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[Tschumi]

Now, The Office has given us a lot of great gifs, and through them I have built a general understanding of a few of the characters in the series, but now that I've finally got around to watching the thing I have found the treasure trove of charming features that so many of you guys have clearly loved for years now, and I love it too! Buttt I'm also kinda worried that I came to the series a tad late. Wanna know more? Come inside...

First thing's first. Jim and Pam.

Spoiler

​

Wow, from the first episode I've been sitting slack-jawed grinning at their interactions. I'm like most of the way through the third season now and their 'will they won't they' schtick is getting the slightest bit tiresome, but the ride up until this point has been pretty lovely. The actors have incredible chemistry, the writing is top notch, Dwight is a fantastic foil for the whole thing... Yeah, this relationship makes the show - and I imagine I'm not alone in feeling that way.

It's not all positive though, as I just mentioned I don't think there was any particularly good reason for Jim to not just get all up in Pam the moment he moved back to Scranton, so this half season or so he's been with the cute-but-not-pam not-Pam girl has been annoying filler to me, and Pam getting back together with big warehouse oaf is just pushing those goalposts back again and I'm kinda starting to resent it. Edit: That get-back-together thing only lasted like an episode so I'm happy. I just want them to get together, and have their chemically perfect relationship bubbling along through the rest of the series. I know that won't happen.

Second thing's second. Michael.

​

I think I've come to the series a wee bit too late, after a few too many other series, to be totally ready to deal with Michael's proclivity to live with a his foot in his mouth. It's just too much for me to really love it. I find the best moments of Michael are when he's actually displaying that he's learning something - when he say something thoughtful, when he says sorry for being an idiot, times like that. I hope his character keeps growing because if he remains a total basket case to the same extent that he's been to date it's going to get old, like Pam and Jim's relationship is starting to get in late series 3. Despite my complaints he has offered up maybe 60% of the cool moments/grins in the series that Jim and Pam haven't been responsible for.

I've definitely developed the regard for Steve Carrell's acting chops, and I think he's a pretty good looking dude at that, but yeah the character he's playing is not working for me.

Third thing's third. The rest of the office.

​

I'm grouping in Dwight with the rest of them because, yeah, he seems to funciton best when held up against the backdrop of his peers. Dwight is a hilarious sendup of a common perosnality trope (to be honest, he is like 'what would happen if a particularly self absorbed NeoGaf/forum poster acted like they do on message boards in real life?' to a T, he's like 'hipster dufus' Kramer meets Dungeons and Dragons) and I like his intense little affair with Blondie. I think the writing on this show is fantastic so all the other characters are pretty on point, Creed pisses me off but he occasionally lands a bit that is really funny in a Grandpa Simpson kinda way.

Fourth Thing's Fourth, my thoughts on the show as I continue to watch it​

I'll be honest, it's got to the point where I'm fast forwarding through Michael's clearly cringeworthy moments. I didn't see too many of the key plot points of the Merideth's wedding episode, for instance. I have a feeling that I might stop watching this show in the next season or two if Jim and Pam really expect me to wait until season 6 for them to finally get it together. So to speak.

I guess new characters will come in, I guess Michael will keep growing which would be appreciated, I suspect cute-but-not-Pam girl will be out of the show by the end of this season (3), if she's not then I hope something drastic happens to rejig her schtick. I don't want to think about Pam and warehouse guy because it's just starting to get annoying at this point.

Thanks for reading I'll update my thoughts as I go along.

ps. in other news, I've been watching Gundam, too, but I stopped doing it to build a gunpla and I watched The Office during the gunpla build and I'm going to finish/burn out on The Office before I get back to 0079.

How funny is it that my very first gunpla was selected because I liked the box and it turns out to just be a solid gold gunpla with next to no stickers/decals/detailing

 

[haxan7]

I threw up in my mouth a little reading your diarrhea about Michael.

 

[Tschumi]

I threw up in my mouth a little reading your diarrhea about Michael.

I should have added that despite my complaints he has offered up maybe 60% of the cool moments/grins in the series that Jim and Pam haven't been responsible for.

... I will add that.

EDIT:

Moments like this are the payoffs that counterbalance his idiocy enough for me to like him

 

[dorkimoe]

Top 5 or 10 if we’re mixing genres. I watch it once a year, I’m just waiting for the woke crowd to come for season 2, it’s filthy by todays standards.

 

[Tschumi]

Top 5 or 10 if we’re mixing genres. I watch it once a year, I’m just waiting for the woke crowd to come for season 2, it’s filthy by todays standards.

