It's Time to Shut Down 'The Office'

In March 2005, before I left for school one morning, I watched an interview between Matt Lauer and Steve Carrell about Carrell's new show on NBC. He would be the star of a new show called "The Office," based on a British show of the same name. At that point in time I vaguely recognized Steve Carrell as Jim Carrey's rival newscaster in "Bruce Almighty" and as one of Will Ferrell's news reporter sidekicks in "Anchorman." I decided to watch that show and was instantly hooked. Fast forward five years, and I find myself growing weary. After a strong fifth season, I've grown tired of the antics of the employees of Dunder-Mifflin. Sometimes a show reaches its peak, and while still amusing, it begins the slow descent to mediocrity. So this week I give you my top three reasons "The Office" is past its prime.1. It keeps jumping the shark - for those of you unfamiliar with the term, jumping the shark refers to a show going to outrageous lengths to keep viewers interested. This started at the end of last season when it was revealed that Pam was pregnant. I mean was anyone really asking for that development? The shark jumping continued this season with Jim's promotion and the sale of Dunder-Mifflin. "The Office" keeps trying to shake things up but it really hasn't done anything to mask how predictable this show has become. I know that Michael doesn't like change, that Dwight owns a beet farm and that Jim likes to make silly faces. It doesn't matter how many trips out of the office the cast takes, the show has become stagnant and even lost in itself. As it keeps attempting to appear fresh, it really is only showing its signs of age.

2. Why should I watch now that Jim and Pam are married? "The Office" set itself up for this trap from day one. The secret romance is one of the oldest sitcom clichés of all time. It is almost unavoidable, but what sets a show apart from others is how it handles the love story. "The Office" should have taken a cue from shows like "Friends," who married off supporting characters (Monica and Chandler) while leaving the main love story (Ross and Rachel) untouched until the series ended. The problem is that now the audience has had two full seasons of Jim and Pam, and I for one am getting a little sick of them. A person can only stand so much cuteness. How can you have a relationship that the audience can relate to when there isn't any conflict? Once Jim and Pam got together, they have not had a single threat to their relationship. Sure it is an approach that may never have been taken before in a show, but that is because it isn't compelling.

3. Too much star power - the employees of Dunder-Mifflin are plentiful, and after six years a good number of them are famous. This has actually hurt "The Office" rather than help it. There are only so many lines you can have in a half-hour sitcom (especially when half of that time is spent focusing in on Jim's face), and because of this not every character can get his fair share of the story or screen time. It started with Steve Carrell, who went into the summer of 2005 with a low-rated network sitcom that had yet to be renewed and a movie career that had yet to take off. At the end of that summer, he was the star of a box office smash that helped make the R-rated comedy popular again in American cinema. The same goes for Ed Helms, who's star turn in "The Hangover " has finally made him a household name. These two, along with John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer and Craig Robinson, who have also made the jump to the big league, show that they can do more than sit at a desk in front of the camera. Network contracts and shooting schedules prevent these talented stars from showcasing their talents elsewhere. After six years of cramped office comedy, I think its time to close up shop and look for work elsewhere.