At the beginning of this current season (five? I always forget), I was a little worried -- I remember thinking it was going downhill (I can't actually remember my reasons for that now). Recently, though, I've been really impressed. It seems as if every season has a whole new host of characters, situations, and themes, and it never gets old. The writers are so creative.
Some people thought it would go downhill once the whole Jim-and-Pam-sexual-tension was taken care of, and the writers must have feared that to -- and so they brought in the Andy-Dwight-Angela business to replace it, and so far the second love triangle is completely original from the first. (It is interesting that they let Jim and Pam get together even though their sexual tension was one of the main themes of the show -- it's almost as if the characters are obtaining lives of their own. Although it surely also had to do with pressure from the fans.)
So, what do you think? Do you agree with me? Do you think this is the kind of show that can survive for years and years, or is it headed for a downfall?
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I thought the post-superbowl episode was alternately hilarious and atrocious.
Have you noticed they've almost completely dropped the (admittedly always-thin) pretense of this being documentary footage? Either that or the camera operators are supposed to be soulless.
I still enjoy watching it but I don't feel like I'm missing anything if I don't see an episode. I don't know if the show can still surprise me by any means other than sheer mayhem like the fire drill.
Posted by Armoth (Member # 4752) on :
I think the show is great. They need to find a direction storyline-wise, but they are brilliant in the sitcom-like "show about nothing" style.
I LOVED the post-superbowl episode. I thought the Michael roast was a teensy bit harsh, but the episode had me rolling at every minute.
As for the angela-dwight-andy triangle, I did not think it was creative. I thought it was desperate. I am uninterested in their love affair - I was disgusted with Angela, I didn't expect better from Dwight...
I know a lot of people love him, but I REALLY don't like Andy. His humor is infantile. He MUST sing in EVERY episode, and I feel like it is the actor and not the writer...
The Office needs to stick to classics. More Pam and Jim, progress in their relationship - maybe s'more Ryan and Kelly...I LOVED the girl Michael was dating...that was kinda upsetting...
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
The episode of the office where they have the dinner party actually makes me roll about in mental anguish.
It is the most uncomfortable show in existence. It's genius.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
quote: Jim: Michael and Jan seem to be playing their own separate game and it's called 'Let's see how uncomfortable we can make our guests' and they're both winning.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: The episode of the office where they have the dinner party actually makes me roll about in mental anguish.
It is the most uncomfortable show in existence. It's genius.
I love it when it's funny, but I'm really put off when it's that awkward and uncomfortable. I can't stand watching people in those situations.
Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :
"It is the most uncomfortable show in existence. It's genius. "
Wow. This statement bothers me so much for some strange unknown reason.
Have you ever watched a british television show? Have you ever watched the show The Office UK version? As in the original?
The american office is humorous but in no way does it approach the awkwardness of the british original.
Ok I figured out why your statement bothers me. You used hyperbole obviously, but stating it in quite the factual manor, when in reality you apparently have never watched a show that didn't air on primetime in your living room, so you have no way of actually knowing if what you said is true.
Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
Harsh, much?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: Ok I figured out why your statement bothers me. You used hyperbole obviously, but stating it in quite the factual manor, when in reality you apparently have never watched a show that didn't air on primetime in your living room, so you have no way of actually knowing if what you said is true.
Uh, I have seen both offices. I'm sorry, did my post kick your puppy or something?
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
I thought this past episode was pretty hysterical. Even though they were obviously doing some things to introduce the characters to the new audience watching after the superbowl, i didn't mind at all.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:I thought the Michael roast was a teensy bit harsh
As long as it didn't draw blood, I don't think any roast of Michael could be harsh enough.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: Ok I figured out why your statement bothers me. You used hyperbole obviously, but stating it in quite the factual manor, when in reality you apparently have never watched a show that didn't air on primetime in your living room, so you have no way of actually knowing if what you said is true.
Most threads on TV shows here are intentionally on the level of a casual chat, not a formal review. Including this one.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary:
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: Ok I figured out why your statement bothers me. You used hyperbole obviously, but stating it in quite the factual manor, when in reality you apparently have never watched a show that didn't air on primetime in your living room, so you have no way of actually knowing if what you said is true.
Uh, I have seen both offices. I'm sorry, did my post kick your puppy or something?
... Five Offices.
IRC, they are British, American, French, German, and French-Canadian.
Edit:
Oh, after checking Wikipedia, it looks like there's a sixth. Chilean.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
"Gay Witch Hunt" probably wins the awkwardness contest, at least for me. There's a scene in it that's the only moment in all of the Office where I literally have to stop watching.
