Blog Spotlight: 'The Office' - More Michael Means Less Funny

The less Michael Scott, the better.

It's rare when a hit show can say it actually can improve when its main character is used in fewer scenes, but that's often the case with "The Office."

Let me preface this to say this is not a rip on Steve Carell. I think he's a great actor (if you haven't seen the sweet, unassuming "Dan in Real Life," you need to immediately add it to your Netflix list), but the more I watch "The Office," the more I enjoy the episodes that don't necessarily revolve around him.

Last week's episode, with the jousting between Dwight and Andy over Angela's affections, was "The Office" at its best, demonstrating the talents of the other cast members. Michael, of course, was in the episode, but wasn't the centerpiece. He had some great lines during a visit to corporate headquarters, but they were brief scenes.

Unfortunately, Thursday's episode centered on Michael and wasn't as strong an episode.

The show opens with Jim finding humor, once again, in Dwight's paranoia. A simple red wire coming out of his computer leads to Dwight's climbing a pole in the parking lot. Funny, but not as inspired as the episode a few years back where Jim moved Dwight's entire desk and supplies into the men's room.

(Shortly after that episode aired, I was at an Apple store with my preteen, checking out a video IPod. I cued up the episode and handed it to Alex, who giggled so loudly that I thought she was going to get us run out of the store. Two years later, she still giggles when I mention the episode.)

Corporate asks Michael and Dwight to do some field work, checking out Dunder Mifflin's competition in that elusive Carbondale to Marshbrook region. There they stake out Prince Paper, a wholesome business where the entire family works and the owner's granddaughter quietly sits and does her homework.

Michael and Dwight discuss their strategy en route to their target, with Michael planning to play a fictitious business owner named Michael Scarp and Dwight playing, well, Dwight. They plan on discussing what they learn afterward over breakfast, with Dwight lobbying for Denny's and Michael choosing IHOP. Dwight calls Michael a Socialist for liking IHOP and Michael insists. "You will have pancakes, and you will like it!" Funny, I think I've uttered that same sentence before to my kids. Or was it Belgian waffles?

Of course, with Michael and Dwight out of the office, the rest of the staff takes advantage to discuss the hotness (or lack of hotness) of Hilary Swank. It begins with a little disagreement between Stanley and Phyllis and snowballs into a discussion that includes the entire staff and leads to an inspired speech by Stanley (who I thought only got inspired by Pretzel Day) and Kelly, whose emotional plea is that "if Hilary Swank isn't hot, then I'm not hot!"

(For the record, I'd have to go with not hot. Attractive, and a great actress, but not hot. BTW, has anyone in Hollywood gotten less out of two Oscars than Swank? Within three years she went from "Million Dollar Baby" to "The Reaping." Hello? She's the female Cuba Gooding Jr. when it comes to curious movie choices.)

Back to the show: Michael and Dwight, aka The Sharks, (Ba, bump! Ba, bump!) put their plan in place, with Michael introducing himself as Michael Scarn (wasn't it Michael Scarp earlier?) of a local law firm that needs paper supplies. Michael asks when Prince Paper was founded and the owner says after he got back from Vietnam, to which Michael says: "I heard it's lovely."

Groan.

With that one line, Idiot Michael jumped to Imbecile Michael. There's no difference, you say? Well, of course there is. Stay with me now . . .

Idiot Michael is, well, an idiot, but not to the point where he would confuse Vietnam with a vacation destination. He's ridiculously overmatched in his profession and clueless in social settings, but he isn't quite a complete, well, imbecile.

"The Office" is a much better show when Michael reminds us of the boss we once had who somehow succeeds in life despite being a complete and utter buffoon. The show struggles, however, when the writers portray him as being incapable of helping a gradeschooler with simple math.

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