The Office : Not Just Another Comedy Show.
Ever wondered why the office has so many fans despite of it being so cringey and annoying at numerous times?
The US version of the office is one of the most popular and loved sit-coms in the world. Created by Michael Schur and starring Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and many other legendary characters playing one of the hilarious scenes in the history of television. It is no secret that it gives a tough competition to Friends, which is considered as the most popular television show ever made, but what are the qualities that distinguish The Office from ‘Friends’ and any other sitcom that when its contract ended with Netflix on new year in US, viewers went crazy and flooded the platform with requests, letters, mails and even threats?
The thing about the office that attracts me the most as a viewer is the fact that the comedy in this show is based on how you interpret its jokes. There are instances in the show which are cringe worthy for me but my friends laugh hysterically watching them and vice versa. This is because of the fact that the comedy in this show is not spoon-fed. A research shows that there were 121 jokes in a single episode of Friends comparing to The office which had 165! and ‘Friends’ have 5 minutes of each episode wasted on the fake laughs coming from the background. can you believe it? 5 minutes!! In a 20 minutes show!!!
Another important thing about The Office is its type filming. When it was released, the type of comedy shows airing on US televison were like Friends. All of them. Like you know, The 70s show, Seinfield and so many others. The Office brought a new type of comedy. Yes! that cringey and annoying comedy. The show is a mockumentary, characters breaking the fourth wall, talking to the camera directly. The idea is to tell the viewers that these characters know you are watching them and are not attempting to make you laugh. They are weird, they are raw and they are just doing what they do on a regular basis, living their life like normal people, it is you- who finds it hilarious. Sometimes, they find it wierd too. Like when Jim looks to the camera during the scenes (with his signature look), he implies that “I know what my employees are doing is insane and idiotic but I’m stuck here the same way as you are”. Honestly, what a fantastic way to engage the audeience! They don’t crack jokes to make you laugh, they are just putting forward their point of views, which are sometimes problematic too. As Steve Carell said and I qoute “ The Office wouldn’t have worked today as the climate’s different.”
The show’s stellar cast is the most interesting part of the show. The show would not be half as legendary as it happens to be, if not for the cast of the show. Contribution of Steve Carell as Michael is legendary closely followed by Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute. This cast gave the most hilarious scenes and meme worthy content, before meme was even a thing along with some legendary dialogues like: “That’s what she said” and “beers, beets, battlestargallactica”
Supported by the crackling chemistry of Jim and Pam (John and Fischer) and weird characters like Angela, Oscar and Kelly, played by Kinsey, Nunez and Kaling respectively, these characters gave the writers the freedom to develop them and the rest is history. These characters are not ride or die friends but they are not just co workers. Even though, The Office is not ‘Friends’ , nor does it attempts to be, still the characters’ camaraderie with each other is emotional and adorable. Whether its Jim- Dwight, Jim- Pam, Dwight- Michael or even Pam- Dwight. Their chemistry stuck with the show and developed with time so even when Steve’s Michael left the show, the show survived and remained a huge hit (well that’s debatable).
The most significant part of the show for me was that it was not a huge and massive hit right from the beginning. It’s important to note that the audience did not reacted positively to this interesting take on sitcoms and the show received a lot of criticism when its first season aired but it was the popularity of Steve Carell, after his movie “40 year old Virgin”, which made the creators revive it for a second season. A fresh take on comedy, then, made the viewers love The Office but nobody would have guessed then that this show will become so popular among the millenials and gen z and will be seen at almost every other social media. The Office was revolutionary, to say the least, paving a way for a whole new type of television shows like ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘Modern Family’.
