The Michael Scott Within

Sometimes it takes me a couple of years to discover something after it comes out. Recently I have seen the first season of the NBC series "The Office" (this season originally aired in the spring of 2005). The series is set at a regional office for a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is filmed in a way similar to a reality show (with characters talking directly to the camera at times in interviews). I've seen five of the six episodes on the disc so far and the show is the best sitcom I have seen in years.

By years I mean since 1997-98. That was the year "Everybody Loves Raymond" had a fantastic second season. Raymond was still good after that but I don't know that it ever reached the same consistent brilliance episode after episode that it did that season.

The genius of "The Office" lies in its central character Michael Scott (played by Steve Carrill - I hope I spelled his name right). This guy is a lunatic! On the one hand he wants to be a great boss and get along with his workers. On the other hand, he is constantly accidentally insulting them through offensive stereotyping and bad practical jokes. He can be firm when he wants to be, but that certainly is not when it comes to making a difficult, hard decision. He thinks everyone in the office loves him, but in reality it is obvious that no one truly respects him. At times his on screen behavior directly contradicts what he tells us about himself in the interviews.

On the one hand, most of us are not like him. Most of us know better than to insult people with the aforementioned offensive stereotyping (EXAMPLE: he is forming a basketball team in one episode and tells the Mexican-American in the office that he can't play basketball with them, but that he can join them for baseball or boxing). On the other hand, how many people have you known who didn't have a clue about how others really felt about them? How many of us would tell an interviewer one thing while living out a different story?

What makes Michael Scott so funny is that, in our fallen human condition, we all have the potential to be just like him. And that is also more than a little bit scary!

Other characters on the show demonstrate the human condition as well: Dwight, the assistant to the regional manager who is a dictatorial nerd just hoping to get to fire someone at some point or Jim, who is obviously interested in Pam the receptionist but won't tell her (she is in the middle of a three year engagement to one of the warehouse workers).

While I am sure the producers did not intend this, "The Office" is one more television example showing us people desperately in need of a savior to come in and change their lives and work on the rough edges within. Fortunately, such a savior is available for us!