To say that ‘The Office’ redefined the sitcom genre would be an understatement. It brought forth techniques that would become a staple in future sitcoms such as ‘What We Do In The Shadows,’ and ‘Abbott Elementary.’ It moved away from family sitcoms to more work-based ones. It introduced the documentary-style format, allowing for a new angle of comedy to be explored, popularizing Mockumentary-style comedy. Michael Schur was a producer and writer for ‘The Office,’ a show following the misadventures of the staff of a Pennsylvania-based paper company, and he would later go on to have a hand in the creation of what many deem to be a sitcom renaissance. These titles included the likes of ‘Parks and Recreation,’ which follows the staff of the parks department of a small town, ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ following the experiences of a group of cops in the Brooklyn 99 unit, and ‘The Good Place,’ a show about morality and being a good person starring Kristen Bell.
The best part of schur shows in my opinion and that is talked about consistently are is the ships. From Peralitago (Brooklyn Nine-Nines Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago) to PB&J (The Office’s Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly), the teams knew how to write compelling romances, and innovate the ‘Will They, Won’t They’ format.
‘Will They, Won’t They’ is a term highly used in television when talking about a TV couple. It is presented when two leads on the show are hinted at having stronger feelings while not acting on them, which creates dramatic tension that leads until they do act upon their feelings, but then as the show goes on, writers come up with new storylines and new instances of drama that can push the characters away, leading to a breakup and the cycle repeats. Throughout a series, a main couple can racketeer back and forth from being a couple to hating each other all for the sake of drama and keeping the audience engaged as they begin to question, will the couple end up together, or won’t they.
A TV couple I think of when hearing this trope is one that made it very popular, which is Sam and Diane from the 1980s sitcom ‘Cheers.’ The comical series shows Sam Malone (Ted Danson), the charismatic playboy owner of a bar, and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), the uptight know-it-all socialite who takes a job at the bar after being left by her fiancé. These two are famous for their intense fights as they took shots at each other’s intelligence, social circles, and just about everything under the sun, while also ending those very arguments with making out.
The differences between them were obvious to see but the chemistry between the two actors is what made the showrunners push for a romance between them. However, ‘Cheers’ is a show that is 11 seasons long, and there is only so long their plotlines can be drawn out, so Diane left the show in season 5, which allowed the show to shift and morph into something new, and then she returned, in the end, to continue the will they, won’t they plotline of Sam and Diane.
The goal was to have a couple that could believably break up and go back to each other but without making the audience believe they’ve broken up so many times that they shouldn’t be together. By removing Diane, they were able to achieve this by keeping up the facade and not damaging the characters or their relationship too much.
A show that is famous for modern audiences getting sick of the ‘Will They, Won’t They’ trope, does exactly this with the infamous Ross and Rachel from Friends. The couple starts with Rachel (Jennifer Anniston) trying to find her way in New York City, and Ross (David Schwimmer) helps her adjust to the sudden change. He’s had a crush on her since they were teens so he pines after her until she realizes she loves him back and they get together in Season 2. Their relationship is really sweet at first as they go on dates, and support each other, but then jealousy tears them apart when Ross believes Rachel is cheating on him, so he cheats on her (even if you are “on a break,” it doesn’t look good with how short a time frame he found and slept with another woman).
This follows them around for the rest of the season as they argue and eventually go back to being friends. Their relationship however gets messy, as they then get married in Vegas, get an annulment, then have a baby together, and then in the final episode, they finally make a decision to date. While this must’ve been satisfying for audiences, the show had them date in Season 2 and since then they never became close enough to date again until the finale.
Even when they were dating, the show demonstrated that they don’t share any common interests, nor do they enjoy the interests of the other, such as when Ross falls asleep at Rachel’s Fashion event or when Rachel makes fun of Ross’ Paleontology projects. The two didn’t make sense as a pair. While there were many factors bringing the characters together, the fact that they only dated once early in a ten season run and then got back together at the end, makes the relationship feel abrupt. The audience has no faith that they might stay together after the series finale.
‘Friends’ wasn’t all bad though when it came to romance. On the opposite side of Ross and Rachel was a couple to balance out their crazy relationship and it gave the audience a more stable pairing to root for, Monica and Chandler.
They started as friends and their relationship came as a surprise to the audience. But once they started dating, the audience was all for it as they saw the couple work through their problems, communicate with each other, look out for one another, and have fun as they took their strong friendship foundation into their relationship. We see them grow, get married, and eventually have kids, they took a more traditional path.
‘Friends’ presented two very different relationships and they represented the two types of couples that would then be brilliantly brought together in Michael Schur’s wonderful adaptation of the ‘Will They, Won’t They’ trope.
Through the use of a workplace sitcom, the main pairings often were co-workers and therefore spent a lot of time together by convenience, which made things simpler when developing a relationship because if a couple were to be split up, forced proximity through work could bring them back together again. Oftentimes, this was also a source for the conflict in the ‘Won’t They’ spectrum.
In ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ though Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Melissa Fumero) aren’t smitten immediately, once they do start getting feelings, there is hesitancy between them about the initiation of their relationship as they don’t want to mess up their work partnership in the New York City police precinct. In ‘Parks and Recreation,’ Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Amy Poehler) are pulled apart because of the power dynamics with Ben being Leslie’s superior in the government hierarchy and if they were to pursue a romance, Ben would get fired which did happen in the show.
The working environment can complicate a relationship, which is why they worked so well in Schur’s shows because the drama and tension developed naturally without having to harm anyone’s character to a point of no return.
They’d tease the possibility of a relationship between the main couple and might have them take a step in the direction of getting together but then something happens at work or between each other and they need to take a break, this can be repeated a few times, but it never runs the whole series. Usually by season 3 or 4 the main couple gets together and this allows the show to grow and evolve as the writers are allowed to explore this new relationship and the new dynamic it brings.
Schur sitcoms have a knack for cute relationships that end in marriage and oftentimes children. Once the couple is together, they are usually set and don’t break up too much after and it allows viewers to have all of their favorite shipper moments. This is how Schur has developed the perfect formula for the best of both romance tropes on TV. They can tease the ‘Will They, Won’t They’ in a way that it can come across as more natural than a show’s attempt at drama-baiting, and then the show can give the audience the fairytale, a relationship to fantasize about and aspire towards.