Blu-Ray, TV Review: ‘The Office’ Never Better With Amazing Blu-Ray, Season Premiere

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CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray release of the fifth season of “The Office” is a thing of beauty. It is one of the best comedy on Blu-Ray releases to date, not only because the show has arguably never been better but because everything about the season set has been crafted with the fan’s best interests in mind. After you watch the very funny season premiere tonight, go back and pick up a must-own Blu-Ray set.

Television Rating: 4.5/5.0

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

I’m a huge “30 Rock” fan but going back over the best of the fifth season of “The Office” on Blu-Ray and watching the sixth season premiere, it’s definitely a close call as to which one has been more consistent in the last twelve months or so. There were SO many highlights in the fifth season of “The Office” that I don’t think the show has ever been better.

The Office Photo credit: Universal

With great guest turns by Amy Ryan and Idris Elba book-ending the season, what I truly loved about the fifth season of “The Office” was the effort to turn the show away from being just “The Jim and Pam Story”. Of course, everyone’s favorite workplace love birds were still a major part of the show but Ed Helms, Mindy Kaling, B.J. Novak, and, honestly, the entire ensemble cast worked with better comic chemistry than ever before.

All of the arcs of season five including the Michael & Holly affair, the Angela/Andy/Dwight triangle, and the founding of The Michael Scott Paper Company worked perfectly and stand among the funniest plotlines in the history of the show.

It doesn’t hurt that the Universal Blu-Ray release of “The Office” is perfectly designed for comedy fans. Just the commentary tracks alone make it so. Every single episode includes a commentary track by writers, cast members, and directors, including a great one with Stephen Merchant, who discusses the differences between the original British show and this one on an episode he directed. “One-Liner Soundboard” allows viewers to string together one-liners and quotes from the show in a Soundboard to create their own character audio mix to be shared with friends via BD-Live.

Deleted scenes, a gag reel, promos, webisodes, “100 episodes, 100 moments,” and “Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents The Office” round out a perfect collection of special features. The episodes themselves look even better than their original HD broadcast. It’s a flawless TV on Blu-Ray release.

The Office Photo credit: Chris Haston/NBC

“Gossip,” the sixth season premiere of “The Office” does nothing to suggest that the perfection of season five is going to falter any time soon. It’s not as gut-busting as last year’s “Weight Loss” or the best of season five, but it is consistently clever and important to the arc of the show.

Last season ended with the revelation that Pam (Jenna Fischer) is pregnant and the sixth season opens with Jim (John Krasinski) and his baby mama trying to keep it a secret from a gossip-crazy office. Michael (Steve Carell) becomes obsessed with gossip after being the last one to know a few juicy office rumors and so he starts to invent a few of his own to share. In a hilarious twist, a few of the rumors that Michael makes up might even be right, including a tale about a bun in the oven and a guess that Andy (Ed Helms) might struggle with his heterosexuality.

A lot of sitcoms struggle by their sixth season, having pounded the same character tics and jokes for years. You start to get the feeling that even the writers don’t find their characters interesting any more. “The Office” shows no signs of such comedic exhaustion. With pitch-perfect writing and one of the best ensembles in the history of the form, we should consider ourselves lucky that “The Office” is not only as good right now as it’s ever been but arguably better.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]