[CarlarmA113]

Hello, I figured this would be a great place to have a discussion of one of my favorite TV shows. I have been watching the office for about 3 years now, I caught on when they were making new episodes for the 4th season and I fell in love with this series. Despite my dedication to The Office, its about high time that I confess that it has lost its luster.

I tried to pin-point the time when The Office began on this downhill slope.

Season 1- This season essentially built t-The Office obviously by first introducing the characters: Michael's rudness, Jim's casuality, Dwights obsessive need for control. Though its not one of my favorite seasons, it thrusted The Office up the graph.

Season 2- It was this season that the actors really began to dive into their characters. The season started out suspensful, Jim and Pam kissing in "The Dundies" revealing further his feelings for her despite her engagement; Also it significantly built up Michael's character, being a great salesman, but a lonely and unhappy man personally. His fling with Jan also sparks some interest. Dwight also takes romantic interest. The finale was great as well with Jim confessing his feelings, we also see Jan taking greater interest in Michael.
All in all, season two definately perpetuated The Office up the scale.

Season 3- Some may not be fond of the new characters, I really didnt mind. At first Andy, to me, was extremely obnoxious, but I grew to like him. Anyway, this season started out great as well, we see that Pam cancelled her wedding because of Jim. Jim is working at Stamford to escape his love for Pam. Oscar confesses to be gay in the beggining, Jim eventually gets with Karen. Eventually, the branches merg, there is tension between Andy and Dwight. This season was really exciting, the characters were almost comnpletely developed and Michaels role was perfected by Steve Carell.
This season ended great as well, Jim began to date Pam, Jan was being let go, Ryan became the new VP. It was exciting, I feel that this season pushed the quality of what makes The Office essentially The Office.

Season 4- This season is what I feel to be the climax of The Office. I'm trying the establish this like a graph, Season's 1,2,3 were steadily climbing and made The Office a great show. This season, I believe was the highest point in potential that The Office hit. The characters were developed, tensions between relationships were still high. Michael begins to see he flaws of Jan being in his life and Dwight and Angela separate. There are a few episodes throughout the seasons that I am not too fond of, but shall remain nameless, my claim of the seasons still stand.
"Goodbye Toby" may be the greatest season finale of the entire Office series for this reason. It brought in the classic Michael hates Toby joke, Jim wants to propose to Pam, we find out that Jan is pregnant, Holly comes in and Michael has an ovious attraction to her, Andy proposes to Angela. This episode was great in the grand range of aspects it covered, it left the audience begging for more.
The fourth season, I personally believe to be the last good season of what I call "The Classic Office Franchise". When season five hits, there is something lacking.

Season 5- I do admit that there are great episodes within this season, some of them my favorites like "Stress Relief" of the "Michael Scott Paper Company", but there is something lacking, this is where I believe that The Office took a downword turn. It was not Immediate, it was a gradual thing, the writers were able to sqeeze out some good episodes, but there was little indication of what the other season had that this one didnt.
Buy and Large, this season was not bad, I am merely suggesting that this was the turning point of The Office where the once "classical episodes" were dwindling away.

Season 6- This season, so far has been a great disappointment. If you are a true Office fan, you must admit that this season is nowhere like the previous ones. I feel that this is where The Office ultimately spiraled downword as a good TV show, now I'm not saying that they are beyond repair, there has been a handful of decent episodes in this season, but it seems like the writers are trying the exploit the heck out of it now just because it is now a popular TV show.
Season 6 has been a sheer disappointment, all in all I feel that this accelarated what season 5 had started.

Now, this is merely my opinion, many of you may find errors or even disagree with me completely. I do not want anyattacks, if you disagree merely state your case, but this is what I personally feel. I'm not claiing to be an expert, I'm just another fan of The Office, I admit that I still watch the new episodes when they come on, The Office is still The Office. Thank you if you took the time to read this.
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Dunder Mifflin: Limitless paper in a paperless world.

[TraverseTown]

I generally agree, but I find enjoyment out of it for other reasons. After all, you're being generous; some people would say everything after Season 3 was completely terrible.

