The Office Season 7

[patrickgpe]

i agree, and this week doesn't look much better. I just don't understand why they have to leave the office every week. The only time i have laughed all season is when toby was counseling Michael.

[Gobias Industries]

I've enjoyed the two Olyphant episodes and that's it. I'll watch it up until the season finale to see what happens to Michael, but then I'm done. At this point, it's hardly better than other formulaic sitcoms.

[GAME05]

definitely time for this series to be concluded. the ancillary characters have all reached the height of what they can add, and all that's left is the secretary romance that's exactly identical to the jim/pam storyline they had before. even the passive manager is just Roy v.2. the season finale is going to have to include some major development from the side characters to keep any interest going, and i'm sure we'll all protest the changes, even though there's no other way to keep any interest up.

 

was Michael getting on the bus and quitting his job supposed to be a tease? for me, the only thing it sets up is that he's willing to quit his job to pursue his bigger dreams. i'm still predicting that it means quitting for a mostly-hopeless trip to try and win Holly back. i could see the last episode ending in Michael getting in his car to go after talking to Holly. she pretty clearly says no, but Michael misunderstands, and we see him driving off in that hopeless pursuit, never quite knowing whether he wins or not.

 

Dwight has become mostly just a jerk, but i'm rooting for Michael more than i was in the beginning now that we know there is a method to his madness.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, last week's episode was not really that funny. I did like to see the further developments with Michael, where he was basically getting sick of all his co-workers. Getting on the bus and almost going to Mexico was a pretty big stretch, even for him, though.

[GAME05]

Getting on the bus and almost going to Mexico was a pretty big stretch, even for him, though.

 

eh, i thought it fit. it set up the idea that he was getting sick of putting off his dream of getting married or just doing something else with his life, and that he'd be willing to give up Dunder-Mifflin to achieve it. it makes his eventual departure all the more plausible.

[Godspeed]

I've taken to waiting for Hulu to watch the episodes recently to avoid all the political ads, but oftentimes I've been left wondering why I even bothered watching it all. Taking them out of the office environment can be an amusing change of pace, but doing it seemingly week after week really diminishes its enjoyment. What reason does the whole group have to be at the christening other than just lazy writing?

 

The saving grace of The Office's decline in Season 6 was an all-time great Season 2 of Parks & Rec and so far this year, we don't even have that to fall back on.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I also agree that they should be sticking to the office environment more. Seems like there's a lot of hanging plotlines. The Gabe/Erin thing hasn't been touched on that much (other than the Andy theater episode bit), and what happened to Pam's promotion? I'm sure there's other stuff I'm forgetting, too.

[Gobias Industries]

Bump for a pretty funny episode. Much better than last week.

 

I thought 30 Rock killed it tonight. Brought me right back to season 1 and 2. In fact, the whole season has been pretty good. Way better than last season.

 

Community was pretty good, but nothing like the amazingness of the last few weeks. At least you get to see Annie in her bra. Nomnomnom.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

Kevin crawling in bed had me laughing pretty good.

[GAME05]

how many times are we going to have to hear that he likes the secretary? we get it already.

[Hofbraunhaus]

I thought the opening was really funny. When Michael started scooping up the gravel I was cracking up.

[adamb100]

No comments about last night? I thought it was a decent episode.

[DougJones43]

So, maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but what happened to the Timothy Olyphant character? Did he quit or get fired?

[And That]

He's a traveling salesman, like the David Koechner character.

 

I thought the whole hay thing was a bit weird, and the WUPHF joke never really got me after the first time it happened last season.

 

Last week's was much funnier. "What's the longest thing you've ever seen?"

 

And I'm glad they caught the Scranton Strangler finally.

[Gobias Industries]

That was probably the best episode of The Office since the Wedding episode or the Date Mike episode. Really liked it.

 

30 Rock killed it. Again. Liz shotgunning the pizza at the end was unreal. I can't believe the renaissance the show has had this season.

