Quote Originally Posted by nate View Post
To me, the show has been on a downslope since Pam and Jim got married.

Probably even before that.

It's getting to into "what else is there to watch" territory.
I don't think it was necessarily them getting together. They were eventually going to do it and they weren't going to end the series with them getting together like Tim and Dawn on the UK office. The show was/is making too much money to take off the air. There have been some very funny episodes after Jim & Pam got together. The Michael Scott Paper Company episodes were very good.

I will admit it isn't as funny as it used to be but I chalk that up to longevity. Plus there's no real tension anymore. In the UK version, no one liked David Brent except Gareth. David would do and say idiotic things and be the object of ridicule and it was OK because no one liked him. In the US version, Michael was a toned down version of Brent at first. But he evolved to where people more or less tolerated him but there was still humor because he would say/do idiotic things and it was OK because the staff didn't love him despite his best efforts to be loved. Eventually he became beloved and the things he would do or say weren't as funny because the shock value wore off and the staff just accepted what he did.

Andy is basically one of them. He will say and do some odd things but again there's no real conflict between him and the staff. There have been some funny things that have happened but Andy's interaction with others isn't funny.