The Office - Why Have you Forsaken Me?

Last Thursday I watched NBC's premiere of The Office. While watching, I couldn't help thinking it was so bad they may cancel it before it comes back from the next commercial. This show is very bad. It makes me sad how bad it is. I can't imagine it airing for three more episodes, let alone the rest of the season. That's a shame though because I LOVED the BBC series that The Office is based on, incidentally called The Office, as well. (From here on, when I write "The Office", I'm referring to the BBC masterpiece. When I write "NBC's Piece of Crap", I'm referring to the piece of crap that was on NBC tonight.)

The Office is one of those things that happens to me once or twice a year, the type of experience I envy other people for not experiencing it yet. I know how much they'll love it and remember how I felt the first time I loved it, too. And it's one of those things that make me angry at other people, as well. I've told them repeatedly how excellent and truly original it is, but for some reason, they refuse to watch it. Yes, I take it personally. No, I'm not related to Ricky Gervais.

NBC's Piece of Crap has none of this magic. Instead of being painfully awkward like the original, it is awkwardly painful to watch. And since a lot of the jokes are recycled (and not very well) from the original, NBC's Piece of Crap is not only terrible and a disappointment, knowing most of the punch-lines makes it boring as well. And yet, the recycled jokes are the most redeeming quality of the program. The laughingly bad attempt to recreate brilliant scenes brings the original to mind, the memory of which causes a quick chuckle, and then I remember where I am and cringe.

Watching NBC's Piece of Crap is like when you were growing up and tried to hang out with your best friend and their really annoying cousin from New York. You love your best friend and want to tolerate the cousin so that you can continue playing with his Coleco Vision. You can see a resemblance between your best friend and his cousin, but you can't, in your seven year old brain, understand how two totally different personalities could be related. This has two possible outcomes, usually one or the other, but sometimes both. 1) Your friend's mom stops calling your mom for a play-date when she realizes you and the cousin always end up in a fight in the basement. 2) You see the station wagon across the street with the NY plates and tell your mom that you've decided to decline the invitation to Chuckie Cheeze because you hate your best friend. Of course, you become friends again as soon as the station wagon pulls away on Sunday afternoon.

It will be interesting to see if NBC's Piece of Crap shows up on its regularly scheduled slot, Tuesday at 9:30 PM. Will I be watching? Of course, I crave memories of the Office and maybe this week will be better. Besides, I don't want to miss anything!