For some time now, I've been bemoaning the lack of decent sit-coms on the air. The Simpsons
is still consistently funny, but it's also been on the air for twenty
years. A couple months ago, I would have said that the only recent
sit-coms that really tickle my funny bone are Everybody Hates Chris and Flight of the Conchords,
neither of which is on one of the major networks. Happily, I've now
found another sit-com that is genuinely funny. I've been aware of The Office
ever since it came out, but the snatches I caught of it didn't reel me
in, and I wasn't so sure a corporate comedy was my kind of show. But my
brother received the first four seasons on DVD for Christmas, so
immersion was inevitable. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
The Office
was originally a Brit-com, and like most, it had short seasons. I don't
know if the mere six episodes in the American version are an
intentional reflection of that or if the show just happened to start
when the season was almost over, but it makes getting through the first
season incredibly easy. I watched all six episodes in one sitting; it
only takes about two hours, closer to three if you watch all of the
deleted scenes (which I recommend). It's the perfect way to plunge into
the show, and the DVD doesn't cost any more than a typical movie.
The Office
follows the day to day business of the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of
a paper company called Dunder Mifflin. Mostly, it's funny business;
rarely do we see these people actually working. My first impression of The Office was that it mirrors the comic strip Dilbert,
with a bunch of people stuck in meaningless jobs who, on the rare
occasion that they actually have an opportunity to accomplish something,
are invariably thwarted by their brainless boss. Cult classic Office Space also comes to mind. What I didn't expect was that I would find myself drawing comparisons to my all-time favorite sit-com, M*A*S*H.
In M*A*S*H,
the residents of the 4077th use laughter as a means of dealing with the
horrors of war. Their problem is not a lack of purpose; they do
incredibly important work but wish they didn't have to. In The Office,
laughter combats utter tedium, which can, in its own way, be almost as
soul-crushing as a war zone. Both shows poke fun at corporate red tape; I
even have a Valentine's Day card which has company clerk Radar saying,
"I have the forms to order the forms to apply to be your Valentine."
Forms are always flying around at Dunder Mifflin, and usually they seem
pretty ridiculous.
What's even more ridiculous, however, is
the way boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) reacts to them. He goes to
absurd lengths to avoid them, and it falls to his underlings to force
him to pay attention to these mind-numbing tasks. Michael reminds me
very much of Colonel Henry Blake, the leader of the 4077th during the
show's early years, which tended to be more silly than somber. While
Blake is a perfectly competent surgeon, he's pretty hopeless as a
leader, and his laid-back attitude makes it all the easier for
troublemakers like Hawkeye and Trapper to pull the wool over his eyes as
they engage in their shenanigans. Like him, Michael has enough skill in
one particular area - sales - that his rise to management doesn't seem
wholly implausible. He is a kind, decent man who is so determined to
have his employees' friendship that he has a hard time commanding their
respect. Unlike the colonel, he's always undermining his branch's
productivity by interrupting his workers with pointless activities and
awkward attempts at humor. Michael, as likable as he is, has an
astonishing lack of understanding when it comes to appropriate conduct
and terminology, and he has a habit of offending the very people to whom
he tries to endear himself. He's more off-the-wall than Colonel Blake,
the sort of guy who seems too ludicrous to be real, but Carell has the
comedic chops to keep us laughing our heads off instead spending all of
our time wondering why this guy is still in charge.
Just as M*A*S*H has Hawkeye and Trapper serving as the resident practical jokers, The Office
has salesman Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and receptionist Pam Beesly
(Jenna Fischer), who are practically inseparable during this season and
always cooking up new schemes with which to aggravate Dwight Schrute
(Rainn Wilson), whose rigid, antagonistic streak is reminiscent of
weasely Frank, Hawkeye's preferred target. Dwight, like Frank, aspires
to a loftier position and is always trying to assign more power to his
role than he has actually been given. His quirks are even more bizarre
than Michael's, and Wilson's deadpan delivery of consistently outlandish
lines makes Dwight the character most likely to cause me to squirt milk
out of my nose.
These four are the most important characters
in an office full of unique individuals. There's Angela Martin (Angela
Kinsey), whose uptight attempts to exert control over her fellow
office-dwellers recall Margaret Houlihan. The comparison is even more
striking in the second season when she embarks upon a covert
relationship with Dwight. Wunderkind temp Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak),
like boyish Radar, is more competent than his boss - though he's nowhere
near as lovable as Radar is. Sturdy saleslady Phyllis Lapin (Phyllis
Smith), like the Chinese-Hawaiian Nurse Kellye, is a quiet positive
force in the office, a kind woman who's always there but rarely gets
noticed. I could probably continue, but you get the idea.
Do I think The Office consciously borrows from M*A*S*H?
Probably not. But if this mockumentary, which develops its characters
as often through their asides to the camera as through the scenes
carrying the action (a device M*A*S*H uses on occasion), inspires such reflections from me, it's because I find it worthy of the comparison. I should have given The Office a shot sooner. Now, if I could just convince Alan Alda to put in a guest appearance...
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