How is the office so popular after so many years of going off the air, that's the question all the cast members, writers and members of the production team are often asked. There's many theories, but all of them have to explain the fact that its not the older adults, who've had experience working in the office, amongst whom the show has found a new popularity, but young kids, even pre-teens, who seem to absolutely adore the awkward comedy for some reason. It's about life and our foibles as human beings, some have suggested, while others add the documentary style it was shot in surely contributes to the sense of reality. While they are both valid points, they do nothing to distinguish the show's popularity from similar sitcoms released around the similar time period, such as Modern Family and The Big Bang theory.
What we must admit is that this phenomenon is wholly unexpected and nobody can fully comprehend the implications of it. The show was never as big as Friends, or Seinfeld or other juggernauts of network television in its prime, rather it was the unloved child who somehow ended up becoming a successful and rich person, and was looked upon a little suspiciously by everybody. In its original run it was a decent success, a critical darling for sure, but the infamy -- dare I use the word because that's how bonkers this has all been -- the show has won in recent years is harder to explain.
There is certainly a lot of credit to be given to Netflix. For many years after Friends and Seinfeld went off of the platform, The Office was the standard show to put on the background. It wasn't too offensive, nor was it too loud. There was no audience background to disrupt your conversations. The mostly serene, inoffensive, quiet vibe of the show was a great compromise between friends and family who would rather put on 'nothing' than something they'd rather not watch.
Perhaps the children who grew up in these households got the first taste of what the show was about, without really understanding it, and in their teens explored it further. It's possible it's those teens who introduced it to their younger siblings, and thus the increasingly younger audience of the show. Or perhaps the show reflects the existential ennui of our times....because everybody is in the office getup, the show doesn't seem dated at all. Some technology -- the cellphones and computers look a little out of place, but for youngsters who've never been to an office, that could be the reality, for all they know.
So maybe the office is popular among the younger crowd because it is so strange, so out there. It is a relic from an era when people went to offices, had 9-5 day jobs, the security of knowing everything was going to be alright, and a group of people they could trust and socialize with. With the internetification of the world, and the islandification of social structures, these old institutions are being missed, that's a possibility.
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