The Bachelor/bachelorette…America’s guilty pleasure

Netflix recently added older seasons of the Bachelor to its collection and it's been interesting seeing how much the show has NOT changed in the last 10 years. It's the same exact format with 25-30 young women all vying for the attention of one man. They still step out of the limo, one by one, and walk into the same exact house. The drama even seems to be the same, with one "villain" being picked out and picked on within the first few episodes. It's the same thing every season and yet, it continues to be one of the most watched shows on television. The finale of the most recent Bachelor season had over 8 million viewers. While much of the drama seems to repeat every season, over the last few years there have been dramatic moments that broke from the norm and could be one of the reasons people keep watching. In an interview on This American Life, the most recent Bachelor, Colton, explained how he worked the system during his season as the lead. He realized very early on the producers wouldn't give him dates with the women that he really liked, so he kept it a secret. He would lie to the producers so that he could get dates with the women he actually liked. It was genius, but ultimately led him to his breaking point. In the most overly-teased scene of the season, Colton jumped over a fence and ran from production crews, while he was in a foreign country and they had custody of his passport.

It probably wasn't the smartest move for him to make at the time, but it got him what he wanted: the opportunity to end the show without a proposal and with the woman he ultimately wanted to be with. If you've ever watched The Bachelor or Bachelorette, you know that the show has to end with two people attempting to propose and the lead saying yes to only one of them. A similar situation happened a few seasons ago with Rachel. She was already breaking Bachelor Nation norms by being the first African American lead. On top of that, she had by far the most dramatic and interesting season. At the end, she was down to just 2 men, Peter and Brian. Every fan I spoke to thought Peter was going to win it, for sure. But,  while on their last date in the fantasy suites, they got into a heated argument about how while Peter loved Rachel and wanted to be with her, he wasn't ready to propose. So, he didn't. He left that night and that was the end of it. Only one person proposed and, surprisingly, Rachel and Brian recently got married and at the time of this post are still together. Tonight on the first episode of Peter's season, the women will get out of the same limo and walk into the same house, but the unexpected drama will continue to keep the women of America captivated for weeks. 

Living with Yourself ... A Lesson in Paul Rudd's Talents

The release of the show Living with Yourself was sadly overshadowed by Tom Brady’s short appearance on the show. News outlets were quick to point out that in the show, Brady walks out of an Asian spa, similar to the alleged practices by New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft. The show’s creator, Paul Rudd, said that the Kraft allegations had nothing to do with the show and many viewers likely didn’t even realize it. Brady is in one scene in the show and even though it’s an important scene, there is so much more to this show.

For one, Paul Rudd plays two different versions of the same character. The characters are virtually the same person, but Rudd does such an incredible job that you can tell by little differences that they’re actually two different characters. Despite the need for heavy editing as the characters are often in scenes together, Rudd’s acting chops makes it not distracting at all.

The plot follows a man who is unhappy with his life, so he goes to a spa, recommended by a coworker, and ends up with a clone of himself. While it seems, at first, like typical mid-life crisis plot line, it’s actually much more than that. The characters realize that what they really needed to be happy was right in front of them the whole time.

Okay, so maybe it is a typical mid-life crisis story, but I promise, it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen.

Good Omens ... Warning: this show will likely lead to an existential crisis.

Good Omens follows an angel and a demon through time until ultimately … the end is near and they are forced to work together to stop the apocalypse. I’m not sure how historically accurate all of the backstories are, but the show seems to take pieces of religious teachings, like Noah’s Arc and others, to show what it was “really” like to be there.

One of the most ironic parts of the show is that the person causing the start of the Apocalypse is a child. This makes for an interesting dynamic as he realizes he has powers that can control his friends and end the world.

The show also follows the great, great, great, great, great ancestors of a witch and an incredibly unlucky witch hunter. While all of the stories don’t seem to match up at first, they culminate in one of the greatest endings to a mini-series that has ever been created. We can only hope that the show gets revived for another season .. or at least, maybe, a spin-off or two.

In the dark …. shining a light on blindness in a modern world

In the Dark follows a blind woman with a bad streak as she tries to solve the murder of her best friend. I know, I was hesitant to give this show the time it takes to binge an entire season, but I was pleasantly surprised. Murphy, played by Perry Mattfeld, puts an interesting spin on a character with a disability. Rather than a side character that gains sympathy for their struggles, Murphy is more cut-throat. She has friends, or strangers, tell her if there are any good-looking guys at a bar so that she can take someone home.

