The Office on NBC

Thanks to Mike Witt reminding me that I need to give a shout-out to my favorite TV show, The Office. If you are familiar with the Christopher Guest "mockumentaries" like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and This is Spinal Tap, you will be familiar with the style of show this is. It is a fake documentary about a divisional office of a paper company in Scranton, NJ. On first glance it might seem kind of bizarre. But as you get to know the characters, you really appreciate their quirks and how funny their coping mechanisms that they use to navigate their tedious office world really are. The main character is the boss, Michael Scott, who is played by Steve Carrell. There are times when you just cringe with embarassment for Michael, because he is so oblivious to his own obnoxiousness (like when he grilled his own foot in his George Foreman grill, which was in his bed because he likes to wake up to the smell of bacon, then complained about being "disabled" all day at the office), and then with a subtle word here or there, he almost redeems himself sometimes -- almost. I fear that this show may go the way of Arrested Development (another quirky, cutting edge comedy that was cancelled after 2 seasons). Check it out at 9:30 on Thursdays and give it at least two looks before judging (and heck, try out My Name is Earl right before it at 9:00 - another unique and excellent comedy about karma).