Quitting Time: A Farewell Post to The Office

Tonight marks the end of an era. The Office airs its last episode tonight. The television series, adapted from the British version in 2005, has been on the air for 9 years and has been a Nerdy Pop favorite since we started. Although the series has had its highs (Jam Wedding! Dwight Pranks!) and lows (Jam Fighting. Michael Leaving.) we'd still like to give it a proper send off. Below Auddie P and S.E. Andres discuss the TV series' impact on their lives.

S.E. Andres:

I had always been a dry humor person, and it was easy to find indie movies that I'd love.  Christopher Guest gives me my favorites.  So when The Office came along, it was an instant must.  My oldest brother told me to watch the second episode after he raved about the first and said I'd love it.  (This is exactly how I got into It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Archer, as well.)  And I did.  I couldn't get enough, despite how different the first season was.  As I found out, it was essentially the first season of the original British version with different actors that acted in the same manner and had similar looks.  But I loved it, and I loved every background character that appeared.  I wasn't as vocal about my love for it until we watched it junior year together in Auddie's apartment (before I left to go to English Theory Club, of course).  My fondness for The Office exceeded its humor.  I connected to the characters.  It was like each one was a different part of my personality: Meredith's love of alcohol, Jim's pranking, Pam's gapes, Dwight's entirety (I love bears, I grow beets, and I LOVE Battlestar Galactica), Creed's random musings, Angela's control.  I'm starting to think I am more complex than I might be.

Auddie P:

I remember the first time I watched the Office. Season 2 was airing and the episode was Take Your Daughter to Work Day. If you're familiar with this episode you should understand why, from that moment, I was not exactly hooked. I was so confused by Dwight's strange behavior, Pam's desperate attempts to get the kids to like her and Creed's unusual feet. I didn't understand the show at the time. I found no humor in its awkwardness and ended up wondering what the big fuss was about.

Fast forward a couple months to me passing time at S. E. Andres's apartment and he and his roommate pop in season one. This time I got it and I was hooked. Over the next few weeks I became obsessed, binge-watching before it was a thing. I got caught up with the show in time for the season three premiere, as did my roommates.

S.O.S. Save Our Shows!

It's that time of year again. The snow has melted, flowers are beginning to bloom and network television shows are coming to an end. For many shows it's not the true end - only the end of a season. We'll see them again in September. Sadly, the fate of other shows is still unknown.

Many of our favorites here at Nerdy Pop are on the brink of extinction. It's happened before and it's bound to happen again. Brilliant, funny and top-notch series get left behind while shows we've never seen continue to be seen by tens of millions of viewers, apparently.

Luckily, the way ratings are tabulated is beginning to evolve along with the way we all watch, taking social media into consideration. But, in the meantime, we'll still lose shows way before their time. Below are my three favorites that need saving this season.

Emily Owens M.D.

If you're one of the few of us who have even heard of this show, you might be thinking "Um, wasn't this already cancelled?" and technically you are correct. I don't think time of death has been called yet, but not being granted a back 9 by the network pretty much means you're done. I, however, love this show so much that I'm not giving up hope!

Emily Owens M.D. reminds me of the early seasons of Grey's Anatomy, except Emily, for me, is much more relatable than Meredith Grey. 

Emily (played by the fabulous Mamie Gummer) is a hospital intern who knows her stuff, but is also able to connect with patients on a personal level in ways her colleagues often aren't. Although she knows what she's doing at work, in her social life Emily's more unsure of herself.

Yes, it sounds like you've seen this show before. But, it's so well done and Emily grows up so much just in the 13 episodes of season one that it's more believable than many other series that's have tried this angle before. You root for Emily at every turn. After introducing this series to a friend she was raving about it FOR DAYS!

If you haven't watched I encourage you to do so. Maybe we can help it make a full recovery!

Community

By now you probably know how much I love this show. It's been back for a few months and is just as good as ever.

I was concerned at first. It took a few episodes for the new show runners to find their own voice without compromising the Community tone fans are used to. If you ask me, I think by now they've got it down.

Pushing Daisies comic on hold...still

Page 1 colored, unlettered

I failed to mention that over a year ago, Bryan Fuller had once again reported on the Pushing Daisies comic.  He had mentioned that it would likely be a season 3 graphic novel with a multimedia experience, complete with cast songs (as previously reported here), but plans were stalled when the publisher Wildstorm was closed by its parent company DC Comics.  Fuller then expressed interest in attempting to get  third season by a cable company, specifically Starz.  I don't know if it may be soon.  It may depend on his involvement with The Addams Family remake if it gets picked up.  While expressing his hopes that we will get a wrap for the third season, Fuller posted the first two pages in black and white and another of the first page unlettered but colored.  Check out post-jump for the two lettered pages!

