The Office
WhileThe Office ’s strange meta plot about Brian Wittle did n’t put to work out , this was not really because the storyline seemed to jeopardize Jim and Pam ’s human relationship . One of the easy and most reliable direction to upset the audience of a situation comedy is to divulge up its primal yoke . By extension , one reproducible way to assure that viewer will hate a new character is to put them between the main couple . This for certain worked forThat ‘ 70s Show , which replaced Topher Grace ’s Eric with the short - lived Randy in time of year 8 and at once take out the vitriol of fans when the series match this newcomer up with Eric ’s long - meter love stake Donna .
The history of sitcom is fill with trip like this . Jim and Pam ’s relationship inThe Officeis on the dot the sort of magic , romantic pairing that these much - maligned fictional character often tear asunder . However , althoughThe Officeoften threatened to beak up Jim and Pam in later season , this was n’t always why fans hated some of the plot line in these outings . By the time Michael Scott leftThe Officeat the end of time of year 7 , the vital consensus had agreed that the serial publication ' piece of writing was beginning to decline , and the show ’s receipt only grew worse . As such , indolent committal to writing kill one ofThe Office ’s weirdest plot of ground .
The Office’s Brian Plot Failed Because It Was Too Meta
InThe Officeseason 9 , installment 12 , “ Customer Loyalty , ” a boom operator mention Brian Wittle tells the show ’s antecedently - unobserved crew to check film as he consoles Pam after a tense conflict with Jim . This daring meta twist was met with critical acclaim upon the installment ’s initial exit but became one of the most disliked plot line inThe Office ’s history . Like asimilarly unpopularThe Officeepisode , this plot does seem to threaten Jim and Pam ’s family relationship . However , that is not why Brian , the boom operator ’s story , does n’t work . or else , it is just too challenging for a basically ( aesthetically ) ambitionless show .
By time of year 9,The Officewas steadfastly on cruise control , which made this a wild time to try something as challenging as a meta plot about the show ’s until - now unacknowledged tv camera gang . The Officewas a mockumentary , but it was a mockumentary in the vein ofParks and RecreationorModern Family . The characters could n’t interact with the crew too much , or looker would understandably wonder why they allowed their private lives to be filmed . Ideally , Brian ’s plot could have acknowledged this and leaned into the meta - strangeness of the write up , crap spectator require why a docudrama crew was filming a newspaper society for a decade .
The Office Acknowledged Its Crew Too Late
However , The Officewas not that show . The Officewas more implicated withJim ’s antic on Dwightthan exploring the meta nature of the sitcom format , and the series was more invested in grapheme drollery than fourth - wall - break antic that would have been at home inCommunity . If the characters ofThe Officehad interact with the crew throughout the serial , that would have been one thing . However , ignoring them untilThe Office ’s final season reeked of desperation . Tellingly , actor / writer BJ Novak remark that Mindy Kaling originally suggested the idea of a boom manipulator consoling a crying Pam back in season 3 , whenThe Officecould still have pulled this off .
However , in the intervening days , The Officegrew too featherbrained and cartoony for the show to suddenly get down admit its status as a mockumentary . For object lesson , inThe Officeseason 4 , sequence 3 , “ Dunder Mifflin Infinity , ” the camera crew stayed inside a railroad car with Michael Scott as he drove into a lake and almost drown . As such , while Brian Wittle suddenly deciding to shut down filming felt like a poignant surprise on first viewing , it did n’t colloidal gel with the quality of the rest ofThe Office . Even after Michael ’s exit , supporting characters likeThe Office ’s Robert Californiaand Creed jubilantly admitted to committing crimes on camera throughout the series .
The Office’s Jim And Pam Plot Didn’t Help Brian’s Case
The fact that Brian seemed like a potential threat to Jim and Pam ’s relationship was not the main issue that most viewers had with his role inThe Officeseason 9 . That said , it did n’t endear viewers to him when Jim and Pam had already hit a rocky patch . For this plot line to succeed , the boom manipulator would have needed to be a flesh - out grapheme , and his motivation for breaking kayfabe and intervening during filming would have needed to feel impactful . However , late episodes ofThe Officeseason 9 need to avoid further imperiling Jim and Pam ’s relationship , so Brian ’s role never number to anything meaningful .
