Everyone here knows how much I love The Office. I loved the British original way back when before anyone over on this side of the pond had even so much as heard of the thing; I bemoaned NBC's attempt to adapt the series for a US audience, following the debacle that was Coupling; and I grew to love the US Office after its first season. In my spare time, I create wish lists for Season Four of my beloved comedy series.Clearly, I am an Office fanatic in every sense of the word. So what is making me so worried that I can't get the very fear off of my mind grapes? It's those hour-long episodes that former NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly had touted at the network upfronts in May, right before he got the axe and Office executive producer Ben Silverman was brought in as the new man on the top of the totem pole.
You might be asking yourself why I'm so up in arms about the one-hour episodes if I'm a fan of the series. After all, isn't an hour-long episode just more of the show I love so much? Not quite. The Office is very distinctly a series that works best within its strict half-hour format. Sure, The Office can maintain its humor through an occasional one-hour installment ("The Job" and "A Benihana Christmas" were two examples of just that) or a super-sized episode when the story dictates the expansion, but more often than not, it's difficult to keep up the level of humor that we've come to know and love over a format that's more suited to dramas. Especially when you're dealing with the subtle and often squirm-inducing humor that has become The Office's bread and butter.
I don't blame the writers for this change in format; this decision was not an organic one created by Greg Daniels and the talented writing staff on the series, but rather, as Michael Scott himself might say, one handed down to them directly from Corporate. It's not easy to construct Office storylines--which tend to be rather about minutiae at first glance--around a one-hour structure, especially when your series has been a half-hour comedy for the past three seasons. How do you wring an hour out of such previous exploits as a funeral for a bird (a metaphor, really, for Michael's own fears of mortality) or the smaller stuff that makes The Office the cerebral treat that it is: a sales call, a birthday party, a game of office Olympics, an awards ceremony, a field trip. Can it be done? Sure. But why would you want to mess with something that already works so well the way it is?
Even more alarming to me is the decision to front-load the majority of these behemoth Office episodes at the beginning of the season, a choice that will undoubtedly put a strain on even the most coordinated production crew, affecting everything from the writers (imagine breaking nearly all of the one-hours right at the start) to the actors and everyone in between. Hell, it even puts a strain on the audience as well. (I'm betting that most viewers out there haven't even realized yet that the format of the series is being altered.) Sure, these episodes can later be broken down into two segments for repeats and syndication (the series will air on TBS this fall), but I find it hard to stomach starting a season, not with the half-hour format that the audience has grown accustomed to, but with one-hour double episodes.
Besides, wouldn't it make more sense, both creatively and from a marketing standpoint, to hold these super-duper-sized Office episodes for things like... sweeps? With five one-hour installments, why not start with a single one-hour and then post one in November, one at Christmas, one in February, and save one for the season finale in May? Then these might feel more like a reward to the audience rather than a capricious move by a network that seems to have greedily realized that the audience in hungry for more Office.
But rather than have a glutton's feast of Dunder-Mifflin upfront, I'd much rather space out these meals into tasty morsels along the way. Or just have more, regular-sized entrees along the way. But that's just me. I'm curious as to what you think about these one-hour installments. Are they a sign of positive change or an indication that Michael Scott himself is running this network?
"The Office" launches its fourth season on September 27th on NBC.
Comments
If I were the writers I think I'd try to just make two separate episodes and join them together and call it an hour.
Now excuse me while I go construct some other super-compelling metaphors.
There was some scuttlebutt that the super-sized episodes later in the season were sprung upon the creative time with short notice. The better expanded episodes, like Benihana, were the product of advanced notice.
The creative team has had the whole summer to put together these first four hour-longs. They've certainly proven themselves before. I bet we're in for a real treat.