Ever since the writer's strike a couple years ago the show hasn't been as good. That's not the reason why, but it just happened to be around that time period. Watching Seasons 1-4 re-runs make me laugh 10x as much as the newer ones.
This sums it up perfectly. I don't know that I'd have ended right there, but the show shifted direction. That's really the kindest way to put it. It's different, and it's not as good as it was, but it's still better than most TV out there, and far from shatjeff's "worst that TV has to offer". Really, aside from the cable channels, the only shows I watch are the NBC Thursday shows (aside from Outsourced and Paul Reiser), Raising Hope, and Modern Family. Dramas are simply not very good on network television, especially with the abundance of copycat procedurals. AMC, HBO, Showtime, Starz...they dominate television today.
Weak goodbye for Michael. Signs of things to come on The Office for sure. He will be missed though. Great character.
Ya, that was weird. My woman cried when Pam ran up to him in the airport. I don't really know where the show goes from here. Will Ferrel has underwhelmed me. Ed Helms looks like he is stepping up to a bigger role.
Lots of callbacks tonight: the baler, basketball in the warehouse, Creed in the women's bathroom, etc. After the references tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if we find out Phyllis is Erin's mom. As ridiculous as it is, part of me would've loved it if Holly was the Scranton Strangler and killed Michael at the end. Gabe bursting into the bathrooms and Michael's goodbye to the camera were my favorite parts. I'm glad they didn't go too over the top with the goodbye, and kept it more realistic and in line with the first few years of the show (although I guess they did that at the end last week).
So any thoughts on the first episode post-Carrell? I didn't really like it although it had its moments (I personally thought the accident was hilarious)
I thought it was pretty funny, but the whole Deangelo Vickers story line just feels so forced and fast. Seems pretty obvious they were trying to create a way to get Will Ferrell onto the show for a bit and just kind of missed the mark.
It was okay. Better than I thought it would be, I guess. Still not the same. Sometimes DeAngelo did things you could see Scott do too. So I wonder what will happen when he is gone too.
Will Ferrell was so bad. It was like he was doing 3 or 4 separate versions of the character and would just randomly switch between them. They even referenced it in this last episode so I guess that's what they were going for but it was just a disaster. It's probably a bad sign when you're supposed to be watching a comedy and you actively despise pretty much the entire main cast and the only tolerable characters are the ones that get a line every 2 or 3 weeks.
There was something Michael said to him in his "special goodbye" in last week's episode that made me think something might be up with that. I haven't seen last night's episode.
The Office is not as funny as it used to be by any means, but I still enjoy it. I don't mind if it sticks around for a season or two more even if the quality is reduced. It's a comedy so it's not like future seasons are going to ruin the show like they do to a run down drama series.
