“The Office” features nine seasons of reckless behavior, office pranks and binge-worthy plots. The comedy series follows a made-up paper supply company, Dunder Mifflin, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Each episode offers a new dilemma in the office, but the bond viewers create with the characters are what seems to keep them coming back.
Amanda Keeler, an assistant professor of Digital Media in the College of Communication, said “The Office” has such a strong appeal because it is relatable.
“You don’t get to pick who you work with,” Keeler said. “Being put in close quarters with strange people makes for an interesting scene. Everybody is just as strange as everyone else.”
While “The Office” is made up of primarily middle aged adults, college students seem to relate with “The Office” more than any other age group.
David Sando, a freshman in the College of Business Administration, has seen the entire series about 15 times. He said the characters’ quotes keep him interested in the show.
“There are certain characters that just say such appalling things,” Sando said. “It’s kind of hard to not enjoy the silliness of the characters.”
The regional manager of Dunder Mifflin, Michael Scott, is played by Golden Globe winner Steve Carell. Michael leads the somehow successful Scranton branch with his foolish and often controversial actions. His problem solving skills are nonexistent and his employees pay little attention to his antics.
The most intriguing aspect of Carell’s character is his ability to keep his job through his never ending shenanigans. Somehow after hitting an employee with his car, declaring bankruptcy and publicly roasting the entire office staff, Michael Scott maintains his job.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), assistant (to the) regional manager, is always at Michael’s side. Dwight is easily the most interesting employee in the office. His dynamic occupations include volunteer sheriff’s deputy, beet farmer, senpai, and somehow the lead salesman at Dunder Mifflin Scranton. Parts of his character are highly relatable to those in a real life workplace. While Dwight prides himself on his diversified talents, he proves himself quite naïve at times. Dwight’s stupidity is extremely easy to laugh at. An example is when he said, “Babies are one of my many areas of expertise. Growing up I performed my own circumcision.”
Part of what makes watching “The Office” fun is matching these characters to people in real life. We all know a stickler for the rules like Angela, a lazy slacker like Stanley or even an innocent guy that gets treated harshly like Toby.
“The power of ‘The Office’ is the diversity of the characters,” Keeler said.
The show’s availability on Netflix also helps with its popularity amongst college students. All nine seasons are at the disposal of viewers just waiting to be watched.
Ben Eck, a freshman in the College of Communication, said he sometimes just plays “The Office” while relaxing in his room.
“The Office is a good show to just put on the TV while having friends over, or cleaning, or just studying,” Eck said.
Keeler added that “The Office”‘s appeal to a diverse amount of people is due to the fact that there are different representations through characters.
“On ‘The Office,’ there’s one thing that makes everyone unique,” Keeler said.
