NAME: The Office
SPECS: TV Series, TV-14, 2005-2013, Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, BJ Novak
SUMMARY: Office workers grapple with the ordinary drudgeries of their profession under the incompetent management of Mr. Michael Scott.
OVERALL RATING: G
MATURITY LEVEL: Made for TV so language is beeped out and there is nothing visually graphic, but still packs in a substantial amount of mature content.
WHAT I’VE BEEN STRUCK/MOVED BY: Rewatches. Just like everyone else. And while it’s certainly a mixed bag to have seen swaths of this show so many times, I do think that the way it holds up to rewatches points to a truly well made piece of art. As with a classic novel where more reveals itself every time you return to it, the aggressive ordinariness and the characters who populate Dunder Mifflin reveal their beauty and loveableness with time. The first time through I watched almost exclusively for Jim and Pam, which, to be fair, hold up their end of the bargain. But on rewatches I found that the almost-unbearable Michael Scott became so much more sympathetic and even loveable. I found that, for me, cringe comedy becomes much funnier on rewatches when I am, so to speak, safe i.e. know what’s coming. And the overall redemptive arc of an ordinary group of people is the most well made and moving tv show arc that I have yet seen.
If you’re interested in what makes this often-used-for-ambience tv show a great work of art, I would highly recommend this podcast. It’s hosted by Brian Baumgardner who played Kevin, he interviews actors, writers, directors etc. and is overall asking why this show has become such a cultural phenomenon and household staple. The last episode of the podcast made me cry. Some of the answers proposed were somewhat meh, but some of them were genuinely beautiful - and I found it to be an unexpected bolstering of hope to realize that there are some really good reasons why so many people watch this on repeat. And actually, the simplest answer to the question is the final line of the show:
THERE’S A LOT OF BEAUTY IN ORDINARY THINGS - ISN’T THAT KINDA THE POINT?
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