Smackie the Frog

I mentioned back in my post about 30 Rock that the office has been letting me down lately. Well, after finally catching up on all of the episodes that I missed due to not caring and being busy I have come to an even more forceful conclusion. The Office is finished. Over. Dead. Past it’s prime.

Let me explain, because clearly it isn’t dead in the same way that Arrested Development is dead. Although, I think it would have been better off if it were. Sure, they are still making new episodes, but those new episodes have lost something. I think it is possible to argue that what they have lost is “humor”, but there is more to it than that.

The first 3 seasons of the show were amazing. They were funny, and clever, and sweet too. But the show was doomed from the start. It was doomed before it was even started. And that is because it was based on a British show that only lasted for about 15 episodes. And those 15 episodes centered on a romance between two people who work in an office, and their crazy coworkers and lunatic boss. But the key is that it only lasted about 15 episodes.

Now take the American one. They have been forced to drag this whole Jim and Pam thing out way longer than it is possible to. But they have also focused on it too much. So we have a situation where the focus of the show has worn out it’s welcome, but also the zaniness of the office has been lost in place of this weird romantic “dramady”. And then they decided to try to throw in all of these other weird romance “things”, and it has just ruined the whole feel of the show.

On top of it, the characters themselves have become bland. Michael really isn’t that zany or bad of a boss anymore, Dwight isn’t that creepy, Jim and Pam aren’t cute. They are all just sorta the same. And that isn’t fun or funny.

So back to Arrested Development. I believe that Arrested Development ended before it’s time. But having seen what is slowly happening to The Office, which I can best describe as a long slow death to unfunny hell, I’m not so sad. Maybe show’s don’t need to last for years and years here. Maybe it is okay to tell a story really well, and then end it.

If I were in charge, this is what would happen. The last episode of the Office would be the post Superbowl 1 hour special. Jim and Pam could get married, other crazy shit could happen. Michael would fail at something spectacularly. Whatever. It almost doesn’t matter. But then it would end. The credits would roll, and the show would be over. Is there anything wrong with that?