So how did I do with my season 4 predictions? Pretty well if you ask me! I’ll go through and outline what I predicted, what happened, and what this means for the future of The Office in season 5.

• Prediction 1: Ryan will get fired from corporate. Right on! And boy did he go down in a blaze of glory. The latter part of my prediction about him coming back and working for the Scranton branch is probably a bit off though, since I don’t think someone convicted of fraud is going to be allowed to work there any more. This for sure is not the last we see of Ryan though. Season 5 prediction: Ryan is paroled instead of imprisoned, and Michael Scott runs into him working at some retail or food chain making minimum wage. Oh the irony!
• Prediction 2: Jim and Pam will NOT get engaged. I think this one spoke for itself, but it did end up being pretty dramatic. I was completely on edge as Jim pulled out the ring, and now I absolutely hate Andy for stealing the show. I do like the idea of Pam going away to art school for a while, as that will allow the engagement storyline to draw out through all of season 5. What I do not like, however, is how unhappy Pam seemed when she wasn’t proposed to. It almost seemed like she was second guessing her feelings for Jim. I hope rough times aren’t ahead for PB&J, but it seems inevitable. Season 5 prediction: Pam meets some cute young art student, feels the temptation, but when things start getting heated she will realize how perfect Jim is for her.
• Prediction 3: Michael will get back together with Jan. Again, right on! Michael ditched his new love interest as soon as Jan came back, and he is even going to help her raise the baby. How about that pregnancy though? I did not expect that! I am not really happy about Jan going to a sperm bank, but I guess I can see why the writers wouldn’t want Michael to be the father…if he was, he would be obligated to father the child forever, meaning Jan and Michael would probably be an item forever. And come on, Michael can’t really father a child! Season 5 prediction: Jan has the baby, Michael goes through crazy emotional stages, from super excited to absolutely terrified, and by the end he will somehow separate himself from fatherhood.
• Prediction 4: The love triangle will escalate (Dwight/Angela/Andy). Another obvious choice, but again, right on. I would never have guessed Andy would propose to Angela, or that she would say yes (or, rather, “Ok”). I have never concurrently felt so excited and disgusted at the same time as during the last scene with Dwight & Angela. Dwight is a freaking pimp, I swear. That man’s weirdness is just a ploy to get to the freaks! Season 5 prediction: We already know that Angela is pregnant in real life (head shots only for the last 3 or 4 episodes!), so this will definitely come into play in season 5. What is nice is that her pregnancy will play a major role in getting out of the engagement with Andy. Dwight is back in with Angela, and will stay there throughout season 5. Also, Dwight will be a really good father.
• Prediction 5: Roy will come back. Ok, nobody is perfect. I definitely got this wrong. I still think he disappeared from the story too quickly though, and we have not seen the last of him. Season 5 prediction: This is a hard call. Unless Roy is in New York for some reason, I don’t see him showing up without Pam in Scranton. Wait for season 6 for the reintroduction of Roy.
• Prediction 6: Secondary characters make a comeback. YES! FINALLY! Everyone played a roll in this final episode. Kevin made this episode especially hilarious. He didn’t even have to change his character to fit the roll of being “slow.” Season 5 prediction: No prediction here. We know how important these characters are, so they will be up to the same old antics in Season 5.

There you go. 5 out of 6 ain’t bad, right? So automaticable, what did you think of the season 4 finale of The Office? Have any predictions for season 5? Share your thoughts!

• The Office Season 4 Predictions
• Thoughts on the Writers Strike

• Ryan will be fired from corporate. His drug addiction (be it cocaine, speed, meth…who knows?) is an obvious sign of a downward spiral. His removal from corporate will be due justice for his pompous and superficial attitude towards the people gave him the opportunity to move up the ranks so quickly. Hopefully this will land him back in Scranton as a temp. I would love for Michael to be able to lay into him for being such a jerk.
• Jim and Pam will not get engaged. The season finale would have been an amazing time for Jim & Pam to get engaged if it had not been for Jim showing us the ring already. Something will happen to postpone the engagement. I do not believe J&P will break up, as they are the only real romance in the entire show. This isn’t a real prediction, but I’m thinking someone close to Jim or Pam will die and they will be too distracted to focus on romance. What show is complete without a good emotional death close to one of the main characters?
• Michael will get back together with Jan. She disappeared way too quickly without much explanation, and Michael has been failing miserably as a bachelor. Scott (the Wegner, not Michael) brought up a good point, too. Michael’s single life storyline is already getting played out a bit. They can’t keep relying on his social awkwardness with single women to keep the show interesting.
• The love triangle: Dwight, Andy, and Angela. Dwight just got his mack on with an amazon woman, so we know he has game. But we also know that the only person in the world that is right for Dwight is Angela. Andy has been a non-character for a long time, so it isn’t going to take much to convince the audience that it is time for those two awkward lovebirds to get back together. Andy has too much fun as a single guy anyway.
• Going back to the whole Jim and Pam thing, Roy has been gone for way too long. Maybe he will be the cause of putting off the engagement. I don’t think Pam will have second thoughts about Jim and go for Roy again, but there might be other elements of Roy’s story that will distract Pam long enough to keep an engagement out of season 4.
• This last point isn’t as much of a prediction as it is a wish. I want to see more of the secondary characters more! I feel characters like Creed, Kelly, Oscar, and Kevin have been left out for a long time. I know these are not plot-enhancing characters, but they added so much to the humor. Maybe they have been what has been missing since we came back from the writer’s strike.

Ok this is getting rather long. Agree, disagree, or just add your own opinions in the comments. You know you love The Office as much as I do!

Oh, and I realize that we are too close to the finale for ALL of this to come true, but I think a good portion of it will apply to the end of season 4.

• The Office Season 4 Finale: How’d I Do?
• Thoughts on the Writers Strike

If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend giving it a try. And if you have seen it, you should check out Blue Planet, which is a similar documentary series that catalogs the wildlife in our oceans.

• MXC and the Japanese Market
• LaTeX is Beautiful

What brings me to post, though, is the underlying irony of it all. If you look at the Japanese economy, industry, and entertainment, you’ll notice that they are in fact emulating the American market. Because of their growing free market, the Japanese are in an era where the middle-class have more money, and so their lifestyles are influenced by that of America. You can see it in their clothing, their technology, and even the vacations they take. Most specifically, you can see it in their television programming.

So what strikes me as funny here, is that the Japanese make television programming that mirrors Hollywood, but we dub it over and it becomes a comedy in the States. I think if we put the same cheesy dubbing on some of our own shows, they might be equally popular. Moral of the story: the reality TV content put out today is garbage.

Related Rant: How there exists an Americanized version of the “Planet Earth” series, because the United States as a whole just wouldn’t understand a British narrator.

• Planet Earth
• America’s Accountability, or Lack Thereof

My parents have Tivo at home, and it’s generally chock-full of mindless programming to keep you entertained (read: comatose) for hours. But the only programs still recorded are movies, reality TV, and the news. It’s pretty sad.

So what does this mean for the entertainment industry as a whole? Well foremost, it’s unfortunate for all of the people striking, and also those that lost their jobs because there’s no more work. But people just haven’t been watching as much live TV as a result. It’s an opportunity for people to catch up on all those old movies, previous seasons of sitcoms, and even blogs and video blogs.

With the downplay of traditional TV, I think this is a great time for amateur-based video blogs, and content of all sorts. This is a big opportunity for applications like Miro that aggregate alternative content. Although a few shows are coming back, there’s still no end in sight for this strike. This could be the beginning of a major shift in how we get our media entertainment.

• MXC and the Japanese Market
• The Office Season 4 Predictions