By RACHEL BOLTON
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 15, 2011
Many of you love The Office. It’s a fantastic show that was a great adaption of a hilarious British series. We loved the way it was filmed and how the characters interacted with the “mockumentary” format. It’s been a good journey. But what I’m here to talk about today are all the reasons why the show should end now.
I know many of you are horrified at the very suggestion that I would want to end your favorite show. Don’t get me wrong. I love The Office. I have been a devoted fan for years, and I have seen all the episodes several times. I quote the characters and I own a Dwight T-Shirt.
However, all good things must come to an end. It’s not a good idea to overstay your welcome and The Office is dangerously close to doing so. You have to know when to quit. It takes a certain type of person (or show) to retire with grace and dignity. It’s time to say good bye to Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company and here are all my reasons why:
Number 1: I will start with the most obvious one: Michael is gone. Love him or hate him, Michael was the nexus of the show. Most of the episodes are about the other characters dealing with his stupidity. And now that he’s gone, there is a void. Without him, who does Dwight suck up too? Who’s going to make the workers dress in sumo suits to fight for his job? His personality is irreplaceable. Andy may be a good boss, but he’s not Michael Scott.
Number 2: Jim and Pam’s story is complete: We all loved the endearing romance of Jim and Pam and now we all have to admit that their story is done. They have had a first kiss, gone on a date, gotten engaged, married, and had a baby (babies). What more is there to see? They are now an average happy couple and will stay that way. I miss the old days of watching Jim trying to awkwardly flirt with an engaged Pam. Their relationship was done with sweet subtlety and we cheered them on. It felt natural. It wasn’t shoehorned in by the writers like the romance between Andy and Erin.
Number 3: Angela’s marriage, pregnancy, and the paternity of her baby: This one could get ugly. If the writers are going to complete this story arc, I wish them luck in doing so. It’s going to be hard to complete, without it turning into a homophobic mess. Angela’s husband and the supposed father of her baby is the (State) Senator. All the characters figured out that he is so far in the closet, that he’s in Narnia. They decided not to tell Angela and let her marry him anyway. Now that Angela is pregnant, it raises some unsettling questions. Is the Senator going to be outed? What will Angela do? Most of all, who’s the father? Writing savvy viewers will guess that Dwight is the real father. All these factors are a recipe for disaster and I believe that the writers have gotten in over their heads with this story. They should have ended it while it was still funny. I will be looking forward to (and dreading) the solution. I hope it’s well-written and funny, but I doubt it.
Number 4: Kevin: The personality of a character is expected to change as time progresses. Usually a character will become better written. This is not the case for the character of Kevin. He started out as the fat dope that doesn’t get it and this characterization was funny. Now, the writers are portraying him as a mentally challenged man and this is mean. Compare his current portrayal to when Holly thought he was mentally challenged. The writers used dramatic irony. We knew that he really wasn’t, so it was hilarious. But now the writers are writing him as if he really was and it’s not funny. This decay in characters brings me to my biggest and most important point(s).
Number 5: You’re not writing the new characters well: The biggest problem in rebooting a show is writing new characters. They can be a real challenge and The Office writers are, in my opinion, failing miserably. The new characters are annoying and not up to par with the older ones.
Gabe: He had a lot of potential. Gabe could have been a humorous awkward character trying to make sense of Dunder-Mifflen. But no, the writers turned him into a pathetic creep obsessed with the macabre. They try to make him funny, but I cringe every time he opens his mouth.
Erin: I hate this character. Erin is an unfunny, vapid, airhead. But the writers love her (You nerds out there know the term: Mary Sue). So everyone on the show has to love her too. I wish they would stop forcing viewers to like her. Her romance with Andy is not cute and is forced. They cannot mimic the romance between Jim and Pam. They need to improve her character or get her out of the spotlight.
Robert: Liked Robert at first. But he is a one joke character and is getting boring. His omnipotent monotone style of speaking is getting repetitive. He needs some depth. Can’t we just send him to corporate and not send him back?
I’ll miss The Office when it ends. It’s had a good run. But it’s a good idea to end while you are ahead. I want The Office to end while it is still well thought of, ending with grace and dignity.
