TEN - Questions

The Office has a spin-off set to premier following the superbowl in 09. This raises a bunch of questions, mainly will it be a faux documentary like The Office? If so, isn’t that a bit strange? The argument stems from some problems I have with the current Office, now in it’s fourth season. Here is my list of grievances;

- How many years does this documentary team plan on shooting the daily life of the office workers? After 4 seasons I would think season one of the doc would be airing by now, which probably isn’t the case since no one has been fired from Dunder-Mifflin as a result of the content. Right?

- Is it just me, or has this show gone from fairly realistic to completely off the wall? Let’s look at a few key characters;

o Michael Scott – at first he was a good Ricky Gervais (as David Brent) type, and it actually seemed like Steve Carell was acting slightly outside of his normal range of characters. As the series progressed, Michael Scott lost touch with the origins of the show and became just another typical Steve Carell character. He has moved from blissfully ignorant to WAYYY over-the-top, which the norm for a Carell character. Here is an example of how overboard the character has become. In Scott’s movie review of “Defending Your Life”, he questions how they actually filmed this movie in Judgment City, which is a holding area before heaven. The early Michael Scott would know how to separate movie magic from real life. Instead, they have turned him into a 5 year old child. Don’t get me started on him “declaring bankruptcy”. Pure silliness. And, that whole GPS thing… no way.

o Dwight Shrute – while one of the most entertaining characters in the show, he also seems to get farther from reality each season. Too many examples to list, as nearly every time he opens his mouth something outrageous comes out.

o Creed – give me a break, this guy takes it way overboard. On the show he is out there, but on "www.creedthoughts.gov.www\creedthoughts”, he crosses the line with nearly every word.

o Kelly – Like Homer Simpson, she seems to get stupider each season. She has now seemingly regressed to a pre-teen brat.

o Jim – Come on, no one is that perfect all the time. The man is flawless. He always does the right thing and is disgustingly charming at all times. He (along with Pam) seems the most realistic on the show, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone close to this in real life.

I defended this show during the first 2, and even some of the third seasons. I said things like “it’s not supposed to be like the UK version”, and “its equally funny, just in different ways”. Gervais always knew when to pull the plug. 2 seasons and that’s it. He then rewarded fans with a special when it was all over, providing the perfect amount of a great show. Leave it to NBC to run this thing into the ground and force the writers to run out of what made it funny, instead adding over the top zaniness. Regardless, yes I will probably watch it until the end, as it still is a funny show, just not funny in the way it set out to be.

Now as far as this spin-off goes, I think it will be more Joey than Frasier.