Afternoon Baseball

Not a lot, I don't think. Over at TV Squad, there's a lot of hand wringing, and Slate is pretty sure this is Bad Season #1.

The hour-long format has been a killer. "The Office" is not as good as we thought it might be when it's an hour long. Let's save them for the season finales.

Ryan is a terrible character, largely because B.J. Novak is a terrible actor. Furthermore, from interviews and such, he seems to lack any personality beyond being smarmy. The episodes he writes are too Ryan-centric, something the other dual performers avoid (even Steve Carell's only writing credit was for "Casino Night," the Pam-and-Jim cliffhanger).

Honestly, he needs to be downsized. He never should have been a title-credit character to begin with, and maybe he needs to be off the show. Since that won't happen, however, try these:

1. Don't worry too much. The show's got lots of good things going on and endless characters to exploit.

2. Keep using Angela a lot. Besides being a complicated character, she makes Dwight and Andy bearable outside of being the butt of pranks by Jim (and sometimes Pam).

3. Reel Michael in, and by that, I mean, reel Steve Carell in. He's hitting the stage of his success where he's thinking he can do anything and draw laughs. It could get ugly -- his movies already have. Remind him of how his subtleties made "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" a classic the same summer it outdid brasher surefire hit "Wedding Crashers" in every respect. Remind him how his post-1997 Bill Murray style of acting in "Little Miss Sunshine" greatly aided a Best Picture-worthy film.

Even without these things, though, "The Office" is still a must-watch. It hasn't fallen apart like "Scrubs" did last year, and it's not quite searching for meaning or a hook, like almost every other comedy is. And it's way the hell more accessible, JAM or not, than the great but elitist "30 Rock."

Labels: The-Office