Season One
The British sitcom The Office has the most devoted American
following since Monty Python, so an American remake seemed
doomed. Amazingly, the remake actually finds its own enjoyable
version of the original's uncanny comedy of embarrassment. Office
manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The Daily Show, The 40
Year-Old Virgin) believes he's the beloved leader of the
Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of a paper products company--but
his relentless and painfully forced efforts at comedy creep out
everyone around him, including paranoid Dwight (Rainn Wilson, who
had a memorable recurring role on Six Feet Under), nervous
receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer, LolliLove), and less salesman
Jim (John Krasinski, A New Wave), who's smitten with the already
engaged Pam. The pilot episode suffers from closely replicating
the British pilot, but after that The Office finds its own
footing, turning diversity training, an office birthday party,
and a basketball game into excruciating yet hypnotically funny
rituals of humiliation. Carell, though clearly talented, can't
match Ricky Gervais' unique performance as the aggressively needy
British manager (it's hard to imagine that anyone could); as a
result, the supporting roles become more prominent, and Wilson,
Fischer, and Krasinski quickly create a rapport that matches and
may even exceed that of their British counterparts.--Bret Fetzer
Season Two
Thank goodness for second seasons. While the first season of The
Office started dubiously with a pilot that was just a poor copy
of the original British version, it did manage to provide enough
good material to stay on the air and hint that better was yet to
come. And here it is. The second season of The Office finds its
own footing and manages to do the near-impossible by not only
breaking free of the gravity of that excellent BBC version to
stand solidly on its own, but establishing it as one of the best
comedies on TV. Season 2 starts out strong with "The Dundies,"
where Regional Manager, Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The 40 Year
Old Virgin) hosts the company’s annual office-awards event with
his signature less-than-perfect grace. Things seem to only get
worse for him this season as he bumbles a potential affair with
his boss, Jan (Melora Harding), angers his employees by reading
their emails ("Email Surveillance"), cooks his foot ("The
Injury"), and accidentally destroys the warehouse with a forklift
in "Boys and Girls," one of the season’s highlight episodes.
Always at his side is the clueless paranoid Dwight Schrute (Rainn
Wilson), the Assistant Regional Manager ("Assistant to the
Regional Manager," Michael always reminds him in one of the
show’s running jokes). One of the reasons for the show’s
improvement in the second season is increased focus on Dwight’s
character, who’s becoming something of a pop-culture icon right
down to having his own bobblehead. He in turn provides so much
good material for Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinsky) to
play off of, to their own amusement. But of course, Pam and Jim’s
simmering relationship is the real meat of the show, as their
compatibility becomes more obvious, Jim’s feelings for her
continue to grow, and Pam struggles with the impending marriage
to her less-than-caring boyfriend, Roy (David Denman). Things
have to come to a head, and they do nicely in the final episode,
"Casino Night." As strong as the leading characters are in The
Office, it’s the excellent peripheral characters that really make
the show hilarious, especially dimwitted office-slug Kevin (Brian
Baumgartner), long-suffering intern Ryan (B.J. Novak),
office-ditz Kelly (Mindy Kaling), and ultra-conservative Angela
(Angela Kinsey). --Daniel Vancini
Season Three
After a shaky first season of finding its footing, and a second
season of establishing itself as one of the funniest shows on TV,
the third season of The Office finds the show in its strongest
form yet, thanks in large part to the addition of some new
characters and stronger plotlines centered on office romances. A
corporate merger brings the Stamford staff to the Scranton office
of Dunder-Mifflin a quarter of the way through the season giving
a nice boost to the season's arc of story lines, especially the
addition of Andy (Ed Helms, another Daily Show alum in a role
that seems custom made for him) who serves as yet another foil to
Dwight (Rainn Wilson) in his unending fight for Michael's
approval. As the season begins, the focus is more on Michael
(Steve Carell) and his unique "leadership" style in the Scranton
office. "A good boss gruntles the disgruntled," and despite his
best intentions, he proceeds to somehow screw it up, as in the
opening episode, "Gay Witch Hunt," in which he accidentally outs
a gay employee. In the second episode, "The Convention," Michael
tries to get the party started at the Mid-Market Office Supply
Convention ("fun jeans"), and ends up revealing his insecurity
about Jim's (John Krasinski) decision to move to Stamford. It
leads up to "The Coup," where Dwight meets with Michael's Boss
Jan (Melora Hardin) in a misguided attempt to take control of the
office. The merger of the two offices into the Scranton location
provides the fuel needed to continue the Jim and Pam (Jenna
Fischer) subplot as Jim returns with his new girlfriend, Karen
(ida Jones) who also transferred, and with Pam no longer
engaged to Roy, the tension among them increases significantly.
Other major plot points this season include: Dwight shows his
true feelings for Angela in an excellent climax to one of the
funniest subplots on the show; Michael negotiates a raise after
learning he barely makes more than his subordinates; new office
suck-up Andy is forced into anger management classes; and
finally, in what may be the most bizarre company retreat in
history, a day at the beach ends with Pam revealing her true
feelings for Jim in front of the entire office. The season wraps
up in unpredictable fashion when Karen, Michael, and Jim all
travel to headquarters to interview for the same position. The
strength of this season just continues to solidify The Office's
place as the preeminent satire of today's cubicle culture.
--Daniel Vancini