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| A banner promoting Dunder-Mifflin, the fictional paper company on NBC's "The Office" hangs outside city hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
12 February 2010
Arts Reviewing & Reporting
Apathetic is
the best way to describe my feelings towards The Office. POTENTIALLY GOOD FOCUS STATEMENT. LET’S SEE HOW WELL IT WORKS.
I stopped watching The Office when
everyone else did HYPERBOLE OR
EXAGGERATION. WE UNDERSTAND IT IS NOT LITERALLY TRUE. IT IMPLIES SOMETHING
LIKE: “EVERYONE WHO IS AS SMART AS ME…” —3 seasons ago—after Pam and Jim
finally got together. GIVES A REASON, A DETAIL FROM SHOW, FOR
DROPPING OUT.
Well, that statement is not exactly
true. HERE’S THE CORRECTION. SETS TONE
FOR STORY: SOMETIMES I EXAGGERATE AS A FORM OF ARGUMENT. It seems the show
is still going relatively strong with an average of 8.1 million viewers during
its 6th season. While many viewers may still be addicted to the
mockumentary-style and awkard interactions among employees, that does not mean
anything BACK TO EXAGGERATION
interesting is still happening in the plot of the show.
WE WILL NOW HAVE LOTS OF PLOT SPECIFICS. SUCH SUMMARY ISN’T THE PLOT
KILLER IT MIGHT BE IN A MOVIE REVIEW. TV VIEWERS MAY NOT WANT THE DETAILS OF
INDIVIDUAL EPISODES REVEALED AS THE SHOW MOVES FORWARD, BUT TALKING ABOUT PAST
EPISODES ISN’T A SPOILER – UNLESS YOU ARE CONSIDERING JUMPING INTO THE SHOW.
BUT IF THAT’S THE CASE, YOU ARE FOREWARNED BEFORE STARTING THIS STORY. The
love triangle, (or in the case of The Office, it was really more of a
rectangle) also the most dynamic and entertaining storyline of the show, VALUE JUDGMENT, AND THAT’S FINE. KNOWLEDGE
OF SHOW=EXPERTISE between Jim, Karen, Pam and Roy, was relatively
short-lived, only making it through the third season. Between Pam’s
thick-headed fiancé and the sexy Karen, TWO
GOOD SUMMARY ADJECTIVES there were only so many obstacles that writers
could put between Pam and Jim. YES. GOOD
INSIGHT ABOUT SITCOM CONVENTIONS. A PROBLEM IN ALL TV SHOWS CENTERED ON A
BURGEONING ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP. TO THE DEGREE THAT A SHOW IS
ROOTED IN ‘REAL LIFE,’ IT CAN’T POSTPONE RESOLUTION INDEFINITELY. AND ONCE IT’S
RESOLVED? WHAT NEXT? SOAP OPERA, OF COURSE, IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GENRE Now that they are together, and with a baby on the
way, there is pretty much no way one could write anymore drama between the two
because they are far too in love with each other do to anything stupid. Hence,
boredom ensues. I WOULD HAVE ADDED: OF
COURSE, JIM IS ACTUALLY THE CENTER OF TWO RELATIONSHIPS, ONE WITH PAM AND THE
OTHER WITH DWIGHT AND THAT ONE, BASED ON WORKPLACE CONFLICT, CAN GO ON FOREVER BECAUSE
THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES IN WORKPLACES. THE JIM-DWIGHT TENSION GOES ON AND
ON (8.17.14 HOW WRONG THE WRITER WAS, AND HOW WRONG THIS REVIEWER WAS. JIM'S JOB IN SPORT'S PROMOTION AND PAM'S FLIRTATION - TALK ABOUT META - WITH THE GUY WHO HAD SUPPOSEDLY HELD THE CAMERA FOR THE FAUX DOCUMENTARY INSIDE THE ACTUAL SITCOM - CREATED TENSION)
There is nothing left in the show
that is worth investing in. There is no relationship to hope for—no
relationship that we hope fails—nothing. BUT
WHAT ABOUT …? WE THINK. SHE KNOWS WHAT WE ARE THINKING! NOW SHE LISTS THE OTHER
RELATIONSHIPS ON THE SHOW THAT LEAVE HER COLD The most interesting
storylines were between Jim and Pam and, to a lesser extent, Michael and Jan.
Jim and Pam, for most obvious reasons, were an interesting duo because of their
slightly-less-than-forbidden love and their
so-cute-you-just-want-to-put-them-in-your-pocket appeal. CLEVER SHORTHAND. SHE SAYS: THIS IS HOW I FELT. Michael and Jan,
on the other hand, were of interest because it was so fascinating to watch
Michael actually interact with another human being and have that human being
not want to punch him in the face. CLEVER
Yet, that relationship also ended back half way through season 4. There was the
hilariously creepy love triangle between Dwight, Angela and Andy. Yet, that was
short-lived and sometimes hard to watch. WHY?
So what are we left with now? The
show has simply run out of angles. BACK
TO A BASIC PROBLEM IN LONG-RUNNING SITCOMS
Attempting to revive the
secretary-employee affair we saw with Pam and Jim, the writers brought in Erin
at the end of the 5th season. Unfortunately, she is simply a less
attractive, less captivating version of Pam. And her new love interest, Andy,
is a seriously less attractive (both in appearance and personality) and less
relatable version of Jim. YEAH. IF THE OBJECT OF A SITCOM IS TO HAVE SOME
CHARACTERS WHO ARE MORE ‘REAL’ AND WITH WHOM WE CAN IDENTIFY, ERIN AND ANDY ARE
LESS SO. Watching their interactions in no way encourages the viewer to become
invested in their relationship. SHE HAS GIVEN SOME DETAIL AND SHE EXPLAINS HER
REACTION. I SAW HER POINT. HOWEVER, ERIN ALMOST MINDLESS ENTHUSIASM AND NAIVETE MADE HER VULNERABLE, YOU COULD ALSO ARGUE. SHE AND ANDY WERE EXAMPLES OF COMIC EXAGGERATION. SO THEY WERE A CHANGE OF PACE.
