The Office: The Complete Series- Superfan Extended Episodes review by Bobby Blakey
In 2001 Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant brought the hit comedy The Office to the small screen in the United Kingdom. Jump to 2005 and creator Greg Daniels adapted the series along with producers Gervais and Merchant for American audiences using the same format and idea. The Office starred Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Melora Hardin, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Smith, Ed Helms, Mindy Kaling, Craig Robertson, Ellie Kemper, James Spader and many more.
The Office follows Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly and the rest of the employees at Scranton’s most infamous paper company, Dunder Mifflin, as they have the ups and downs of their everyday work lives chronicled documentary style.
There are very few shows that I revisit and still hit the same way they did when I first saw them and The Office is one of them. I never got around to watching the original series but loved this one from the first episode. While it originally felt like Carrell’s Michael was the lead it shifted things quickly to bring all the
cast front and center and it made the show better for it. Everyone in the show is outstanding, bringing their unique personalities to the forefront making them all memorable and hilarious at every turn.
There are so many running jokes throughout the series, but everything with Toby or Kevin cracks me up every time. The writing kept getting better throughout the series as it gave everyone interesting and fun story arcs to help flesh out the entire office while still keeping Michael, Jim and Pam at the forefront. The dynamic of the show just got better and funnier as it moved forward even when members of the cast left and were replaced.
Most shows suffer when they lose their stars and while it wasn’t the same it still kept the fun and laughs coming. I firmly believe the strong supporting cast is why the series never fully faltered. The new cast came right in and found their place to perfection and brought a different focus to the hilarity to every episode. I know not everyone was a fan of some of the cast changes and dynamics, but I continued to be entertained and came to love them all.
As the characters’ depth grew so did the laughs, but even more surprising the heart and emotion. There were plenty of touching moments and love connections with the long-building relationship between Jim and Pam. Fans waited for years to see them get together so when it finally happened, they knocked it out of the park. They smartly then evolved their relationship to something bigger, allowing them to keep the idea intact while evolving the characters to something more than what they initially were. They weren’t the only love story and watching the others play out kept that feeling coming till the very end. They dealt with some dramatic elements as well that always fused well with the comedy including the perfectly executed episode of Michael leaving that was heaped with real life emotion.
I know they keep talking about hopes of getting the gang back together, but thankfully we have all these perfect episodes to revisit. For those that have never seen the show or those that just love to revisit the series this new collection is awesome and brings something new to the table for everyone.
In addition to all 194 expanded episodes, this all-new collection reconstructs every installment of the landmark series with additional footage per episode, delivering more than 25 hours of unaired* material. It’s the ultimate version of The Office—bigger, longer, and more uncomfortably hilarious than ever before with extended scenes, deeper character moments, and jokes that were never seen during its original broadcast.
Return to Dunder Mifflin when The Office: The Complete Series-Superfan Extended Episodes comes to digital and Blu-ray on July 14th from Universal Home Entertainment.
