i think what resonated for its time with the office was the idea that much of our lives are spent doing useless shit we don’t care about, in drab places with a set of randos, all under the watchful eye of a unempathetic bozo we must pretend to like in order to meander along to pay rent and eat.

this was a reality rarely articulated, a show that focused entirely on that sort of workplace where the context all served to reinforce how it was basically pointless: working for an obscure, midmarket paper company as the internet shook-up both sales and communication wildly.

i had this job where once a year i would run a table at a tradeshow. i wasn’t selling anything, just providing public service info for free to attendees. but it felt a bit quiet my first year doing it in the early 2010s. later, my boss told me that in the 70s-90s it was a radically different experience. the place would be absolutely packed wall to wall with thousands of attendees instead of maybe 100-150. and he said it was when 90% the business and sales of the year would get done, guys from allied trades would pitch to companies, companies would pitch to buyers, handshakes and then people go home and draw up contracts and the rest of it. that one week would set up the whole year’s volume business.

he said by the late 2000s, the tradeshows were ghost towns. the financial crisis was a big deal he said, but really everybody just shifted to selling online. not even like with e-shipping carts, but just having photos and tech documents online, then some phone calls and emails to offer discounts or haggle volume deals during business hours.

it really did change everything. its still being tweaked and polished, but those early years were like a dam burst.

I’m really lost on what exactly is being referred to here as it was a pretty tame show. Sure, I haven’t watched it in a few years so I might not remember, but by no means would I consider it “politically incorrect” even in this day and age.

Like a couple jokes showed their age, sure, but most of it was pretty PG-13 from what I remember. Don’t try to pander to chuds it’s a losing strat.

This is much more true of something like Reno 911.

Kinda funny how this was the biggest show of its era yet the actors have been less able to move onto better things.

I love the office and I like rainn Wilson but this is such a luke warm take. Someone says it about some show or movie from a decade or more ago. Anyone who watched it knew Michael was the ‘awful boss at work we all have’ character.

This continues to be one of the most commonly occurring bad takes on any given piece of media. Of course you could do The Office today, but it would have a different vibe because office culture has shifted, not because “wow work is really boring and kinda bullshit isn’t it” has become completely verboten as a topic. What’s more there are a ton of shows on TV and streaming right now that are ten times more offensive than the worst joke in The Office.

Apart from the commonplace ableism of having a “slow” buffonish character and the less commonplace depiction of adult bullying by CIA Jim, what was not PC? And these things are still PC, its still the kind of shit shows do

you can’t make barney the dinosaur now because of woke

“The whole point of the office is that Michael Scott is a boob,” Wilson said, adding that he and his character, Dwight Schrute, lack “self-awareness.”

Never watched this show because I always had the impression it was exactly as described above. It is such a boring joke, I was already tired of it just from hearing about it second hand. The premise that everything white men do is sooo inherently interesting. That their nastiness should be laughed off as though it was nothing and of no consequence.

People watching and identifying with characters like these get to feel smug and self satisfied because they are able to understand the foibles and fumbles on the screen. As it has been carefully fed to them like prechewed worms to a baby bird; but the flavor is satisfying and they imagine themselves having done the worm hunting.

Not just lack of self awareness, bit lack of situational and relational awareness. But the underlying joke is that some people can get away with it, and actually it is kind of endearing when they trash around smacking other people without even noticing.

“We milked that for a lot of great, really inappropriate stuff,” Wilson continued. “But even with the fact that painting that character as just an idiot, I don’t think you could get away with it today.”

Boo hoo so sad. Why print this whiny complaints. “Oh nobody thinks I’m funny anymore which must be a sign of declining intellect of everybody else. I deserve positive attention!! People should never stop praising me for my single premise joke that I have been doing for years.”

And there was just a new Office spin off released like a year ago.