At the start of each college semester, there always a couple really cool/interesting college courses that have to do with the study of a popular television show.

I’ve written about The Wire and The Sopranos, two epic shows that delve into different cultures.  Both shows serve as legitimate teaching tools for college professors trying to keep their kids interested and engaged in a topic.  I understand why both The Sopranos and The Wire would be subjects of college courses.

But I honestly don’t understand how The University of Washington can teach a course about The Office.

The synopsis is…

The Office: 2.0 is designed to teach students how to create and market a TV show based on the themes and real-life situations of NBC’s hit mockumentary starring Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson.

Umm, yeah.  This sounds like a waste of time to me because The Office, more than anything, is successful because it uses a brand of humor that was and still is absent on television.  It took the sitcom and did something completely different.  There isn’t a grand marketing scheme to the show, other than creating a cast of characters that an audience can watch and say ‘Ok, I feel like I know that person.’

But other than that, I don’t see the point of ‘The Office 2.0′ at Washington.