tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post2752215228514164383..comments2024-03-14T04:07:39.792-07:00Comments on Earl Pomerantz: Just Thinking...: "Why I Like 'The Office', But Never Watch It"Earl Pomerantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963705121297866334noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-46802128288677786502010-09-14T12:10:05.046-07:002010-09-14T12:10:05.046-07:00When I watched the UK version at first I thought &...When I watched the UK version at first I thought 'why am I watching horrible people being miserable, and miserable people being horrible for fun?', but when you start looking at the minutiae the redeeming features of the characters come out. Perhaps it was easier to stick with it, when a full series was just six episodes, and the story lines had to resolve in six weeks, and the momentum meant it didn't feel entirely that you were trapped with them for six months with just the constantly whirring photocopier to break the feeling you were watching personal humiliation for entertainment purposes.Nealnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-16201445571309694932010-09-13T21:32:11.672-07:002010-09-13T21:32:11.672-07:00It's not sad Earl. It's just the rest of ...It's not sad Earl. It's just the rest of us. Mostly I think it just <i>is</i>. About the level of drama many of sort of hope for -- because when it's more, it's also usually bad. Like when you catch a glimpse in the mirror and have a flashback wondering if you actually once thought Michael's was occasionally the way to go.<br /><br />Off and on, The Office opening seemed to remind me of the opening of a relatively short-lived 3 camera sitcom called Grand that I thought I remembered was set in a small Pennsylvania town (which in my mind, illogical as it may be, is still anyplace not Philadelphia). I kept guessing Altoona, because I’d been to Altoona and the opening shots seemed kind of “hilly-bricky,” like the quick shots of Scranton. The kind of opening that made you think you might once had grown up in a place like that – and you were pretty sure that wasn't Vegas. It was months of this before I was finally able to remember the name of the town was…wait, it’ll come to me, uh…Grand. <br /> <br />It was one of those less hurried ensemble shows, a lot less in your face, that you knew you liked, but could hardly remember another thing about it. Except there was a Modern Familyish extended family, patriarched by the wonderful and seemingly omnipresent John Randolph. I seemed to remember a company town, with the family owning a piano factory sort of Dunder Mifflining itself into Chapter 7. (Gee, another clue to the name, ya think?) And then you could remember other things about it that it turns out really weren’t about it after all.<br /><br />Today’s post finally goosed me over to YouTube, where I realized I had been conflating the two, but not entirely. For one thing, Grand’s opening had lyrics. In one the cast apparently sang those right there in front of you. From what I just read, it was intended as a parody of the big family Dallas/Dynasty soaps of the day – but “old” money and lack thereof. And it also had Bonnie Hunt, and Michael McKean, and Sara Rue. Who knew? Anyway, if Grand also got you where at least you thought you lived,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6rzlHT7Bg" rel="nofollow">Here’s the opening.</a><br /><br />And <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2zmXgBU0Vs&feature=related" rel="nofollow">here’s the cast singing it.</a>A. Buck Shortnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-45723949428779459732010-09-13T17:22:36.487-07:002010-09-13T17:22:36.487-07:00If you watch these episodes from the beginning, th...If you watch these episodes from the beginning, the thing that will make it all worthwhile is the payoff to the Jim and Pam storyline. Trust me.Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02670758977058825516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-15252140012493503342010-09-13T11:21:38.507-07:002010-09-13T11:21:38.507-07:00I wonder, when the multi-camera format exploded in...I wonder, when the multi-camera format exploded in popularity in the early '70s -- after a decade when single-camera sitcoms had almost completely dominated -- did writers feel a similar sense of liberation? I wouldn't be surprised. Any format can get stifling if it's over-used, and the rhythms of <i>Mary Tyler Moore</i> and <i>All in the Family</i> seemed like a breath of fresh air after the "canned" feeling of so many single-camera shows. I wouldn't be surprised either if multi-camera eventually returns to seeming as liberating as single-camera does now (after so many years when multi-camera ruled everything).<br /><br />I personally don't find <i>The Office</i> depressing, but I understand that people do (both the U.S. version and the original British version). I had the same reaction to a show called <i>Party Down</i> -- sort of like <i>Taxi</i> except single-camera, low-budget and realistic -- which everyone I know adored, but which I found so bleak and cringe-y that I could almost never laugh at it.<br /><br />The thing that keeps <i>The Office</i> from depressing me is that there's usually a sense of hope or emotional connection snuck into the show somewhere -- not hit-you-over-the-head morals like on <i>Modern Family</i>, but just a sense that the characters aren't as depressed as we might think. Certainly audiences latched onto the Jim/Pam relationship as a way of finding hope on the show, which is one of the reasons it's been successful -- unlike <i>Arrested Development</i> which (while it also had heavy-handed moral lessons at the end of some episodes) never really convinced the audience that anyone on the show had a good relationship.Jaime J. Weinmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15128500411119962998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-592154888783829842010-09-13T07:43:28.966-07:002010-09-13T07:43:28.966-07:00That's funny that you cite as hilarious the on...That's funny that you cite as hilarious the one moment in the series that, at the time, Office aficionados cited as the moment they feared the series had jumped the shark.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com