Just before the holiday season arrived, I finally finished watching The Office, one of the most popular tv shows in recent years. This show dominated social media while it was still airing and still does in some ways. I am very disappointed in myself that it took this long for me to get into such an entertaining show. If you need more convincing, just know that I plan on re watching every single episode in the near future which I anticipate will be even more enjoyable.
The Office follows a team of average joes who work for the paper company Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Scranton branch is led by Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, who is undeniably a brilliant comic. He was nominated for 6 Emmys and 6 Golden Globe awards for his work on the show. Strangely enough, Carell only won a Golden Globe in 2005, and was only nominated from then on which is absurd in my opinion. As a whole, the show was nominated for 42 Emmy Awards, winning five times and 9 Golden Globe nominations. This significant recognition is well deserved and hopefully convinces anyone to get into the show like I did.
From an objective standpoint, The Office has a very unique filming style and I consider it to be nothing short of genius. The episodes are filmed like a documentary where the employees do not try to ignore them or act as if they are not there like in most other shows. Instead, they go about their normal lives at work crunching numbers, selling paper, and trying not to fall asleep at their desks. This style is also known as "mockumentary" and the writers/producers perfectly implement it. This method was a great idea because it adds realism to the show and makes it feel genuine, unlike the majority of sitcoms which are generic and artificial. As real life events take place during filming, they are reflected in the show. For example, the recession of 2008 in which real estate and other markets crashed is mentioned on several occasions by Michael and his employees and affects what unfolds on screen.
The humor behind any production is always controversial because of its subjective nature. However, I am confident that anybody interested in The Office will be pleasantly surprised by how funny a show about a paper company is. Steve Carell portrays a hilarious boss who millions of viewers at home wished they worked for and seems very unqualified for an upper management position. The best salesman in the office is Dwight Schrute (played by Rainn Wilson) who has no concept of social etiquette or normality and it's entertaining to watch his awkwardness. The other main characters are Jim and Pam, played by John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer who have an office romance that captivates viewers and will make you very anxious to see develop. The Office is filled with provocative jokes about race, sexual harassment, alcoholism, and dark humor in general but never actually comes off as offensive. This type of humor is right up my alley and complements the narrative of a mundane workplace flawlessly. If you have never seen this show or watched it in its entirety, you are absolutely missing out.
Here is a kid friendly clip for school excluding anything racy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA89H8CgLTQ
Hello Luke,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great choice of a show as The Office is one of the best TV shows ever. I am currently watching the series and have not finished it yet but from what I have seen so far, I would say you are pretty accurate when describing it. I have yet to see another TV show that used that documentary style filming in which you really get to know your characters. That is unique to "The Office" and while it is a good tactic to use, I disagree with you that it may not always be good. When some people see that they may not like the way it develops the characters. In all other shows the characters are developed through their actions and their dialogue while interacting with other characters. This usually allows for characterization to take longer to develop and longer to analyze a person's personality. In "The Office" we pretty much know everybody's personality and character through the first 2 or 3 episodes of the first season because the characters are talking to us as audience members directly. This allows the characters to talk directly to us which allows us to understand them better. As for the rest of your review, I would say it's spot on. Overall, you did a good job on this review and this was one of the better reviews I've read all year.