For millennial America, it really is difficult to imagine a world without “The Office,’’ the NBC hit comedy series that ran from 2005 to 2013. The show was adapted from a U.K. series by the same name, and by the look of it, the show might just make a comeback.
After NBC announced its new streaming service “Peacock,” they were quick to announce that discussions of reviving the series were underway. The question is why?
If a new streaming service is being offered, there needs to be some sort of original content, otherwise, what is the point? The media today seems so focused on what has worked before, instead of building upon that in order to generate new ideas. Now audiences are just seeing reboots of the same thing.
Take Disney for example. Within the past few years we have seen remakes of classics like “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Jungle Book,” “The Lion King,” “Cinderella” and even as far back as 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland,” with other remakes in the works. While this could be a topic for a whole other article, the same concept applies. While people watch timeless classics being reimagined, there is a nice dose of nostalgia, but that is it, a nice dose of nostalgia. Audiences are looking for the same thing that they saw in the original versions, and that is something that they can get by just watching the originals.
“The Office,” which is currently available on the popular streaming service Netflix, has established itself as still relevant, as it is one of the top shows on the site. Watchers can still find merchandise on stores and it is a rare day when you find someone who has not seen an episode, especially on a college campus. The show has proven itself as still being relevant so as the saying goes “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Nothing would be able to compare to the original, regardless of how hard it tried.
Society today likes to complain about anything and everything. We constantly compare everything to each other and when they do not match up, we act up. “The Office” ended for a reason, numbers had started to decline after Steve Carrell’s beloved character “Michael Scott” was no longer on the show. It was time for the show to come to a close. People were comparing the later seasons to the earlier ones and the quality simply did not match up. So if and when a new version of “The Office” is available on streaming services, expect people to complain. Fans of the U.K. series did and since society is so good at repeating itself, we can expect to hear those same complaints with the new NBC reboot.
While it may seem dramatic to equate society’s inability to move on to a reboot sitcom series, there is a valid point to be made. We need to move on in order to move forward. With numerous new streaming services making themselves available, there needs to be some new content accompanying it. Yes, we can appreciate the old, but it is time to appreciate the new and in order to do that, there actually needs to be some new content.
Image from The Office via YouTube