Feminist Feature: Bobby's Top Feminist TV Shows

5. Sactuary

Dr. Helen Magnus, played by Amanda Tapping, is a genius, developed over a hundred years. She is an activist for abnormals, but if need be, she will kill a dangerous abnormal. She is an abnormal herself, created by a serum of pure vampire blood, giving her the power of longevity. Not to mention there’s badasses Kate Freelander and Ashley Magnus.


4. Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars starred Kristen Bell as a teen sleuth. Once popular and now a social outcast after being raped and distancing herself from anyone she trusted. It didn't help that her father is also a private detective who was once a police chief who was wrongly accused of wrongly arresting someone and lost the favor of the town who turned to the current chief of police goofball. Veronica develops a friendship with other outcasts, who help her in her cases, no questions asked. Because they trust her. The less they know, the less danger they're in. Veronica is an independent woman, who rushes into danger without fearing it. She's witty and bitterly sarcastic. Her technologically-savvy friend Mac is also a feminist icon, paving her own way, being a crazy-awesome hacker and computer wiz.


3. Xena: Warrior Princess

The one that started a feminist revolution on television in the 90s as a spin-off of Hercules: The Legendary Journey. It was an inspiration to women everywhere, and a lesbian icon, especially in its last season, when Xena and her traveling scholarly (turned sidekick warrior) companion Gabrielle became a bit closer in their relationship. By closer I mean sexual stimulating in a way. Lots of kissing and feeling between the two. I didn't get to see much of the final season due to the unfortunate circumstance of not being able to receive the channel.


2. The Legend of the Seeker

Read past posts of my love for this under-rated, under-watched show.


1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

The female roles in these two shows are outstanding. Joss Whedon loves his strong women, which he credits to his mother...Willow being an uber-witch, Buffy and Faith (and many, many others now) being vampire slayers (only can a woman chosen for that role), Tara being another powerful witch and Willow's gay lover, Fred becoming the crazy-powerful smurfish Illyria, the independent, strong detective Kate, the once-ditzy-turned-powerful-and-helpful Cordelia, Anya being a once-powerful demon, Lilah, and Angel's love from long ago Darla, who sired him. There's no shortage of strong women in Whedon's shows, and it continued with Firefly/Serenity and Dollhouse. And in comics with Astonishing X-Men, Buffy Season 8, and Runaways. Next up for Whedon: Wonder Woman movie!


Honorable Mentions: Dollhouse, Firefly, and Wonder Woman


I don't count Charlie's Angels because of the highly sexualized and objectified women on it.

Crazy Cancellations: jPod

Maybe Canadian producers should’ve tried to sell their shows to American stations, like The IT Crowd on BBCA and Merlin on NBC. If they had done so with jPod, perhaps this dark, dry comedy would’ve survived. The show’s alumni now appear often in Canadian-friendly shows, often sci-fi, such as Battlestar Galactica and Psych. The show, based on Douglas Copeland's creative novel jPod, is about a group of video game designers, tucked away in the basement of an office building, in which they are not in contact with the rest of the company. For some reason the most crucial workers are unknown to everyone. It’s kind of like the IT Crowd but even dryer and incredibly dark and twisted. It definitely revolves around sex, secrets, and misunderstandings…and probably stupidity. And there's lots of marijuana-related jokes and scenes.



The characters were mysterious with shady pasts and complicated childhoods, but you begin to understand them episode by episode, especially after seeing their parents. Characters were diverse and incredibly interesting as backgrounds and secrets were revealed. Cowboy (Benjamin Ayres): the ladies’ man who often goes shirtless. John Doe (Torrance Coombs): the virgin man seemingly as general as his name, but is far from it. The normal…ish Ethan (David Kopp) with crazy-ass parents (played by Sherry Miller and Alan Thicke). Kaitlin (Emilie Ullerup): the young woman who used to work for Mac and is from the U.S., but keep it on the DL because her co-workers don’t know. Brie (Steph Song): the germophobic badass lady who loves gore…and sex. Then there’s their incompetent boss who knows nothing about video games, but wants to make the perfect video game for his son…minus the violence the team was originally making…and minus the humans…because his son likes turtles…and minus the gore. So the video game slowly morphs into something that it never was. Essentially jPod had to make a new game from scratch.

