Rickey Gervais had the Right Idea.

I saw an add for the upcoming episode of The Office. Ugh...an add is obviously not enough to pronounce an episode terrible, but going by the recent batch of Office episodes I'm not too optimistic. This season of The Office has so far been quite disappointing and really shows that Gervais was smart to quit while he was ahead with the original show. He made just enough episodes to get you invested in his show, and then he ended the story leaving you wanting more. The current season of The Office leaves me wishing they wrapped up the show during season Four. So what is wrong with the show?

*The Story arcs: A general bane of sitcoms is becoming a show about romantic relationships. The Office has become too shipy. Jim and Pam as husband and wife are not interesting enough characters to anchor the show around. The actors (at least Fisher) also lack the acting chops for their expanded roles. You could tell that Jenna Fisher was struggling to act angry in the episodes where Michael was dating her mom. Also how many times can the jobs of everybody at The Office be threatened by some big corporate doings without anybody at Scranton actually losing their jobs before it becomes a cliche?

*Nobody ever leaves the fucking Office for good: Of the secondary characters that were established in the first and second seasons, only Roy and that Devon guy have been fired for good and I'm not even sure If Devon counts since I had to actually to go on Wikipedia to look up his name.

* Secondary Characters: Another problem is that there are too many secondary characters that are not being used properly, if at all. This may be related to the previous point about there not being enough turnover. Perhaps some of these characters have run their course and should be replaced? Its also possible that Michael, Pam, Jim and Dwight are just crowding out most of the other characters.

*Too Many Episodes seem Written More for the Cast Than the Audience: I think Dennis Miller once quipped that if a movie was judged by how much fun the cast had making it than Cannonball Run II is the best movie of all time. Whether its the nonsensical dance party at the end of the wedding episode, the talking in southern accents episode, or that god awful disco episode from last season, it seems like many episodes are being written more to entertain the cast than the people who actually watch the show. Whats next, an episode where they all take a trip to Marine Land?

*Dwight Shrute: His character used to be genuinely funny just a Gareth was on the original. Now his character is way too cartoonish (remember, the premise of this show that it is a documentary-i e somewhat realistic). Andy is also annoying for similar reasons.

Oh what's that you say? The Office is still better than the other crap on tv? Well maybe, but watching it is kind of like watching a dinosaur take a dump. It may be more entertaining than other craps you've seen, but it is still crap.