 

Community is the best show since Arrested Development, and unlike AD I've been watching since day 1 and have liked it since day 1, so I consider it my baby. Unbelievable week after week. For people that aren't watching and liked AD, go rent season 1 and then start with 2.

[Invader3K]

I agree with Gobias that it was the best episode in quite a while. I really liked the character development with Michael finally realizing that Ryan had been taking advantage of him, and then the way how he got Ryan to sell Wuphf in an indirect way.

[Schlitz001]

Best episode in a long time for me. The toilet paper separator was great.

[pitchleague]

yeah, that was the best part. The motion sensors were a nice touch, too.

 

Otherwise, it was just "okay" to me.

[BrewCrewForever]

The guy on the show playing Dwight's new assistant, Nate, he is from Milwaukee.

 

You may remember him from the K-Strass yo-yo videos that were on YouTube last year.

 

Check out this link.

[Gobias Industries]

Bump for an excellent Xmas episode. Whole season has been solid.

[GAME05]

everyone knew Holly was going to come back, but that is the ending that everyone knows is going to happen unless you want to anger a whole bunch of people. maybe there won't be a ton of surprises in the final, but i wouldn't mind at all if there aren't going to be tons of surprises. maybe a simple ending would be Michael driving Holly up to Nashua again, but this time not making the same mistake twice and deciding to stay with her.

 

i think a great final episode would be set around the filmmakers introducing a theater audience to their documentary, and then that's what we watch. we'd get the beginnings of the series with all the emotional or funny highlights, ended by Michael's marriage and whatnot.

 

i wouldn't have expected these past couple of seasons for Michael to turn into a pretty normal and intelligent guy, but they've written that development well. instead of idiotic and quirky, now he's so absolutely desperate for happiness, but in a sweet way, and how can you not root for that?

[Godspeed]

Whole season has been solid.

 

I disagree.

 

The direction they've taken the show in this season just raises so many questions: How many times can they justify everyone congregating outside of the office together? What happened to the warehouse? Why on earth would they move an HR rep down for a temporary position? Are we to believe the field of applicants in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre that much less qualified than the smaller Nashua metro? How did Erin ever even pass a drivers test? Yes, I am willing to overlook the fact that Michael Scott would never still have this job to begin with but the other issues are steering me towards denying even that one.

 

Last season was pretty average for a standard show and poor based on the standard this show has set for itself. This one's been even worse.

 

I did like 'China' though.

[Invader3K]

My opinion is that the season has had some relative duds, but has gotten a bit stronger the last couple episodes. Last week's episode was very good, though. I'm glad they're finally going forward with resolving the Holly/Michael situation. I also liked that they did something with Pam's new position after having not mentioned it at all recently.

[Flood Pants]

As I understand it, the first half of this season was dedicated to testing out other actors to take the spotlight from Steve Carrell (Ed Helms and Craig Robinson have had much increased roles, for example). But from here on out, the season will be all about Michael's departure from Dunder Mifflin. I agree that the season so far has been weak, but I bet we can expect some compelling television the rest of the way.

[Gobias Industries]

Last season was pretty average for a standard show and poor based on the standard this show has set for itself. This one's been even worse.

Yeah, I'm pretty much the other way around. The only reason I kept watching this season is to see Michael's departure. If it was just scheduled to go on with the same cast, I would have gave it up. I've been pleasantly surprised by the show this season, but admittedly it's still light yrs away from what it used to be.

 

I really like what BJ Novak has done to the Ryan character. He's become an insufferable hipster, and has played it very well.

 

I also think the show has always raised questions. It hasn't been realistic from season 2 on. Erin is an idiot but so is Michael, Creed, Kevin, Meredith, etc. The only people that are somewhat sane are Oscar, Stanley, and Phyllis. Everyone else would have been fired long ago.

 

Also, if you think about it, shouldn't Nashua not even be open anymore? I thought Scranton was the only Dunder branch kept open when Sabre bought them out.