Why do TV shows linger beyond their expiration dates?

I was hoping for a miraculous turnaround, but the first two episodes of the new season of The Office have convinced me that the show has finally lost its charm. Being a die-hard fan since the beginning of the show’s second season, this is traumatic to admit, but it’s the unfortunate truth.

A lot of television, especially sitcoms, seems to keep coming back, round after round, when it feels to many viewers that the charm of the original show is lost. Yet, many stay devoted to the show, because it has the same characters and basic plot elements that made it interesting in the first place (Scrubs and Friends are two other shows that I think had this happen). I for one know that no matter how stilted the writing gets, I will always find Jim hilarious, Jim and Pam adorable together, and Michael Scott will always make me want to curl up into a ball when he says something awkward.

But I have finally given up, and am at that point when the painfulness of watching the writers'

search for new material outweighs my need for more of The Office. It’s interesting to me, because the American show came from a British version. The British version ended after two seasons of six episodes each—all of the content was punchy and funny, but a lot of plot elements weren’t tied together. I guess the pattern here is that the British like their shows punchy with short runs, while we Americans don’t like to let the shows go (from the producers’ end because they’re reliable money-makers, on the other because the audience is too sentimental to say goodbye to the characters). The best route is to remember The Office as it was at its peak, and of course hope that 30 Rock is bomb-diggity when it starts in a few weeks.

On the left is Ricky Gervais, the boss in the British original version of The Office, on the right is Steve Carell, of the American version.

Images courtesy of thefilmstage.com and beingamomisgreat.files.wordpress.com.