Looking forward to the nine to five work week grind that is quickly approaching after graduation in May? Looking forward to the endless hours that may or may not be spent in a tiny cubicle behind a computer? Me too, but there’s something that is shedding light on this unavoidable misfortune and that my friends is the new hit television show The Office. Based on a series of the same name produced in Great Britain, The Office follows the everyday lives of employees working for a paper supply company, Dunder Mifflin Inc, in good ole’ Scranton, Pennsylvania. The show is set up as a mock documentary, catching each awkward interaction that takes place within the work place. With no running laugh track the show feels as if it’s some horrible reality show gone bad. Regional manager, Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell (40-Year-Old Virgin) heads the company and could not be hated more by his staff. He is the type of boss we have all experienced once maybe twice, the boss who insists that they are the “cool” and “funny” boss while attempting to give their own spin on corporate rules, yea that guy. Then there’s always the butt kissing worker who praises everything thing said by so- called “funny” “cool” (more like neurotic) boss. That worker is Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson (Six Feet Under), who of course is equally hated by the rest of the staff. Then there is Dwight’s nemesis Jim played by John Krasinski (Jarhead) and the apathetic receptionist, Pam played by Jenna Fischer.
The situational comedy stemming from Michael’s absurd and ridiculous antics concerning work ethic proves to be part of the reason why this show has become so successful. An example of his absurdity can be seen in an episode where Michael attempts to infiltrate his own diversity program within the office. The program begins with a training video that features Michael giving the memorable quote, “Abraham Lincoln once said that ‘If you’re a racist, I will attack you with the North.’ And those are the kinds of goals that I carry with me in the workplace.” Needless to say the diversity program did not go over well with the rest of the staff.
The success of the show earned three nominations at the recent Golden Globes, with one win for Steve Carrell in the Best Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical) category. The show has also been hit on the web with episodes downloadable through the Apple Itunes site. The recent merger between NBC and Apple in December made this feature available for Ipod owners propelling the show further as a cult success.
The recent success of such shows as The Office and Arrested Development, on Fox, shows the trend in sitcom writing that is drifting more towards clever fast paced humor reminiscent of the days of Seinfeld. If you would like to check out an episode of The Office it airs every Thursday at 9:30 PM on NBC, you can also read Dwight’s Blog of the weekly interactions happening at Dunder Mifflin Inc. at http://blogs.nbc.com/office/. It’s something most definitely worth checking out.