Melancholy.
For the past month The Office has been trying to figure out how to turn a thirty-minute comedy into an hour-long comedy with varying results. There have certainly been some laugh out loud moments over these last four episode, but structurally the series has had trouble filling the time… until this week. It turns out the key to extending a comedy to an hour is not to add more comedy, but to make it a drama. More after the jump…
OK, I’m really short on time (and sleep) and thus am going to do my best to break down this week’s The Office focusing on two key points… right after the break.
While I evenually puked my guts out, I never puked my heart out.
Did anyone else while watching Thursday’s season premiere of The Office feel a pervasive though unfounded sense of imminent dread? Luckily the episode was an hour long and thus that fear had plenty of time to dissipate before things became too wrapped up. When all was said and done I had had a good time and was glad the show was back on the air. Still, I have this feeling that the aforementioned dread will continue to haunt this series. In a way, it has to. How long can the creators possibly keep things going, especially after the bar was set so high last season? More after the break…
“So I’m back, and I’m never, ever, going to leave. I’m going nowhere. This place is like the hospital where I was born, my house, my old-age home and my graveyard for my bones.” - Michael Scott
For the past two years The Office has done what none of us thought it could successfully do: separate itself from its British counterpart. The problem is it may have run its course last night. I’ll probably continue to watch the show (because, really, where else can you find decent comedy on television these days?) but I don’t really want to.
Thursday’s hour-long episode felt much more like a series finale than a season finale. More on this after the break…
Fire walk with her.
Two items in relation to last night’s episode of The Office, which I shall detail in convenient number form only to get lazy halfway through and switch to letters:
1) Super-sizing. The Office was 40 minutes (or 30 minutes sans commercials) again last night. I suspect this is because NBC* is so hard up for programming they actually don’t have a single show that can fill out their Thursday line-up — or at least they don’t have a show that can get even half as many viewers as Earl or The Office. NBC probably thinks of this as a massive problem (which makes sense as the network seems to be hemmoraging viewers at record levels).
It’s not. There’s more after the break…
Foliage.
Last week I was of the opinion that The Office might have run its course. A good thing doesn’t last forever, and that seems to be especially true of television comedies. Luckily, television also has the power to get you to change your mind one week later. Thursday night’s “Super-Sized” episode of The Office (and wow, how many 40-minute episodes have their been this season? Four?) might be my favorite episode in the series two-year run.
There were brilliant moments scattered all over this one, but what made it great TV is that it was the type of episode where Michael actually learns something (or at least appears to have learned something). Either way, where we start the show isn’t where we are when it ends. More after the break…
He was only in this episode during three or four scenes, and yet “Product Recall” was completley owned by Creed, which is a good thing since I found the rest of the episode a tad forced.
“Forced” is the one thing Creed is not. Ever since he described himself to the camera (as formerly homeless) early on, every single move he made was expertly calculated and incredibly cruel. It may turn off some of the shows fans, but if The Office wants do try something different, being a tad more acidic might be the trick.
Michael Scott is far more childish than he is selfish (which is what David Brendt was most) and his childishness comes off most of the time as endearing. This is obviously fine, but it’s nice to know that there is a guy like Creed who is solely looking at for number one everyone else be damned.
The way he managed to get himself off the hook for the product recall, and figured out a way to pocket some extra cash in the process, was one of the more brilliant character decisions the show has made this season.
The counter of that would be the Andy subplot with the high school girl. Maybe it was because we had only heard about his girlfriend seconds before the reveal, but it simply didn’t work. Creed, on the other hand, would have been completely unapologetic about the discovery.
Our favorite ratings-tracking company, Nielsen Media Research, has released its first batch of the most “timeshifted” network broadcast programs. Timeshifting, for those still living a reel-to-reel lifestyle, is essentially recording a program to watched on your own schedule. People have been doing this since the mid-80s when a rocket scientist first cracked the “VCR Timer Code” allowing people to finally program their video recorders to start and stop on command. This audience was largely ignored. Now that the VCR has gone the way of the dodo and replaced by the incredibly friendly and easy to use DVR, suddenly those viewers (the timeshifters) became important… kinda (its not like these people are acutally watching commercials, which is for what the advertisers are looking).
Let’s get to the numbers: House, Lost, American Idol and CSI all had between 2.1 and 2.7 million more viewers when timeshifters were included. In terms of percentage increase The Office and Lost scored the biggest boost from the “I’ll watch it later” crowd getting a 31.5% and 22.8% increase respectively.
