The BoormanBlog

There I said it. Sorry, but I just don’t find it funny. I’ve watched several episodes now, and I don’t find anything funny about it. It seems like writers have mistaken “uncomfortably awkward” for “funny”. Seriously, isn’t that what this show specializes in? Why do people find this entertaining? When I see this stuff, it makes me feel uncomfortable. Am I over-analyzing this? Do people enjoy feeling awkward, or do they just enjoy watching others feel uncomfortable?

Want to write your own episode of The Office? Here’s how:

Step 1: Have the boss, whoever he is (Michael?), say or doing something to make himself look foolish
Step 2: Have someone else deadpan stare into the camera as it closes in on a tight shot of them.

That’s it.

Or for a more advanced “joke”, try this.

Step 1: Have Michael say or doing something to make himself look foolish
Step 2: Have someone else call him on it.
Step 3: Michael smiles desperately into the camera as it closes in on a tight shot of him.

Don’t forget the final step!
Repeat every ten minutes, five if it’s sweeps.

Besides the repetitive and unfunny jokes, I can’t stand the characters. They’re all weirdos. Folks I used to live in East Hartford. I used to take the bus around downtown Hartford. You think I want to come home and watch more weirdos? Pass. Between Michael and Dwight, and every other character whose name I haven’t bothered to learn, there’s very little to like about the people your watching on TV? People like this?

Say what you want about Friends, all 6 of them were pretty likable. Yeah, Ross was annoying at times, but nowhere near the Defcon-1 level of Dwight’s psychosis. I have no hard data on this, but I’d be willing to bet a lot of Office fans are former Seinfeld fans. I never liked that show either, for pretty much the same reasons.

I mean, dang. The whole “mockumentary” thing has been done to death, and more often than not, done badly. If you want mockumentary done right, start with “This Is Spinal Tap” and end with “A Mighty Wind”. Include nothing in between. These two movies are absolutely hilarious.

End Transmission

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 7:33 am and is filed under Rants and rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.