Despite her disability, Murphy tries not to get help from anyone to do everyday tasks. For example rather than letting her friends pass her a glass of water on a table, she has them clink the glass so that she can use her sense of sound to find it. She seems to be held back more by her possible alcoholism and lack of caring for others than she is held back by her actual disability. Instead of trying to stay safe, she takes risks and often ends up in difficult situations, similar to a crime show (i.e. getting kidnapped while trying to catch a cab while hanging out with a teenager that is also blind). I’ve never seen a character quote like Murphy and I hope she sticks around for many more seasons.

Fleabag ... Made for women, by women

Fleabag will make you want to call your sister and tell her that you’d sprint through an airport for her. The show centers around the main character, which, I innocently didn’t realize was actually named “Fleabag” until the last episode, as she navigates her way through relationships with men, friends and family. The show starts at rough point in her life. Fleabag has just lost her mother and her best friend and the cafe she owns and her love life are both failing.

One of the aspects in the writing of this show is that the main character often breaks the 4th wall. She stares right at the camera to say things to the audience that really add to the story. None of the other characters in the show seem to notice when she seems to “zone out” for a second, until she meets a priest in the second season. It’s never explained, but for some reason, he is the only one that comments when she speaks to the camera.

The show also focuses intensely on the complex relationships between two sisters. No matter how much they fight and even if they don’t talk to each other for months, they still can lean on each other when bad things happen (like awful haircuts, or horrible husbands). So, if you get the chance, watch Fleabag and tell your sister to watch it, to. Then you’ll have something to talk about the next time you’re trying to ignore weird family members at holiday functions.

The Romanoffs ... a drama series fit for royalty

As I previously mentioned, an Amazon Prime membership can get you access to some of the best television available on streaming services and the new show The Romanoffs is one of the best examples of that. The show was created by Matthew Weiner, the genius who brought us Mad Men and The Sopranos. If you’ve watched either of those shows before (if you haven’t, please do) you know that Weiner has a knack for creating shows that you just can’t stop watching. While still just as captivating, The Romanoffs is very different from his previous shows. Rather than following one group of characters grow from season to season, every episode gives us a quick glimpse into the lives of the characters before moving on to a whole new group of characters in the next episode.

The one thing the episodes have in common is that at least one character is a descendant of the famous Russian Romanov dynasty. You don’t have to know a lot about the true history of the royal family to understand the show (a quick viewing of Disney’s Anastasia will suffice), but there are a few nuances you might pick up on if you do know the story.  Still — even if you don’t know much about the family, the show will have you hooked from the beginning. Every episode is like its own film, filled with suspense and plot twists you’ll never see coming. Some of the episodes even switch between French and English and German, which in many shows can be annoying, but the all-star cast doesn’t have a problem executing the dialogue flawlessly. So far, there are only a few episodes, but I can’t wait to see what’s to come.

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel... worthy of six Emmys for the first season

It turns out that having an Amazon Prime membership gives you more than just free 2-day shipping, it also gives you access to some of the best television available on any streaming service right now. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of those shows. Created by the great Amy Sherman-Palladino (former Gilmore Girls showrunner) the show centers around a 1950s housewife who goes through a bit of a rough patch that changes the trajectory of her life. Miriam “Midge” Maisel (played by the incredibly talented Rachel Brosnahan) hits rock bottom, gets hammered and finds out that she’s actually a comical genius.

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Similar to Mad Men, the show is also a sort of history lesson about what it was like to be a housewife during the 1950s. Midge is seemingly unstoppable when all she has to worry about is taking care of her son and making sure her husband has dinner on the table when he gets home from work. But, as soon as things in her marriage start going wrong, her whole life starts to change. Suddenly, she has a hard time getting what she wants at a busy grocery store and even her friends start treating her differently. Through all the changes, Midge persists, making her the perfect leading character for such a well-written story. Speaking of the writing… as a product of Sherman-Palladino, I can’t write a review without talking about quality of the dialogue. Similar to Gilmore Girls, the show is filled with fast-moving and incredibly witty writing. It’s no surprise that the show took home not one… not two… but SIX Emmy awards in it’s first season, including best Comedy Series. Not even Seinfield took home a best comedy series award in its first season and I’m sure this won’t be the last time “Midge” takes home the honor.

