Dream Team (The Office)

"Dream Team" is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office and the 94th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. In the episode, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) try to keep each other motivated as the two form their new paper company together. Michael recruits Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) for the company, which sets up a new office in the same building complex as Dunder Mifflin. Meanwhile, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) tries to impress new boss Charles Miner (guest star Idris Elba) by claiming to be a soccer enthusiast, but it backfires when Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) convinces the two to face each other in a game.

The episode was written by Novak and directed by Paul Feig. The episode aired the same day as the Office episode "Michael Scott Paper Company"; the debut episode of the new NBC show Parks and Recreation was shown between the two episodes. "Dream Team" marked the return of Ryan, who had not appeared on the show since the November 2008 episode "Frame Toby". The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen ratings, was watched by 7.2 million viewers and captured the most viewers in its time slot for adults between the ages of 18 and 49. "Dream Team" received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series.