Well, it has happened. I have no idea how far behind in The
Office I am and sadly… I can’t honestly say I care.
I should probably start this post over.
I love The Office. I love the characters and the stories.
The only sitcom that I can put above it in terms of the LPE (number of laughs
per episode) and “re-watchability” is Seinfeld. That being said, this season is
doing very little in the way of making me laugh. I knew it would be different
when Michael Scott left, but I didn’t think it would be THIS different.
The comedy of the office isn’t really much of a part of The
Office anymore. They have been slipping away from that for a while, and it
never bothered me too much before. Now though, it seems there is no office
related humor at all and I have a hard time remembering what happened last week
and what was funny by the end of the episode. It’s time to face it; Michael
Scott was the nucleus of The Office, and I can’t see it coming back for another
season. Well, I can’t see ME coming back for another season. They will likely
do one more, just to make sure that pony is good and dead. All this pains me to say because I love every member of the cast. I have to say, however, that Andy has
gotten way too pathetic over the last two seasons, especially this year. When
he first came on board the show, I really liked him and thought he was funny.
It almost seems like the writers, (who I love by the way) are trying to
re-write scripts they originally meant for Michael, but with Andy instead. The
only problem is that Ed can’t pull it off for some reason. Steve could win even
while he lost. Somehow, he always turned the day around and even made himself
believe it was all okay.
I really like Robert California, and the rest of the cast is
great as always. I liked Pam and Jim better before, but I can’t put my finger
on why, yet. (It will come to me.) Angela, Kelli, and Ryan are all awesome. Dwight just floats around from
one extreme to the other and has been losing ground for me for a while as well. The rest are there like always, but Andy just can’t do it. When he loses, he acts like a loser. They try to help him (the whole tattoo thing
for example) but he still comes off as just pathetic. Michael loses and yet comes
up with a clear reason to explain that he won.
I miss Michael, and it has become clear to
me that Michael Scott was holding it all together. That is another facet of
Steve Carell’s genius as Michael Scott. You couldn’t tell that he was keeping
it all together and making it all work.
So I will continue to watch because I do love them, but I only
laugh once or twice through the whole show and by the end of it, I can only
think, I really miss Michael. I don't think I can handle another season of it though.