Nailed it... the baking show for those who can't

I don’t normally like baking shows because they only further intensify the cravings of my sweet tooth, and made my baking skills feel inadequate, but “Nailed it” on Netflix quickly changed my mind. Instead of using experienced bakers to execute challenges created by professional chefs, the show uses competitors who believe they are great bakers, but have no formal experience. The competitors quickly realize that no matter how easy chefs make it look on the Food Network, baking is hard.

On top of being inexperienced, the competitors are also given some of the most intricate dessert recipes I’ve ever seen and little time to put them together. At the end of each challenge, the judges decide who has “nailed it” and who hasn’t. The winner is given $10,000 which is shot at them from a money gun. To make the challenge more interesting, each player gets a “panic” button that gets them three minutes of advice from one of the judges. The loser of the first challenge also gets an advantage that changes every episode. In one episode, the competitor will push a button and the show’s host, the hilarious Nicole Byer, will spend three minutes annoying the other competitors. The show is funny, and a great break from the reality of real life, while also seeming real and making you feel a little better about buying a cake for a friends birthday .. rather than attempting to make something extravagant you saw on the internet.

Atypical... the story of a typical American family

The Netflix ‘dramedy’ centers around a family with a son, Sam, played by Keir Gilchrist, who is diagnosed with autism at a young age. In the show, he’s in high school and is starting to deal with big issues like dating and making big life decisions, but the show also spends time flashing back to how the family dealt with his diagnosis. It’s easy to tell that although it’s been hard on the family over the years, it has also made them stronger and closer as a family. For example, the daughter in the show, Casey, played by Brigette Lundy-Paine, is Sam’s younger sister. However, because Sam has autism and can’t often handle social situations well, she ends up being more of a protector. Casey is there for him at school, when their parents can’t be. The relationship between Sam and Casey is something many siblings can relate to. They fight, but at the end of the day, they can’t imagine their lives without each other.

The best part about this show is that a lot of the situations the family deals with seem very real. The mom is in a support group with other parents who also have kids with autism and they even show a lot of scenes where Sam is in therapy sessions. Many people will be easily drawn to this show because of how realistic the writing and the situations are. It makes the characters incredibly likable and the show easy to finish in a one-weekend binge.

Community...Six seasons, still waiting on a movie

When I first heard about this show, I thought it would be dumb. People hanging out at a Community College? No, thanks. Then one day, I "accidentally" watched an episode while my roommates were binging it and I was hooked. The show centers around seven very different students who create a study group to do better in Spanish class, but (shockingly) end up as close friends. It's one of those shows where no matter how many times you watch it, you still notice new jokes and nuances you never noticed before. I will be honest, sometimes the show does go a little far, like with a multiple-episode storyline about a pillow and blanket fort civil war.

There are also the many paintball fight episodes that put all of the characters against one another. Not to mention "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" which won the show it's only Emmy for turning all the characters into an adorable stop-motion holiday cartoon. In another episode, the study group has to find out who the "ass-crack bandit" is. The crime is not what you’d think, the suspect puts coins in people's butt-cracks that are peaking out from the top of their pants when they bend over to pick something up (I'm giggling just writing this, but it's a real episode). Another memorable episode was when they play the "hot lava" game and get way too serious about trying to be the last one to touch the floor, and fall into hot lava (okay, I'll stop, you won’t believe the show is real, but seriously… just watch it).  

The outrageous episodes are the best part about this show. The writers take big-risks and it ends in big pay-offs, making the show unlike any other comedy I've seen. On top of the great writing, it wouldn't do as well without the phenomenal cast. The actors put up with all of the off-the-walls plots and scripts and they do it without missing a beat. Even though the cast does change frequently throughout the seasons, they still continue to carry the story of a group of misfit friends just trying to survive community college.

Bloodline...The story of an "average" American family

A Netflix original series, Bloodline centers around the Rayburn family during a celebration of the parents' 45th anniversary running a successful hotel in the Florida Keys. The oldest brother and trouble maker of the family, Danny, comes home for the dedication of a pier in the family's name. 

John, the second oldest, Meg, the youngest and only daughter and Kevin, the youngest son all stayed close to home as they grew up. Now adults, Danny returns to spend time with the family and wreak havoc on their lives in the process. 

