Is this where I'm supposed to post about how I stopped watching a popular show before it became popular to stop watching it? I have to maintain my street-cred.

Anyone who can still watch The Office regularly is a stronger person than I. The relative comedic value of each episode notwithstanding, it's an amazingly defeatist show displaying the growing stasis and decreasing faith in the American Dream by spending the first few seasons focusing squarely on Jim & Pam, the two exotic birds caged among largely soulless, one dimensional creatures that you hope get out and spread their wings elsewhere, get them together at last...and yet they stay working among the same characters, and increasingly become more irrelevant among the various story arcs as the seasons go on.

I can watch a recent episode and have a few laughs no problem. But f*ck me is it seriously depressing after awhile.

mrtoadswildride: Never said isn't wasn't reality...just sad. Jim has essentially become michael (the thing he hated)...at least Michael was oblivious to how pathetic his life was. Jim can see his youth slowly slipping away.

That's definitely a big part of it, but Jim's character has been essentially an afterthought the past few seasons, and if anything a more dedicated focus to him realizing he's becoming exactly what he wanted to avoid, and the resulting inner conflict, would be an interesting development.

Instead, by around Season 5 it becomes blatantly evident that there's no more youthful and adventurous mystique around Jim, and it just became a show around often poorly planned (although not necessarily "bad") new story arcs involving a cast that, since the writers didn't care to focus on them becoming more than mere caricatures in the first few seasons, it's hard to start giving a sh*t about any newfound depth in them now.

He's leaving the office to get a better secretary...

mrtoadswildride: El Morro: Give them the credit they deserve... The show is trying to stay fresh despite going 3 seasons longer than the show it was based on and losing a major character. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss.

Robert California is a great character. Sad to see him go. And I really hope Angela's baby is Dwight's. The idea of Dwight as a father figure can be a great setup for a lot of good jokes.

/Jim's hotel prank on Dwight was the best one yet

The show went WAY downhill after jim and pam got together...went into free fall after they bought a house...and landed on pavement when they had a baby.

The appeal of Jim character was that he was essentially Ferris Bueller after college. Young, care free, a prankster..the type guy who didn't care if he got fired (I think early on he mentions killing himself if he ever thought of dundler mifflin as a career)....You felt that the only reason he hung around was becuase of Pam and it was an easy job for some easy money with no responsibilites. He was just working becuase...why not? When he finally go tserious he was destined for greatness...(even if he stayed in Scranton)....After Jim and get together there is no reason to stay at a clearly dysfunctional job working for a dysfunctional boss and failing paper company.

Jim as a manager, with kids, and house, and a mortgage...it's watching the slow death of Ferris Bueller.


Yup, there is nothing relateable about a guy who gets stuck in a crappy job he'd never thought he's have while getting into his 30's, getting married, and having a family.

El Morro: Give them the credit they deserve... The show is trying to stay fresh despite going 3 seasons longer than the show it was based on and losing a major character. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss.

Robert California is a great character. Sad to see him go. And I really hope Angela's baby is Dwight's. The idea of Dwight as a father figure can be a great setup for a lot of good jokes.

/Jim's hotel prank on Dwight was the best one yet

The show went WAY downhill after jim and pam got together...went into free fall after they bought a house...and landed on pavement when they had a baby.

The appeal of Jim character was that he was essentially Ferris Bueller after college. Young, care free, a prankster..the type guy who didn't care if he got fired (I think early on he mentions killing himself if he ever thought of dundler mifflin as a career)....You felt that the only reason he hung around was becuase of Pam and it was an easy job for some easy money with no responsibilites. He was just working becuase...why not? When he finally go tserious he was destined for greatness...(even if he stayed in Scranton)....After Jim and get together there is no reason to stay at a clearly dysfunctional job working for a dysfunctional boss and failing paper company.

Jim as a manager, with kids, and house, and a mortgage...it's watching the slow death of Ferris Bueller.

Killer Cars: Anyone who can still watch The Office regularly is a stronger person than I. The relative comedic value of each episode notwithstanding, it's an amazingly defeatist show displaying the growing stasis and decreasing faith in the American Dream by spending the first few seasons focusing squarely on Jim & Pam, the two exotic birds caged among largely soulless, one dimensional creatures that you hope get out and spread their wings elsewhere, get them together at last...and yet they stay working among the same characters, and increasingly become more irrelevant among the various story arcs as the seasons go on.

I can watch a recent episode and have a few laughs no problem. But f*ck me is it seriously depressing after awhile.

Dude..I'm not sure it's the show.

The office should have ended with pam and jim getting married. Thats it. There was nothing more to show. stop forcing it.

That didn't take long. The Office will be gone in another season or two.

rikkards: Passive Aggressive Larry: I thought this was always going to be the plan, but when they started shooting with him they expanded the character's role because he had good chemistry with the cast.

I don't really care one way or another. I still like the show, it's good enough when it needs to be, but it's main function now is as an appetizer to the far superior Parks and Recreation. I don't care what order they air on TV, for me The Office is the warm-up act, and Parks and Rec is the highlight of the night, so I watch them in that order.

Make Office a pre-appetizer and Big Bang Theory the appetizer and I am the same. I prefer the Ron F-ing Swanson show over all

Please, I stopped watching parks and rec after two shows, it was that good. True I have no idea what's going on now, but I laugh my ass off every time I think about it.

Spader jumped aboard the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

This is a show i loved that has turned unwatchable.