When did The Office jump the shark?

Andy wasn't bad at first... neither was Erin but they kept getting crazier and eccentric. The last 2.5 seasons were painful to watch most times

It also sucked when they had Daryl become more prominent

When Michael left...miss him!

It began to suck when they remade it for American tv. Pam and Jim were beyond obnoxious. When I watch the American Office now, I can't believe I ever sat through it the first time around.

Niagara

When they added Robert California and Catherine Tate's character. I have nothing against Tate or Spader but they were wrong in there roles. What made The Office funny in the early years is that the staff were recognizable middle American types. You could reasonably picture Jim, Stanley, Meredith and even Dwight in some suburban office. But Tate and Spaders characters belonged to a completely different comedic universe. The other thing that messed it up was when they all became ridiculously intimate with each other (I'm not just talking about romances ). It was funnier during season 1 and 2 where a lot of the humor came from the personality clashes and the fact that most of these people would want nothing to do with each other in the real world.

R4 The original Ricky Gervais version will always be the best. Two seasons. Definite beginning and end. Oh, and the bonus Christmas party sequel. Perfect! Just like Fawlty Towers, the creators knew what they wanted to say and ended it when they knew it was over. Beautiful!

When Jim and Pam got married, or moved in together. I can’t remember what came first, but I became bored with the show after that.

The Jim and Pam thing started out great but turned boring once they got together. The supporting characters remained great throughout: Oscar, Dwight, Stanley, Phyllis, Creed. Even Brian, the sound guy for the documentary crew. It had (maybe) a good 3 season run and that was it.

R9 Yes. Supposedly Jim and Pam had a huge fan base but it was always the supporting characters who really made me laugh. Though I guess every comedy needs the "straight man ".

The show really started going off the rails toward the end of Season 4. By season 5 it was trash and should have been cancelled.

The show should have ended after Season 5. Even during Seasons 4 and 5 they were reaching for stories at times, though there were still some very funny episodes (my favorite is the Michael and Jan's disastrous dinner party). But the show peaked in Seasons 2 and 3 and never achieved those heights again.

The show has always sucked.

Rashida Jones added nothing to the cast. Agree that Robert California seemed like he belonged in a different show. The main cast was great. I liked Andy too.

R8 Yes, Pam and Jim getting together was the end of the show. Interesting that - in the original British version - their getting together WAS the end of that series in the Christmas Special! It's interesting that Fawlty Towers and The Office had a definite beginning and ending. Is it just an American thing to drag sitcoms out until they die from disinterest? Hate or not, Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant were brilliant with The Office.

[quote]but they were wrong in there roles.

Oh, dear!

Once Pam became the office assistant or whatever she snuck herself into and they had the baby, forget it.

Dwight and Angela were the best. They should have kept that weird and off the grid as an antidote to Pam and Jim.

When the American version started.

Meredith was always golden......

Meredith was always into golden showers.

It's a money thing R15

Once a show airs for five season or so it has enough episodes to be sold into syndication which is where everyone made their real money, plus it provides recurring revenue.

That's all changing in the streaming era, but The Office is pre-streaming

British series that go on endlessly suck in the same way that American series suck. I'm thinking of Shameless. The first two seasons have a wonderful story arc. After that, not so much.

I just watched the series finale last night and it was absolutely sickening. So stupid.

Jim and Pam finally getting together should have been the end of it. Michael leaving should have DEFINITELY been the end of it. There's zero reason to watch after that.

R24 I checked out before the finale because I got bored and annoyed with the new characters. How was it sickening?

actually I didn't think the finale was horrible... it was nice to actually have the documentary actually air but I wish we had seen more reaction to what they saw

Season 2 and 3 are some the strongest seasons of a television comedy ever and is also why I refuse that parks and rec was a better show as it never hit those highs. While season 4 was brilliant, the loss of the Jim and Pam thing took its edge away and after the great dinner night episode it declined even further, with season 5 it became slightly generic but still had an energy to it although you could tell it missed Greg Daniels as show runner. Season 6 took the show into weird gentle humour moments which would take the show to its lowest of low in season 8 where it swapped humour for the strange, I mean what was that pool party episode? Season 9 was probably it's strongest season since 5, it's what the show should've been after Carrell left, and the finale was perfect. The show should've never gone down the route of the characters becoming friends, it worked best when they were all just colleagues suffering with Michael Scott and Dwight together.