Tv Show review

 

 


    I have been watching the TV show, The Office since it first aired in 2005. The Office was originally aired in England and some TV producers liked the idea of it so much, they adapted it for an American audience. Unlike many TV shows, this show is meant to look like a documentary and not so much a "normal" television program. The show follows the lives of twelve office workers of Dunder Mifflin. There have been nine seasons so far, including the current one. Although this season will be its last, it will always be one of my favorite shows.

   The most recent episode aired on January 24th in its normal time slot of 9pm. This particular episode lines up perfectly with what we are learning about in this class. They start the episode off by talking about their "grand social media initiative." This is their attempt to gain more popularity for the company. Nellie, the head of special projects enlists the help of Erin, the receptionist and Pete, her love interest. Pete and Erin decide that the best way to gain popularity with people, is to create a fake Facebook profile and have him "like" the Dunder Mifflin fan page. They also create a bunch of fake friends for the fake profile, and have them like the page as well. I believe that there are people out there today that do this as away to make it seem like there is a lot of interest in their company or their product. although they may not create fake profiles, people today use their friends and family to help spread the word and get good reviews. 

   Elsewhere in the episode Jim Halpert, played by John Kransinski, has left Dunder Mifflin to work at a company that he and his college buddies started. This has rubbed lead salesman Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson. Throughout the episode Dwight tries to convince Jim and Darryl, another salesman who has left to join the company, to stay with Dunder Mifflin. We see this in today's world. people are leaving their jobs and taking a chance and starting their own company. people want to have the freedom of doing what they love, not working for anybody, and being able to make as much money as they want. 

   The Office isn't like all the other shows. The Office is filmed like a documentary. They will do a scene or there will have a big moment and in the middle of the scene they will cut away and do a "interview" with one of the characters and ask them what they think of the situation. This is what makes this show so unique compared to others. 

   In this show, there aren't many stereotypes that are portrayed through the characters, but there are some. Salesman Dwight Schrute wears the same few shades of mustard yellow dress shirts and watches Battle Star Gallactica. His character is a stereotype of nerds and single middle aged white men. Jim Halpert is your typical "Alpha" male. He is always making jokes, he is athletic, and he gets the girl. Commercials for this show are geared toward middle aged families and females. A lot of the commercials are for cleaning supplies, banks, and family cars. They are geared toward the middle class and middle aged males and females. If I was visiting from another country, I would think that the American work day was full of jokes and funny meetings since this show doesn't focus much on the home life of the characters.
   I have been a fan of this show for forever. I own of every season on DVD. Not very many of my friends watch it, they don't think that it is as funny as I find it. It's atmosphere in the work place, isn't like what I have seen, but I bet that there are some pretty crazy bosses out there. What I like most about the show is the crazy antics that are involved. The only thing i don't like, is that sometimes it seems like some episodes don't have any substance to them and don't really contain a piece to the overall storyline.
   This season of the office will be its final season. There have been a total of 9 seasons to air on NBC. When the show first started in America, there wasn't a guarantee that it would get picked up for a second season. Since this is the last season, many of the producers and cast members have spent this season reflecting back at what they have gone through both on the show and off. Rick Porter writes a very well written piece, http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/01/the-office-plans-a-long-goodbye-featuring-mindy-kaling-and-more-familiar-faces.html?aid=zap2it. What most people don't know about this show is that most of the characters in the show, are actually producers and writers on the show.
   With Twitter and Facebook such a big part of the world today, it is easy to follow your favorite shows and actors. You can follow the official twitter feed of the office @theofficenbc another good place to follow the show is @OfficeTally. Office tally is a fan run twitter account that keeps fans of the show updated on whats going on. The people that run it do a very good job of tweeting multiple updates daily and giving fans an even more in depth look behind the scenes.
   Overall I would recommend The Office to anyone who is a fan of comedy. although it is not like most shows on TV now a days, it takes on a fresh new perspective of a TV show. I would definitely recommend starting from the beginning, as with any show, because it is very easy to not get what is going on.

   

National attention brings changes to Eugene

    By now, we all know that the university of Oregon football team has changed their philosophy from the days of Rich Brooks and Mike Bellotti. Chip Kelly has taken what they have done and made it his own. when Bellotti took over, he was off success that Rich Brooks had, though it might not have been much. Bellotti made the team nationally relevant. He took them to a 11-1 record in 2001 and should have competed for the national title. after that season, there was a bit of mediocrity and then came the days of Chip Kelly. Kelly has taken this team to new heights. In his first three seasons, he has taken the ducks to three BCS bowls, including the BCS national championship.

   Kelly has closed spring practices to the media and fans. This is something he has started to do as the ducks have become more nationally relevant. To the fans and media, it is just the football program distancing itself from the public. I don’t see it that way, I see this as a smart football move by coach Kelly. By closing practices, it creates a sense of mystery for opposing teams. for example, last year when darron thomas went out with his elbow injury, coach Kelly wouldn’t say wether Darron or Freshman Bryan Bennett would get the start against Colorado, which made Colorado game plan for both Darron and Bryan Bennett. That game, Bennett came out and played a very solid game and led the ducks to the win. 

   Fast forward to this spring and there's the competition between Sophomore Bryan Bennett and true freshman Marcus Mariota. Both have been praised by coaches and players, but until we get to see them in live action the fans don't know what the two quarterbacks have been doing. Not only do the fans not know who the quarterback is, but neither does arkansas state. this creates another surprise factor for week one.