I dunno about that but I was just thinking the other day that Scrubs has surely gone from freethinking trailblazer to painfully archaic show in the eyes of some people in the last decade that "guy love" song is an inadvertent train wreck in hindsight

 

[bitbydeath]

You don’t like Michael and you don’t like Creed?

Spoiler

It’s probably my second favourite sitcom, behind Malcolm in the Middle.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Spoiler

Pam is fucking lame. Jim should have stayed with Karen.

 

[Tschumi]

You don’t like Michael and you don’t like Creed?

Spoiler

It’s probably my second favourite sitcom, behind Malcolm in the Middle.

I like Michael okayyy jeez, i just prefer it when he's breaking character and being decent to when he's shoving his foot in his mouth for cringe points is all

 

[Corgi1985]

The show is fucking awful. Jim is a smug asshole and I guess Michael is funny because he yells and is dumb?

 

[Tschumi]

The show is fucking awful. Jim is a smug asshole and I guess Michael is funny because he yells and is dumb?

I'm sorry i know this is left field but this is exactly what dwight would write (if he was pissed at Michael)

 

[NinjaBoiX]

It’s brilliant for about 80% of its run, but it gets pretty bad once Nelly becomes a big part of the show. I can’t stand Catherine Tate.

The show is fucking awful. Jim is a smug asshole and I guess Michael is funny because he yells and is dumb?

 

[haxan7]

Moments like this are the payoffs that counterbalance his idiocy enough for me to like him

Some have said that Michael's character gaining the extra dimension you described is what sets the show apart from the UK version and is what made it last.

The Jim and Pam schtick is great the first time through the show and it gets cringier the more times you watch it. On my last time through I looked away or fast forwarded most of the Jim/Pam romance plot development parts.

 

[Corgi1985]

I'm sorry i know this is left field but this is exactly what dwight would write (if he was pissed at Michael)

To the show's credit, I didn't want to kill myself until andy showed up

 

[Corgi1985]

Parks and rec does everything better. Why torture yourself with garbage when a similar show is actually funny? It's like choosing friends over Seinfeld.

 

[haxan7]

C Corgi1985 every time I've seen you in threads lately, it's been overtly hostile for no apparent reason other than you didn't like what was being discussed. Might I suggest a chill pill.

 

[Tschumi]

Some have said that Michael's character gaining the extra dimension you described is what sets the show apart from the UK version and is what made it last.

The Jim and Pam schtick is great the first time through the show and it gets cringier the more times you watch it. On my last time through I looked away or fast forwarded most of the Jim/Pam romance plot development parts.

I have been thinking about that actually, like "did the uk show have a hugely high chemistry pair of actors? I should check it out just in case" but now I know

I probably won't rewatch it, I don't often do that, I can like only do that with Frasier and West Wing, and a few others every 5 years or so like Seinfeld, because so much else goes on, so yeah I'm just gonna enjoy the ride on this one.

To the show's credit, I didn't want to kill myself until andy showed up

Is that the stanford dwight? Yeah i hate him too, pretty hard... guess that means he did a good acting job

Parks and rec does everything better. Why torture yourself with garbage when a similar show is actually funny? It's like choosing friends over Seinfeld.

I'm sure it's good, I also enjoyed a few episodes of silicone valley... like 5

edit. ps i know i quoted you twice may it lie on YOUR HEAD

 

[haxan7]

I have been thinking about that actually, like "did the uk show have a hugely high chemistry pair of actors? I should check it out just in case" but now I know

It's not necessarily the chemistry of the actors I'm talking about (although that's there). In the UK version Michael is just played up as an irredeemable cunt the whole time. Michael in the US version is a lot more relatable / human (despite acting like an irredeemable cunt most of the time anyway).

At least that's one perspective I've heard ... it's not necessarily my own or something I agree with 100%.

 

[Tschumi]

It's not necessarily the chemistry of the actors I'm talking about (although that's there). In the UK version Michael is just played up as an irredeemable cunt the whole time. Michael in the US version is a lot more relatable / human (despite acting like an irredeemable cunt most of the time anyway).

i gotta level with u, i was buying a second hand pair of wireless earbuds when i was writing that post and i got my wires crossed, nevertheless i had also mused about gervais' character developing and yeah i'm not surprised he didn't have the same growth curve because gervais' RL comic personality is as unchanging as the great fucking pyramid lol

 

[haxan7]

i gotta level with u, i was buying a second hand pair of wireless earbuds when i was writing that post and i got my wires crossed, nevertheless i had also mused about gervais' character developing and yeah i'm not surprised he didn't have the same growth curve because gervais' RL comic personality is as unchanging as the great fucking pyramid lol

i hope you get all the earwax off those bad boys before jamming them in your ear holes

 

[Tschumi]

i hope you get all the earwax off those bad boys before jamming them in your ear holes

ikr but it's japan so they like meticulously clean the shit out of everything in these second hand stores, there is a bunch of fluff from alcoholic wipes on them tho

 

[GymWolf]

I fucking hated both jim and the chick at the beginning for some reason.

