2008 Woodie Awards
The Office: A hilarious alternative to a friday morning hangover
Adrienne Smith, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/22/06 Section: Entertainment
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This show has it all in the way of poking fun at the corporate world.
It is caricatures of classic office conduct that is shot in the form of a documentary, with candid interviews of the characters and jumpy camera footage.
Be careful watching it on a big screen TV- it can make you almost as dizzy as The Blair Witch Project.
40 Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell recently won a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy series for his performance as Michael Scott, the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin, Inc. Paper Company in "The Office."
He plays your average, square, "Type A" personality, manager, trying to "fit in" with his employees and is a non-stop riot as a stereotypical "Boss-man."
He thinks he is coming off as "cool" and popular, when in fact his employees are mocking him behind his back.
Any of us who have worked in an office or any workplace for that matter should be able to relate to the comedic nonsense that goes on in each episode.
Its subject matter touches on many key issues involved in the work environment such as blue collar versus white collar, gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes, and upper management versus lower.
It is jam-packed with the usual drama found within a place of employment, such as inter-office romance, pranks, disagreements between co-workers, and severe butt kissing.
The cast accompanied by Steve Carell include, Rainn Wilson as your typical brown-nosing assistant, John Krasinski who is your average nice guy and likeable character, Jenna Fischer who is the agreeable and under appreciated receptionist, and B.J. Novak as the smart over-looked temp (who also writes and co-produces for the show); as well as other humorous actors who add to the amusement and chaos in "The Office."
Just to make sure I was not the only person out there who spent their Thursday nights with Steve Carell I sent an email to Cathryn Boxberger, in charge of NBC Entertainment, Publicity. She was nice enough to reply and make a few comments regarding the show.
When I asked Cathryn about the ratings she said, "The ratings are improving every week -- especially since the show moved to Thursdays -- this week it was a 4.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic -- which is the viewing audience that NBC and the advertising world cares about."
She went on to say, "We get tremendously positive feedback about the show -- from viewers and critics." Cathryn also attached a copy of a recent press conference from January 22, 2006, with the cast and the producers.
When one of the reporters from the conference asked Steve Carell if he would be able to keep his obligation to the show with his launching movie career, he answered, "Absolutely. I love -- I love this show. It is such a cliché, but this is the nicest, most talented group of people I've ever worked with. I'm really proud of it."
The show is based on a British Television show also called "The Office", created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Greg Daniels, executive producer, developed it for American television.
Unfortunately, I have never caught BBC's version so I can't compare it with NBC's but I have heard they are available now on DVD.