961 the wire service only ranked 20 teams. From 1962 to 1967 only 10 teams were recognized. From 1968 to 1988, the AP again resumed its Top 20 before expanding to the current 25 teams in 1989.

text: The AP began conducting a preseason poll starting in 1950.[6][7]

text: At the end of the 1947 season the AP released an unofficial post-bowl poll which differed from the regular season final poll.[8] Until the 1968 college football season, the final AP poll of the season was released following the end of the regular season, with the lone exception of the 1965 season. In 1964, Alabama was named the national champion in the final AP Poll following the completion of the regular season, but lost in the Orange Bowl to Texas, leaving Arkansas as the only undefeated, untied team after the Razorbacks defeated Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl Classic. In 1965, the AP's decision to wait to crown its champion paid handsomely, as top-ranked Michigan State lost to UCLA in the Rose Bowl, number two Arkansas lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and fourth-ranked Alabama defeated third-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, vaulting the Crimson Tide to the top of the AP's final poll (Michigan State was named national champion in the final UPI Coaches Poll, which did not conduct a post-bowl poll).

text: Beginning in the 1968 season, the post bowl game poll became permanent and the AP championship reflected the bowl game results. The UPI did not follow suit with the coaches' poll until the 1974 season.

text: No. 1 vs. No. 2[edit]

text: As of the completion of the 2015 season the number one ranked team has faced the number two ranked team 50 times since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936.[9] The number one team has a record of 28–20–2 against the number two team.[9]

text:
No. 1 vs. No. 2 games

Light blue indicates bowl game

Season
No. 1
Result
No. 2
Site
Event

1943
Notre Dame
35–12
Michigan
Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
1943 Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry game

1943
Notre Dame
14–13
Iowa Pre-Flight
Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN

1944
Army
23–7
Navy
Baltimore Stadium • Baltimore, MD
1944 Army–Navy Game

1945
Army
48–0
Notre Dame
Yankee Stadium • New York, NY
1945 Army–Notre Dame football rivalry game

1945
Army
32-13
Navy
Philadelphia Municipal Stadium • Philadelphia, PA
1945 Army–Navy Game

1946
Army
0–0
Notre Dame
Yankee Stadium • New York, NY
1946 Army vs. Notre Dame football game

1962
USC
42–37
Wisconsin
Rose Bowl Stadium • Pasadena, CA
1963 Rose Bowl

1963
Oklahoma
7–28
Texas
Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX
1963 Red River Shootout game

1963
Texas
28–6
Navy
Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX
1964 Cotton Bowl Classic

1966
Notre Dame
10–10
Michigan State
Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI
1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game

1968
Purdue
37–22
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN
1968 Shillelagh Trophy game

1968
Ohio State
27–16
USC
Rose Bowl Stadium • Pasadena, CA
1969 Rose Bowl

1969
Texas
15–14
Arkansas
Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR
1969 Texas vs. Arkansas football game

1971
Nebraska
35–31
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, OK
1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game

1971
Nebraska
38–6
Alabama
Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL
1972 Orange Bowl

1978
Penn State
7–14
Alabama
Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA
1979 Sugar Bowl

1981
USC
28–24
Oklahoma
Los Angeles Coliseum • Los Angeles

1982
Georgia
23–27
Penn State
Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA
1983 Sugar Bowl

1985
Iowa
12–10
Michigan
Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA

1986
Oklahoma
16–28
Miami
Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL

1986
Miami
10–14
Penn State
Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ
1987 Fiesta Bowl

1987
Nebraska
7–17
Oklahoma
Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE
1987 Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry game

1987
Oklahoma
14–20
Miami
Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL
1988 Orange Bowl

1988
Notre Dame
27–10
USC
Los Angeles Coliseum • Los Angeles
1988 Jeweled Shillelagh game

1989
Notre Dame
24–19
Michigan
Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI
1989 Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry game

1991
Florida State
16–17
Miami
Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL
1991 Miami vs. Florida State football game