While typing this my boss brought up the good point that these shows will probably see an increase in product placement which, as anyone who has ever watched The Office can attest, is probably right on the money.
Get the full details by clicking here. Thanks for the tip, Paul.
I wasn’t loving this episode. Actually, I felt that both of my Thursday night favorites were a bit flat this week, but there were still jokes to be had.
All of the “safety training” stuff after the warehouse scene came off as a little labored, though I’m loving Darryl’s increased presence in the show (or at least in these last two episodes) as he’s the only character who calls Michael out on his complete obliviousness (he also was responsible for talking Michael off the ledge, a moment that was both triumphant and strikingly depressing).
The fun of the episode was the betting storyline. No moment was funnier than Creed taking a frickin’ huge bite out of that potato. It wasn’t so much what he was doing as how he did it — that man commits.
Speaking of Creed I also loved the blatant silliness of him pointing out the giant Hippity-Hop castle behind the trees (after, maybe, peeing on it), and then having the camera pan up to reveal two huge inflatable spires.
Andy’s (Drew’s?) return to the office created a kind of funny Dwightism (unshunned!), though he had little impact on the episode as a whole.
So good to have The Office back, right? Last night when I sat down in front of the picture box, my DVR was chalk full of comedies. It was kind of comforting, really.
I don’t know what this says about me as a man, but it wasn’t until a good two-thirds of the way through the episode (a super-sized episode!) that I was able to fully understand what made that a woman’s suit. The pocketless pants definitely pushed the idea a bit more tenaciously. Perhaps this is because I used to have to winter coat that had the zipper on the other side. I was told that’s where the zippers are in Europe, but maybe all this time I was just wearing a woman’s coat — judge for yourself. Either way, I felt Michael Scott’s pain.
Elsewhere in the episode we were shown Ray getting a face full of mace (and Creed remembering it as a can of hairspray and a lighter), Darrell getting Michael to *cough* man-up and ask for a raise, and Kelly deciding that it isn’t crazy to name your child “Usher Jennifer Hudson Kapoor.” I also enjoyed the Jan/Michael back and forth at the negotiation table, though they are always great together (at least in terms of comic potential if not for their very strange two-way attraction).
One questions: what the hell happened to Jim’s hair?
Okay. Full disclosure. I just spent 20 minutes making the above graphic, and now I’m not so certain there actually is a difference (aside, from maybe Jim’s need to condition). Though he’s definitely getting some fly-aways toward the back.
Wow. Time to stop.
Thoughts?
The winners of the 2006 Peabody Awards have been anounced, highlighting the best of television and radio from the previous year. As the Emmy voters continues to prove how out of touch they are with what is actually great on television, the Peabodys have established themselves as the true symbol of greatness (though it should be noted that The Wire did not win this year, but has in the past [2003]).
Here are some of the highlights:
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts — Spike Lee’s remarkable poem of rage about Hurricane Katrina and the governement’s negligence in protecting its citizens. I can’t think of piece of television I watched last year that was more powerful and elicited such an emotional reaction. This one was a no-brainer for the Peabody committee.
Boondocks: Return of the King — One of the biggest surprises on the list, Boondocks is one of those absolutely fantastic series that you completely forget about once the season ends. Perhaps that statement is more damning to the viewers than the series itself. “Return of the King” is an episode that imagines Martin Luther King Jr. waking up from a 30 year coma and seeing what his American Dream had actually accomplished. It’s a pretty bold half-hour of television, especially for a time-slot that often houses a talking piece of meat. Bully for you Aaron McGruder.
Friday Night Lights — In what I hope to be the first of many awards (and the first in a series of justifications for bringing the show back in the fall), Friday Night Lights was recognized for accurately portraying a reality shared by most people in America. Sadly, most people in America still don’t know this is even a television show. Hopefully this award can convince a few more people to tune in (its a shame advertisers aren’t particularly interested in the 25-42 year old television critic demographic. If they were Friday Night Lights would easily be a top-ten show).
Other highlights in the entertainment category include the category defyinging Ugly Betty, The Office for a season in which it really came into its own and separated itself from its British counterpart (which was also a Peabody winner), Showtime’s Brotherhood, a series I have never seen, but now would like to, and Scrubs, for what I have to assume is a recognition of their last good season.
Read about some of the other honorees over at Aaron Barnhart’s TV Barn
I’ve never seen an episode of LonelyGirl15. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Because of this, dedicating an entire post to the adoption of product placement into the popular web series seems kind of… um… irrelevant.
