disability

For some reason, ideas in Hollywood come in pairs. Two asteroid movies. Two volcano movies. Two "backstage at SNL" shows. Here's another interesting two-fer I spotted when reading the latest casting reports. Both Fox and NBC have comedies in the works that will feature wheelchair-bound leads. Playing Chicken, Fox's pilot, will star Broadway baby Norbert Leo Butz as a "loudmouthed conservative" who is forced to move in with his lefty brother after an accident leaves him disabled. NBC's comedy I'm With Stupid focuses on two guys living in an assisted living facility. Christopher Thornton (pictured), who co-stars with Kevin Daniels in I'm With Stupid, was paralyzed from the waist down after a rock-climbing accident in 1992.

As we well know by now, Michael Scott can be as obnoxious as the next guy (or woman) sitting in the cubicle across from you. However, as a regional manager for Dunder Mifflin, his obnoxiousness is amplified many times over. This week we see that Michael is not exactly the toughest guy when it comes to dealing with pain, although burning his foot on a George Foreman Grill while waiting for his six strips of bacon to cook is kind of a stupid way to hurt yourself.

Michael calls the office and begs for someone to pick him up and take him to work, but no one is exactly jumping at the chance. Finally, Dwight (who else) volunteers to get him, but while leaving the office parking lot, he bangs into a pole and it appears he has hurt himself as well, but he soliders on.

We then see Michael enter the office on crutches with a makeshift bubble wrap around his burned foot. Although he is doing his best to garner sympathy from the staff, he is not very successful. We also notice that Dwight is acting a bit strange, which is a stretch because we all know he is a bit off-kilter to begin with. In fact, Dwight is being personable, and downright nice. Pam is pleasantly surprised, but Jim is not sure to what make of this development.