the office – The Concordian

Hear Me Out: What Makes A TV Show So Good, It Becomes Bad?

Do you ever wish your favourite TV show just had fewer seasons?

Last year, I finally decided to watch the infamous The Office because everyone around me told me I would like it and that I was missing out on an important cultural moment of the 2000s.

I also wanted in on all the inside jokes. I wanted to know who Prison Mike was and how everyone started saying “that’s what she said.”

I had already seen some of the comedy gold that was the fire drill and the first-aid class scenes. They made me laugh so much, I needed more of this.

In short, people were right. To this day, The Office is the first and only show that made me laugh out loud alone in my room.

I would pause the episode, rewind and get my mom to come because she HAD to see this.

Then, I started to get in the later seasons. It was okay, but I found myself laughing less and less.

What really cut it for me was the moment nobody wants to talk about: when Steve Carrell’s character Michael Scott left.

It was not the same show. It felt like a bad attempt at a reboot or parody. The characters started to act out of character and the storylines were just not as funny.

You’ve probably been the victim of this: your favourite TV show becoming so bad it’s unwatchable.

While I haven’t watched it myself, I’ve heard about the atrocity that Riverdale has become. But I won’t get into that here.

There are many theories I want to explore as to why our favourite TV shows flop after a while.

First, there is the main-character-leaving-the-show complex. Obviously, Michael Scott was the trigger to most of my bursts of laughter. So for me, his departure from the show was a big downfall.

The Office is not the only show victim of that. I also remember how That ’70s Show was struggling after its main character Eric Foreman was no longer there. It makes sense why the storylines were a bit all over the place when he left as he was the one holding all the other characters together. After all, it was in HIS basement that the group of friends would gather in.

The Office was also the victim of too many seasons. This is easily explainable by the sheer success of the first few seasons. We can, again, see this in other shows.

Grey’s Anatomy also found so much success that its producers are trying to milk it until there are no more medical scenarios they can come up with.

This phenomenon is even seen with shows that should only have one season like 13 Reasons Why and You. The former being based on a book that did not have sequels, and the latter which just abused the character of Joe Goldberg too much. Like, seriously, how many times can you actually get away with such sporadic murders and changes of identity?

Overall, TV shows that get a lot of momentum after their first season will now for sure get, according to fans, too many seasons.

It’s like producers are not able to leave a show on a good note and start a new project.

But, at the same time, fans would not be ready either. Even though they are the first to critique a show for dragging on for too long, they are the first that want to know if a new season is coming.

Do you remember a time when you just finished a well-acclaimed show and went on Google just to find an ending explanation, only to see “season 2” as the first suggestion next to the show’s title? Yeah, that’s why producers will never let go of an opportunity to make a new season.

In Hollywood, money talks.

In the end, TV shows with too many seasons just lose their direction, originality, and credible plotlines.

I think ultimately, when a TV show is so good, it is deemed to become bad because of the high expectations we now set for it.

I had hopes for Squid Games when the director was pretty clear that he hadn’t thought about the show having other seasons. But, it was announced in June through Netflix’s Twitter account that the record-breaking show will come back.

Let’s hope this one won’t be milking the idea of a sick and twisted money game too much.

Older television shows are often under fire for being tone deaf or insensitive.

Shining light on the boring and unacceptable jokes is important and this accountability is a crucial part of growing as a society. However, there is one show that I always find myself defending — The Office (the American version).

Have you heard of it?

I have read and heard a lot of criticism about this show and I find that often, these comments are missing the mark. Where the office differs from a lot of other sitcoms from the 90s and early 2000s is one thing — intention.

The intention of the office is to exaggerate workplace misconduct. Jaya Saxena, a writer for GQ says, “The butt of the joke is the sexist, racist fool of a boss, and if you are taking his jokes at face value, you don’t understand what’s going on.”

The show is exaggerated and often excruciatingly awkward, but at the end of the day it is a satire and social commentary about the struggles of an office dynamic. It addresses many of the problems that emerge from this hierarchy.

The documentary style of the show helps release a lot of the tension that is built up from the audience. For example, I cringe when Micheal makes inappropriate jokes towards Pam. He comments on her appearance and sexualizes her but she often looks to the camera to relieve the tension he creates. Her eye contact helps the audience empathize with her, rather than listen solely to Micheal’s comments. The fourth wall creates a relationship with the more relatable characters of the show, that in an odd way, hold Micheal’s absurd behaviour accountable.

This doesn’t mean that The Office isn’t hard to watch sometimes. It’s crude and not very sensitive when addressing deep societal injustices. In some ways, the #MeToo movement has been a catalyst for the harsh reaction and frustration surrounding this show. This movement and other similar ones have brought unified attention toward the issues of workplace harassment. This in no way means that these problems weren’t prevalent and invasive before, nor does it mean this is the first time they have been addressed. This speaks more to the recent shift of public consciousness. Although this is evident, Saxena says that The Office enables us to laugh at our own unhappiness.

“Its humour, and its problems, come from it being a situation most of us can’t avoid,” Saxena continues. “Most people have bosses and co-workers. Most people have been in a position where they have to decide between taking a stand and keeping their job.”

Writer Matt Melis from Consequence of Sound explains that if we take a closer look at The Office, we will notice that the characters behaviours are representing that of society.

Do you remember the episode in the third season where Phyllis gets flashed in the parking lot? Each character reacted more inappropriately than the next. At face value, this might seem like one big joke. Micheal alludes to how he thought this would happen to a more attractive woman like Pam. Angela shames her, Dwight blames her, Creed dismisses her and even Pam turns it into a joke. Melis explains that this episode does a “remarkable, if not entirely realistic, job of illustrating just how alone and unsupported a victim, male or female, might feel after that sort of terrible experience.”

Like any other sitcom, The Office isn’t perfect. I think criticism and discussion surrounding any show can be productive, especially when it’s political and satirical. This is the exciting thing about sharing opinions and learning about what is harmful.

When our beloved Monica is fat shamed in Friends, she is the butt of the joke. When Seinfield does a bit on suicide, these people are the ones being made fun of, not the health system. However, what sets The Office apart is that when Micheal does something ridiculous, we are supposed to criticize him, we are supposed to roll our eyes and cringe at the ridiculousness and reality of the situation.

I would recommend rewatching it with this lens. You just might be able to laugh at the unpleasant reality that is the power structures of a traditional and workplace dynamic — and you might not. There’s space for both.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

Do you ever wish your favourite TV show just had *fewer* seasons?

Older television shows are often under fire for being tone deaf or insensitive.

Do you ever wish your favourite TV show just had fewer seasons?