At first, I couldn't grasp why the family was so upset with Danny. Sure, he had been the only one to move away from home and there were hints that he was an alcoholic, but it didn't seem any more dramatic than the average American family drama. As the show progresses, though, you find out more and more about Danny's tortured past with the family. Not only that, you see Danny making plans in the present that he says will "help" the family and the resort in the long run, while he's actually making more trouble. For fear of juicy spoilers, I won't say much more about the plot. 

The cast and the setting of the beautiful Florida keys really enhance the dramatic storyline.

Kyle Chandler was nominated for an Emmy for his lead role as John Rayburn while Ben Mendelsohn was also nominated for his outstanding job playing the black sheep brother, Danny. Although none of the other actors or actresses, Norbert Leo Butz as the youngest brother Kevin, Linda Cardellini as the youngest daughter Meg and Sissy Spacek as their mother, Sally, were nominated for awards, they all deserved them. The characters they play are complicated, many with secret, dark pasts, and all the acting portrayed that very well. Casting directors, as well, were nominated for an award for outstanding achievement in casting, just to get an idea of exactly how phenomenal the whole cast is. 

I will say that the story takes a few very dark turns, but the beautiful coast town where this all takes place remains sun shiny and bright throughout. The setting is an interesting contrast to the storyline, making one wonder, maybe living permanently in paradise isn't as great at it seems.  

Peaky Blinders...Not your average mafia drama

When I talk about this show, I hold back my excitement, just in case someone watches it and it doesn’t live up to all the hype. I’m changing my tune. I promise you, it will.

I do admit that the first few episodes are a little slow, but once you start binging, hold onto your newsboy caps, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

Set in Birmingham, England in 1919, the plot centers on the Shelby family: three brothers, Tommy, John and Arthur, and their Aunt Polly.  The family is at the top of the food chain in a gang called the “Peaky Blinders,” a name given for how they sew razor blades into their caps so that they always discreetly have a weapon at the ready (see photo below).

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John is the youngest, seemingly innocent brother that takes his brothers’ orders very seriously.  Fresh back from the First World War, middle brother, Tommy is the self-proclaimed leader of the three. The eldest brother, Arthur is slightly unstable and trusts Tommy to do the most for the "company." You can tell there's tension in the beginning between the two because of this power struggle. In one episode, Tommy tells Arthur “I think, so that you don’t have to,” a way for him to call all the shots while Arthur still feels like he's in the lead. 

The series follows the Peaky Blinders on their quest to be the most powerful gang in Birmingham and, eventually, all of England. The Peaky Blinders aren't the only gang with this goal and in the world of gangs, there are no rules, making the road to more money and more power all the more interesting. Sometimes the Peaky Blinders succeed in their tasks without problems and sometimes they don't (hence the bumpy ride I promised before).

WAIT...There's more. 

Just to make their road to the top more difficult, the British Government sends in a woman to spy on the gang. A young woman named Grace is given the task of finding out where the Peaky Blinders have hid a large shipment of guns stolen from the government. Aunt Polly doesn't trust Grace, who poses as a bartender in the pub they own. The brothers, especially Tommy and Arthur, take a liking to her and eventually start letting her in on more and more pieces of their operation. I won't say much more, for fear of spoiling what is one of the best shows I've ever seen. 

If my opinion isn't enough, the critics of Rotten Tomatoes give it a 93% rating. 

Daredevil...entertaining for comic book lovers and haters, alike

DISCLAIMER: I am not a big comic book reader so this is my completely unknowledgeable opinion of one TV show in all of the Marvel universe. 

I was told to watch Daredevil by a coworker who IS a huge comic book fan. I was worried I wouldn't understand much because I hadn't read the comics or seen the Ben Affleck movie (which I've heard, is probably for the best that I haven't seen it). Daredevil the show, however, was endlessly entertaining, even without any previous knowledge of the character.

The show centers around two best friends and recent law-school graduates, trying to start their own law firm in Hell's Kitchen while one of them is simultaneously creating his superhero image. Matt Murdock, and Foggy Nelson are the "avocados-at-law" that make up Nelson and Murdock law firm. Nelson is a goofball that surprisingly has a way with the ladies. Murdock is...(spoiler alert) Daredevil, before the costume and even before the title. Although he's mastered using his senses other than sight, Murdock is still working out the kinks of being a superhero without being seen as the bad guy. Instead, the bad guy stuff is handled by Wilson Fisk, a powerful businessman that has a different idea for what the future of Hell's Kitchen should look like than how Nelson and Murdock picture it. Fisk isn't your typical villain, he actually has a more elaborate and passionate love story than the protagonist does which is something you don't often see. Fisk's depth and likability make him a hard villain to hate on 100% of the time..I hate him closer to 75% of the time. 

