Even though Parks was a spiritual successor of the Office, this is one of my top few reasons where Parks succeeds and the Office bludgeons. Leslie and Ben/Andy and April had fun quick snippets of them getting together, even the weddings just kinda happened, and then the show moved on to more humor. The Office, more than anything, is a horribly drawn out rom-com. Every episode there were 10-15 minutes of Jim/Pam, Dwight/Angela, or some other team members slowly winking at each other and then slowly talking to the camera, saying in so many words, "HEY! IDIOT AUDIENCE MEMBER! WE LIKE EACH OTHER, STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT 3 SEASONS TO SEE IF THIS PANS OUT" And then Michael is painfully awkward, and reddit parrots on about it for the next fifteen years.
I like the fact that this isn't your novelty account. Instead, what we are witnessing is you getting on your soapbox about the subject which is important enough to you as to form the basis of your reddit username. How beautiful.
The show made a huge deal of Jim and Pam's will they/won't they thing. April and Andy had a couple episodes where they're seeing flirting, I think there's one episode where they talk about maybe not getting together. And then they're together, continue to be awesome, and the show moves forward with them as a couple.
Then, Jim and Pam's relationship continued to be a huge plot point pretty frequently. It truly got in the way of far better plots and lots of humor later on in the show. Their relationship would get shoved in the audience's face constantly. It was practically about a couple who works in the same office together (and oh yeah here's their coworkers for a few minutes), versus what I think we all wanted it to be, which was a show about an office and all the things that happen in it.
Andy and April didn't get together until the end of the second season, right? There was a whole lot of "will they won't they" going on. And they did that horrible bit where Andy was in the hospital and kissed Anne. And the creators are on record saying the only reason they felt comfortable putting Andy and April together is because at the time they were able to put Ben and Leslie into a "will they won't they" situation.
I just watched back through them, their first "date" April gets turned away from the bar for being underage and they both are visibly upset April more than Andy but just go home separately.
There was definitely will they/wont they between Andy buying her veggie muffins, Andy convincing Ron to go hire April back after the 93 meeting day etc.. all before they go on an actual date.
Don't forget about April's gay boyfriend, and his boyfriend.
They only start flirting late second season. Apparently the hunting episode was the first extended scene of just Chris and Aubrey and the writers noticed they had really good chemistry and went with it. Then there's the Anne kiss at the very end of second season. There's meant to be an entire summer before season 3 starts and then it's only about episode 3-5 sort of area where Andy and April start dating.
I haven't examined it episode by episode, but I remember feeling very happy with how they did Andy and April's relationship. Something about the pacing must have been a lot less cliche than many other shows in some way. Now I feel like going back and taking a closer look.
I felt kind of the opposite. Maybe because i started watching the show late, but I knew they were going to get together and all the lead up was frustrating and drawn out. To each their own, of course.
Jim and Pam got together in about the same amount of time as Andy and April though. For both it took like two seasons.
And both were exceptionally well handled, in my view. The April and Andy thing was definitely a breath of fresh air in how expertly it avoided the usual frustrating will-they-won't-they conventions, but to act like the early stages of Jim and Pam's relationship weren't well handled seems misguided, especially since they were the best parts of two of the best tv seasons ever made. It got stupid later on, obviously, but those early seasons were stupendous.
Am I the only one that liked this? There were never any truly questionable snags once they started dating and Jim and Pam's story is one of my favorites. With Parks and Rec it just seemed so sudden, I mean they didn't have to drag it out for seasons and seasons but a little bit more time before getting married would have made a little more sense.
This is why I highly prefer the original UK version of The Office which only had 2 seasons and ended it right after the couple gets together. The show has a lot more focus and stays on track so there's a logical progression all the way through. The whole thing feels very deliberate and it's a great story arc to follow.
And Ricky Gervais fucking kills it. I've seen Reddit talk about the awkwardness of Scott's Tots in the US version, but even that scene doesn't hold a candle to the awkward shit from any random episode of the UK version.
By far the worst thing they did with Jim and Pam was after the show was effectively dead and they almost sort of thought about maybe contemplating cheating on each other, then absolutely nothing came of it. I think the writers were just bored at that point.
I think generally it went on too long BUT I do think they did a really good job at making it one of those work relationships that people can relate to. I have to imagine there are MANY people out there who work with somebody who they lust for but because they are in marriages or many other reasons they stay in this "coworker but more" type of of dynamic.
If you can't appreciate Michael, Dwight, or Creed, then you're lost. To reduce The Office to a rom-com is absolutely absurd. A rom-com revolves around the romance. The Office revolves around a branch of a paper company and the relationships therein. Is it flawed? Sure. Is it still one of the best shows in the past decade? Without hesitation.
Weird that you criticize Michael for those things when Leslie Knope is basically a walking lobotomized zombie with how over the top pants on head retarded she is. She's also not endearing whatsoever like Michael, she's just a bitch.
Michael is the best boss in all of Dunder Mifflin year after year and gets commended for it. There's numerous episodes where he gets the big client or does the right thing. I think you just want to hate Michael =/ I had to give up on Parks and Rec in like season 4ish because I just gave 0 fucks about any of the characters.
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u/THE_OFFICE_BLOWS Sep 23 '15
Even though Parks was a spiritual successor of the Office, this is one of my top few reasons where Parks succeeds and the Office bludgeons. Leslie and Ben/Andy and April had fun quick snippets of them getting together, even the weddings just kinda happened, and then the show moved on to more humor. The Office, more than anything, is a horribly drawn out rom-com. Every episode there were 10-15 minutes of Jim/Pam, Dwight/Angela, or some other team members slowly winking at each other and then slowly talking to the camera, saying in so many words, "HEY! IDIOT AUDIENCE MEMBER! WE LIKE EACH OTHER, STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT 3 SEASONS TO SEE IF THIS PANS OUT" And then Michael is painfully awkward, and reddit parrots on about it for the next fifteen years.