THE OFFICE-"PAM AND JIM":WHEN TELEVISION FINALLY GETS ROMANCE RIGHT

I  realize that I shouldn’t criticize the one I love, but TV does have its flaws. Problems in life can rarely be sorted out in half hour increments, and people don’t really speak in razor-sharp wit mode during conversations.

Some try, but the result is usually an embarrassing moment in which a humor-challenged individual fails to recognize that he (or she) did not come with the rarely optioned funny gene: Or an army of Hollywood’s best comedy writers.

Perhaps the biggest failing in TV world is its portrayal of romance. Most follow the standard old school approach in which two people meet, disagree, and completely despise each other. In the real world, that is typically where things end.

In TV-land, that is only the beginning of a beautiful and rocky relationship.

Typically the male character has the most flaws in his personality.

He is usually brash, stupid and not well-schooled in anything beyond basic primal behavior. The guy is kind of an emotionally immature Cro-Magnon man with just enough charm to catch the attention of a much smarter woman.

The female character is smarter by a country mile, but her biggest flaw is a weakness for idiots. Let the sparks and one-liners fly in this tired plotline. A glaring example of this routine would be Sam and Diane from the old ‘Cheers’ show.

Another tired routine is the scenario where one party is totally oblivious to the attention of another party in the show. Usually the male character is the one with the hots for the female character, but his role in this variation on the “will they or won’t they?” scenario always begins as a frustrated gelding.

Eventually the unrequited love is recognized after one or more seasons of frustration and mistaken intentions from the love-struck suitor. There are a few flies in the ointment in this TV scenario: First, the object of affection has to be as dense as a boreal forest not to notice somebody that lights up like a Vegas marquee when they are in the room.

So the love interest is not real bright, until the writers decide to hook up the couple and destroy ratings. The worst example of this situation was Niles and Daphne on the ‘Frasier’ show. The Niles character (and real life actor) was clearly a gay man, and he was not skilled enough as an actor to convey an exaggerated interest in a woman.

But TV got it exactly right with Pam and Jim on ‘The Office’. The couple were understated and very interested in each other from the first episode. It was a subtle look at a couple who enjoyed each other, but had complications with other romantic interests along the way. As Blue Rodeo said in song; “Just bad timing that’s all”.

But they finally got the right timing, after a series of realistic experiences in which they rationalized their true feelings about each other, and tried to move on from each other with other people.

The show’s quality did not suffer after their eventual romance and marriage because the highly talented actors were a highly believable couple. They seem relaxed around each other in the way that successful real-life couples have with each other.

TV finally got it right- a realistic romantic relationship on a TV show.

COMMENTS

KIMMY:""I couldn't agree with you more !!"