[Hottest in the Office]

[threat level midnight]

I think The Office peaked with season 3. Season 4 had some really over the top moments, more broad comedy than was evident in the the first three seasons, not to mention the writer's strike which shortened the season. There have been some great episodes during 4, 5, and 6, but the consistency has been lacking.

My favorite season is 3, followed closely by season 1.

But, all of this being said, it is still the best show on network tv.
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I hate hospitals. In my mind they are associated with sickness.

[Cool Guy Paul]

For me the change has come since the writers strike. I thought season 4 started off great (just a little below season 2-3 standards) but still classic office in terms of humor. The strike came after The Deposition and before Dinner Party, correct? The next episode after that, Did I Stutter, was when it started to go downhill some for me. Wasn't crazy about that epidode, and the direction of the show as well as some topics they've addressed have gotten away from what the show was about, imo. I still watch every week and learn to appreciate more recent seasons by watching them constantly (it's what my wife and I fall asleep to every night) but there is a difference. There's still a good episode every now and again, but not the consistent quality that helped define the show in 2-3.
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Hey brah, I've been meaning to ask you, can we get some Red Bull for these things? Sometimes a guy's gotta ride the bull, am I right? Later skater.

No arms or legs is basically how you exist right now, Kevin. You don't do anything.

[joe]

Full Disclosure: I haven't taken a math class since High School. I love baseball statistics.

I was going to look at the fan ratings on Officetally and try to come up with a chart showing the ups and downs of the season as they go. Sadly, Officetally doesn't have fan polls for any episode prior to Season Four. So, I did them for Seasons 4 thru The Delivery.







Note: Officetally counts an hour-long episode as 1 episode. (Except for Lecture Circuit pts 1 and 2 which was shown on two different weeks) I decided not to list hour-longs twice as I felt it would skew the numbers. Also, Officetally uses x.xx numbers and not whole numbers. So if it weren't for that we would think every episode is a 9 or an 8.

What are we looking at?

After tallying Officetally's results I was able to come up with some data that is a good indicator that the show is on a decline. There average rating for each season has gone down from Season 4 to The Delivery. Season 4's overall rating was an 8.08. Season 5 was an 8.05. Season 6 so far is a 7.67. Looking at the scales you see that the seasons are often "wavy" with a lot of rise and falls. If an episode goes above an 8 rating on the scale the next episode almost always tanks. With that being the case I expect the next episode to have a rating below 8. I don't think Season 6 will finish too far off from Season 5 because I expect the season finale and couple of weeks up to that to be episodes above an 8. The thing that really drives Season 6 down is The Banker, which currently has a rating of 4.48, the lowest of any episode on the chart. If you give The Banker a rating that matches the overall of Season 6 so far that bumps the overall rating of a .20 bump in the episode average.

Fun Facts:

Broke from Season 5 is the highest rated episode from these three seasons with a 9.17. The only other episode to crack the nine barrier is Niagra with 9.06. And what about the JAM Factor? It didn't have as much of a factor as I expected. The highest rated episode of both Season 4 and 5 weren't JAM centric episodes. Those were Chair Model and Broke respectively. Although Weight Loss came in second in Season 4 with a 8.92 Company Picnic was 9th with a 8.36. Over in Season 6 Jam is dominating the top two positions with Niagra #1 and The Delivery second with 8.97.

Final Thoughts

I think Season 6 would be on a good pace if it weren't for the clip show episode of The Banker. However, I don't think it will be as good as Season 5 but hopefully I am proved wrong. Also, if we were to round off Season 4 and 5 they would both be an 8.1 overall. Another way to look at an episode would be to come up with some indicator of "A Quality Episode." (e.g. an episode over 8.5) That would be another way to judge a season. Season 4 had 3 Quality Episodes, Season 5 had 5 and Season 6 has 4 so far. But Season 4 is truncated and Season 6 isn't finished. Also we don't know Season 1 thru 3. And I guarantee Season 1 would fare worse in this category. Season 2 would probably blow everything else out of the water.
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Jim: Just give me one second. I'm just gonna grab something to eat.

