So it's 3:30am and I just finished the Office Finale. Maybe it's the late hour that's bringing out this sentimentality (I couldn't start it until I was sure the Warriors were going to lose and end their playoff run-- which was around 1:15 or 1:30 EST) but I found the finale to be thought provoking. Yes it's just a tv show and it's silly and stupid but it's a little bit more than that. And I like to write so I figured why not write a little about my 8 year relationship with this ridiculous but hilarious TV show.
I first watched the office in my dorm room my freshman year of college. I remember buying the first season on iTunes in 2005 and watching all 5 or 6 episodes of the first season without getting up from my chair. I remember telling my friends in my hall how great it was then coming home from class and finding them all in my room in 3107 Merrill Hall gathered around my computer watching it. I remember leaving on my mission for two years and coming home excited to watch the third and fourth season as fast as possible, wondering what antics and adventures I had missed. (I had missed a whole lot if you consider what happened between 'Casino Night' at the end of Season 2 and 'Weight Loss" at the beginning of Season 5)
Its fiction, fake, invented.. but it makes us feel something. The music, the writing, the characters and the acting draw us in and make us a part of a story. Hemingway and Shakespeare invented stories that people have gotten attached to for generations and while any intellectual will scoff at the juxtaposition of Shakespeare and Steve Carrell, I will politely take issue with that scoff. Because over nine seasons of awkward encounters and cringe-worthy moments, Michael Scott has attracted such a following that when he reappeared in the season finale we all felt like we were seeing an old friend. We went from squirming in our seats at his impressions of other cultures in "diversity day" to
Maybe writing an ode to a tv show is a weird thing to do but to me the office was something special. TV shows have been a release for me. When I had a rough day in seventh grade I remember coming home and watching Friends with my mom and eventually feeling better. Once I started a new job and didn't know anyone so instead of sitting and eating lunch by myself I watched the office on my computer while I ate. So even though there were some rough patches in the office (the post-Michael era was, the Robert California phase, Andys descent into crazy) it's been a valuable part of my experience. You may read that and think "this guy needs to get outside more."
I probably get outside more than you do. (that line was a tribute to Dwight Schrute)
Also, watch this awesome 2 hour blooper reel of the entire series. It's clear they had a LOT of fun making this. And almost every blooper comes as a result of Steve Carrell being as legitimately funny as a regular guy as he is as Michael Scott.
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