15 times we actively rooted against love

Jim and Pam — The Office

Of course Jim and Pam are sweet, and watching his slow burning crush turn to a real life love story was mostly satisfying. But once they got together, it became clear that what was good for Jim and Pam as a couple, was terrible for The Office and its fans.

So much of what we loved about this show (in the early days) was the tension created by Jim’s unrequited crush. Most of Jim’s hijinks were performed exclusively to get Pam’s attention, and once they became an actual couple, the whole interaction lost its sizzle. A will they/won’t they thrives because they never do either, and TV gold is reached in the in-between.

Once The Office pulled the trigger on Jim and Pam, the fun was gone. They were just a couple now, and the insanity of their individual experiences fused into one and they became the dreaded “we” folks hate to interact with when their friends get together.

Jim was always better as an insecure admirer than a dumb ol’ husband, and marrying them off made them both a little more boring. This isn’t saying much about Pam, however. She was always kind of dull. In fact, the most interesting thing about her was that Jim liked her. She actually deserves that fiancé with the dumb face. They seem like they have a lot more in common than Jim and Pam, anyway.