Mon, December 18, 2006
Sitcoms!—8:19 PM
With "A Benihana Christmas" (and, actually, with the cumulative effect of every episode this season), The Office affirms that it is in fact, the best show on television. The beauty of it? Very delicate character-based humor. Obviously, I've been squawking about character-based humor for years, in reference to this show and others (like Everybody Loves Raymond), but the "Validity Committee" moment in this episode is a perfect example of how to do it in very subtle ways. And, even better, it's still funny if you don't know Jim, Dwight, and Angela very well – it's just much, much funnier if you do.
All in all, a terrific episode. And, I caught one other thing. Pam's hair is wavier now (it used to be frizzier; compare the footage of her in the show with the footage of her in the credits). I was going to criticize The Office for having sold out and made Pam a little prettier this year, but it turns out they didn't do it this year – they did it in the "Merger" episode. The show wasn't trying to make Pam a little less mousy to capture America's affection as new viewers came aboard – Pam did it herself! Even better, this is the hairstyle she wore to "Casino Night," which means they didn't just make something up out of nowhere (and also, this is how she looked when Jim kissed her, so there's reason for her to return to that look). Very nicely done. (And yes, I spent more time researching this than I should have. But hooray for saving the whole season on TiVo!)
Also, pairing Pam and Karen? Brilliant. The show continues to prove that it can be realistic, hilariously entertaining, suspenseful, and unexpected all at the same time. (Same with the Jim-and-Michael moments, especially this week but there have been others before.) A show should get tremendous credit for improving when it was in a bit of a slide (as Friends and Seinfeld each did, in their way), but even more for improving while it's at the top of its game. (Scrubs is also toying with this right now, and of course 30 Rock continues to dazzle me to the verge of tears.)
Bee Boy — Wed, 1/3/07 10:42am
Hey, look! Jenna Fischer's blog is mentioning the deal with Pam's hair. Cool.