Show your Accountant Some Love

I'll admit that I haven't given the NBC comedy "The Office" a fair chance. I was terribly skeptical from the beginning because its an American reproduction of a very funny and very successful British sitcom. I've seen those fail in the past and I just think it's a bad idea in the first place.

However, once the American version began to air, gain momentum and eventually become a very successful show, I gave it a shot and have actually enjoyed the episodes I've seen. I haven't gotten into it to a great degree yet because as I've discussed before, I'm crazy and don't like to watch anything unless I've seen it from season one, episode one, then proceeding in episode order from there. So until I can rent the first and second seasons on DVD I won't be a die-hard fan or anything.

Where I must commend the show however is in their treatment of the accountant characters on the show (to be honest I'm impressed by the fact that there are accountants in the show at all). Beyond simply featuring accountants in the corporate world, the show doesn't treat them any better or any worse than the rest of the characters. They are just as dull and boring as most of the corporate stooges seen on the show, no more no less.

To keep fans of the show satisfied during the long summer hiatus however, NBC is airing online webisodes of "The Office". The catch that I really like is the fact that the 10 episode arc is subtitled "The Accountants". In the webisodes, it turns out that $3,000 is missing and the company accountants are put in charge of finding it. Two episodes have aired thus far and can be viewed here ("The Books Don't Balance") and here ("Phyllis").

The other service professions always get all the love in Hollywood and I think it's high time that accountants get a little love too. Doctors get to be portrayed by the likes of George Clooney and Matthew Fox:


George Clooney as Dr. Douglas Ross in "E.R."


Matthew Fox as Dr. Jack Shephard in "Lost"


Lawyers get Matthew McConaughey and Matt Damon:


Matthew McConaughey as Jack Tyler Brigance in A Time to Kill


Matt Damon as Rudy Baylor in The Rainmaker

Hell, even architects get John Stewart:


Jon Stewart as Trent in Playing By Heart



Those are pretty cool, good looking guys right? Who do accountants get...Rick Moranis


Rick Moranis as Louis Tully in Ghostbusters

At least we're getting something of a step in the right direction in Stranger Than Fiction, the new Will Ferrell comedy set to release later this year. Ferrell plays an IRS agent, and while he is no George Clooney, at least he's funny as hell.