Benito wrote: Pretty much agree with everyone else. Still love this season and I think this season has just gotten better. But Michael has just turned into an idiot and it makes you wonder how he can even do his job. Before he acted like an idiot but at least did a good job. I have no clue where this is going to go though. Thought they actually left us hanging pretty well. Looking forward to next week.

I don't know about that. Michael has never really done his job at all, let alone a good job.

In Season 2 Michael made a sale at Chili's...and it wasn't even all that that abnormal, he's always been different but was never completely stupid. This season the idiot can't perform 2nd grade math.

RedRider1 wrote:Yep...they missed this one..and the potential comedy gold with Pam's mom and Michael continuing to date until Pam's child is born (Michael there for the birth, making himself the center of attention...anyone?).

Thought for sure Oscar would have some great ideas to save the company, but it just fell flat.

I agree 100% with both of those comments.

wonderboy02 wrote: They could have easily had Michael stumble onto a great idea that swings the meeting and made it hilarious.

Maybe too "smart" for this show, but I would have laughed if Michael had said "here's what we're going to do...we're going to buy our competitor and then show them how to sell paper....And then we're going to buy our customers, too. Vertical integration is the answer. We'll find more uses for paper. We're going old school, back to a day when computers didn't rule our lives. Paper doesn't crash, well yes it burns but the point is PAPER DOESN'T CRASH. And that's our new slogan"

I don't think intelligence, or a lack of it has ever been the problem for Michael Scott as a character. His biggest problem has always been that he has absolutely no self awareness. He is a personable, if occasionally overbearing person, and that served him well as a salesperson. It also makes him a complete ass of a boss. Though he is toned down considerably from the first and second season which makes the show better IMO. I don't know that the writers have ruined the show, they have just gone in a different direction from its origin, which needs to happen when a show goes 111 episodes deep.

"Though he is toned down considerably from the first and second season which makes the show better IMO."

You think Michael has toned down? Really? If anything he's become more of a lunatic. When he broke it off with Pam's mom (an awful plot point at any rate) he turned into a completely unlikeable, idiotic character. In real life no one would forgive that.

If you compare him as a character now to the way he was throughout the first season and most of the second yeah he is toned a lot. The pilot was nearly unwatchable because of the way Micheal Scott behaved. At this point people know how he is going to act and why he acts the way he does. It doesn't make his actions any more acceptable, just more understandable.

No offense 3reppom, but I disagree 100%. One of the great things about our country, the differing opinions. In my opinion, this show eats now, and Michael sucks. He's an absolute nutjob with the current writing. What about him is more sane? Breaking up with someone in front of their kid? Acting like an idiot at a shareholders' meeting? This show would be cancelled after 2 episodes if it premiered with the shit that is being written now.

It's no coincidence that the show has gotten progressively worse since a number of writers have left to work on Parks and Recreaction (which I started to watch, but was so unbelievably terrible and unfunny I didn't last 4 episodes). It's as if the new writers are afraid to take any chances.

Once again, NBC takes their best show and turns it into an average show and a terrible show.

His behavior is unacceptable most of the time, nearly all of the shows humor is derived from that. I stand by my assertion that he is a bit toned down compared to the first season but the audience is more understanding as to why he acts the way he does. They spent so much time on the show digging into his life and his origins in an attempt to give understanding him as a character or to how he can have so little self awareness. He was a kid from a broken home who didn't have friends and was frequently starved for attention. He wants nothing more than to be liked by everyone and tries his hardest to make that happen despite being roundly rejected in his attempts by everyone to do it. He views the office as his family, a view that he alone holds, because he doesn't have one for himself. They have tried to humanize him some. he is still a colossal douche bag with alarming frequency but he isn't that way as often as he used to be which is an improvement over his start.

jordo212000 wrote:

friendfromlowry wrote: I really don't like Jim as a co-manager. I think it's taking too long for him to settle in. It was funnier when he was just a goof-off with Kevin, playing jokes on Andy/Dwight.

I really miss this aspect in the show

wonderboy02 wrote: It's no coincidence that the show has gotten progressively worse since a number of writers have left to work on Parks and Recreaction (which I started to watch, but was so unbelievably terrible and unfunny I didn't last 4 episodes). It's as if the new writers are afraid to take any chances.

Once again, NBC takes their best show and turns it into an average show and a terrible show.

you might want to give Parks and Recreation another shot. The show is so much better now than it was for those first 6 episodes. It is probably the most consistently funny comedy on TV right now and easily the best show on NBC Thursday night.