[the whole nine Nards]

I'm not even going to begin to try and top that previous post! Very impressive Joe. Now break it down to me like I'm an 8 year old

I'd agree with most of what Cool Guy Paul said. Its definitely lost its spark after season 4, but its still one of the best tv shows out there. I think its lost its documentary style format and has become more of a sitcom, which is a shame.

The things that made season 1 and 2 great were the awkward moments.. the cringing scenes.. the camera catching things when the characters "didnt know the camera was there" like the dwight/angela relationship, conversations in michaels office filmed through the window, etc. In the new episodes there doesnt seem to be time to let awkward moments linger. Its just hit-and-miss gags packed in with too many subplots.

Still love the show and will continue to watch, but I miss the subtleties of the earlier seasons.
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Speaking of time machines, I just got back from the future and I went to your funeral and, guess what, nobody came.

[Cool Guy Paul]

[Bobblehead Joe]

This is the way I look at it. It's a bit like you buy a puppy and he's all playful and joyous and bright-eyed. And then he grows older and older and you have to buy him arthritis tablets and he becomes incontinent and doesn't want to play fetch anymore. So do you shoot him? No, you still love him. Maybe you even love him more. The Office is like that incontinent old dog.
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Hmmm, that's weird, that's weird... it's kinda weirding me out. Did you know that Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy?

[Bobblehead Joe]

(Of course, if you're Dwight, you DO shoot him.)
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Hmmm, that's weird, that's weird... it's kinda weirding me out. Did you know that Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy?

[hermyfan]

I agree completely with Bobblehead Joe, who made me crack up by the way.

My own personal opinion is that 2 and 3 are the best seasons for sure. Season 1 is okay, but it's allowed to not be amazing, they were just starting. Season 4 i think is pretty good, some episodes I really don't like, Job Fair, Survivor Man, but it never was my favorite season. I loved Fun Run, but it got old after a bit. My all time favorite episode, The Return, still makes me laugh and love it more each time I watch it. Money on the other hand I still adore ever time i see it, and, though it took a few watches to figure out, I love Dinner Party and Deposition. I really don't like Goodbye Toby. I don't know why exactly, but it wasn't the episode for me. The Job is probably my favorite finale, this also has to do with the fact that I'm a complete sucker for happy endings.

Then we get to the most recent seasons. 5 was good overall, it really was. Stress Relief is so good. I kinda forced some of my friends to watch that episode, and I was very proud of the show because my friends loved it. I completely hated Charles last year, except for one line that he caused that could be my favorite line of all time, "what is a two way petting zoo?" "you pet the animals, they pet you back." That part of the season just killed me while it was happening, though now I can watch those episodes and just laugh at the funny parts, because I know that everything works out just fine. Re-watching them a few weeks ago I realized that Heavy Competition is really a great episode. And so are a few others that season. I really loved Cafe Disco too, also cause i love happy endings. The finale was okay, not the best, but I liked it more than Goodbye Toby.

Season 6 so far has been pretty good I think. I absolutely love Murder, it made me laugh so much. And there were many other episodes that make me crack up the whole tine. The past two episodes, St. Patrick's Day and New Leads, were both pretty good. I really liked both of them. i mean TODD PACKER!!!!! Enough said.

The show is kinda loosing its documentary feel. i miss all the references to the camera, there are still some, but they've decreased and it's sad.I miss those legendary episodes from season 2 and 3 like The Injury, Casino Night, The Dundies, Gay Witch Hunt, Traveling Salesman, Product Recall, and the Job. We need some more of that. We need more episodes that are going to go down in Office history as the greats, the ones that people will talk about when the show is played only as reruns. I miss that

[Pam&JimForever]

I agree completely, the writing has definitely gone downhill. Personally my favorite season is 2, followed by 3. Somewhere in season 4 I believe The Office lost its touch. It's still my favorite show, and I watch it all the time, but perhaps the writers strike had something to do with it? Anyway, I agree that season 6 was a great disapointment. Not like the classic Office at all. Unfortunately season 7 will be the last, so I hope they make it good.

"What a long, strange trip it's been."
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Andy: The last thing I want to do, is step on your funk man.
Dwight: And I, Yours.