Here's the deal: the series is on DVD, but it's rare. And it's faulty. One of the episodes when played goes back to the menu. Not cool. But they're not bothering releasing it with corrections due to lack of interest. But how often have things been released to video/DVD and they have had major success in that form when not in theaters or TV. I only begin to hear about amazing things when they're off air.

Crazy Cancellations: Pushing Daisies

Sally and I finally got around to watching Pushing Daisies. I never picked up on it when it was on, well, frankly, because it seems it was doomed from the start. No matter how many commercials I saw and positive critical reviews, I think it hit the screen at the wrong time. They came in supposedly having 13 episodes scheduled, and then the writers strike happened, and the final 4 were cut. Then the second season happened. Maybe people forgot about it after nearly a year absence. Usually we only have to wait 4 months, but about 10 months sucks. From Fuller's genius mind of Dead Like Me-ness and Wonderfall-ness, comes this brilliant fairy tale noir crime show.

So let's talk about the scenery first. It's oddly dark, yet vibrant at the same time. The city is like that of old noir films or Batman's Metropolis, but then bright colors of green, orange, red, and yellow contrast the dull darkness. It seems like it's straight out of a storybook. It's a mix of the old and the future. Cars and buildings are antiquated. But it supposedly takes place around 2025, I'm assuming, since Chuck and Ned were born in the 1990s. Wardrobe is retro-inspired, anywhere from 1920s through 1960s. And the idea of a pie store called The Pie Hole is adorably 1950s.

Now let's move onto the characters and actors. Oh. My. Lordy. Every single character is lovable and adorable beyond belief. Ned, played by Lee Pace, is perhaps the most adorable adult man ever (hence my mancrush on him). When Ned gets shy or awkward or embarrassed, he blushes and looks down and his shoulders shrink into his body. It's adorable. ADORABLE, I SAY! Lee Pace does a fantastic job at making this character lovable, a character who has lost so much in his life and is afraid to attach himself to anyone. When he lies, his eye twitches. Adorable? Yup. Ned has the power to awaken the dead for one minute before something else dies of similar size in proximity. And those the things that revives, like Chuck and his dog Digsby, he can't touch or they die again. Unfortunately these are the two things he now loves most. How sad!

Kristin Chenoweth. That should be all I need to say, but I won't. She's brilliant. She's her. She's godsent. She plays the character Olive Snook, who is and has been in love with Ned. She might be certifiably insane, but, damn, is she hilarious, especially in the second season when she becomes sidekick to the private detective. She also breaks out into song when overwhelmed with emotion. One includes a duet on "Birdhouse in Your Soul."

Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, played by Anna Friel, is Ned's childhood crush, and she dies in the first episode, but he wakes her up. And allows her to live. This has repercussions throughout the series. Her clothes are always super fantastic, complete with hair bows and ribbons.

Chi McBride's private investigator Emerson Cod also has an adorable quirk: knitting. He likes to knit sweater vests! He adopts Ned as his sidekick in investigating deaths. And then he adopts Chuck, as she tags along with Ned everywhere he goes. He's not keen on that until the second season, but he is keen on Olive joining him. And they make an adorable couple, which I would've loved to see, but it didn't happen.

Chuck's aunts are played by Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene, and you couldn't ask for better casting for a series. Together these two are a retired synchronized swimming duo The Darling Mermaid Darlings. Kurtz's Lily is a drunken hardass, and Greene's Vivian is adorably sweet and naive.

The guest stars galore, especially second season, have you stoked and squealing in excitement, like Molly Shannon, Fred Willard, and loads of others.

The writing is witty, snappy, and intelligent. It's not natural dialogue, but the relationships are, which is what makes it relatable. But the dialogue is brilliantly different. It's fresh, like a good apple, not the cardboardy mushy apples that I hate. The crisp apples that have that piercing sweet and sour taste that lasts on your tongue.

And best of all, you want to eat a lot of pie with a side of coffee after watching it.

But on a little brighter side...the third season (or the rest of the second seasons, if you will) will be in the form of a comic book! Bryan Fuller has already submitted a script for the first issue and the next two should be coming in soon. So hopefully we'll see the first issue by the summer of 2010 (if Daisies doesn't return to the screen by then, which it would be a nice summer show anyway).

