Friday, May 17, 2013

Over



The long, national nightmare has come to an end.  "The Office" aired its last original episode last night on NBC.

I tried to like this show.  I really did.  It just wasn't funny.  The characters were horrible, slimy people.  I didn't want to spend time with them.  The situations were joyless.  I wasn't one of the people who tuned in just to hear a Scranton reference, or spot a Froggy 101 bumper sticker.

According to the New York Times, an early episode was so bad, NBC considered exiling "The Office" to its Bravo cable network.  I suspect people around here gave "The Office" more credit than it deserved because it was set in Scranton.

The ratings, meager as they were, peaked years ago.

I cringed when a Lackawanna County "official" referred to "The Office" as a "hit" show.  The reality is "The Office" was far from a hit.  A newspaper headline called "The Office" "iconic."  Are you kidding me?  Reality check:  This wasn't "MASH."  Many of my print and broadcast brethren lost all objectivity.

It was never really much of a hit.  "The Office" stayed on the NBC schedule because the network has severe problems generating watchable shows.  Plus, NBC owned the show and got to keep all the profits.  At best, it was a mid level show on a fifth place network.

"The Office" will be relegated to the late night dust bin of mediocre re-runs.

Its demise gives NBC a chance to put something that's actually funny in that time period.