I have been saying for about a year now - to anyone who wanted to listen - that the US version of The Office on NBC has failed to sustain itself. And after several seasons as one of the funniest shows on television, it was time to end on a high note (or at least not a low note).
Well, that's not an option anymore. Last night - the first "new" episode in six weeks - NBC aired "The Banker," which was . . . A FUCKING CLIP SHOW!
It's officialAre you kidding me? Clip shows are for B- or C-list comedies that are just openly mailing it in and have stopped trying. Remember Full House? Yes, there are some exceptions: Seinfeld did it in Season 9 in the lead up to the series finale . . . as a retrospective. And the Simpsons did it, but the whole thing was tongue-in-cheek, they were making fun of themselves and parodying the whole idea of a clip show.
Season 6 of The Office had been almost unwatchable to begin with, and now, after a six-week hiatus, they come back with 30 minutes of clips from other episodes. Hell no. Shark: jumped. Take a page out of the UK playbook, fellas - two seasons, crush it, and then shut it down.
Whatever. 30 Rock is 100 times better. (I haven't watched last night's episode yet, but I promise that if it is a clip show, I will come back and delete this last line. And puke).
7 comments:
It's interesting how a lot of the great shows end with the creative types deciding to brign the show to an end while the network people are almost literally throwing money at them to stay. Think Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond.
I don't know that I'd compare Raymond with Seinfeld, but given what passes for a sit-com nowadays, Raymond might as well be Shakespeare.
Secondly, while I applaud your dedication to the blog by posting at 6:20 am, it would have been awesome if you had photoshopped Michael Scott's face onto that stick figure.
See, doesn't that make the post like a million times better?
Sorry I don't actually have any Photoshop skills. Actually I did this in Paint. It doesn't get more ghetto.
Seinfeld's last two seasons blew too. Larry David had wanted to end it after season seven; his final episode (aside from returning for the finale -- still way underrated in my opinion) was when Susan died.
Once he was gone, the show had zero creativity or inspiration. But the four cast members made Oprah money, especially Jerry, who clocked in at a million dollars an episode.
Why does The Office suck now? Because Michael Schur, its former head writer and the blogger known as Ken Tremendous (from Fire Joe Morgan fame) left the show to create Parks and Recreation.
I decided to pitch in with the Photoshopping too.
the clip show just made me realize how much better the show used to be. hasn't been the best season - agreed. but not sure i'd say it jumped the shark (a term i loathe and think is way overused by the way). still one of the better shows on tv
also - seinfeld did a full hour clip show as the 100th episode. i know i am a dork for knowing that
So, Jessica, is it fair to say that "jumping the shark" has jumped the shark?
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