The Office

[run2death]

The show really deserved a better send-off.

[epilogue]

[LoathedVermin72]

"Money" is a stellar episode

[LoathedVermin72]

The absolute nadir of this show is when everyone dances down the aisle at Jim and Pam’s wedding. Pure torture. I hate it so much.

[epilogue]

It's a weird moment that is ruined by virtue of The Office fully embracing the truth of Michael Scott. It's one of the most paradoxical things I've witnessed.

[Strat]

Oh i got super emotional in that scene. It was touching and super cheesy and ridiculous but i loved it :\

[epilogue]

Ultimately, I have to love it because of the paradoxical quality and the way it's embraced. But I do think it's weird.

[LoathedVermin72]

Um, Joey? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

[epilogue]

Shocking

[Strat]

Oh! I forgot.

So, that scene is actually based on this:



That video went viral years ago and all of those people were invited onto like good morning america or something to talk about it. Im 99% sure that is why the office did that.

Also, the guy at the 1:10 mark is a friend of mine.

[Strat]

Though i could be wrong on timing and they stole it. But im pretty certain of my story

[LoathedVermin72]

No, you’re right. Jim mentions it in the episode.

[epilogue]

Yep

[LoathedVermin72]

Shocking

I’m not being snarky or anything? I genuinely don’t know what you’re saying/referring to.

[Strat]

Yea the office episode aired october of 2009

[Strat]

My buddy always shut the bar down in College with his dance moves. It was incredible to watch.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Strat]

My buddy always shut the bar down in College with his dance moves. It was incredible to watch.

this is a good typo

que?

[epilogue]

Shocking

I’m not being snarky or anything? I genuinely don’t know what you’re saying/referring to.

Oh. Sorry.

Basically, I think good TV writing is character driven. The jokes/references/etc should always come from character. And in this scene the joke comes from character. Michael Scott saw the YouTube video and decided to recreate it. That's a quintessential Michael Scott moment/joke. It's inherently character driven. Which is something I value and think is important.

However, paradoxically, the character driven moment here actually hurts the scene. It would be a better moment if it wasn't based on a real-life YouTube moment. But that's also the joke! So, the writers did the right thing by crafting a joke that is inherently character driven and consistent with the Michael Scott we've been given over the last 6 years. BUT it also DOESN'T work because of the reference to pop-culture. It's a rare moment when the writers did the right thing but it also doesn't work. There are a million ways that the scene could have gone and could have worked.

For me that's a writer's paradox. It's exactly the kind of thing I want from good writers but it's also the very thing that makes it awful.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.