Crazy Cancellations: Sons & Daughters

This crisp show was a spark that never caught fire. Comedies without laugh tracks did not exist too often. This was around The Office’s surge in popularity, but before other comedies followed in witty dry humor. It was lost coming in midseason as a transition between a cancellation and a new show and irregular scheduling. ABC could have had a hit if they aired S&D the next fall season. To make things better, it wasn’t scripted but improvised, which makes the cast even more impressive in its delivery. The way they all play off each other like they were all actually related was truly special. The realistic portrayals, complete with stumbling, mumbling, and stuttering, make it relatable. Think: Modern Family but funnier and bigger family, creating more problems and more rumors that spin out of proportion! I love that it took place and actually filmed in mid-Ohio (around Hamilton) about middle class people, who often struggled for money, a problem which is not touched upon often. And some jokes were based up on that, which may seem funnier if you live in the area like me.

The show starred Fred Goss (creator, director, and writer) as Cameron Walker in his second marriage with Liz, played by the quick-witted slightly-insane Gillian Vigman, complete with his teenaged outcast and possibly crossdresser Henry played by Trevor Einhorn and their son together Ezra (Noah Matthews). The Geico Guy Jerry Lambert plays the extremely awkward and asexual Don Fenton, and his whiny wife Sharon is played by the brilliantly sharp Alison Quinn. Her slight lisp was adorable, and her lines were always delivered with perfection and reality. Eden Sher (who was completely awesome in The Middleman as a fowl-tongued alien mercenary of the highest rank) played their daughter Carrie, and Randy Wayne played their son Jeff. Amanda Walsh’s Jenna Halbert was constantly torn between her stupid ex Whitey played by Greg Pitts and her handsome, shy boss Wylie, played by the awesome Desmond Harrington. Max Gail and Dee Wallace played the siblings’ parents Wendall and Colleen, who announced the first episode their pending divorce. Lois Hall played the knee-slappingly-hilarious Aunt Rae. And there was even a guest spot by Step by Step alum Christine Lakin.

Crazy Cancellations: ROAR!

Come on! This show rocked! It was a different angle than the usual Roman times. Mostly we get the viewpoint of the Romans and, hence, a support for them. BUT in this case we get the underdogs of Ireland, fighting off the invading Romans. Not only do we get to root for the underdogs, but we get themes of the religious dichotomies of paganism versus Christianity and nature versus civilization, among many other things. And there’s messed up love triangles. I guess its cancellation was good for Heath Ledger, considering he got to be a pretty big film actor after this show.

Crazy Cancellations: The Middleman

Now out on DVD, The Middleman debuted last summer on ABC Family. A brilliant show on a network no one watches, except to see that terrible show about a pregnant teenage slut. (Really, how long was she pregnant? Did she ever have that demon spawn?) Supposedly no other network would bite, so ABC Family did. I'm glad I got the chance to even see a season (cut short an episode due to lack of funds) of this brilliant show. Before it was given a chance on the silver screen, it was a comic, and before it was a comic, it was a dead script waiting for a chance to shine.



The Middleman takes care of "exotic problems": in other words, aliens and weird murders and whatnot that happen, essentially everything in comic books. Javier Grillo-marxuach and Les Mcclaine's comic that spawned the reality of the TV show was brilliantly simple in its black and white visual art, as opposed to the sharp color contrasts in the show. Its writing, in which the first two books are copied directly to screen, on screen and in text is witty, sharp, noirish writing blanketed in nerd pop culture references. The acting is superb, and I can't see anyone else playing any character. It's perfectly cast. From Wendy Watson's (Natalie Morales) smart-ass remarks, foul tongue, and zombie-loving adorableness as Middleman-in-training to the Middleman's (Matt Keeslar) immaculate tongue, milk drinking, and love of country music, The Middleman's characters are all quirky and lovable, even the grouchy and snappy robot intelligence Ida (who dresses like she walked out of a stained glass factory). Every episode has a villain that says his/her plan is "sheer elegance in its simplicity" before being thwarted by the Middlemen, and each episode has the Wilhelm scream at some point.

Guest stars include: Herculean Kevin Sorbo, Mary Lynn Rajskub; Brendan Hines; Elaine Hendrix; Eden Sher; Jim Piddock; Ashley Johnson; Mark Sheppard; and Kevin Sussman.

The Middleman is clever and fun to watch. It's out on DVD right now (hard to find in stores), and the comic can be collected in its three separate books or as The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability. Also limited in release is the "thirteenth episode" in graphic novel form in The Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse. It should be a satisfying ending to a brilliant, short-lived show. You guys, buy it all so we can get more out of it!