I just felt bad for his previous boyfriend.

 

[Star-Lord]

I just felt bad for his previous boyfriend.

Roy was an absolute dick. He was uncommitted to the marriage that Pam desperately wanted, and he was slightly controlling and holding Pam back. Jim offered Pam everything Roy couldn’t.

 

[GymWolf]

Roy was an absolute dick. He was uncommitted to the marriage that Pam desperately wanted, and he was slightly controlling and holding Pam back. Jim offered Pam everything Roy couldn’t.

She was in love with jim since the first episode cmon, she really didn't gave a fuck about the marriage, she was just lying to herself, just tell the dude that is over instead of keeping him in the limbo, she acted like a bitch.

And jim always striked me as a smug asshole tbh.


I didn't watched the whole thing tho, i got bored around season 3.

Parks is the superior serial, except the first season.

 

[Star-Lord]

She was in love with jim since the first episode cmon, she really didn't gave a fuck about the marriage, she was just lying to herself, just tell the dude that is over instead of keeping him in the limbo, she acted like a bitch.

I think she did love Roy, but got tired of waiting around for a wedding that was never going to happen. She had effectively put her life on hold for the guy, and all he did was dangle the carrot in front of her. Of course she’d feel she could do better, and did so in the form of Jim. Agreed, he comes across as a smug prick at times, but he also has sincere moments too.

And I agree about Parks, too. The first season was struggling to find its feet, but it picks itself up in S2 and went on to be freaking awesome. I’m assuming you’ve heard the theory about The Office and Parks sharing the same universe?

 

[GymWolf]

I think she did love Roy, but got tired of waiting around for a wedding that was never going to happen. She had effectively put her life on hold for the guy, and all he did was dangle the carrot in front of her. Of course she’d feel she could do better, and did so in the form of Jim. Agreed, he comes across as a smug prick at times, but he also has sincere moments too.

And I agree about Parks, too. The first season was struggling to find its feet, but it picks itself up in S2 and went on to be freaking awesome. I’m assuming you’ve heard the theory about The Office and Parks sharing the same universe?

Yeah i know about the theory...

 

[Star-Lord]

Yeah i know about the theory...

What do you think about it? There’s all manner of speculation about characters dating each other. Kevin and Donna was one I could see being true.

 

[AV]

Easy top 10 but I couldn't tell you the order on that 10.

 

[GymWolf]

What do you think about it? There’s all manner of speculation about characters dating each other. Kevin and Donna was one I could see being true.

I didn't watched the entire show and onestly didn't cared enough to search for connections.

 

[DKehoe]

It's not necessarily the chemistry of the actors I'm talking about (although that's there). In the UK version Michael is just played up as an irredeemable cunt the whole time. Michael in the US version is a lot more relatable / human (despite acting like an irredeemable cunt most of the time anyway).

At least that's one perspective I've heard ... it's not necessarily my own or something I agree with 100%.

I remember seeing Stephen Fry making the point that in US comedy the main characters are people you laugh with whereas in the UK you typically laugh at them.



So Michael is a bit of a weirdo but we root for him and he often comes out on top

Spoiler

like Michael starting up his own company and that actually going well for him.

Whereas Brent gets shat on by life

Spoiler

like him begging to not be made redundant. And unlike Michael, when he leaves the company things don't go well for him.

He's someone we do feel a degree of sympathy for. I wouldn't say he's irredeemable in the way that someone like Finchy is.

In a similar way Jim is pretty much always the coolest guy in the room who is in on the joke with the audience. Whereas Tim is a loser who has found himself in a dead-end job he hates but is too scared to quit and move out of his comfort zone.

 

[RavenSan]

The show is good. I watched it when it first aired, and have probably now seen every episode at least twice (as folks around me just have it on as background noise quite often)

I voted top 10, but if it's there, it's somewhere between 8-10. I would probably rate it higher, but my main gripe was basically everything after Steve Carrel left. The show should have ended. There is nothing redeeming past him leaving. Just wait until you get to the cameraman-flirts-with-pam season (if you do). It's fucking awful.