1992
Miami
13–34
Alabama
Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA
1993 Sugar Bowl

1993
Florida State
24–31
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, IN
1993 Florida State vs. Notre Dame football game

1993
Florida State
18–16
Nebraska
Miami Orange Bowl • Miami, FL
1994 Orange Bowl

1995
Nebraska
62–24
Florida
Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ
1996 Fiesta Bowl

1996
Florida
21–24
Florida State
Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, FL
1996 Florida–Florida State football rivalry game

1998
Tennessee
23–16
Florida State
Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ
1999 Fiesta Bowl

1999
Florida State
46–29
Virginia Tech
Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA
2000 Sugar Bowl

2002
Miami
24–31 2OT
Ohio State
Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ
2003 Fiesta Bowl

2004
USC
55–19
Oklahoma
Pro Player Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL
2005 Orange Bowl

2005
USC
38–41
Texas
Rose Bowl Stadium • Pasadena, CA
2006 Rose Bowl

2006
Ohio State
24–7
Texas
Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX

2006
Ohio State
42–39
Michigan
Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH
2006 Michigan vs. Ohio State football game

2006
Ohio State
14–41
Florida
University of Phoenix Stadium • Glendale, AZ
2007 BCS National Championship Game

2007
Ohio State
24–38
LSU
Louisiana Superdome • New Orleans, LA
2008 BCS National Championship Game

2008
Alabama
20–31
Florida
Georgia Dome • Atlanta, GA
2008 SEC Championship Game

2008
Florida
24–14
Oklahoma
Sun Life Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL
2009 BCS National Championship Game

2009
Florida
13–32
Alabama
Georgia Dome • Atlanta, GA
2009 SEC Championship Game

2009
Alabama
37–21
Texas
Rose Bowl Stadium • Pasadena, CA
2010 BCS National Championship Game

2010
Auburn
22–19
Oregon
University of Phoenix Stadium • Glendale, AZ
2011 BCS National Championship Game

2011
LSU
9–6 OT
Alabama
Bryant–Denny Stadium • Tuscaloosa, AL
2011 LSU vs. Alabama football game

2011
LSU
0–21
Alabama
Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA
2012 BCS National Championship Game

2012
Notre Dame
14–42
Alabama
Sun Life Stadium • Miami Gardens, FL
2013 BCS National Championship Game

2013
Florida State
34–31
Auburn
Rose Bowl · Pasadena, CA
2014 BCS National Championship Game

2015
Clemson
40–45
Alabama
University of Phoenix Stadium · Glendale, AZ
2016 College Football Playoff National Championship

text: AP Poll inclusion in the BCS[edit]

text: In 1997, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was developed to try to unify the poll results by picking two teams for a "real" national championship game. For the first several years the AP Poll factored in the determination of the BCS rankings, along with other factors including the Coaches Poll and computer-based polls. Because of a series of controversies surrounding the BCS, the AP demanded in December, 2004, that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings,[10] and so the 2004–2005 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used for this purpose.

text: In the 2003 season the BCS system broke down when the final BCS standings ranked the University of Southern California (USC) at No. 3 while the two human polls in the system had ranked USC at No. 1. As a result, USC did not play in the BCS' designated national championship game. After defeating another highly ranked team, Michigan, in its final game, the AP Poll kept USC at No. 1 while the Coaches Poll was contractually obligated to select the winner of the BCS game, Louisiana State University (LSU), as the No. 1 team. The resulting split national title was the very problem that the BCS was created to solve, and has been widely considered an embarrassment.[11]

