The Office, Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

The Office never ceases to entertain me with its ingenuity and humor that ranges from the wacky, to the ever-so-subtle. Although the majority of the storylines seem to revolve around the fab four (Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight), the supporting cast also provides an extensive amount of laughs and prove to be equally as talented as the main stars. However, I noticed a certain trend with these, “Second Bananas”…..(my new favorite phrase, thanks Dr. Kessler). Jim and Pam have always had their struggles with their love life whether it was them actually getting together, getting married, being pregnant before the marriage, or now as they welcome a baby into their life and adjust to being working parents. Somehow everything works out for them, they get through it, they fall deeper in love, and they grow. Michael and Dwight, well, I don’t even really know what to say about their debacles and dilemmas but they always seems to be based on pure idiocy or some weird love connection (whether it’s a girl or Dwight’s mancrush on Michael) but again, everything always seems to work out just peachy.
Now, look at the rest of the characters; you have Stanley, who mostly gets the laughs as a result of Michael making jokes or comments on him being black and lazy, but then there was the whole issue of him cheating on his wife. That’s a serious issue, yet it never really develops or develops him as a character. Then you have Meredith the alcoholic, Creed the psychopath, Ryan the ex-convict/drug addict, and Oscar who was outed at work by Michael for being gay and was given three months leave by the company for fear of being sued. All of these characters (and some of the others I didn’t even get to) have serious issues and yet, they never progress or change the person, these people are left stagnate as the fab four have clearly developed different facets and levels of depth over the seasons. It’s odd.
I love the show so I hate to analyze it….BUT, sometimes I wonder if they bring these issues to the show and let the “Second Bananas” deal with them so that it can be brought up, laughed at, and then pushed back into the corner for another season. Is this good that the issues are given attention, or ultimately damaging when portrayed in such a comic light?