Scott's Tots

A decade ago, Michael Scott launched a program named "Scott's Tots", promising a group of underprivileged 3rd graders that he would pay their full college tuition, provided they graduate from high school. He has failed to achieve his goal of being a millionaire, and is unable to fulfill the promise. He reluctantly visits their high school with Erin Hannon to break the bad news. Michael's promise encouraged the students to excel academically, and they greet Michael with standing applause. Michael admits his inability to pay for their college tuition, and attempts to make up for it by providing them laptop batteries. This fails to appease the angry students. Michael offers to a single student to at least pay for his books before he leaves. On the way back to the office, Erin informs a disconsolate Michael the students are on track for a higher-than-average graduation rate, and suggests "Scott's Tots" may be the cause. Michael compliments Erin's work ethic. Meanwhile, on a suggestion from Andy Bernard, Jim Halpert starts an employee of the month program to increase office morale. Dwight Schrute planted the idea in Andy's head as part of a scheme to get Jim fired. He gives Jim a performance sheet to determine the employee of the month, with employees identified only by number, ostensibly to ensure a fair and unbiased assessment. Dwight, without Jim's authorization, also collects money from each of the employees for a cash prize. Dwight's sheet identifies Jim as the winner and his wife Pam as runner-up. Then, a cake is delivered to the office with Jim's face and the words "It Could Only Be You" on it. The other workers accuse Jim of extracting money from them. Dwight initiates the second part of his plan by calling CFO David Wallace multiple times, each time pretending to be a different employee complaining about Jim's program. David calls Jim and chews him out for the mishap. Dwight listens in to the phone conversation from the pen recorder he left in Jim's office in the episode "The Lover". But instead of firing Jim, David apologizes to him for losing his temper, praises Jim, and confirms a dinner date with his wife, Jim, and Pam. Angry that his plan has not worked, Dwight creates an alliance with Ryan Howard to achieve his goal. ==Reception==

"Scott's Tots" first aired on NBC on December 3, 2009. In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed by an estimated 8.055 million viewers and received a 4.1 rating/11 percent share in the 18–49 demographic. This means that it was seen by 4.1 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 11 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. In addition, the episode ranked first in its half-hour timeslot and was the highest-rated NBC series of the night. Dan Phillips of IGN gave the episode a 9.4 out of 10 rating, denoting an "amazing" episode. It was also the highest score given to any sixth-season episode by the site. Joel Keller of The Huffington Post wrote that "as the kids from that third-grade class praised Michael and told him how much his gift meant to them, all I could think of was, 'this is so wrong.' [...] The pain on Michael's face was palpable. I had the same expression." Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called the episode "kick-ass" and awarded it an "A−". Rabin commended the fact that Michael's bad-idea-for-the-right-reason made him likable. Furthermore, he noted that both Michael and the kids engaged in "mutually beneficial self-deception"; the former thought he could save those in need, and the latter had something to look forward to. Several critics, on the other hand, felt that the main plot was too mean to be humorous. Gage Henry of Paste felt that the episode was weak because "one [of its storylines was] rather flimsy and the other ending up too atrocious to watch." Steve Marsi at TVFanatic did not enjoy it and was succinct in his review: "Last night's 'Scott's Tots' was not one of The Offices best. [...] it was actually a little depressing. Promising kids college tuition, then yanking it away?" The episode has become notorious among fans of the show as one of its most awkward and uncomfortable episodes. Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey discussed the episode with B. J. Novak for their Office Ladies podcast on April 13, 2022. ==References==