text: In 2004, a new controversy erupted at the end of the season when Auburn and Utah, who both finished the regular season 12–0, were left out of the BCS title game in favor of Oklahoma who also was 12–0 and had won decisively over Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game. USC went on to a win easily over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl while Auburn and Utah both won their bowl games, leaving three undefeated teams at the end of the season. Also, in that same year, Texas made up late ground on California (Cal) in the BCS standings and as a result grabbed a high-payout, at-large spot in the Rose Bowl. Previous to that poll, Cal had been ranked ahead of Texas in both human polls and the BCS poll. Going into their final game, the Golden Bears were made aware that while margin of victory did not affect computer rankings, it did affect human polls and just eight voters changing their vote could affect the final standings.[12] Both teams won their game that week, but the Texas coach, Mack Brown, had made a public effort to lobby for his team to be moved higher in the ranking. When the human polls were released, Texas remained behind Cal, but it had closed the gap enough so that the BCS poll (which determines placement) placed Texas above Cal, angering both Cal and its conference, the Pac-10.[13] The final poll positions had been unchanged with Cal at No. 4 AP, No. 4 coaches, and No. 6 computers polls and Texas at No. 6 AP, No. 5 coaches, and No. 4 computer polls.[13] The AP Poll voters were caught in the middle because their vote changes were automatically made public, while the votes of the Coaches poll were kept confidential. Although there had been a more substantial shift in the votes of the Coaches Poll, the only clear targets for the ire of fanatical fans were the voters in the AP Poll. While officials from both Cal and the Pac-10 called for the coaches' votes to be made public, the overtures were turned down and did little to solve the problem of AP voters. Cal went on to lose to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl. Texas defeated Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

text: Many members of the press who voted in the AP Poll were upset by the controversy and, at the behest of its members, the AP asked that its poll no longer be used in the BCS rankings. The 2004 season was the last season that the AP Poll was used in the BCS rankings, it was replaced in the BCS equation by the newly created Harris Interactive College Football Poll.[14]

text: Final AP football polls[edit]

text: Other media football polls[edit]

text: The AP Poll is not the only college football poll. The other major poll is the Coaches Poll, which has been sponsored by several organizations: the United Press (1950–1957), the United Press International (1958–1990), USA Today (1991–present), CNN (1991–1996), and ESPN (1997–2005). Having two major polls has led to numerous "split" national titles, where the two polls disagreed on the No. 1 team. This has occurred on eleven different occasions (1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003).

text: College basketball[edit]

text: In Division I men's and women's college basketball, the AP Poll is largely just a tool to compare schools throughout the season and spark debate, as it has no bearing on postseason play. Generally, all top 25 teams in the poll are invited to the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament, also known as March Madness. The poll is usually released every Monday and voters' ballots are made public.[15]

text: Men's basketball[edit]

text: The AP began compiling a ranking of the top 20 college men's basketball teams during the 1948–1949 season. It has issued this poll continuously since the 1950–1951 season. As of January 2018, UCLA and Duke are tied for the most appearances atop the rankings at 134 times.[16]

text: Women's basketball[edit]

text: The women's basketball poll began during the 1976–1977 season, and was initially compiled by Mel Greenberg and published by The Philadelphia Inquirer. At first, it was a poll of coaches conducted via telephone, where coaches identified top teams and a list of the Top 20 team was produced. The initial list of coaches did not include Pat Summitt, who asked to join the group, not to improve her rankings, but because of the lack of media coverage, Summitt believed it would be a good way to stay on top of who the top teams were outside of her own schedule.[17] The contributors continued to be coaches until 1994, when the AP took over administration of the poll from Greenberg, and switched to a panel of writers.[18] In 1994, Tennessee started out as No. 1 in the polls with Connecticut at No. 4. After losses by the No. 2 and No. 3 teams, Tennessee and Connecticut were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, headed into a showdown, scheduled as a special event on Martin Luther King day, the only women's basketball game scheduled on that day. Because of the unusual circumstances, the decision was made to hold off the AP voting for one day, to ensure it would be after the game. Connecticut won the game, and moved into first place in the AP poll, published on Tuesday for the only time. (Connecticut went on to complete an undefeated season.)[19] Over the history of the poll, over 255 coaches have had a team represented in polls.[20]

text: NFL football[edit]

text: Beginning in 2012, the AP began issuing a weekly pro football ranking, the AP Pro32 rankings.[21]