The Office Season 3 on DVD

The Office wrapped its third season a few months ago and is getting ready for its fourth American season. An American adaptation of a British show of the same name, Steve Carell and the rest of the cast have managed make this import their own as they have been embraced by the American audience and have even earned some Emmy love. Season 3 was my first chance to sit down with every episode and finally see what all the fuss was about. After watching the entire season I decided that my mixed feelings could only be broken down in the most unrelated way possible. The Good. The Bad. And The Ugly.

The Good:

The best part of the show is the incredible cast, every member is spot on in their performance and are all equally a source on the show for great comedy. Because of this every scene you see has such great comedic potential. The relationships that have been created between the characters is simply great television that is only enhanced by the reality TV format that the show follows. The format of the show coupled with several sly references to other shows that have become pop cultural phenomenon give the show a self awareness that I haven’t seen on TV in a long time. The show just knows exactly how funny it is and how funny it can be, and each scene seems like a concerted effort on the part of the cast to be funnier than the scene we just saw. When I saw the special features, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t much on the topic of adlibbing. I was certain adlib was a major focus on the show, when in actuality what I’m really seeing are a collection of actor’s that have their characters down to a tee. From the outrageous characters (Rain Wilson as Dwight Schrute might go down in TV history for this character) to the ‘straight men’ characters (Jenna Fischer as Pam is not only extremely funny, but her character brings a sense of reality into a room full of crazy people) the show has a great sense of diversity in the way it seeks to entertain.

The Bad:

See? Even they don't like the scene and their in the damn thing.

Sometimes the show is downright painful to watch due to situations that occur on screen that are not at all hard to imagine. The show paints such a vivid picture that I just can’t wait until some scenes are over because I just can’t watch what’s going on anymore. This has to be the first time I’ve complained about acting being too good to stomach since I saw Cuba Gooding Jr. in ‘Radio’ (I got misty and left the theatre about midway through), but it’s true, sometimes the actors are simply too good. The real trouble is that I don’t know what I would change about this. Each character is deep enough for me to feel connected to them (even the ones that aren’t very likable) and am truly curious about what they’ll be up to next. I must point out that season three seemed to focus heavily on changing the dynamic of the staff (getting rid of people, changing job titles, etc.) without ever really doing it. It gave the whole season a ‘remember, no matter how well done, this is still TV’ feel that was a little disappointing, because at the end of the day the same old rule of everything coming full circle by the episodes end was very much in effect. I felt like the show could do away with that format and still have a foundation that new viewers could latch on to.

The Ugly:

Steve Carell is the best and worse character on the show. It’s his antics that either steal the scenes or make me beg for them to be over. The entire time I watch him I wonder, “Where does he come up with this stuff?” There isn’t a person alive that could actually sit down and write the s**t that Carell comes up with, it has to be improv. Whether he’s making it up as he goes along or not, the skills are unmistakable, Carell owns this show and never lets us forget it. Yeah, there are definitely scenes where I’d like to see him tone it down a little (Season Three features the wedding of Phyllis, the only episode where there was just too much Steve Carell to go around), where his antics go from being funny to just plain obnoxious. Those instances however, are few and far between, and I couldn’t see anyone else in the lead role on this show.

Season 4:

Season 4 will be starting any day now and long time fans should be excited to see the aftermath of the season finale. The rest of us should go out and buy season 3 on DVD in order to get caught up on what’s going on. Unlike other comedies, it really does matter whether or not you’ve seen a previous episode, so don’t get lost in season 4, get acquainted with season 3 first.