TV Thread - beware, [expletive] can get spoilery

[InvincibleCakeEater]

Regarding Jersey Shore

[SHOW]

[Jocephus]

are you serious? he just punched a girl like that?

[Michael]

That's really depressing.

The office has sucked for a couple seasons now. The reason the original Office was so brilliant was because there were real consequences to situations. David Brent was a clueless, misguided boob of a manager with occasional moments of brilliance but in the end, his relative incompetence got him fired. Michael Scott is even more clueless and misguided yet they'll never fire him because a) they don't want to end the show because it's the only thing NBC has at this point and b) reality isn't an important part of their writing. The thing that's made Ricky Gervais' shows great is the commitment to reality. There were consequences, there were rewards, there were happy endings and really sad endings. Most importantly, he ended the shows while they were still real and relevant. Even though fans were sad and wanted him to keep going, looking back, The Office and Extras ended exactly how and when they should have. This iteration of the Office has gone on way too long and now they've robbed the premise of what makes it great. It's reality, it's narrow look into the world of an office run by an idiot and it's relateability to people who work in similar but less extreme versions of the office. Now they've shoehorned in unrealistic plots, characters and drawn out themes and stories that in real life would have been wrapped up much more quickly. It's gone from a relevant, funny look at what is deep down a very depressing reality to a cartoonish sitcom with themes that render it's basic premise totally unbelievable (that being that there would ever be a documentary made about such a boring subject for going on 6 years now). When it lost it's realism, it lost it's credibility.

I 100% agree, the US version of The Office is way too cartoonish.

[omaha_red]

Regarding Jersey Shore

[SHOW]

wait.. i have no idea what that is..but is that real?

[JackofDiamonds]

This happened in real life? These are real people? What in the... jesus christ...that's insane.

[ghostrunner]

This happened in real life? These are real people? What in the... jesus christ...that's insane.

It's reality tv, so no.

[cpebbles]

Whee, thanks to Hulu I can relive the experience of being a really big nerd in high school!

http://www.hulu.com/mystery-science-theater-3000

[stlouie_lipp]

Regarding Jersey Shore

[SHOW]

1) I hope that's not real;
2) if it is, I hope those guys standing there gave that guy the beatdown he deserves

[JackofDiamonds]

Regarding Jersey Shore

[SHOW]

1) I hope that's not real;
2) if it is, I hope those guys standing there gave that guy the beatdown he deserves

I can't look away.

[Cheddar Tom]

No. The Office has had a down season because the writing hasn't been very good. At times last year and consistently in season 4, Michael and Dwight were saying a lot of funny things due to being hopelessly out of touch with reality, Creed and the bit players had their moments of hilarity, and the writing was generally strong. I don't watch for a realistic depiction of a workplace, I watch for the funny scenes that are getting scarcer by the season, as they do in most comedies. The U.S. version was better than the original (At least seasons 2 through 4) because it was funnier and nobody behind the show cared that much about realism or consequences.

yes. the uk office is boring b/c it's like watching a legit reality show about people sitting in an office. the humor that can be drawn from the mundane has a very very short shelf life. the office is a television show which means situations have to be exaggerated...characters have to be over the top...belief has to be suspended. all the best tv shows that have ever existed do this and i don't know why ppl expect the office to be 30 min. of people sitting around having meaningless conversations with 30 seconds of silence in between.