Goodbye, Office.

It hurts to say this, but it must be said: "The Office" is not funny anymore.

The first season was good, the second was brilliant, and the third was decent, with a great finale. After that finale, I was content. When I heard there was to be a fourth season, I was truly scared and a little disappointed. I thought three seasons was just the right amount.

Well, here in the middle of season five, I stand firmly by that opinion. In the beginning, "The Office" let us laugh at all those real-world awkward office moments when you desperately wanted to laugh but couldn't. It let you vicariously vent your workplace frustrations through lighthearted pranks and clever wisecracks. It caricatured office stereotypes in fun, silly ways. Not anymore. "The Office" has devolved into emotional torture porn. Yesterday's episode was the last straw for me. It was awful. Sick, actually. If I had been watching that with other people and they had been laughing at a lot of that stuff, I would have been really offended. It was just some people being humiliated and other people being insensitive or just downright mean. I admit, sometimes I laugh at other people's embarrassing moments, but there was nothing funny about what was happening in that episode. No one was having fun. It was just sad. Ironic that "The Office" should hit rock bottom in an episode where "hitting rock bottom" is explicitly discussed.

I'll still go back to my DVDs of the first three seasons, but I think it's time for me to leave Dunder Mifflin. Consider this my letter of resignation.