I'm Stuck at "The Office"

If you turn on the TV right now, there is a 100% chance that you fill find a marathon of "The Office" episodes currently playing on Comedy Central.

Or another fledgling cable channel.

Why are we so obsessed with this show? Why am I so obsessed?

Is it because it's safe? Easy to watch? Predictable?

Maybe…

But how come as I get older, more mature, and willing to take risks… I still find myself coming back to the same old episodes that made me laugh over a decade ago.

There is an executive producer named Michael Schur who is behind some of the all-time classic "mocumentary" and other favorite comedy TV shows of our generation.

Including, but not limited to: "The Office," "Parks & Rec," "Brooklyn 99," "Man on The Inside," and "The Good Place." He even contributes regularly to SNL.

All of these shows feature an eclectic cast of characters who all resemble friends and family of ours, if not ourselves.

It's very easy to find something or someone relatable in all of these shows.

I had always been curious, if not envious, of Michael's ability to create such incredible, detailed, and hilarious little worlds within our world…

No surprise to me that Michael, in addition to his television career, is somewhat of a philosopher himself too.

(P.S. am I allowed to refer to myself as a philosopher? Can anybody?)

Michael wrote a book called: How to be Perfect. The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question. In it, he zeroes in on the tension between philosophy and humor.

Are we allowed to laugh when talking about death? Maybe we need to!

One thing that stands out is that Michal said he used to be one of those kids who would walk around with a philosophy book slung under his arm. He didn't even know what he was reading, but he wanted to be someone who did know…

In a way, that is what most of us deeper thinkers do, isn't it?

We never really know the answer to anything, especially when it comes to things like "virtues" or "life after death."

So we walk around, looking like we know, maybe even thinking that we know…

But we really don't.

And it is through humor, through writing and creating, that we start to come to our own conclusions…

I always used to think I was Jim Halpert.

I thought I was some cool shit, didn't care about my job, played pranks on my friends, and hated my boss who wanted me to work harder and care more. Psh!

But as I've gotten older… and maybe not wiser… but more learn-ed…

I now believe I'm more like Michael or Dwight.

Think about it: wouldn't you rather be great at your job while also having incredibly unexpected hobbies, like beet farming, comedy improvisation, or Kung-Fu?

Dwight is the one who commands respect and gets the ladies.

Michael might be dumb and clumsy, but doesn't everyone kinda love his antics?

Sure, Jim is likeable. But I can't say I respect him much.

Leslie Knope, however, is more my kind of hero.

In Parks and Rec, Leslie takes her job as seriously as the president of the United States. She truly is the Queen of her little domain.

She's kind to everyone, hears them out, works with what they've got, and even tries to bring people together through the power of waffles.

For someone whose last name is Knope, she really is all about the Yep!

And that is a consistent theme across these shows.

The most admirable characters love their world (and their roles within it).

It's Ed Helms as Andy in a barbershop quarter. It's Ron Swanson building chairs. It' even the "evil" Soup Nazi from Seinfeld who is honestly just really great at making soup, and wants to run his shop as efficiently as possible in order to serve more people.

Who's your favorite 2000s TV show character and why?