Experimental TV: Comedy
This thread is part of an experiment to determine Buffistas' interest in television discussion. It will close on June 1st, 2007, after which there will be a brief skirmish to sort out what we want to do next. This thread is for discussion of all comedy, regardless of airing station. [NAFDA]
I can't remember if I fell asleep before the ends of
Scrubs.
How stupid is that? How did it end, Matt? That happens to me a lot with that show. I think I start dozing.
The Office...
I knew Ryan was going to get the job. I wasn't spoiled for it, but I just knew it. I was thinking about it during last week's episode, because his tendency to be a giant weasel has been really highlighted, all season long. Then I forgot all about it. I hope Kelly's not so easy to ditch. I really love how he can't get rid of her. He deserves that. Anyhow, about Ryan getting Jan's position -- I read Rashida's pilot was picked up, so I was certain Karen would get the job, which might be why I forgot about Ryan the Weasel. It was a great surprise.
Jan's boobs cracked me up. Were those real fake boobs? I mean, I assume they weren't, but they showed so much cleavage. I could see a skin color difference which could be attributed to whatever make up they may have used to cover a prosthesis, but still...I'm can't decide if they were real fake boobs or fake fake boobs.
I kind of want those crazy kids to make it -- Michael and Jan. It's funny how the show brought me back on board. When Michael was so clearly painted as a victim in their relationship last week, he won all my sympathy, and I hoped, for whatever shred of mental health he has, that he would never go back to her. Because he was won right over by the new, big boobs, it was easier to put his vulnerability aside, for me.
The Dwight and Pam scenes were delicious. But I'm still dying over Jim and Pam.
I'm glad we got Jim's flashback to the beach. He really hasn't been all the way back from Stamford. How cool was Pam telling him she hoped he'd come back? And including the little note in his file was perfection -- and not just because I felt like Karen was trying to put Pam in her place, by making her copy their resumes and what not. It was a gold yogurt lid, which is what they used for gold medals in the office Olympics.
Gah, I love this show. I hope when our TV experiment is through that we can have some place other than Natter to discuss it. I don't care if it gets its own thread, or has to share space with something else, but it's so fun to be able to find the conversation and talk about it with all of you.
Also, I really liked Jim's hair like that-- I thought he looked very professional.
I missed the floppy hair. I wonder if he'll grow it out again next season?
Secret Assistant Regional Manager Pam Beesly
Yay! Oh, I totally loved the relationship between Pam & Dwight in this episode, from Pam's "Absolutely I do" (and then her talking head about how she learned that from Jim) to her fascination with the seven different kinds of Pennsylvanian topsoil to her salute. I hope we get to see more of their bizarre friendship next season.
You guys, that last Jim/Pam scene made me so happy I don't know what to do with myself. They're going on a date! They were finally honest with each other! Jim's coming home from Stamford! Finally!
I do wonder about Karen -- did Jim talk to her before driving back to Scranton? Where is she now, and how's she gonna get home, and what's she gonna do now that she's lost both Jim and the job?
JKras usually wears his hair like that when he's NOT Jim so i'm not all that sure it was really a "haircut". i'm not a fan of it, personally. it makes him look like such a little boy to me.
that final scene with the flashback to the Beach and Jim coming into Pam's TH was just awesome. i hope we aren't subjected to a VM issue where the summer is spent with them getting into their relationship and we miss all the good stuff.
Gah, I love this show. I hope when our TV experiment is through that we can have some place other than Natter to discuss it. I don't care if it gets its own thread, or has to share space with something else, but it's so fun to be able to find the conversation and talk about it with all of you.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
I do wonder about Karen -- did Jim talk to her before driving back to Scranton? Where is she now, and how's she gonna get home, and what's she gonna do now that she's lost both Jim and the job?
I know. I hope they're able to get Rashida for some episodes, despite her pilot. She was a perfect foil for the Jim/Pam storyline, because I never felt like it was unreasonable that Jim would be into her. I hope we at least get a flashback to or exposition on how they ended things.
that final scene with the flashback to the Beach and Jim coming into Pam's TH was just awesome. i hope we aren't subjected to a VM issue where the summer is spent with them getting into their relationship and we miss all the good stuff.
