Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding Jerome "The Bus" Bettis's guest appearance on "The Office," I thought I'd point you to this article on ESPN.com (scroll down below all that Kobe stuff) that takes a much more in-depth behind the scenes look at the cameo.

Most interesting to me is that the male half of the cast apparently play EA's Madden "every single break," and according to John K. they also "play for money."  The Steelers are Rainn's virtual team, hence the Bettis love.

Thanks to "Office Tally" for the heads up on this story.

In case you missed it, TV Guide has run a two part interview with John & Jenna about the new season.  The first part saw print last week before the premiere, and the second part came out yesterday. 

Some spoilers given below, from the article:

1. The reason Jim and Dwight terrorize each other is because deep down they are "good friends." (says John)
   
2. Pam will pretty much ignore Dwight and take on Angela as her nemesis-- in fact, Angela will get Pam kicked off the party planning committee.
3. Dwight's cousin Mose (of the beet farm) will be making an appearance early in season three and will be played by staff writer Mike Schur.
4. Both John and Jenna made movies over the Summer, and they will both be coming out in 2007.  John says he thinks Jenna's movie is "better" than his.  (Jenna was in Will Farrell's "Blades of Glory," and John was in "License to Wed" with Robin Williams)

 

Dang these late night talk shows... right after I post the first episode of TWSS and say "no guest appearances," The Tonight Show books Jenna Fischer.  And, as it so happens, I totally missed it. 

Hopefully a youtube search will prove fruitful.

On her blog, Jenna said she was very nervous, but thought it went well.  She also mentioned that B. J. Novak would also be on The Tonight Show sometime next week.

BREAKING NEWS!

Someone posted the the link to the video on Jenna's blog. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb2NkZPW0y0

It's about 8 minutes long, and JF is pretty interesting-- very manic, as well.  Good luck with that boat, Jenna!

Got stuck having to attend "open house" at my school last night from 6-9 pm, so I missed the show... thank the lord for the DVR.  Only got to watch it once so far, so just some basic impressions:

Very cool to see the gang out in the "real world."  I always find it interesting when the cast does this... makes the show seem bigger and broader in some respects.  Plus, we got to see the stylin' Dunder Mifflin polo shirt.

"Dwight got a hooker!" -- as hilarious as that was, I am a bit shocked that Ms. Martin would engage in such scandalous behavior.  Surely she knew Michael and Jim would be there...

Michael, Michael, Michael... like with the episode "The Client" last season, we start off with Michael looking like a total inept fool, and end with him brokering what seems to be a pretty large business deal.  I kept waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under him, but they let it ride.  Unfortunately, his "off da hook" party was a party of one... or TWO, when Jim showed up.  As sad as Michael might be, surely no salesman would pass up a chance for free booze during a convention? 

And Jim... why does he continue to be so darn NICE to Michael?  "You're a great boss"?  Ah well... that's just Fat Halpert for ya.  Leave it to Michael to then revive the "Jim and I are best friends" idea from "The Secret."

Toby's last name? FLENDERSON. 

And Pam... poor Pam.   Being single and now starting to date, she has become the object of attention for the office males, esp. Mr. Flenderson above.  Remember during "The Fire" when everyone admitted (including Oscar!) that they'd "hit that"?  I think things are going to get pretty awkward fairly soon.

I wasn't too impressed with the cold open-- it seemed a bit too forced.  Still, the rest of the episode was none too shabby.

Watch for the new episode of TWSS on Saturday!