Not so, dear reader!
While the adventures Bree, Daniel and Jonas have little impact on me or anyone I know (perhaps that is because I’m friends with so few 14 year olds), product placement affects everyone I know. It’s something that has been bubbling under the surface for decades. A can of soda here, a delivered pizza there (I remember in third grade reading in my Scholastic Weekly about how the new Ninja Turtles movie was going to have Dominos pizza placed throughout the movie).
I suppose the irony of all of this is that when television was first invented the advertising was so integrated into the programming you couldn’t clearly mark where the ads ended and the show began. No one seemed to have complained.
What this recent development with Lonelygirl15 suggests is that the small, ultra-independent, television-rebelling webisodes, which have started to crop up since YouTube made video a web-necessity instead of a luxury, have realized what mainstream television shows have known for years: you have to find a way to pay the bills.
The question I have to ask is how much advertising are we willing to put up with before going somewhere else for content?
On television the answer used to be a firmly established 8 minutes for every half-hour. That seemed to be enough time to make the network money and to keep us watching. DVR kind of ruined everything. If you don’t have to watch the commercials, why would you? Now product placement is the only way a company can guarantee we’ll see what they’re selling. NBC’s The Office seems to have more product placement than any other show on television right now. It’s hard to complain because without those integrated ads, the show probably would have been canceled 18 months ago.
For me, I guess the line involves believability. If every car in 24 is a Ford, that’s OK. If Michael Scott likes to go to Chili’s, that’s OK. If Vic Mackey is lugging around a MacBook or a sack full of Gap Khakis, that’s not OK. On the web, I’m more inclined to want traditional 30-second commercials before or after the clip. Integrated advertising on web video can make a program that is all ready the size and shape of a commercial lose whatever distinguishing characteristics it once had.
What’s your line?
Read about the LonelyGirl15 deal with Hershey via Business Week
Well, last night’s new/repeat mash-up of The Office was kind of a bust. Over the course of the hour there were maybe three new scenes totaling, at most, two minutes of screen time. Plus, the scenes the added hardly advanced the story any more than what they all ready had.
That being said, the two episodes that were combined (”Traveling Salesmen” and “The Return”) were easily the strongest of the season. In other words, new content or not, it was still a highly enjoyable hour of programming.
I’ll be curious to see if NBC tries this again.
Here’s something you can take to the proverbial bank: by this time next year the word “Newpeats” still won’t be part of the American lexicon. Why? Because it’s completely asinine, that’s why. Now then, the concept of a “Newpeat” might just take off (might).
But Rick, what exactly is this Newpeat of which you are speaking?
Ah, good question, dear reader. This Thursday NBC, in their never-ending pursuit to trick us into dialing up their programming, will be presenting two episodes of The Office that have previously aired. The difference is these episodes have been edited together into a full hour with certain scenes replaced with previously deleted material. In other words, what’s old is new again! (thus, the “Newpeat”)
Stupid name aside, the idea is a good one. The Office has been posting extended episodes to their web site all season, sometimes in the process presenting entire plotlines that never made it to air. Look, I obviously need very little motivation to tune into, well, anything, and since I’m all ready an Office super-fan (though one that frequently forgets to check out the bonus material on-line) these remixed episodes are a perfect reason to watch the show in what is otherwise the deadly-slow part of the TV season.
The –ugh!– Newpeats air this Thursday on NBC at 8:00pm (with new episodes of Scrubs and Andy Barker P.I. to follow)
On Saturday I was talking to a friend about Veronica Mars. Her feelings about this season have been lukewarm at best. I found this moderately shocking as most people I’ve talked to have felt the past half-dozen or so episodes have been as good as any. Granted things started off slow. I blame the writers trying to figure out how to play the whole “college†angle, the misguided decision to have the preliminary arc deal with the pursuit of a serial rapist (haven’t we all ready done that?), and having a mostly neutered Logan moping around the first six episodes. Since the winter hiatus, however, the show has been nothing shy of tip-top. My friend didn’t really agree. In fact, she went as far as saying that she hopes the show ends this year so she doesn’t have to watch it anymore. Bold.
An interesting point was raised during our discussion. She said that perhaps one of the reasons Veronica Mars has been leaving her cold is because she’s watching it after she watches the increasingly disastrous Gilmore Girls. Can the bad taste of one show ruin one’s appreciation for another? I think it can. I’ll explain further after the break…
