...the writers who are also actors on The Office (the order subject to change...). I guess I should include Gene & Lee (as the Vance Refrigeration guys!), but, uh...nah.
Mindy Kaling
Show role: Kelly Kapoor
Overall analysis: Mindy has two episodes that are absolutely obsession-worthy, including my all-time favorite, a few that are very solid, and then a couple that are among the weaker episodes of the series. Along these lines, I gotta say that I think if "The Injury" was an episode today, it would be viciously attacked. It's too over-the-top! They leave the office! It's too over-the-top! The characters aren't right! Michael is too stupid! There isn't enough JAM! Waaahh physical comedy! It's too over-the-top! That's not an insult of "The Injury," which is effing amazing, but an insult of the ridiculous critiques of S4.
Episode ranking (best-worst):
"The Dundies" (good on you for writing the greatest episode ever, Mindy ;) )
"The Injury"
"Branch Wars"
"Diwali"
"Take Your Daughter to Work Day"
"Ben Franklin"
"Night Out"
"Hot Girl"
BJ Novak
Show role: Ryan Howard
Overall analysis: Excellent writer, maybe the most consistently excellent they have. His episodes are either fantastic or very good. He gets even more bonus points because "Diversity Day" was the second episode ever, and it came after the Pilot, which was basically just the British Office Pilot rewritten, so it must have been really difficult to write that. Secretly, I'd like to see his high school classmate write some episodes, though...
More Bonus Points: If you've ever been to his MySpace, you know his favorite movies. They are Adaptation., The King of Comedy, The Apartment, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Taxi Driver, Chungking Express, Casablanca, Divorce - Italian Style, Pulp Fiction, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, No Country for Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and The Naked Gun. Save The Naked Gun, which honestly, I've never seen, that's an effing amazing list. They're all great, and not even like, great-but-overrated great.
Episode ranking:
"Chair Model"
"Diversity Day"
"The Fire"
"Sexual Harassment"
"Local Ad"
"Initiation"
"Boys and Girls"
"Safety Training"
Paul Lieberstein
Show role: Toby Flenderson
Overall analysis: Hmm. Well, Lieberstein wrote a few episodes that aren't that great, including one of only three "weak" episodes in the series, but his writing actually seems to be getting better. His latest two episodes, "Money" and "The Job," are two of the series' best. And of course, I'm totally expecting "Goodbye, Toby" to be the best episode of his of all. ;)
Episode ranking:
"Money"
"The Job"
"Health Care"
(webisodes)
"The Carpet"
"The Client"
"The Coup"
"Dwight's Speech"
"Cocktails"
Michael Schur
Show role: Mose Schrute
Overall analysis: Damn good writer. I was looking at the list of episodes he wrote, and I was like, damn, he wrote that one? And that one? None of his episodes are in my top 10, but save "The Alliance," which is still good (and which I think I'm underrating - most of S1 deserves a rewatch from me), and "Valentine's Day," which is, again, still good, they're all excellent.
Episodes ranked:
"Christmas Party"
"Branch Closing"
"Office Olympics"
"Dunder-Mifflin Infinity"
"Traveling Salesmen"
"The Return"
(webisodes)
"The Negotiation"
"The Alliance"
"Valentine's Day"
Steve Carell
Show role: Michael Scott
Overall analysis: Hard to say. He's only written two (though one of them is, likely, if you polled all the Office fans across the world, the #1 episode. Yeah, it's probably for JAMmy reasons, but the episode is wonderful even without that storyline. As is, it's the best chocolate frosting in the world on an unbelievably delicious cake. yay, confused metaphors!). I love them both, though.
Episodes ranked:
"Casino Night"
"Survivor Man"
WHAT? It's Office week. Leave me alone!
