So, it turns out I may be slightly addicted to television...

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Team....Karen....?

Recently I discovered "Team Karen" and "Team Pam" t-shirts on-line. Along with various people's opinions on why one should choose either Karen or Pam as the owner to Jim's heart. I realized in that moment that some people are very anti-Karen, which I think is a shame because she certainly adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the storyline right now.

But it wasn't until I was having dinner with some of my girlfriends that it hit me just how devoted people are to the American version of The Office. Of my friends, I would say that I am by far the most avid TV watcher. In fact, I'm not even sure the others own TVs, let alone watch them (save for Grey's Anatomy, a show I totally cannot seem to get into - sorry.) I was arguing that the American version is better than the British version (trust me, that means a lot coming from me who LOVES all things British) and my friend Shannon disagrees (Shannon - sweetie - I don't think you gave the show a fair shot - one or two brief glimpses into the complicated world of Dunder Mifflin does not an Office fan make). However, she did say that she thought the NBC version had more depth. Or maybe she said layers. Regardless, she meant that there's more substance to the NBC version.

And that got me thinking.

And then I did a little surfing.

I started with YouTube - since that's where so many fans express their love for The Office (amongst other shows). I admit, I have watched many a fanvid and I'm as big a sucker for a good JAM compilation as they come. So, I did a quick search for Tim and Dawn of BBCs The Office and pulled up 43,918 videos and I watched a couple of compilations (nicely done I must add) and watched the ending of the Christmas 2003 Office special again.

Then I searched for Jim and Pam and pulled up 460,316 videos. Yes, as in four hundred thousand....

It might be because NBCs version has already had more episodes than the Brisith one (which was two 6 episode seasons and one special) - so of course that allows for more character development. It might be because there are far more TV-addicted people on this side of the pond. But honestly, it might just be because NBCs version is freakin' better!!! After all, DIM just doesn't have the same ring as JAM does it? And does Lucy Davis (aka Dawn) have an awesome MySpace page where she sends out cool fan stuff and writes a blog for fans? No, I don't think so (um, and if I'm wrong, someone send me the link to Lucy's MySpace page and I will retract that statement). And even if Lucy does have a MySpace page that she keeps regularly updated, a la Jenna Fischer, I bet there's no equivalent to having half the cast of The Office also keeping updated MySpace pages. My only gripe - John Krasinski does not have one. But BJ Novak does, and that's almost as good. :)

Okay, so you're still asking what the heck does this have to do with Karen? Well, back to my original t-shirt story. When I saw the t-shirt debate I realized people are really invested in this show (myself included) and there is like this whole online world of people who are crazy about The Office. I'm not sure they all watch on TV (many people I know download the show) which could account for the poor ratings, but honestly, NBC has to learn how to leverage that and see the trend (another topic for another day). I'm so sorry, I'm such a rambler tonight.

Okay, focus... back on topic. So, long story short, the time has come for me to pick sides - teams as it were. And after careful consideration, I think I may be leaning towards...Karen (and really, you should not be shocked given that the title of this is Team Karen). Not that I've fully committed and bought the t-shirt but I like Karen. She's spunky. She's a go-getter. She's fresh and fun. And we can't have 10 seasons of Jim and Pam staring all googley eyes at each other - that loses appeal after a while.

Plus, let's think how it goes in real life. How many JAMs do you know? How many JAMs have you been? And ultimately, how many JAMs ended up together. Um, not so many I wager. It's art immitating life people - and that's why we love The Office so much.

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