I think in some ways, we might be, but not in the worst ways. VM managed somehow, to remove all the tension from the V/L relationship.
The Office
is really about Pam and Jim,
so once they're solid, it's sort of over. But, I think the writers of
The Office
have (so far) shown themselves to have a much better understanding of how to throw believable complications in the path of their star couple, without taking away all the tension. They won my faith with the aftermath of
Casino Night,
and throughout the second season.
I knew Ryan was going to get the job. I wasn't spoiled for it, but I just knew it. I was thinking about it during last week's episode, because his tendency to be a giant weasel has been really highlighted, all season long. Then I forgot all about it. I hope Kelly's not so easy to ditch. I really love how he can't get rid of her. He deserves that.
I actually gasped out loud at the end! But it does make perfect sense. And I am dying to see how tortured he ends up being in the Jan role. It's not like he'll just be schmoozing it at Corporate. I hope!
I didn't get the sense when Karen left the interview to meet up with friends she thought she was leaving Jim. It seemed like their trip to NY was going pretty well. I predict some more pain at least in the beginning of the season.
I second Kate's
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
about having a place to talk about the show!
Oh! and Jim's hair was totally dorky but perfect!
I didn't get the sense when Karen left the interview to meet up with friends she thought she was leaving Jim. It seemed like their trip to NY was going pretty well. I predict some more pain at least in the beginning of the season.
I didn't really, either. But there was one second where I wondered if they'd already ended it. I kind feel like stuff may have happened between them after Karen started asking Jim if they'd both come to New York, assuming one got the job, and when she told them that they'd never make it as a couple in Scranton.
The only time I really haven't liked Karen all season long was when she called Pam a bitch. I understand why she did, but looking at the whole picture, Pam really wasn't trying to be a bitch or undermine them as a couple. She was being honest about her feelings, and trying to revive their friendship, without making a big, emotional plea for Jim to reconsider her.
I got a total Macbeth vibe when Angela and Dwight were scheming. "Goodbye, Kelly Kapoor."
Oh, good! The Office discussion! I was late in catching up with the show yesterday and I looked on the thread briefly last night but there wasn't much discussion then.
The yogurt-lid gold medal killed me. The callback to "Office Olympics" was such a perfect touch, I wanted to hug whichever writer came up with it. It was Paul and... someone else, who wrote the episode, right? And the look on Jim's face when he answered, "friendships," to David Wallace. Gahhh. Like I said in LJ, I felt like that flashback to Beach Games was the culmination of Jim's arc this season, much as the speech before it was Pam's, albeit a much quieter one. Jim's been sort of lost all season, and he finally admitted that to himself and to Pam, and I felt like that was the first time they'd been completely honest with each other since... well, ever. And Pam's talking head at the end -- well, that was the first time she admitted *on camera* that there was more than friendship between Jim and her, right? And the juxtaposition to her talking head, when she sounded so sad but so brave ("... and if he never comes back again... that's OK. We're friends." *cue waterworks*) with Jim's return trip home -- it was so incredibly poignant and perfect. And I really think Pam would have been OK. She'd have been heartbroken, but eventually, she'd have been OK. But then he came back, and I know I said that it would have been enough for Pam to finally come to her own in last week's episode even if these two didn't get together, but I... well, kind of burst into tears because Pam looked so happy. That's not too lame, right?
The Office is really about Pam and Jim, so once they're solid, it's sort of over.
Hmmm. Even though I'm way too emotionally invested in Jim/Pam, I don't think this is true. We've had very little Jim/Pam for most of the middle patches of the season, and I think they've shown that the show can have plenty of heart even when it's not centered around Jim/Pam. (I'm thinking in particular about that gorgeous Dwight arc in the middle that culminated in Michael asking him to come back from Staples, the Michael/Pam stuff at the art show, Angela's character growth, etc.) I'm curious to see what they're going to do with Jim/Pam, and the utterly train-wrecky Michael/Jan (the total implosion of Jan and her loss of dignity was the only thing about the finale that didn't make me happy) and hopefully more developments for minor characters next season.
