The Office running thread

Tonight was just awful. Some of the worst writing in the show's history. Or in any show's history. Jim's character has become so unlikable. At this point, I am simply hanging on to see how the show ends. .

 

I actually thought it was OK. Jim is a bit of a jerk now, but at least they're doing something with him and everyone else. I also like that they're making Andy such a heel, because I can't stand him.

 

Every time I see the two Office young boys, one of whom looks like Roger Ebert Jr. and the other who is about as nondescript as can be, I think: Too bad, fellas, that the show is going to be off the air before you get any traction.

Still wish they'd coughed up the dough to have Gervais replace Michael for at least an arc of episodes.

 

I thought the premise was OK, but the writing is really, really flat these days. They're not even trying to be funny beyond the standard character depictions, and those jokes have been made for eight seasons.

 

It'd be like committing fraud to even associate this with the UK original now, there are no longer any similarities in quality, premise or style of humor at all.

Last night's episode was the first I've seen this season, and I found it gobsmackingly awful and unfunny, and just so painfully far removed from the rather awesome show this was its first four seasons. Hard to believe the same people associated with the show then could possibly approve of this dreck.

 

That was the first "clunker" of the season, actually. The first three episodes were actually pretty good (for what this show has become).

 

Tough crowd. I L'ed OL at the "No knobbies, no probbies" line and Creed getting on the bus, saying, "I'm skipping work today..." Agreed that this season has been much better, and I liked last night's.

 

When Shelley Long left Cheers, the show remade itself. No longer able to grip the audience with the greatest will-they-or-won't-they plot in TV history, James Burrows and the Charles brothers took stock in what was left and made the brilliant decision to turn Cheers into a true ensemble show. Every character became a star, and many viewers preferred the fun, light atmosphere of the final six seasons.

The Office's first three seasons produced, in my estimation, the second-greatest will-they-or-won't-they plot in TV history. But when that plot expired (with, unlike Cheers, a "they will"), The Office began to back itself into corners. Instead of developing its extent ensemble, Greg Daniels and the writers went for seizmic shifts in the show's world. Dunder-Miflin went under, and the show followed quickly.

The biggest issue has been the new characters. Erin entered the fray in Season 5, and no character since has resonated with anyone I know who watches the show. Yet they obsessively have built around these new characters, from Gabe and Jo to last season's mess to even Clark and Pete now.

The Office had a chance, with Jim and Pam together at last, to focus on the characters we liked already. Kelly (and Ryan, the worst character on the show for his last five seasons), Darryl and Andy drew the spotlight on occasion, and Angela has her weird marriage/baby thing. But many of the supporting characters are being reduced to what they represent on the show.

The more interesting and full path would have been to focus on the lives of Oscar or Meredith or Kevin or Phyllis or Stanley. They exist now to say the lines we expect them to say. It's lazy. All of those characters had more to do when the show still was focused on Jim and Pam.

This season is better than the past two because they have turned off the overarching chaos plots. Episodes about corperate weren't even that strong when David Wallace and Jan Levinson were at the helm, and the Sabre saga was awful. But they're being lazy about the new tack.

They're trying to humanize Dwight and showcase his insecurities, but they're continuing to focus on his goofiness. That slack-line display had some slapstick appeal but mostly showed how little the character has grown. Jim has gone from the everyman with a sense of humor to a self-absorbed asshole. Pam basically exists to give Jim something to do. Andy is one of the most erratic characters on TV; in six seasons, they still haven't figured out what they want from him.

The Office as it exists now is a mediocre-at-best show. No one would watch it, except that we're all invested. The writers know that and don't seem to care. Jokes like last night's one about Kevin being able to do math about pies would have worked well in the pacing and context of the earlier seasons. Then, they would have stretched the development out over the course of an episode. Now, it's a throwaway saved for one scene.

The Office is lazy and the worst show I watch.

 

Well, that, and also the basic form of humor has changed. The sharp semi-believable satirical edge of the early seasons gradually began being replaced by clown humor and increasingly preposterous setups for gags, until the latter style had just about wholly taken over. The show can longer claim to be a smart "satire" on office life, it stopped trying to be that years ago--now it just goes for the cheap gags and, based on what I saw last night, fails to even be funny at that.

 

You very seldom deserve a :.

But :.

 

It's called self-awareness. Or self-loathing. Self-something.

 

The fact that you realize that forces me to remove at least one of the :s.