What did The Office mean to you?

For at least the first three seasons, I was a huge fan, thought it was about the best show on television.

But I thought it lost its way quickly after that (even when others were still loving it). The type of humor drifted from its satirical roots into over the top clown humor, the characters went from semi-believable and recognizable people to preposterous caricatures, etc. And I found that I simply no longer gave a shit about of Michael, Pam, Jim and Andy's love life. Eventually tuned out about a season or two ago.

As for the thread title, won't mean much to me. The syndication re-runs really don't catch my eye (whereas a Seinfeld re-run I've seen a dozen times can still draw me in). It'll just be one of those forgotten shows I once watched.

 

I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but I am truly shocked at how long people defended the show. Dwight became a total caricature. Ryan wasn't even the same character they began with. The humor became so broad, it might well have been "Two and a Half Men." It also became really driven by zany, unbelievable plots. Holding a pizza delivery guy hostage. Firing a gun in the office.

 

"Abraham Lincoln once said that if you're a racist, I will attack you with the North, and these are the principles I carry with me in the workplace." -- Michael Scott

Never fails to crack me up. That, and Michael's "bucket of boiling tears" monologue in Grief Counseling.

 

Haven't enjoyed it the last few seasons, but I'm enjoying it this season. Weird.

 

Completely agree. This is the same shit that drove me away. Eventually it wasn't even recognizable from the satire of office life that it began as. The basic underlying type of humor had changed, it had morphed into an entirely different kind of show.

 

I've never seen an entire episode. Most I've seen is the last 2-3 minutes when I was waiting for the show after it to come on.

What did it mean to me? Next to nothing.

 

To me the Office will mean the precursor to Parks and Rec and a show that got the chance to hang on way too long. I watched through season 4, and was wondering why I cared anymore. It took until seeing a lot of Parks and Rec to basically understand why I felt that way.

 

Season 1 was a show with great potential finding its way. The next couple were brilliant, but it wasn't the kind of show you could keep up for very long, which is part of the reason Gervais only did a couple of seasons of his version.

The next few seasons after that were funny, even if it wasn't as smart. After that it became much less funny, bad enough that my wife and I were just riding it out and might not if it was more than a 22-minute investment of time. On a given Thursday night when we watch The Office, Parks and Rec, Community and whatever sitcom is in season on FX, The Office is consistently the worst of the bunch.

It really seemed like after Schur and Daniels (and later Mindy Kaling and BJ Novac) began turning their attention more to other projects there wasn't much leadership among the writers and producers. Nobody was keeping the show going in a consistent direction. Andy could be a completely different character from week-to-week, but not even a real character, usually a retread of a character they'd already done. At one point he and Erin were supposed to be the new Jim and Pam. That didn't work so he became the new Roy. Sometimes it seemed like they just stuck him in the manager role because they had some leftover Michael Scott jokes they thought they could make work.

I quit rooting for Jim and Pam when Jim started dating Karen. He should have stuck with her.

 

The best part of The Office is that it had Creed Batten playing Creed Batten.

 

Creed Bratton.

A few of the ancillary characters use their real-life first names. Angela Martin is played by Angela Kinsey, Oscar Martinez by Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Vance by Phyllis Smith, Calvin the warehouse guy by Calvin Tenner.

 

Did technology help push this along? High quality cameras are much smaller and portable than what was used 15-20 years ago.

 

Upon reflection, I think that gun firing episode may've been the precise moment when I finally gave up on the show for good.

Dwight's quest for the manager's job had been a running storyline (and a good one) since the show began. Finally getting the chance should've been a big moment that they could've played out over several episodes in a very entertaining story arc.

But, no, that would've required too much thought. Instead they essentially played it as one cheap gag--having him suddenly get the job, strap on a holster (repeat, a friggin HOLSTER!), start waiving around a gun, fire a shot, lose the job--all in one utterly preposterous 22 minute episode. Such a wasted opportunity, such a clear indicator that the writers had permanently lost the path.

Might've caught an occasional episode, but I don't think I ever actively tried to watch it after that.