 The reveal of the in @-@ series documentary crew in " Customer Loyalty " received large amounts of critical attention . E ! Online named the reveal one of the " Best TV Moments of the Week " . Verne Gay of Newsday called the scene a " historic " moment for the show . Conversely , Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club wrote an article that argued that the mockumentary format made the camera " an audience surrogate " , and that by revealing the documentary crew , " the audience no longer felt welcome " . The subplot involving Brian ( played by Chris Diamantopoulos ) , a boom mic operator for the in @-@ series documentary , was met with mostly negative reviews . Michael Tedder of Vulture called it " the least interesting way this camera crew reveal could have gone " . Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic criticized the reintroduction of the character in the episode " Promos " , noting that his reappearance felt " forced " . McNutt called it " an abandoned novelty " . Daniels later revealed in an interview that the subplot was a red herring to keep viewers emotionally invested in Pam and Jim 's story . He explained , " we never intended him to actually [ interfere with Pam and Jim 's marriage ] , but wanted people to worry about it so they would be engaged in the story . " 
