I don’t mind silly or far-fetched; it’s just that everything felt ham-fisted to me. You can tell when sitcom writers start with the punchline and work backwards. For instance: Pam asks the hotel desk clerk if she can see the bridal suite. The clerk says it’s occupied and points at the occupant (Andy) who is conveniently walking by just at that moment. Andy makes a crude remark that nobody in their right mind would ever yell across a hotel lobby, and Pam delivers the Will and Grace-caliber zinger: “I’m gonna need the name and cell phone number of the housekeeper responsible for changing the sheets, please.”
I guess if that were more hilarious, I’d forgive it, but since it wasn’t all that funny, I was able to reflect on the utter lack of realism in that exchange. Same with Kevin meeting Pam’s sister; who outside of a sitcom would say “I thought your name was Gil,” just because he was standing next to Oscar? Even if you wondered if the two people standing before you were an item, it takes a huge lapse in tact and reason to run with your assumption and make that comment.
I know, I’m thinking too hard, but that’s just because the first few seasons managed to make the wackiness seem completely natural; now it all feels very forced. Happens to most long-running sitcoms, actually; I hope someday someone cracks the code for maintaining a consistent tone throughout the run of a series.
ETA: Oh, and I hated that Pam’s mom is now the bitchy type instead of the sweet lady who showed up briefly in the Sexual Harassment episode of Season 2.
I don’t think she’s meant to be “the bitchy type”, she’s just a woman who’s going through a hard time. Her husband left her, and showed up at their daughter’s wedding with a much younger trophy chick. Not a fun situation. She should have kept the catty remarks about Pam’s dad’s new squeeze to herself, but I can’t blame her for being upset.
That was really the only part of the episode that felt like “The Office” to me. Man, this show used to be able to pull off quick, cute little character moments like that all the time. What the hell happened?
Oh, that’s right. They decided to turn all of the characters into drooling idiots with exactly one distinguishing characteristic each. Kevin is stupid! Angela is a bitch! Dwight is crazy! Michael is tactless! Har de har har!
I agree with this. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the show–still one of the funniest on TV. But it’s not the same show I started watching, what, four years ago?
I remember commenting back then how all the characters (barring Michael) seemed realistic (well, to some degree) and multi-faceted. Thats no longer the case.
It sounds like even the posters who liked the wedding episode are agreeing with those who are criticizing this show.
In my opinion, “the office” suffers from trying to be realistic (the corporate boss David) and completely unrealisic (kevin and his kleenex boxes) and they cannot pull it off.
And I am always annoyed when they are at work and their computers are always on the desktop windows page , never an open program, with Dundler Mifflin on top. Do the producers not know that we all have computers and know what programs are?
And would a small office with 5 sales people have 5 accountants and an HR guy or would it all accounting and HR go thru corporate via computers?
The actors are all good (including Corporate Dave, who i noticed wasn’t at the wedding and allowed the entire office shut down for 2 days, yeah right!) but the writing is, as others have already posted here, subpar and the show has absolutely “jumped jaws”
There’s only three accountants and I believe in season one or two when they were looking for a department that they could streamline, accounting was it. They just didn’t pass that bit of information on to Michael so that none of them would get laid off. Instead Michael fired Devin.
And can someone tell me why that guy Ryan is one of the “stars” with his name in the opening credits and he is hardly ever in the show and not very good when he is IN the show?
I notice he is one of the big shit errr i mean EXECUTIVE producers, as opposed to one of the producers or produced by or associate producer or consulting producer or line producer or directing producer (I sweat to God, I saw that on some show not long ago)
BJ Novak…an enigma rapped in a riddle. Who is he? And why is he?
Put me in the camp that thought this was a so-so episode. Much like the Superbowl episode, it seems that when the writers are given an hour episode, they panic and turn the show into a traditional sitcom with ridiculously obvious joke setups and take away the awkward charm and realism that the original mockumentary format is perfect for. Sure there were some fun scenes, but take the dancing montage for example… LAME. Since when does a supposedly impartial documentary have a montage of people dancing and them getting married? It was a bit too cheesy, but I suppose something had to be done to entice the coveted female demographic.
Meh, gimme a standard 30 minute episode like the Diversity episode or the sexual harassment episode anyday.
Well beyond being an obvious writer, producer, and actor for the show, he’s pretty damn funny too. I saw him doing standup a while back and he was great. Granted, as of recently he has played a much less significant role but are you forgetting the major role he had when he was a temp and when he got promoted, and fired, and then hired at the Michael Scott Paper company? It’s not like he’s unknown in the show… He was a major character for several seasons, and he’s only been on the show less as the show’s focus shifted on this damn marriage.
Well, I don’t. I don’t think it was the best episode ever or anything, but I liked it and I think a lot of the criticisms here are either plain nitpickery or are coming from people who were confused because they weren’t really paying attention to what was going on.
The “Booze Cruise” episode was on yesterday evening in syndication, and it was funny seeing it after the big Pam and Jim wedding episode because I’d forgotten that Pam had come close to being married to Roy on a boat by the captain. After Roy announced that he’s ready to set a date, the booze cruise captain offers to marry the two then and there. Pam objects, saying she wants to have a real wedding with dancing. Four years later she had a quickie ceremony on a boat and a real wedding with dancing all on the same day.
Speaking of The Office in syndication, does anyone know why the episodes are shown out of order? Do the local stations have control over that? We saw the one where Dwight quit after the one where Michael brought him back.
Sorry if it’s already been mentioned, but did anyone notice for continuity’s sake if Pam’s parents were played by the same people as in the old episode where they were going through a divorce?