Part of The officeThe success came from finding humor in an average, unremarkable office, and there was another workplace TV show on HBO that was like The offices dramatic, political counterpart: The newsroom. Set in a fictional cable news office, The newsroom was a show that explored the lives of the people in front of and behind the camera. Both The office And The newsroom Use the setting of a workplace as a way to tell the stories of the personal and interpersonal lives of the ensemble cast.
Fans of the show aren’t tuning in to hear about Dunder-Mifflin’s paper sales, however The newsroom Was more focused on the job of reporting the news. Created by Aaron Surkin, The newsroom Covers real news topics From the hindsight of three years in the future from when the show is set. But the real hook of The newsroom Was the relationship between the letters, and even if The offices Jim Halpert and Pam Beesley are an iconic will-they-or-won’t-they couple, The newsroom Has his version too.
The comedy of the newsroom workplace felt strangely similar to The Office
Even their titles have something interesting in common
The office And The newsroom have similarities, being ensemble workplace television shows. The office used its mockumentary format to allow characters to share their thoughts and opinions directly to the camera. The newsroom Delivered monologues through the platform of a news broadcast, a similar effect to talking-head interviews but with more gravitas. While The newsroom Being a scripted show, the camera style follows the characters closely in a way that can feel reminiscent of a documentary.
Even the titles of the television shows reflect the importance of the workspace To the relationships between the letters: The office And The newsroom are both names that are general descriptions of the workplace setting. Aaron Sorkin brings to his characteristic lightness and intelligence The newsroomBreak the seriousness of the news. for a half hour sitcom, The office Was funny but not in a sentimental, light-hearted way, like Parks and RecreationInstead of wearing to the uncomfortable or creep. The office And The newsroom Find a tonal space between comedy and drama.
The Newsroom’s Jim and Maggie Romance was his version of Jim and Pam
The timeline of Jim and Maggie’s relationship follows the tradition of Jim and Pam
The newsroom Follows the lives and romances of the ensemble castJust like The office Has with his figure. Jim and Pam are the new Ross and Rachel of FriendsA will-they-or-will-they couple that audiences desperately wanted to get together. The newsroom follows his own rocky romance between two coworkers, John Gallagher Jr’s Jim Harper and Alison Pill’s Maggie Jordan.
Jim, a new senior producer, immediately has feelings for Maggie, a rising associate producer, but Maggie has a boyfriend. Her boyfriend routinely ignores her concerns at work, while Jim goes out of his way to cover for Maggie when she makes a mistake, leaving viewers to root for Jim and Maggie’s unspoken attraction. This is reminiscent of audiences yearning for Pam to leave her endlessly long engagement for the office nice guy. In season 2, Maggie is single but Jim is now dating Maggie’s roommate. The stars finally align in season 3 via the series finale.
The newsroom Must be directly drawing inspiration from The officeOr the names Jim Halpert and Jim Harper are a complete coincidence.
This follows a similar timeline to Jim and Pam’s early relationship, as Pam’s engagement and Jim’s other relationship prevent them from becoming a couple until the season 3 finale of The office When Jim finally asks Pam on a date. If The newsroom If they had made it through more than three seasons, perhaps Jim and Maggie’s relationship would have continued to model Jim and Pam. While many shows since Sam and Diane in Good luck had a push-pull romance, The newsroom Must be directly drawing inspiration from The officeOr the names Jim Halpert and Jim Harper are a complete coincidence.
The Newsroom and The Office are very different shows that somehow belong together
Workplace TV shows differ in tonal ways
The TV shows have tonal commonalities for series with different genres, however The office is ultimately much more comical and absurdistWhile The newsroom Thoughtfully covers important topics. Someone falling into a vat of their own famous chili or Jim Halpert trying to convince a coworker that he’s always been Asian exists in a heightened universe that wouldn’t work in The newsroomWhere they covered stories like the BP oil spill.
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While in the extreme the tones diverge, The office And The newsroom Are wildly different points that still make sense in conversation with each other. Both The newsroom And The office are shows with humor and heart that focus on the lives of their ensemble casts in their workplace. While The newsroom Features more reporting than The office Does paper sales, fans of The office Might want to check out The newsroom.