The Office running thread

I'm starting to wish the Scranton Strangler would stop by Dunder-Mifflin and put the entire show in a stranglehold. This was the episode that was supposed to convince me to keep watching a Carell-less Office? A couple of decent lines (Kevin's address to the camera, and the Kelly-Ryan dynamic) but otherwise ... ugh.

 

That was absolutely, positively, stupendously horrendous.

 

Didn't like the episode that much, aside from DeAngelo's gibberish after the credits. But I made it a point to watch the opening credits and enjoyed what they did with those, particularly them replacing the "Steve Carell puts a Dundie on his desk" shot with a similar one of Will Ferrell and a Southwestern statue. That was clever.

For the record, Rainn Wilson got top billing. When did Ed Helms get in the credits? Not that he doesn't deserve to be there, I just hadn't noticed him before.

 

Middle of last season, I believe, right after The Hangover reached epic proportions.

 

That makes sense.

 

I was not thrilled with some of the things that went down, but as much as anything, I'm disturbed by Pam becoming such a weak character.

 

I'm not going to walk back any comments about the continuing demise of the show. It used to be among TV's finest. Michael's exit wasn't very well-done and last night's show was just bad. I wanted to laugh (since I really like Will Ferrell), but I never felt the urge. The Jim and Pam characters have lost it. It reminds me of late-period "Cheers," when the characters you always loved started to be annoying. If "The Office" doesn't bring in a strong lead, it's definitely done. None of the remaining characters -- as good as they've been -- can carry a show.

 

maybe my standards have become embarrassingly low, but i thought last night's ep was fine. if it is because my standards suck, be it. maybe there's something to being easier to please. makes me happier...

 

That really wasn't a very strong episode.

 

Just an "eh" episode for me with a couple of good lines. But I did like seeing the cast members trying not to break up when Will Ferrell went off (I'm guessing he ad-libbed a lot of his stuff). Saw both Oscar and Jim cracking up on camera.

 

Yeah, it reminded me of Ferrell's "holy shit this guy is insane!" characters from SNL. Get off the shed, dissing your dog, the guy who slaps Tina Fey and stabs a guy to death with a spear while interviewing Pierce Brosnan, Dodge Stratus, etc. Cheap laughs, most definitely, but still worth 22 minutes of my time.

I guess that's where I'm at with The Office. Is it as good or gut-wrenching as it used to be? Of course not, but outside of The Wire, it's hard for me to think of any show that indisputably maintained an absolutely perfect tone for 5+ seasons. I'd still put it amongst, say, the Top 20 shows on television right now, and given my familiarity with it from past seasons, I don't mind checking it out. It hasn't become so horrible I can't watch, like Heroes did in its final season.

 

great episode last night. Best one in a long, long time.