Why I Dislike The Office

A lot of people have asked me over the last year what my beef is with a popular NBC comedy called "The Office." Everyone on God's green earth knows what this show is, and half of them watch it, so I won't explain it's plots or characters. I will instead give numbered reasons as to why it lost it's magic (to me) after the third season.

#1: Jim and Pam turned out to be a pretty chemistry-free couple. All throughout the fourth season we were supposed to see their relationship bloom, but it kind of just fizzled. I was a huge PB & J supporter way back when, but, like The X-Files and countless other shows before them, the payoff wasn't as grand as was hoped. For instance, while the "Run for Rabies" episode was rather clever, it proved Jim and Pam to be a ho-hum couple with no real connection. This happened again in the episode involving their overnight visit to Dwight's farm. It became a little more believable after the engagement, but that fourth season stench still hangs over their pretty little heads.

#2: Dwight went from quirky to insufferable in a flash. Think about it: He's not much fun unless he has people around to react to his insanity. Yet how do most of the characters act towards him? Cruelly, to say the least. It's not as if Dwight has the Andy-complex, which is to say that he's not a self-aware asshole. He doesn't realize, half the time, that he's being douchey, and he has a genuine personality defect. This type of person can only be funny for so long.

#3: One dimensional characters become extremely boring. Pretty much all of the supporting cast is hilarious in those first few seasons. But, soon after, they turned into predictable stereotypes that bring the show to new lows. Oh, okay, Angela's the religious ice queen. Oh, yeah, Kelly's the talkative air-head. Oh, RIGHT, Ryan is the dillhole who is actually the most annoying character on the show! All of this adds up to being tired and trite.

#4: Michael turns into a monster. Late in the fourth season, our "hero" goes out on a blind date with Pam's landlord. It was a scene that was disgusting, fowl, and incredibly unfunny. After that, I couldn't even root for this man anymore. When he found Holly, the joy I was supposed to feel sizzled and was replaced by seething hatred. That is not a good way to build a character.

In conclusion, I just feel like the writers of this hit show think on an episode-by-episode basis. They never consider the over-arching story, they introduce funny-at-first, annoying-after-a-while characters who never seem to go away, and they have no idea what a normal human being is like. This 'snapshot' of American office life is becoming more and more faded, and should really end so that 'Parks and Recreation' can come back sooner.