The characters are interesting and the acting is phenomenal, but the best part of this show is the action. 

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In one of the first episodes, Daredevil has to fight off between 10-20 goons to get through one hallway, while he's already injured from a previous night of fighting crime. He practically stumbles through it, only at about 50% strength, but the goons are still no match for him at all. The cinematic quality of it also makes it even more captivating. The shot in the hallway looks like the sequence was all done in one shot, something not even done in big-screen Marvel movies. It's also darker than most Marvel movies (the few that I've seen) which makes it more realistic. Daredevil has "superpowers," but you see throughout the show that most of his skills weren't given to him by a radioactive spider or his superhero parents. The majority of his skills were learned out of necessity that he's blind, but still wanted to be able to live independently. Matt Murdock really is a remarkable hero and with a villain that is just as remarkable, this is a show you won't want to miss. 

Scrotal Recall…A strange title, but worth telling your friends about

When I saw the “Scrotal Recall” come up on Netflix I was a little skeptical, it didn’t sound like something I’d be interested in at all. The title, and the fact that it was a Netflix original series, did intrigue me enough to get me to read the plot.  

Set in London, it’s a story of Dylan, a man in his 20s that finds out he has Chlamydia and has to tell all of his previous lovers about his condition. Along for the ride are his two friends, the womanizer, Luke, and his attractive girl “best friend” Evie.

The show flips between when he met his former lovers to when he sees them again to tell them they should get tested. At first, it’s a little confusing to follow the back and forth as some of the flashbacks are so close in time, some less than 2 years, but as the show goes on, it’s easier to tell where the characters have progressed and where they haven’t.

When a character gets an STI, it's typically the person who sleeps around carelessly and you're not surprised when you find out. Dylan, on the other hand, is not that kind of character. The more of his lovers you are introduced to, the more you realize that the awkward, shaggy-haired blonde is just looking for "the one." You almost forget that he has the condition and are rooting for him to end up with someone that makes him happy. 

The show, like many on Netflix, is actually from the BBC, making the humor very dry, the characters realistic and the show incredibly “bingeworthy.” With a plot that moves swiftly between every 25 minute episode, it’s not hard to quickly get addicted and end up watching the entire first season in an afternoon or two. 

The Newsroom: A show that dares to say, “America isn’t the greatest, but it can be”

As an Aaron Sorkin fan, a proud Michigander, like star, Jeff Daniels, and an aspiring journalist, I was obsessed with this show after episode one. Then I kept watching and episode after episode was not disappointed. 

Every American, whether they realize what it’s from or not, has seen the epic first seen of this show in some capacity. Daniels’ “America is not the greatest country in the world” speech struck a cord with many and has been shared on social media countless times. 

However, the cleverly written, and incredibly honest speech isn’t even close to where Sorkin’s brilliance stops. In the beginning of the second episode where the team introduces “News Night 2.0” to the world, Will McAvoy’s second brilliant speech gives the world hope that maybe, one day, all news sources will actually be a public service, as they were meant to be. 

One criticism the show often gets from journalists is that Sorkin purposely uses actual news events to one-up their coverage of events from our past. That doesn’t seem like Sorkin’s character and it indeed is not, Sorkin admitted that he uses real events in the show so that the show seems more realistic. He didn’t want it to be a fictional story in a fictional world, he wanted viewers to be able to relate. I’d say that it’s more of news coverage that reporters should strive for, instead of bashing the way that it was handled. 

The writing and the easy-to-love characters still make it hard to accept that the show only ran three seasons. 

Derek: A lesson in kindness

Ricky Gervais is back with another mockumentary style sitcom, but this time, a little darker. Derek is about the life of a fifty year old man who works as a caretaker at an old-folks home. Although many different sources have labeled Derek as autistic, there is no mention of this condition in the show and Gervais himself has denied the accusation.

Whether Derek has a specific disability or not, his character still teaches us a lot. Derek is often ridiculed because of his inability to read social cues and lack of inhibitions. At the same time he is being ridiculed by other characters, it’s obvious to the audience that these so-called downfalls are actually Derek’s strengths. He is kind without question and has a positive attitude even when dealing with the all too familiar issue of death in a home for the elderly.