Posted by Foust (Member # 3043) on :
Spoilers for the UK version here. . . . . .
I've seen the first and third seasons of this series, and it just doesn't hold up.
If the UK Office had continued indefinitely, if the various pay-off moments like Brent being fired or Tim & Pam walking off into the sunset hadn't been allowed to take place, something would have been lost.
One of the quotes from that link sums up my feeling about the US/UK comparisons:
quote:I was thinking more on the differences between Michael Scott and David Brent. Michael Scott does an impression of Hitler to "entertain" the new temp. In the original series, Brent does an impression of John Cleese doing Basil Fawlty doing an impression of Hitler, which is obviously a very different thing.
Yes, it is a very different thing.
Posted by Tarrsk (Member # 332) on :
I still like the show, but at this point it's little more than a pale imitation of the brilliance that was season 2. "The Office" used to be a character-driven dramedy that rejected sitcom standards at every opportunity. Its jokes weren't slapstick, but rather witty wordplay and mining the ridiculousness and awkwardness of everyday life in a blue-collar working environment.
Over the course of the past two and a half seasons, the show has become increasingly "sitcommy" - the characters are increasingly defined by one or two personality quirks, the plots are bigger-budget, and the jokes come more quickly. For example, Dwight getting upset because his coworkers don't take the threat of a fire seriously is a plot point that could have worked in any season of the show. However, Dwight deciding to commit arson and locking everyone in, and the subsequent crazy hijinks that ensue, would not have occurred in seasons 1 or 2. It's simply not within the realm of believability that such a thing could happen in a small mid-Atlantic paper company without everyone involved being fired and/or arrested. Not to mention that if anyone in the office would care about the criminality of arson, it should be Volunteer Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Schrute.
The characters' personalities also used to be more subtle and multifaceted. Michael was a buffoon of a boss from the beginning, but he was a believable one. It was clear in the earlier seasons that he was an excellent salesman who had simply been promoted to a position for which he was ill-suited. His gregarious nature worked great on potential clients, but comes off as grating to his subordinates. In addition, Michael was never the smartest guy at Dunder Mifflin, but neither was he a complete idiot. Over the past two seasons, he's degraded into a complete moron who apparently doesn't understand elementary school mathematics.
All of which is a long-winded way to say: I agree with scifibum that the post-Super Bowl episode alternated between funny and terrible. I liked the Pam's father subplot (although it wrapped up a little too quickly and cleanly). I loved Andy's reactions to Jim and Pam's "movie reviews," especially the very last moment when he walks by Pam's talking head. I thought the roast was great, particularly Angela's and Oscar's diatribes, and Michael's counter-roast both funny and sweet. I did not enjoy the opening fire sequence, the shoehorned-in celebrity cameos, Dwight going all "Silence of the Lambs" on the practice dummy, or the over-long Stanley's stress beeper joke.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Vadon: ... Five Offices.
IRC, they are British, American, French, German, and French-Canadian.
Edit:
Oh, after checking Wikipedia, it looks like there's a sixth. Chilean.
Dag, yo. This thing's like a disease!
Posted by Armoth (Member # 4752) on :
Yeah. The Jack Black stuff didn't feel like it was the Office to me.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
The fire sequence WAS a little much, and almost in bad taste.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Thanks Tarrsk, you said it very well.
The British version, while I never thought it was funnier than the US version (which might be due to my not being able to understand some of the dialect), has a sort of purity born of its brevity.* Each joke was exploited to just the right degree. And they stopped when it was still good, which is very difficult for a lot of shows. For instance, The Cosby Show, one of the best sitcoms of all time, was on at least two or three seasons too long. Olivia was cute but she couldn't carry a show.
US version already on the downslide. I think it's great entertainment, and nowhere near bad enough not to be watchable, but the "annoyed" and "entertained" lines on the graph are approaching each other.
Let me just add that for the show to depict the very realistic consequence of setting a fire in the office - being called up by corporate to answer for your crimes - and then for Dwight to keep his job...just...pissed me off. Of course, they've done the fired/quit-lull-return cycle like a bajillion times already, but I'd have preferred that to the blatant nonsense of leaving that meeting without a pink slip. (And that fire scene...it couldn't just be about the fire, they were throwing in every gag they could think of. Cats and cheeto-theft and acrobatic accountants; it would only feel right if it was set to music.)
*But, knowing that Ricky Gervais is complicit in the US and other versions, it is acquiring a slight but increasing taint.
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