An Especially Painful Episode of The Office

One thing I've always loved about NBC's version of The Office was that most of the time it was actually funny, unlike the BBC version which often garners more cringes than laughter. It's painful watching stupid people say and do stupid things that result in misfortune. The antics of Steve Carrell's Michael Scott in contrast with the dry, bored humor that comes from the everyday banality of working in an office has truly come to life for me in the last 8 months of working at my first 'real' job.

The American version often approaches the cringeworthy awkwardness of the British version, but never so much as it did last Thursday (11/14). The plotline of Kelly (the amazing Mindy Kaling) and Pam's rivalry over their boyfriends' ping pong victories was funny but oh my god, I just wanted to cry for Michael during his deposition at Corporate over Jan's firing. My friend Nick (who will soon be joining me as co-writer here at EmmTV) has a habit of curling up in the fetal position with his arms covering his face whenever something especially awkward happens on The Office. This last episode went further than that - it wasn't just awkwardness becoming painful, it was actual painful hurtful dialog.

Then again, I think I would rather it go further in that direction than try to be more mainstream easily funny the way a lot of sitcoms get. I would always rather see Jim and Pam be awkwardly cute together than have a passionate TV kiss followed by a "ooooooooooh!" canned soundtrack.

Is it just me or was The Office this past week extra-hard to watch?