le office

my current feelings on the office season three are as follows:
the office was fantastic because of its normalcy; we all know dwight and creed and kevin and all of the other rosenkrantzes and guildensterns in our lives, and we all like to fantasize that we're a jim or a pam not quite fitting in. the other characters' understated yet obviously present quirky character traits builds up their realism and reinforces our narcissistic identifications. season four (until this week) has been using an hour of time to tell a half-hour of jokes, and has been filling in the remaining time with direct, over-the-top caricaturization of the characters who work perfectly as side notes. that's my problem with this season.

on another note, michael was fantastic in this past episode--another one of those "oh yeah...i guess he isn't soooo bad..." moments. his commercial was perfect: exactly the right amount of racial insensitivity bottled up in an otherwise clever, low budget idea. huzzah!