The Office Finale

Last week, The Office passed into the great beyond. I confess that I stopped watching when Michael Scott left; if that makes me a fair weather fan, then so be it. But contributing blogger Cheryl has stayed with the show through the good times and bad, so I asked her to weigh on the finale episode. 

When Maggie asked me to write my thoughts on the final episode of The Office, I really didn’t know what I was going to say. A lot of ink has already been spilt (bandwidth dedicated?) discussing the topic. People have called it moving and heartfelt and a fitting goodbye to old friends and all of that is true. But I can tell you what the show has always meant to me and why I’m personally going to miss the pants off of it.

I’ve always had a…healthy appreciation of television. My brother is fond of saying that I mark my life by it. While that isn’t exactly true, I can see where he’s coming from. Just like certain songs can instantly take you back in time, certain TV shows have always had the same effect for me. For example, the first season of Friends will forever remind me of my freshman year of high school, sitting outside on the steps with my friends before school on Friday mornings, discussing the episodes together. Dawson’s Creek was always forbidden in my house so, while I snuck a few episodes in here and there, I never really got into it until college when my best friend down the hall and I bonded over gummy bears and our love of Joey and Pacey.

And The Office? It reminds me of growing up. I didn’t always care for it. As cliché and pretentious as it is to say, I, like everyone else, was a big fan of the British version. I didn’t see how anyone could top the genius that is David Brent. Why would you even try? Add to that the string of failed British adaptations NBC had at the time (Coupling, Teachers) and I was sure it was going to be terrible. I ended up watching it anyway, because I was just that douchey, and felt vindicated when the pilot was less than impressive.

That would have been the end of the story except that Christmas my roommate got an iPod and downloaded and forced me to watch “The Fire.” I was hooked. It was the beginning of a love affair that would see me through what were hands down the most formative years of my life thus far. Yes, in its later seasons, it lost focus. Michael left, Jim and Pam lived their happily ever after and got boring, the antics became a little too big, a little too unbelievably wacky, but in my mind the show is so tied to such a significant time in my life that I could never quite give up on it. Even when episodes lingered on my DVR for weeks, sometimes months, I just didn’t have the heart to cancel that season pass. And the last episode was more than enough reward for my faithfulness.

The absolute highlight had to be the return of Michael. He was Dwight’s Best Man! And he’s got a family! One he loves so much he had to get “two phones, with two numbers and two bills” just to hold all the pictures. It was everything he had ever wanted, and everything we’d always wanted for him. I was just about as happy as he was that he “finally had a family plan.” Being a family man hasn’t given him any sense though and we got a few classic Michael Scott blunders to prove it. Could his opening line have been anything but “that’s what she said?” And his comment as he watched over Dwight and Angela and Jim and Pam talking with each other after the wedding – “I feel like all my kids grew up…and then married each other. Every parents dream.” So touching. So creepy. So Michael.

The other familiar faces I was happy to see at the wedding were Ryan and Kelly. As super, crazy hot as Sendhil Ramamurthy unquestionably is, I have to admit, I was sad when Kelly chose his Dr. Robbie over Ryan. Ryan endangering the life of a baby to occupy the hot doctor’s time thus leaving Kelly alone long enough for him to whisk her away is the most fitting sendoff I could imagine. Five’ll get you ten, they break up before they get out of Pennsylvania. God love ’em.

Due to some clever finagling by Jim and Pam to ensure everyone would be in town, Dwight and Angela’s wedding weekend coincided with a reunion panel PBS organized for fans of the documentary. Which gave that audience the chance to ask the questions that we, the real audience, have always wanted to ask (admit it, as disturbing as the hearing that woman say she’d let Jim do anything was, you’ve totally thought the same thing). And while we never did find out what was in that teapot letter, we did find out that Jim and Pam’s marriage is stronger than ever after the beating it took over the past year and that Pam did have something up her sleeve to repay Jim for that gorgeous video he made for her – a grand, romantic gesture that may have, in fact, out-Jimed Jim. She sold the house he bought without her permission without his so they would have a clear path to Austin and his waiting job at Athlead.

(And as happy as I am that Jim and Pam moved to Texas, even make-believe Texas, if anyone can give me a plausible reason why a professional sports management company would have a base in a city without any professional sports teams, I’d really like to hear from you.)

At the end of the day though, The Office was about…an office and there’s really no other place they could have ended it. The final scene finds everyone gathered together because like Angela says it’s probably the last chance they’ll ever get. As they all get drunk off of Meredith’s hidden stash, we’re given moment after moment of feels: Pam answering the phone with one last “Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam.” Dwight calling her his best friend. Jim thanking the doc crew for giving him the chance to see himself grow up and become a husband and father. Then saying everything he has he “owes to this job. This stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job.” Pam telling the camera she can’t stand to watch the documentary and see how long it took her to notice what she had, and that she wants people to learn from her mistakes and be brave. Dwight refusing to accept Jim and Pam’s resignation, but firing them instead so he could give them severance. The song Creed sang over all of it.

It was funny bordering on silly and heartwarming bordering on schmaltzy – just like the show always was at its best and the most perfect goodbye it could be given.

KC lays down the smack

It all started a few weeks ago, when Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek expressed the opinion that while straight actors can play gay characters, gay actors have trouble "playing it straight." Um... what? Kristin Chenoweth stood up for co-stars Sean Hayes and Jonathan Groff, both singled out int he article, in a pretty scathing rebuttal. For the short version, check out this article from E! Online. I think our friend Cheryl said it best (when she shared the link): "Way to go, Cheno!"

