John K. in the AV Club

Just when I think I get out, it pulls me back in. Here's an excerpt from an AV Club interview with John Krasinski, in which he gives a sort of different perspective (than mine) of the American Office and the British Office regarding dark humor and wackiness:

AVC: The British version of The Office emphasizes the whole bleak, soul-sucking nature of this kind of job, but the American version seems freer to be whimsical. Is there a lot of discussion about whether the show should be more realistic, or whether it's okay to move into wackier tangents?

JK: I think you have to go into wackier tangents to make it more palatable, in a way. The way the British Office got away with being so dark was that it only had 13 episodes. There are realistic elements that people obviously enjoy, but they don't necessarily want to relive the trials and tribulations of their average workday.

AVC: Do you ever worry that you stray too far from that? That you need something solid and relatable as well?

JK: Yeah, I think that's always the fear. But then again, we rely so heavily on the writers, and they do a great job of writing episodes that have really wacky stuff in them, but don't cross the line. As long as it's really funny and as long as it's not jumping the shark*, or whatever that weird term is. I think we put all our trust in them.

AVC: So how was Jim Halpert's character conceived in relation to Martin Freeman's original character on the show? How has it evolved beyond him?

JK: [Freeman] put in a perfect performance, so there's no way he didn't influence me in a huge, huge way. I still, to this day, watch those old Office episodes, and am totally jealous of what he does. I think all I tried to do is bring my own thing to it. The parts were conceived exactly the same from the British version to the American, but knowing that we were going to go on a bit longer than they did, I just wanted to dole out those feelings of desperation and contempt, which could be punishing. All these things, I start to pull back a little bit. I might not be more likeable by any means, but a little more hopeful, maybe?

*If Michael standing on the roof of the Scranton office park threatening to fake suicide by jumping onto a bouncy castle isn't jumping the shark, what is? I guess the problem with the American Office is it keeps jumping back and forth over said shark.