The Office: Season Four

Steve Carell (Get Smart) returns to his Golden Globe ®-winning role in "The World's Greatest Boss", Michael Scott, in Season Four of the comedy series has hit the office! This must-own four-disc set includes all irreverent episode of season four, including five full-hour TV special, hours more hilarious deleted scenes and bonus features! Join Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), they bring romance in the workplace, Dwight ( Rainn Wilson), he continues his quest to be Michael's right arm, and recently held "Wunderkind" Ryan (BJ Novak), who works to drag Dunder Mifflin in the digital age. Developed for American television by Primetime Emmy ® Award winner Greg Daniels (King of the Hill, The Simpsons), the Office is intelligent and nervous Primetime Emmy ® Award-winning series that critics have come as "the funniest show on television" (Gavin Edwards, Rolling Stone) . You will enjoy the remarks inappropriate, uncomfortable silences and petty behavior over and over again!
It's that time of year again - a magical time when television studios release their most successful shows from the previous season in deluxe and frequently expensive DVD sets. But this last seasons was, of course, different. The writers strike cut the season down to 16 episodes and, as expected, many are starting to complain that the price hasn't been discounted. Paying the same price for less product does seem unfair. That is, to everyone but the media industry. As for me, I'm not surprised in the slightest. I expect to be exploited by the media - it's nothing new. The real question is, with all Office season four episodes already available on NBC's website, will people feel cheated enough to forgo this collection altogether?

Season four seemed like something of a departure from the usual style. Earlier seasons featured many episodes with a more-or-less self-contained story that came to some sort of resolution within 21 minutes. Season four seemed to be mainly episodes dealing with larger story arcs. Yeah, there were always little stories going on (e.g. they lose their parking lot, etc.) but they now feel firmly in the background, totally dominated by the more personal stories going on.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. In one sense, I'm happy that the Office is flourishing and moving beyond a simple (but awesome) comedy show. At the same time, I sometimes miss the lighthearted format of the earlier seasons. It's definitely a matter of personal preference.

Regardless, it's definitely a strong season and it's essential viewing for fans of the series because of all the major plot developments. For those who are considering skipping the season on DVD, I would argue that the bonus features make it worth the extra money. You get plenty of deleted scenes, commentaries, and all that good stuff. Sure, you could watch them online for free, but then you have to use NBC's less-than-stellar video player and you still have to watch advertisements.

By Steward Willons