9. It Has Quotes, Not Catchphrases
You only have to watch Extras' Andy Millman, his dream vision snatched by his producers, to see how catchphrases can colour a sitcom. As he looks out into the studio audience, he is dismayed to see that most of his fans are wearing t-shirts that proclaim a variety of contemporary comedy catchphrases. Worse still, they seem unresponsive until he spouts his most famous line from the show-within-a-show, When the Whistle Blows. A catchphrase may encapsulate a show with a pithy sentence or neat turn of phrase - but what happens when it suddenly stops being funny and instead becomes repetitive and meaningless? There's nothing more pitiful than watching a comic returning to the well once he has run it dry. Thankfully, The Office eschewed these lazy, shorthand laughs for a stronger and lasting impression. Given the accessibility of the script, it could be argued that all of the lines are endlessly quotable, instantly recognisable and easily lend themselves to the lexicon at large. Yet none of these lines could be classed as a conventional catchphrase. Rather than giving one line prominence over all others, telling you what's funny and suggesting what you should take away from the show, The Office gives you the freedom to hand-pick your favourite line. The catchphrase is considerably more useful for the show (charting just how much more mileage can be gained from a repeated phrase) than it is for the audience - and so, without these handouts, it's as though the ability to show their appreciation is something that an audience simply has to earn. A good quote can exist outside of its own surroundings but a catchphrase out of context is like a goldfish out of its bowl.