re: In defense of Pam and Jim...

Cocomo, I agree with your post, but I think that this wedding special demanded a lot of attention from the writers. I wouldn't be surprised if this was their highest rated episode of all time, so the writers definitely put in a lot more effort for this week's show than usual, and that would definitely have an impact on how funny the show was last night.

However, I like how the show lets the characters evolve. To me, that's much funnier than seeing the same kinds of bits over and over again. That made Seinfeld kind of boring for me, even when I was in middle school. In the Office, some of the characters change, and that freshens up the show.

Of course, David Wallace, Creed, Meredith, Kelly, and the Nard Dog stay the same, but others have changed a lot over the past couple of years. I loved watching Ryan go from a nondescript guy to a douchey executive, and now a recovering cokehead living at home with his mom. Similarly, I think it was hilarious to watch Stanley be so happy with his new mistress/girlfriend at the wedding. Jim is not as funny now as he was 2-3 seasons ago, but that allows other guys to pick up the slack (Andy, Ryan, Kevin, etc), while the writers develop an actual story around Jim and Pam.

FWIW, I think that the most stale character for the past couple of seasons has been Angela. Her character has just become an excuse to lob potshots at everything she stands for, and I don't think I've found a single scene of hers amusing since the whole Dwight and Andy debacle.