Tue, 8 December 2009
Meghan Keane blogged recently, saying: 'The Office' is the Most Depressing Show on Television.Here are some of the choice cuts from the lengthy essay. In the last two seasons, our hero Jim Halpert won the girl, got the big promotion and upgraded to a suit. These were all things fans were happy about. It was encouraging. But wanting romantic tension to be relieved is never as satisfying as the relief. All of Jim and Pam's witty asides and eyerolls in response to their officemates' antics have stopped being expressions of untapped potential and started to look like passive-aggressive attempts to undermine their peers—who are the only people who will socialize with them. Now Jim has developed into the most depressing archetype: a mediocre man who has already realized his full potential. Gone is Jim's charming lack of enthusiasm for his job. Now he's proving exactly where a lack of drive is likely to lead you—to the mediocrity of middle management, where one is gripped by the fear of losing whatever corner of inanity you've carved for yourself in the workplace. What do you think about this provocative premise? Is The Office truly depressing?
Category:general
-- posted at: 11:12pm EDT
Comments[4]
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What I found most accurate was one of the responses to the article. \"Jim and Pam have become assholes, and gone from the people you want to be friends with to the friends you realize are actually poisonous...I’m impressed with how incredibly true to life this seems\"
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I think the whole depressing/uplifting push-pull is a fundamental misunderstanding of what “The Office” has always been about: watching principally one character – on the BBC David Brent and here, of course, Michael Scott – and being able to experience a kind of professional schadenfreude: “I might be an asshole, but I’m not THAT much of an asshole.” When the character shows redeeming features, there’s the delicious conflict of feeling as though, “Wait a minute…I’m starting to root for this guy, who’s obviously so disagreeable in so many ways…” I think that exquisite craftsmanship is what makes The Office unique. Having said that, it’s a lot easier to maintain that feeling when you only have to provide six total hours of television, which is what the original BBC Office did; that’s right, between Season One, Two, and the Special, that’s all there was. That’s less than one season here in America. Maintaining that kind of tension with the same characters and situations over and over again…these are talented writers, but they aren’t magicians. I think part of the problem people might be having with Jim and Pam is that when you get to know people very well , unless they’re mentally deranged (hello, Creed) or otherwise unbalanced, they lose their charisma. As the first Queen Elizabeth said, “Beauty that is looked upon too long is looked away.” IF Jim/Pam have lost their appeal to you, look away. (Or you might not have to, depending on who leaves the show in the Spring…) A couple of specific points about Meghan’s very thought-provoking article: First, she says, “Wanting romantic tension to be relieved is never as satisfying as the relief.” Wha-a-a? Of course it is. It’s MORE satisfying. That’s why the lead-up to romance is always more interesting, the delightful ‘what might be…’ She also says, “Now Jim has developed into the most depressing archetype: a mediocre man who has already realized his full potential.” Hold on, Trigger. Because he’s taking a few weeks to learn the ropes doesn’t, I think,mean he’s reached his ‘full potential’ – maybe he’s still growing into it or maybe he’s just entirely wrong for it and maybe they’re just paving the way for Jim to leave the show in the Spring. In the meantime, I think the new relationship between Jim and Michael, where Jim is actually learning from someone he never respected, is very touching and artfully done. Meghan also comments that ‘Jim is back at home, making one of his underlings work in the supply closet….Throwing a wrench in the inane procedural drama of office life is funny when you have nothing to gain from it. But overabusing power—or a lack of it—is just sad.” Au contraire; I think Jim opening the can of whoopass on Ryan was well-justified and a long time coming. It was revenge, pure and simple and just as satisfying. What I think is missing from almost every analysis is that the writers must be mindful of the imminent departures from the show; some character(s) is/are leaving, and we’re being set up for it. I suppose that a closer reading of the trades than I do would cough up clues; Mindy Kaling e.g. is creating her own show so presumably Kelly’s a goner; who knows how much longer Steve Carrell will want to wear the two hats of movie and tv star; who knows what films John Krasinsky has signed to do; and so on. And regardless of what happens to the people we’ve come to know well, there’s plenty left to explore with the ones we don’t know; for instance, the Todd Packer character was much more central to the BBC show. I could go on.. whoops! I already have. I guess I’m saying I still love the office, I still wait with baited breath for the TWSS Podcast, I’m still in.
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This Meghan person gets a 1000 points for ably saying what I’ve been trying to express since at least “The Meeting.” Perhaps this state-of-affairs is a natural progression but Jim and Pam are sort of the villains now. Speaking of a guy who we’ve seen urinate in his pants at his mother’s wedding ceremony (just to give an stand-out example), I’ve never felt so bad for Michael than in “The Promotion.” Everything Mike said about Jim being presumptious, about how he’d gone over his head to secure a step-up, was true. Jim is a bright guy, and he’s imminently likeable but we’d never been given any indication that he’d make even a solid manager. In fact, not only have we seen him goof off for four years but on the few ocassions he was required to earn his extra pay as assistant regional manager, he bombed. Same goes for Pam. Again; lovely, bright woman with a ton of personality and pent-up gusto, but how exactly was she qualified to be a saleswoman? And what allows her to walk around with an air of superiority that has characterized her character in episodes this season? Toby may have been acting out of vindication when he sliced Jim with his bureaucratic scapel in that performance report, but he at least had the benefit of being deadly correct when he summed up Halper this way: “Not at all what he thinks he is.” So yes, the writer was spot-on about the character arcs of these two seminal characters. I’m still not sure I agree with the resultant path of her logic and her dramatic, “depressing” diagnosis; that it’s time to close up shop. “The Office”—along with “Mad Men” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (which may also be on the way out)—is the only thing I’ve got left on TV. All my other favorites—“West Wing,” “The Wire,” “Sex and the City,” and a couple others—are gone. It’s possible my desperate attachment clouds my judgment, but these last few episodes have been greatly amusing (despite raucous disapproval in some quarters) and I, for one, am looking forward to more.
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I don\'t know I think the article is overly harsh. I mean Jim has been a part of managment for what? Less than half the season... and all of a sudden his life is terrible? I don\'t know I think the article does point out some interesting ways the writers could make interesting storylines in the rest of season six. Jim could have to make the decision of becoming more responsible with a baby on the way and deciding if he wants to spend the rest of his life at dunder mifflin or not. I definetley think the show will end with Jim moving on from dunder mifflin though.
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