 

[Tschumi]

S Star-Lord GymWolf I just wanna give my take, it's not particularly valid, I just get the idea that she probably agreed to stick with Roy when they graduated from highschool, he proposed a few years later then he was too immature and innatentive and she slowly realised she had been a bit hasty, and pretty naturally started getting interested in others - in this case, the dude with whom she had killer chemistry.

I mean, you can judge her i guess, but by my book people that age are allowed to make mistakes and change their minds on things - i was with one girl from age 19-24 or something, then we realized it was a mistake and ended... that kicked off a helluva rollercoaster for me lol but i don't hold it against her~

So, yeah, it's a tv show, but getting pissed at mid-20s people for changing their mind is like teh pointless

 

[Star-Lord]

I mean, you can judge her i guess, but by my book people that age are allowed to make mistakes and change their minds on things - i was with one girl from age 19-24 or something, then we realized it was a mistake and ended... that kicked off a helluva rollercoaster for me lol but i don't hold it against her~

So, yeah, it's a TV show, but getting pissed at mid-20s people for changing their mind is like pointless.

I completely agree with you, and am pro-Pam in the Roy/Jim situation. As you said, both her and Jim are in their mid-twenties to late-twenties, and are still at that point in life where you're allowed to make mistakes. In the end, Roy went on to marry someone else and become a successful business owner, so it all worked out nicely for him. The alternative was to end up marrying Pam and carry on living life miserably as a warehouse worker at Dunder Mifflin, married to a woman who didn't really appreciate him, and vice-versa.

 

[RJMacready73]

As a huge fan of the original UK version i viewed this as the usual crass yankified remake that the networks shite out that have no resemblance to the original and are dumbed down to cater to the Oooooo shiney crowd... boy was i fucking wrong, as much as i love the UK version i gotta say this is right up there with it and then some, i had some genuine doubled over belly laughs and heartfelt moments with the US series, top top show

 

[BadBurger]

I was really late to this show too. I saw my first episode around 2015 or so. It was funny, but wasn't as hilarious or endearing to me as it is to most others. I guess one just had to be there from the start.

 

[Prison Mike]

I watch the office so much they even gave me a part in it , was only brief in the conference room.

 

[Tschumi]

I watch the office so much they even gave me a part in it , was only brief in the conference room.

i think it was in da block, not the conference room, and i personally was scared straight

 

[Prison Mike]

i think it was in da block, not the conference room, and i personally was scared straight

Well if I've helped just one person then it was worth it,watch out for the dementors.

 

[SJRB]

I just can't deal with "awkward" or cringe-style humor.

 

[Tschumi]

okay so jim and pam got together and then like an episode later it was over so you know this show is holding onto me by its fingernails atm

(that's an exaggeration but yeah, I dunno maybe I pulled the LTTP trigger too soon because all i've got in my head is seasons without michael and catherine tate and pam's lame lol)

 

[Prison Mike]

I just can't deal with "awkward" or cringe-style humor.

 

[dorkimoe]

I dunno about that but I was just thinking the other day that Scrubs has surely gone from freethinking trailblazer to painfully archaic show in the eyes of some people in the last decade that "guy love" song is an inadvertent train wreck in hindsight

They already came for the diversity day episode, it was pulled

 

[AJUMP23]

No episode of TV was harder for me to watch than Scott's Tots. I felt bad for those unfulfilled promises.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Unfortunately I thought parks and rec was better, the wisdom about the office is how the show is so much better with michael, sure it wasn’t the same with him but for the most part the pieces that make the office great were still there.

 

[Amory]

It's one of those near-perfect sitcoms. Not every story arc is amazing, but the characters & writing are consistently great and the show is just so damn watchable.

Top 3 for me, for sure.

 

[Tg89]

Not a fan, too many straight up annoying characters and the good characters (Stanley, Creed, Oscar) don't get enough use...Dwight being the exception.

 

[Pejo]

It was an absolutely great show until Carell left. Then it was a middling comedy.

 

[bitbydeath]

Unfortunately I thought parks and rec was better, the wisdom about the office is how the show is so much better with michael, sure it wasn’t the same with him but for the most part the pieces that make the office great were still there.

It was alright, would have been better as a comedy though.

 

[Prison Mike]

Unfortunately I thought parks and rec was better, the wisdom about the office is how the show is so much better with michael, sure it wasn’t the same with him but for the most part the pieces that make the office great were still there.

 

[Rival]

Only the first few seasons are good. It becomes mostly unwatchable shortly after Jim and Pam get married.

 

[Mossybrew]

I watched the first few seasons when it initially aired. It was passable entertainment, worth watching but I never found it anything special. At some point my interest drifted away and never even watched the last four or five seasons.

Yeah I found Parks & Rec significantly more entertaining.