One quote in the show that really shows Derek’s character is when he says “It’s more important to be kind than to be clever or good-looking.” Do I think the show will be as big as ‘The Office’ and foster an American spin-off? Probably not, but I wouldn’t object to a few more seasons and I don’t think it’d be a bad thing if everyone started taking notes from Derek on how to treat other people. 

Mad Men: A fashion lesson and history review all rolled into one

The final episodes of Mad Men are set to air in the Spring of 2015 so if you start now, you’ll have plenty of time to catch up on the first 7½ seasons before the second beginning of the end begins. I can tell you right now that it will take up a lot of time, every episode is at least 40 minutes, but it will be well worth your while. The show tells the story of the employees at a successful ad agency on Madison Avenue in the ‘60s. Although sometimes immoral, with multiple affairs, drinking in the office and a whole episode dedicated to illicit drugs, the show works to depict a clear picture of what life was like during the 1960s. One thing that I really admire about Mad Men is the care that the creators take in making the show as accurate as possible. From the outfits the characters wear to the popular culture in the workplace chatter, everything is as close possible to what life was really like, making the series an entertaining and provocative U.S. History lesson. Series creator Matthew Weiner explained in a Rolling Stone interview that it was a conscious decision to make the current events of the time a big part of the show.

“The world has been altered by various events that have happened in that 10-year period that we've tried to show on this show, whether it's the missile crisis or the JFK assassination or the riots or the Texas shooting, in Austin. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy being shot within months of each other, and reading in the paper at the time about this huge move for gun control that could have been printed yesterday, and nothing happened. Here we are, our episode airs and Sandy Hook happens, like, the next day. Those kinds of things are kind of what I'm telling on the show, is that we live in a violent country. That cyclical nature of history, and how human life, being a person, doesn't change. That's been a lot of the story of the show.”

Weiner does a fantastic job of recreating these events in the show better than a textbook by adding realistic reactions from the characters. This gives a better connection for those viewers (like me) that weren’t around when all of this was happening. For example, I knew that we landed on the moon, but I had no idea that it was such a big deal that people hosted moon-landing parties to watch it with friends like it was the Super Bowl.

Like other popular AMC series like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, Mad Men follows suit with cringe-worthy twists, turns and cliffhangers that will catch you by surprise and keep you wanting more. However, you can feel a little bit better about binge-watching it to avoid other tasks by using the excuse that it is an educational show, a refreshing history lesson about life in 1960s.

Why You Should See...My Blog About TV

As a TV Broadcasting major, I had to take a “Life on Television” course where we analyzed every angle of television through the years (such a tough class, I know). Since then I have been hooked on looking deeper into the best shows on television, what they say about the time of their creation, how they influenced future television and what important lessons they teach us while being entertaining and binge-worthy. 

The Office: How it changed the sitcom forever

The American version of “The Office” has been finished for over a year now, but since it will forever have a huge place in my heart and I know it better than any other show, I thought it’d be a great place to start. As I have never really accepted the fact that it has ended, it’ll give me some type of closure too, until the next time I decide to binge watch it over a weekend. If you haven’t seen an episode, clip, gif, or meme of the office, you’re probably lying, but we’ll just pretend for a second that you’re not. The original British version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and unlike many other American renditions of British shows, this one worked. The “mockumentary” style TV show hadn’t been widely popular before The Office, but these days, it’s everywhere. Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Reno 911 and Arrested Development, just to name a few. Before The Office, sitcoms had laugh tracks; every joke was at center stage and distinctly pointed out with the audience’s reaction. One of the great things about the mockumentary format is that there’s the possibility of more than one joke at a time because not all the cameras are pointed at the same scene. Dwight could do something funny, but what’s almost always funnier is the dead pan to Jim’s reaction. Another aspect that really sets mockumentaries apart is the “confessional” style interviews. As far as I know, The Office started this trend that moved TV shows away from the Sitcom style of an audience being heard, but never acknowledged to acknowledging a silent audience in camera-to-face confessionals. The confessionals also add more jokes than a regular sitcom would be able to give. Unless, of course, the character is Zack Morris and he can stop time to tell viewers what is REALLY going on. The Office is also incredibly relatable for most people. I know when I started my first job, I could pick out the Stanley, the Angela, the Jim and the Pam in my office too, making the show more entertaining when I noticed The Office characters acting similar to my real-life coworkers. Thankfully, that first job didn’t have a Michael Scott, but if it had, I’m sure he would’ve been the World’s Best Boss.