I've always wondered to myself, "how did The Office transform from an Emmy-winning, great comedic show to what it is today?" The other people I watch the show with have also wondered the same thing, and have felt that the past seasons of the show have lacked.
I believe I have actually figured it out.
Also, I'm not looking at the fact that the behind-the-scenes people completely changed between seasons 4 and 5. I think it's pretty common knowledge to most "Office" fans that showrunners/creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the genius hivemind behind much of the show, left after Season 4 to begin developing their own show, "Parks & Recreation," which has taken the similar format of "The Office" and used it in a better way over the past 3-4 years. After their departure, the quality of the show has dropped, and "Parks & Recreation" has become not only one of the best shows on television, but one of my personal favorites and a show that doesn't have a bad episode, just varying degrees of good.
I've loved "The Office" for years, owning seasons 1 through 5 on DVD, and it is my belief that seasons 6 and 7 and not worthy of being bought. They're that bad. I hate that a show I used to love has become such a chore to watch every week.
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Let me begin:
1. ) The first problem with "The Office" is that the show hasn't challenged itself.
Seasons 2-4 each had plotlines that progressed: we were able to watch the relationship between Jim and Pam grow to what it is today, through much difficulty and hardship; we were able to witness Michael Scott struggle his way through being manager along with the sexual tension of his superior, Jan Levinson-Gould, as well as gain the respect of his employees; we also got to see the relationship between Michael's complete subordinate, Dwight, and his secret lover, Angela, grow and fall; also, we got to rise Ryan Howard's meteoric rise as temp to salesman to executive to convict to bowling alley employee to salesman to whatever he does today (which I'm really unsure of).
Instead, "The Office" began taking it easy in season 5. Gone were the overarching storylines that created conflict with not only humor, but drama that pulled your heartstrings (Jim/Pam's relationship through season 4/Michael and Jan/Ryan's rise and fall). Instead, the only thing that's been left up in the air and forced us to stay tuned is the departure of Michael Scott in season 7 (which I'll address later) and the growing relationship of Andy and Erin, which has been in limbo for the past 2 seasons. Not the same at all.
The show has instead created small storylines that last a few weeks, or are single-episode. The dramatic tension that makes viewers clock in every week has disappeared, as we know what's going to happen: there's going to be a boss that makes a mistake and has to deal with it. Everything is neatly dealt with by the end of episode, and we know this. For some shows, like "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," this format works. However, after what "The Office" created in its formative years, this is just a bad idea. Imagine if "Lost" suddenly began to abandon arching stories and began to create single episode mysteries on the island... viewers would lose focus and begin not caring. This is what "The Office" has done and the viewers have stopped watching (there are far less viewers now than there were in it's Emmy-winning days).
2.) The characters have become complete caricatures of themselves.
People enjoyed watching "The Office" because it's a show set in a workplace environment that strikes a chord with the people watching. We all see people on the show that remind us of someone we know, and not only because of the way the character portrays themselves, but because of the little quirks that seasons 1-4 (and possibly 5) showed us. For example: Kevin, at the start of the show, was the guy who talked and processed things a little slowly, but also had an addictive gambling problem. One of the early episodes was the entire Office continuously betting on small things, such as how many M&Ms were in a jar.
However, those small character quirks have all but disappeared. Kevin no longer has a bad gambling problem, except for when the show needs to remind us that it happened. They don't show us these quirks anymore, but rather explain them to us in "talking head" segments where the characters speak directly to the camera. This same problem occurred in the Star Wars prequels, when the characters Obi-Wan and Anakin are supposed to be best friends and confidantes, yet we only ever see them bitch at each other. How do we know they're best friends? Because we're told, and not shown. There's no direct-correlation when the viewer is told something, as opposed to being able to watch something happen.
Kevin, as my current example, started off as the guy who talked slowly. Now he's become full-on mentally retarded. Stanley, once the cranky crosswords puzzle guy, has instead become the quirky black guy. Andy, the colorful salesman with a anger management issues and a creepy streak, has become Michael Scott 2.0. Angela, the stuck-up Christian accountant, has become outgoing and happy, a character trait that she was never associated with years ago. Pam, for crying out loud, used to be timid and her hilarious came out of breaking out of that passiveness; now, she's constantly outgoing, which makes her character growth null, and frankly, makes us care about her character less.
3.) The show refuses to move on.
The show has become stuck in a rut. The show seemingly addresses one plot point a year, and refuses to move from it. Meanwhile, this isn't a season-arching plot point, but something that happens suddenly and doesn't create changes for the show, but promises it. Season 5 brought us the Michael Scott Paper Company, which could have changed the show for the better and for always, but instead created drama and resolved it within a few episodes. Season 6 brought us not only Jim and Pam's wedding, but also the birth of their child. Were these plots strung out to create tension? No, each was presented and solved within an episode each.
However, season 7 brought something interesting: the departure of the star of the show, Michael Scott. Finally, "The Office" would have to change! Michael Scott left, and the show spent a majority of the season building up Michael leaving, which actually brought some change to the dynamic of the show, and a plethora of guest stars (Will Arnett, Jim Carrey, James Spader, Ray Ramano, etc.) lined up in the season finale to take a crack at heading the show themselves. But instead of resolving it in that episode, and giving us a summer to guesstimate how the show would fare with a new boss, they left it hanging and gave us the dramatic promotion of...
Andy Bernard? That guy? Really? They promoted the least-productive member of the actual office to the manager position, and not based on job performance. On the show, Andy Bernard is the most similar to Michael Scott's, but easily the worst salesman, which, you'd think, would automatically disqualify him. However, with the growing star of Ed Helms, the actor who plays him, they made him the head of the show, and created Michael Scott 2.0. This completely eliminated all of Andy Bernard's previous quirks, including his anger management issues, which haven't been addressed in seasons, and made him the exact clone of Michael Scott.
Instead of creating a new dynamic with the show, and hiring a boss that could change the show for the better, they used a character to fill the hole their star had left... and he became the EXACT SAME CHARACTER in the process. Gone are Andy's quirks and character flaws, instead replaced by the same single episode drama that plagued Michael Scott over the past 3 years. This brings me to my next point.
4.) All of the character flaws are gone.
Almost every flaw the characters had in season 1-5 has all but disappeared, instead replaced by one-liners and situational comedy that fills up the half hour of the show. Instead of showing Pam as a timid receptionist who struggles with her self-identity and confidence, we're shown her as a perfect person who can do no wrong. Ryan, who seemingly should have had to deal with the aftermath of his abuse of power as an executive for the company, instead tinkers away in an office doing God-knows-what. Dwight, who was once a stickler for power and obedience, instead embraces his macho-tough-guy (which was shown only in glimpses in seasons 1-5) ALL of the time, and forgets that he once was a character with some pretty glaring flaws that made his character human.
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I do need to say, that I have hope that "The Office" will return to its former glory. But with the current plotlines, stories, and characters being thrown out, I seriously doubt it. I'll double my efforts in watching "Parks & Recreation," a show which really does deserve it, and stay hopeful that "The Office" can make me laugh for an entire episode again (something that hasn't happened since season 4).
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