Cheryl, our amazing field reporter

Okay, this is why I suck: ages ago, our friend Cheryl went to the Gleek Tour location in her area, and agreed to write a blog post about it. She waded through the sea of teenage goths at Hot Topic, only to have her brilliant article drop through the cracks of my email inbox. But now I've found it and am able to present, in all it's glory, Cheryl's awesome article about the Gleek Tour:

Y’all remember back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s when the Disney Channel was subscription only? I used to beg and beg my parents to sign up for it, but, they never would. So I did something I’m not very proud of – I befriended a girl for her cable package.

Every day after school, we would go over to her house, her mom would make snacks and we would watch The New Mickey Mouse Club. We never missed it. So, when it was announced on the show that they were going to be coming to our local mall (our mall!), we were so there. I still have my poster with Ricky Luna’s autograph. Britney, Christina, Timberlake, Fergie and Ryan Gosling must’ve known even then that they were too big to sign autographs in a suburban Texas Sears.

Which brings me to Wednesday and the Hot Topic Gleek Tour. Even though this time I was able to drive myself there, and I was surrounded by kids that were in diapers when Jamie and I freaked out over the Mickey Mouse Club, the only real difference I saw in this mall tour was how much savvier TPTB have gotten in the last two decades. They’ve realize there’s a business in this. Eight-year-old me only had to show up and hope that she was there early enough to get a spot in line. Considerably older me had to buy a $25 t-shirt to get a wristband that got me in to the meet and greet. It guaranteed me a spot, though, so whatever. And this way also had everyone in line, some 200 people in Dallas, in and out in about an hour as opposed to the four or five the old way took.

Credit for pictures goes to Crystal Xia,
who agreed to be Cheryl's photographer.

Of course, that meant basically it was just an autograph assembly line, though. We were only allowed in three or four at a time and as soon as you were done getting your stuff signed you were very politely but firmly shoved out the door by a man with a headset. But, being that this was at Hot Topic, Headset Guy was a forty-something dude with an earring so his intimidation factor took a pretty big hit.

So, I wasn’t able to hang around (which would have been weird anyway) but I was able to talk with the cast a little bit while I was getting my stuff signed. The one thing that’s been bugging me since the pilot aired in May is the name of the school, McKinley High. My favorite TV show of all time, Freaks and Geeks, used the same name for their high school and, given the very similar tones of the two shows, I had a feeling it wasn’t a coincidence. I asked if I was right and Cory Monteith, who plays Finn Hudson, confirmed that it was an homage. If I wasn’t a fan before, that would’ve done it. Freaks and Geeks reference=good TV in my book.

Overall, they were just incredibly sweet. They really couldn’t have been more gracious. Even after all the press the show has been getting this summer and the hordes of fans they’ve seen this past week and a half alone, they still seemed to be genuinely pleased and surprised that people like what they’re doing.

After the meet and greet, there was a scheduled Q&A in the mall court that was open to the public. I had gotten a pretty good spot in line for the signing, so I was able to get through and out quickly and subsequently got a pretty good spot for the Q&A as well. They were setting up the mics as I got there so I was sure to get a spot with a clear line of sight to the tallest mic, which I assumed was for Cory Monteith. I think I speak for all tall girls when I say thank you Hollywood for all the tall, cute guys you’ve been putting on our TVs lately. Keep it up.

Earlier, while I was standing in line for the signing, a totally edgy and not at all conformist Hot Topic employee came around and asked if we had any questions about the show. Now, like I said earlier, I really like the show, but I have the same problem with it as Monkey Sri and Maggie and tons of other people do, namely that the only minority characters in a show about outcasts seem to be one dimensional stereotypes. For now, I’m willing to give Ryan Murphy the benefit of the doubt based on what a phenomenal job he’s done on nip/tuck and Popular, but it’s still something I’m curious about. So, I grabbed a slip of paper and asked Monkey Sri’s Comic Con question again. And again the censors got to it and it didn’t get asked. This is a PR tour after all. They’re looking for softball questions, and boy did they get them.

All the usual suspects were there:
Are you anything like your characters?
Did you sing at all before you got the part?
Who’s the practical joker of the cast?
Who’s the best dancer?

Blah, blah,blah, we’ve all heard it before. Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt Hummel, was able to keep it interesting though. His answers were either brilliantly crafted or painfully honest but either way they were so funny. When they were asked who they hung out with in high school, he said the lunch ladies, and his hero in show business is Mickey Mouse because he made it okay to be a guy with a high-pitched voice. Between that and him being so nice at the signing about my kindergarten-level artwork, Kurt is my favorite now.

Oh and, last thing, seriously guys, you gotta check out the routine they did to “Push It.” While we didn’t get a screening in Dallas, they did show that clip. It hasn’t been officially released so I won’t provide a link here, but it’s all over YouTube and absolutely worth a look. I had a lot of fun, I’d tell you guys to check it out in your area, but it’s almost over now. If you happen to live in LA, though, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!

Gleek Chic

So ... Hot Topic. This store is the object of much scorn from mainstream and fringe groups alike. In trying to be "different," many of the shoppers at Hot Topic end up with a look that is depressingly conformist. And I know this sounds like sour grapes (see the end of Maggie's post for further details), but I can't help but think ... Could there be a better venue for the Gleek tour?

Gleek = Glee + geek. Sadly, I did not get this at first.

Glee's marketing department is either brilliant or completely obviously to irony, and has booked the cast to appear at several Hot Topic stores across the country. The tour started yesterday in Massachusetts and will finish next Friday in California. In our neck of the woods, they're going to be stopping at the Fair Oaks Mall on August 20th. Anyone interested in attending, and then reporting back? Let me know!

P.S. Thanks to Cheryl for sharing the link!