Office Rules
The Office is back (and I with it, from a highly enjoyable vacation period), after a lovely cliffhanger moment last season, which has changed everything while keeping many if not most things the same.
After almost 30 episodes of hilarity, the Office has one certain rule:
"Be as awkward as possible."
And with a manager like Michael, it seems like there's no limit to the over-the-top awkwardness he can bring to the table. It seems physically impossible to explode with laughter from the gut while cringing so hard that it feels you're trying to hide in your own intestines, but the writing and acting (and directing!) crew of this fantastic series seem to manage it over and over again. You have to see it for yourself to believe it.
I do have to wonder if the series can be as funny for newcomers as it is for those who've been watching since the beginning though. Thanks to the antics that have gone before, a certain rapport with and fondness for the various office employees has been created which enables the loyal viewer to appreciate the revelations and reveilles in this season opener more than someone who's tuning in for the first time. Nonetheless, even when taken as an entity completely on its own, there are bound to be several guffaws expelled by even the most self-controlling members of the audience.
What strikes me as interesting is that the (bleaker and meaner) British series which spawned this American offshoot only lasted a very short (yet widely hailed as classic) 2 seasons, around 13 episodes total, while this version is getting a lot more mileage out og the potential the characters are blessed with. I am sure we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "background" characters (compared to the way Michael, Jim, Pam and Dwight are in the foreground, at least) like Stanley, Kelly, Meredith, Phillys, Creed, and so on. Through every laughter-filled moment, these characters become real people far more than one-note gags and jokes.
I would never have thought, for instance, that I could come to care about Angela as much as I do. She is not at all the type of person I'd enjoy spending my time with, but it's little things like her apology to Kevin for being mean (because she doesn't mean to be) in the excellent webisodes on the Office website that make her an interesting and multi-faceted character. Of course her office fling with Dwight has propelled her into the spotlights, but she is defined by far more than that. Every single member of the cast is part of a greater whole, and together they are able to be more than the sum of their individual parts.
I am greatly impressed that the show isn't running out of steam yet and hope to see much more mayhem to come! The storyline involving Jim and Pam, for instance, is about as perfectly construed as can be for prolonged viewer "torture": make the audience want them to be together as much as they themselves want it, but keep yanking our collective chains. Will interest remain if these two ever wind up together? I personally am hooked on far more than just the two of them, but I do think a large percentage of the audience is intrigued by the soap opera aspect of the show involving them. For me Dwight and Angela are the couple to watch though: two misfits who have a genuinely sweet vibe going on between them. Acting at its best.
If you haven't watched the Office before, I implore you to give it a go. Alongside Arrested Development, it is one of the finest comedy series to ever appear on American (or European, but we don't get it yet, so long live the internet!) television. And I like a LOT of comedy series ;)
There, I finally wrote something again, I hope my honey is happy :p
(I know I am!)
After almost 30 episodes of hilarity, the Office has one certain rule:
"Be as awkward as possible."
And with a manager like Michael, it seems like there's no limit to the over-the-top awkwardness he can bring to the table. It seems physically impossible to explode with laughter from the gut while cringing so hard that it feels you're trying to hide in your own intestines, but the writing and acting (and directing!) crew of this fantastic series seem to manage it over and over again. You have to see it for yourself to believe it.
I do have to wonder if the series can be as funny for newcomers as it is for those who've been watching since the beginning though. Thanks to the antics that have gone before, a certain rapport with and fondness for the various office employees has been created which enables the loyal viewer to appreciate the revelations and reveilles in this season opener more than someone who's tuning in for the first time. Nonetheless, even when taken as an entity completely on its own, there are bound to be several guffaws expelled by even the most self-controlling members of the audience.
What strikes me as interesting is that the (bleaker and meaner) British series which spawned this American offshoot only lasted a very short (yet widely hailed as classic) 2 seasons, around 13 episodes total, while this version is getting a lot more mileage out og the potential the characters are blessed with. I am sure we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "background" characters (compared to the way Michael, Jim, Pam and Dwight are in the foreground, at least) like Stanley, Kelly, Meredith, Phillys, Creed, and so on. Through every laughter-filled moment, these characters become real people far more than one-note gags and jokes.
I would never have thought, for instance, that I could come to care about Angela as much as I do. She is not at all the type of person I'd enjoy spending my time with, but it's little things like her apology to Kevin for being mean (because she doesn't mean to be) in the excellent webisodes on the Office website that make her an interesting and multi-faceted character. Of course her office fling with Dwight has propelled her into the spotlights, but she is defined by far more than that. Every single member of the cast is part of a greater whole, and together they are able to be more than the sum of their individual parts.
I am greatly impressed that the show isn't running out of steam yet and hope to see much more mayhem to come! The storyline involving Jim and Pam, for instance, is about as perfectly construed as can be for prolonged viewer "torture": make the audience want them to be together as much as they themselves want it, but keep yanking our collective chains. Will interest remain if these two ever wind up together? I personally am hooked on far more than just the two of them, but I do think a large percentage of the audience is intrigued by the soap opera aspect of the show involving them. For me Dwight and Angela are the couple to watch though: two misfits who have a genuinely sweet vibe going on between them. Acting at its best.
If you haven't watched the Office before, I implore you to give it a go. Alongside Arrested Development, it is one of the finest comedy series to ever appear on American (or European, but we don't get it yet, so long live the internet!) television. And I like a LOT of comedy series ;)
There, I finally wrote something again, I hope my honey is happy :p
(I know I am!)
posted by Peter at 9:17 PM
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