Michael Scott behavingly awkwardly is
not enough. OH YEAH, I THINK: THIS IS
THE SHOW’S PIVOT. The show has just lost its shine. It is not painfully
funny IN TWO WORDS SHE SUMS UP MICHAEL
SCOTT. IF YOU DISCUSS SOME THINGS IN DETAIL, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DISCUSS
EVERYTHING IN DETAIL anymore. It is just kind of painful, but not enough to
keep the viewer entertained for long. Recent episodes generally have one
laugh-out-loud moment, I’D HAVE LOVED A ‘FOR
EXAMPLE’ BETWEEN DASHES and the rest of the time is filled with slight
awkwardness that is shortly followed by boredom. What made the show so
successful, aside from the comedic appeal of a mockumentary-style shooting, was
the balance between making the viewer feel so uncomfortable they may have to
leave the room and the reward of watching the endearing, semi-depressing lives
and relationships between the employees progress. THE PRECEDING STRIKES ME AS A REASONABLE SUMMARY OF THE SHOW’S INITIAL APPEAL,
THOSE ‘CRINGE’ MOMENTS THAT SHOW MICHAEL SCOTT’S INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND COMMON
SOCIAL NORMS, HIS ROLE AS THE OUTSIDER WHO DESPERATELY WANTS TO FIT IN. OF
COURSE, LACKING THE COURAGE OF THE ORIGINAL BRITISH SITCOM – AND UNDERSTANDING
THE ECONOMIC REALTIES OF AMERICAN TV – OFFICE/USA GRADUALLY SOFTENED THE
ATTITUDES OF SCOTT’S UNDERLINGS TOWARD HIM AND GAVE HIM MORE MOMENTS OF
SELF-KNOWLEDGE. I THINK. IF I’M
WRITING MY OWN REVIEW, I NEED TO COME UP WITH SOME DETAILS. 2.2.18: ULTIMATELY THEY MARRIED HIM OFF AND GAVE HIM A SOFT LANDING. Unfortunately,
all the captivating relationships between the employees have either ended, or
ended in marriage. Where’s the drama there?
SHOULD THERE BE DRAMA? NICE PLACE TO COMMENT ON FACT THIS SHOW IS ONE OF THOSE
SITCOMS IN WHICH WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT SOME OF THE CHARACTERS, THAT IT
IS A KIND OF DRAMEDY, THOUGH MOSTLY COMIC. CREATORS MAKE A DECISION TO HAVE US
CARE ABOUT CHARACTERS AND THEN CREATORS RESOLVE THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THEIR
PROBLEMS, WHERE DO YOU GO NEXT?
A large contributing factor to
show’s dark comedic story IT IS A SHOW
THAT GOT PROGRESSIVELY LESS DARK line is the imminent downfall OF the
company due to the fact that they sell paper goods in a world that is
attempting to go online and, well, paper-less. It has been hinted at since the
beginning of the series that Dunder Mifflin was in some kind of trouble. Yet,
when a series starts out on the basis of an impending doom, writers can only
make so many excuses and surprise turns before the company must receive its
death certificate.
The writers of The Office must be
on about their fourth write-around in maintaining the Scranton Branch. SOLID ANALYSIS In the most recent
episode, “Sabre,” Dunder Mifflin is officially bought out by Sabre (pronounced
Say-bur). However the Scranton Branch is allowed to survive because they
(somehow) were the only ones making any money. Though this is very hard to
believe due to Michael Scott’s incredibly entertaining capacity to not do his job, perhaps this was
supposed to be an ironic turn of events to coincide with the several other
twists and turns in the show’s past that have been counterintuitive. PRECEDING ANALYSIS SEEMS SOUND. HOW HAS IT
LASTED THIS LONG? YOU CAN’T ANSWER EVERY QUESTION IN A SINGLE REVIEW Or, it could be the network’s attempt to keep
the show running in anyway it can in order to preserve its trademarked
“Thursday Nights of Comedy”? DUH
While this episode had a few
laugh-out-loud moments, including the altered version of Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” to
welcome the new Sabre to the Scranton Branch, and the interaction Pam and Jim
had with the competitive preschool teacher, the episode seemed to kind of drag
on. It begs the question: how can the Scranton Branch still running? Which then
leads to the thought of—why do I care? AND
BACK TO THE LEAD
Regardless of NBC’s motivation to
keep the show running, it has already surpassed its 100 episode mark and is
currently syndicated on three different networks. Thus, it may be time for NBC
to let this baby go because they have clearly run out of ways to keep us
invested in any sort of plot in the show. We know the company’s going under. We
know what happened between Pam and Jim. We know Dwight is always going to be
creepy. We know Michael is ultimately helpless. What we don’t know is when NBC
will realize all of these things. AS IT
TURNED OUT IN THE YEARS SINCE, THIS FINAL ANALYSIS IS RIGHT AND SOME WAYS AND
NOT IN OTHERS. BUT HER STORY IS FILLED WITH SPECIFICS AND WITH SOUND GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT TV SITCOM
CONVENTIONS. IT HAS A CLEAR THROUGH-LINE. IT IS BRIGHTLY WRITTEN. I LIKE IT
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