I’m honestly not familiar enough with it all to really know if I’m criticizing the right thing.
But over the years people have insisted that this show called the office is one of the wittiest, most clever shows ever
I watched a little bit to try to see what the hype was, and my feeling inside was that it wasn’t far removed from the type of humor that edgy teenagers think is grand. Lots of being provocative and inappropriate which is I guess… Funny? Hehehe gay. Hehehe race. Hehehe inappropriate office sexual conduct. Am I really that far off?
I can’t completely tar and feather it, there was some clearly humorous situations, but overall I just thought it was wayyyyy overblown.
And the parts that I saw that were supposed to be the funniest, according to my friends anyways, really just turned me off. I think one of them had people at a office mixer and the game was that they were supposed to have a word written on a paper, taped to their forehead which they couldn’t see. Then another partygoer would have them try to say the word.
The whole humorous premise was that you were supposed to delight at how awkward it would be for someone to say the word ‘Asian’ in an office party, and watch the actress squirm and have the camera bobbing emphasize how uncomfortable we should all feel. Let’s purposely extend this scene to create some delightful tension as to whether this social protocol will be breached!
Like it’s not funny it’s just like saying “Hitler” as a kid and delighting that it will upset the adults. That’s what it felt like to me anyways.
Your image of the show is pretty distorted, it’s not at all some edgy middle schooler show. The humor is (generally) in how much of a dumbass Michael (the boss) is and how much he ruins situations trying too hard to be funny, and the witty jokes are generally well performed one liners by Jim (John Krasinski) or malapropisms by Michael, like “I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious” or “his cap was all pitated!”
The show repeatedly makes fun of Michael’s prejudice, too, like how he feels superior to the warehouse guys despite having the same education as them and not even earning that much more. It isn’t edgy to make fun of the stereotypical middle-aged white male boss being insensitive
The show is what you said, some clever witty writing, peppered with way too much “omg let’s all squirm at how inappropriate this is and how close we get up to the line teehee”
It would be like a great comedian who writes the world’s cleverest jokes then adds in a fart joke every second line. The whole thing is spoiled, I don’t want to hear the fart jokes I don’t need to, they’re horrible. That is a simile for my experience watching the office.
Yeah, The Office hasn’t really aged well, but it is what kick-started so many of those actors’ careers. Like Steve Carrell, John Krasinski, Ed Helms, Rainn Wilson, etc. I think that’s part of why so many people like it. That and nostalgia.
I will say Parks & Rec is probably way better in terms of how characters are, and their growth. Like Aubrey Plaza starts out as an annoying bitch but as the show progresses, she learns to be more open about her feelings and such.
Parks is just more americanized, it isn’t “better”. Later seasons of The Office look and feel much more like it, as the writers pandered more and more to mainstream audiences
I’m honestly not familiar enough with it all to really know if I’m criticizing the right thing.
But over the years people have insisted that this show called the office is one of the wittiest, most clever shows ever
I watched a little bit to try to see what the hype was, and my feeling inside was that it wasn’t far removed from the type of humor that edgy teenagers think is grand. Lots of being provocative and inappropriate which is I guess… Funny? Hehehe gay. Hehehe race. Hehehe inappropriate office sexual conduct. Am I really that far off?
I can’t completely tar and feather it, there was some clearly humorous situations, but overall I just thought it was wayyyyy overblown.
And the parts that I saw that were supposed to be the funniest, according to my friends anyways, really just turned me off. I think one of them had people at a office mixer and the game was that they were supposed to have a word written on a paper, taped to their forehead which they couldn’t see. Then another partygoer would have them try to say the word.
The whole humorous premise was that you were supposed to delight at how awkward it would be for someone to say the word ‘Asian’ in an office party, and watch the actress squirm and have the camera bobbing emphasize how uncomfortable we should all feel. Let’s purposely extend this scene to create some delightful tension as to whether this social protocol will be breached!
Like it’s not funny it’s just like saying “Hitler” as a kid and delighting that it will upset the adults. That’s what it felt like to me anyways.
This was the show that taught me cringe-inducing humor is not at all for me.
Oh hell you just teleported me back to Reddit like 20 years ago with that term! Yes, cringe, that was it! And that was not for me!
Your image of the show is pretty distorted, it’s not at all some edgy middle schooler show. The humor is (generally) in how much of a dumbass Michael (the boss) is and how much he ruins situations trying too hard to be funny, and the witty jokes are generally well performed one liners by Jim (John Krasinski) or malapropisms by Michael, like “I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious” or “his cap was all pitated!”
The show repeatedly makes fun of Michael’s prejudice, too, like how he feels superior to the warehouse guys despite having the same education as them and not even earning that much more. It isn’t edgy to make fun of the stereotypical middle-aged white male boss being insensitive
No I think it’s bang on.
The show is what you said, some clever witty writing, peppered with way too much “omg let’s all squirm at how inappropriate this is and how close we get up to the line teehee”
It would be like a great comedian who writes the world’s cleverest jokes then adds in a fart joke every second line. The whole thing is spoiled, I don’t want to hear the fart jokes I don’t need to, they’re horrible. That is a simile for my experience watching the office.
Yeah, The Office hasn’t really aged well, but it is what kick-started so many of those actors’ careers. Like Steve Carrell, John Krasinski, Ed Helms, Rainn Wilson, etc. I think that’s part of why so many people like it. That and nostalgia.
I will say Parks & Rec is probably way better in terms of how characters are, and their growth. Like Aubrey Plaza starts out as an annoying bitch but as the show progresses, she learns to be more open about her feelings and such.
Parks is just more americanized, it isn’t “better”. Later seasons of The Office look and feel much more like it, as the writers pandered more and more to mainstream audiences