Oh boy...I was going to do a big break down of what I think has happened to The Office by contrasting season 2's "The Injury" where Dwight gets a concussion with this season's "Tallahassee" where he gets appendicitis, but instead I'll just mention it generally here. It's not the loss of Steve Carrell, even though that seems like the easy conclusion along the lines of "I thought losing Peyton Manning would hurt the Colts, but MAN how good must he be if they're this bad?" It's not even REALLY the fact that the antics have gotten wayyyyy wackier over eight (again, EIGHT!) seasons, because that's a symptom rather than a cause. So what's the cause?
It's the cameras.
I actually went back and watched "The Injury" before realizing "Tallahassee" wasn't available online anymore, and it's incredible how glaringly obvious the issue is when you watch it and compare it to any episode from this season. People think the documentary format was the goundbreaking bit about The Office(UK) but it was what they DID with the format. The documentary format in the original Office and the first few seasons of the American Office made the audience a character, and that was the genius of it. David Brent and Michael Scott often reached their most cringeworthy while trying to impress US, not the other characters. They noticed where the cameras were pointing, who was getting the audience's attention, and they'd start trying anything to get next to that person or get the camera to turn to them instead. A character's reaction to the camera tells you something about them, and what you know about them informs how they're reacting in front of the camera.
Perfect example is "Michael's Birthday," where Michael's big day is overshadowed by Kevin possibly having skin cancer. Michael isn't a bad guy, and he doesn't treat his employees badly because he's a jerk. He treats them badly because he's so obsessed with the camera's (and thus the audience's) attention that he only sees his employees as tools to gain that attention ("cool" Jim, "hot" Pam, "hot" Ryan, and "urban" Stanley all being people Michael thinks the camera will gravitate towards, and thus people he gravitates towards), factors that threaten that attention ("old" Phyllis and Creed, "ugly" Meredith, and "weird" Dwight all being camera-poison, and Toby stifling his energy and creativity), or worst being RIVALS for that attention. Michael shows genuine concern for people in his moments of reality, and were the film crew to have never come to the office I'm sure he'd be totally focused on Kevin and his troubles. Michael's birthday was supposed to be a day he'd be guaranteed the camera's attention, because it's a day everyone has to pay attention to you and you alone. He wears a new suit, and although they never have him say it, it's obviously because he knows he's going to be on camera! His birthday party is at an ice rink, because his greatest talent is skating, and he wants to show it off for the camera. Kevin ruins that by taking away focus when he could get sick any day of the year, but "picks" the the one day of the year that's Michael's birthday. Without the importance of the camera, Michael just looks like a complete asshole, and in recent seasons people have looked like assholes because they still do these childish, attention whore things, but they never seem to care if it's getting them on camera.
Case in point: how does Andy feel about being on camera? That's why Andy is less interesting than Michael, he's a man with no subtext related to the general conceit of the entire show. He's the subject of a documentary, and there has been no explanation or even hint of how he feels about that.
The flip-side is the dramatic moments, which were fascinating because the characters didn't want them on camera. In "The Dundies" when they're leaving Chili's and Pam is drunk she says to Jim "hey, can i ask you a question?" then notices the camera and says "um, I just wanted to say thanks." We, the audience, REALLY wanted to know what that question was, but our being there directly affected what she was going to say and we probably blocked a major step forward in their relationship. The guilt of the audience went a long way to prevent Jim & Pam seeming contrived, because we weren't innocent in the forces keeping them apart. We don't hear Jim confide in anyone about his feelings until he talks to Michael in "Booze Cruise" about how he "used" to have a crush on her. Any other show could have him waxing poetic to a best friend character, safely tucked away from any actual observation, but the genius of The Office was that if we were seeing it then the characters knew everyone was seeing it, and adjusted their behavior accordingly.
What about now? NO ONE NOTICES THE CAMERA. The show isn't faltering because Michael is no longer a character, it's because WE are no longer a character. Two new characters jump to mind immediately as perfect examples of this: Cathy the temp and Val's boyfriend Brandon. Brandon is an easy one so I'll get him over with. He delivers some food, confronts Darryl believing he's sleeping with Val, and NEVER ONCE looks at the camera or seems to care that he's on camera. Really? What non-sociopath ignores the fact that a documentary film crew is watching him do that?
Cathy's problem begins right before they head to Tallahassee when she seems to assume taking three steps away from everyone else will give her total privacy to declare over the phone her intentions to sleep with Jim. Doesn't check where the cameras are, doesn't lower her voice, just blurts it out straight up. Far worse is "After Hours," the same episode as Brandon's insanity, when she puts her plan in motion and goes to Jim's room to "hang out" and desperately and overtly attempts to seduce him...with a full documentary crew in the room that Jim consistently looks towards in shock. Why doesn't Cathy try to get them/us to leave? Wouldn't that vastly improve her chances of Jim doing something unseemly? She was trying to get him to come under the covers with her, but the camera crew is still in there, so what was the endgame? That one thing would lead to another in a moment of weakness for Jim...in front of a full camera crew who would politely leave while shielding their eyes? It's completely idiotic and it's insulting to be told that our presence no longer matters; that this is just a normal sitcom now but with the benefit of having characters talk to the camera.
I'm sure it's frustrating for the writers and actors, who probably feel like they're making solid jokes and being generally funny, but maybe when you're so involved in the production it's impossible to feel how distant the characters have become from the audience. The viewer has been pushed to the outskirts, told to watch while all these wacky characters go have fun over there. That was the separation The Office originally seemed designed to run counter to: we won't have a laugh track to tell you what's funny, we won't pretend you're not there, we'll reward you for paying attention even if it means some people miss the moment. Now it just has the lack of laugh track (probably because it's one of the shows that killed the laugh track, although its zombie roams CBS). I've already covered how the characters regularly forget we're there, but another big moment happened this past Thursday: they specifically showed the clip of Andy punching the wall back in season 3 at the start of the episode in case we'd be too dumb to recognize him punching the wall during his breakdown. Then, just in case you were actively trying not to get the joke, Kevin says, "man, he really hates that wall!" Does anyone else want to explain the reference further? Maybe have Jim draw a diagram while Pam explains in a talking head that Andy once punched a wall and got sent to anger management, and now he punched the same wall? Ohhhh! I get it! He punched the same wall! HAHAHAHAHA! Thank you for bashing me over the head with it, I feel rewarded for my dedication to this show!
My "Hurry Ups" are supposed to be short recaps of the season so far, and that's obviously not what this turned into. I hate to be shoveling dirt onto a show I love so much, especially when it's still full of such talented people, but the things that made it The Office aren't there anymore. I'm sorry The Office, you're not the same show I fell in love with. Let's not make this any harder than it already is...we'll always have season 2, the greatest season of any comedy show ever.
(Oh, don't worry, as with any break-up I'll obviously be stalking...err, watching...for the conceivable future.)
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