I accidentally saw some episodes of the office. Michael Scott and Dwight are more reactionary than I originally remembered. Just small details, but also the character’s personalities.
I just get a lot of vibes like, the writers thought “History has ended” but seeing this stuff later in life I know for a fact history comes back for season 2.
I’ve noticed things and gotten the vibe from other old TV shows, too.
Hank’s racism in Breaking Bad
I know he’s a nuanced character with toxic masculinity problems, and his racism isn’t exactly presented as a good thing… but he’s still one of the good guys so the constant slurs are a little much
For the Office I’m thinking about that diversity training episode (I do think they moved Michael away from that trope as the show moved on)
The 1st season specifically was a lot more like the British original with Ricky Gervais in the lead role. That didn’t do so well with US audiences so they took a lot of the edge out of it in later seasons. They made Michael Scott much more likable, still frequently ignorant and selfish but nothing compared to Ricky Gervais’ character in the original who has 0 redeeming qualities.
Imo it was a good decision for the US version, Steve Carrell is just a really likable guy while Ricky Gervais is much, much easier to hate (even if you ignore his off-screen antics). I liked season 2-4 more than season 1 for that reason.
On trans issues, I think It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the most progressive sitcom from that time period, which is saying something because the main characters are not kind to the one trans character. But at the very least the show acknowledges that how the leads are treating her is fucked up and they don’t require her to tokenize her existence to do so. That immediately puts them above 90% of their contemporaries, especially sitcoms.
I might be misremembering but Mac punched her in the face at the end of one episode (I don’t even remember why) and two guys who saw came by to beat him up for hitting a girl. He tries to to tell them that she’s actually a guy so it’s not that bad, so they kick his ass for committing a hate crime instead.
Michael is offensive but mostly as a result of being aloof and stupid and self assured. Dwight on the other hand is just a failed fascist lol
