Social Network Theory and Comedy: Insights from NBC’s The Office

Abstract

Television sitcoms frequently invoke social network concepts to highlight specific jokes or scenes. In this visualization, the author draws on data from NBC’s The Office to explore how show creator Greg Daniels and his writing staff leveraged a well-known social network concept in the overall development of their show. By identifying the presence of structural holes (i.e., the absence of ties between two or more network members), The Office produced multiple novel storylines in which different sets of characters who did not routinely interact were jointly forced into comedic situations. As evidenced through a network visualization—and interviews with the show’s writers—Greg Daniels was clearly thinking like a social network theorist in his careful development of one of the most successful sitcoms in television history.

Social network concepts are routinely spotted in popular media (adams 2015). In television sitcoms, these concepts are sometimes used to highlight a specific joke or scene. For instance, there is a scene in the sitcom Scrubs in which Carla is mad at Turk (her husband), so Elliot (her best friend) drives across town to “help not talk to Turk.” Although her loyalty to Carla causes Elliot’s change in attitude toward Turk—presenting a humorous take on balance theory (Cartwright and Harary 1956)—this situation was not necessarily central to the plotline. Other times, entire episodes are used to parody a well-recognized network concept. This is exemplified in an episode of Seinfeld in which Elaine develops a friendship with a man named Kevin, whom she briefly dates before deciding to remain friends. She soon discovers that Kevin has a close friend (Gene) and a neighbor (Feldman) who spend considerable time at Kevin’s apartment—a social situation that comically mirrors that of her relationship with Jerry (Elaine’s other ex-boyfriend), George (Jerry’s close friend), and Kramer (Jerry’s neighbor). This episode was aptly titled “The Bizarro Jerry” to emphasize the idea that characters who occupy the same location within a social network (i.e., structurally equivalent actors) behave in similar fashion (Borgatti and Grosser 2015).

Like many of its predecessors, the NBC series The Office relied on social network insights to inform its comedy. Yet instead of writing scripts in which network concepts are occasionally found, The Office creator Greg Daniels adopted a theoretical approach to story development. In the writer’s room, “he would put all the characters names on a board and pick two at random and give them to [the writers] and tell them go come up with five ideas. It led to some really cool stuff,” recalled writer Mike Schur (Fischer and Kinsey 2022). Daniels—evidently a subconscious network theorist—was keenly aware of the writers’ unique position relative to most sitcoms, with many characters at their disposal, which enabled the writers to explore novel social situations on the basis of the intersection of weakly connected characters. This approach to story development aligns nicely with the long-standing network theory of structural holes.

Burt (1992) described structural holes as separations in a social network between nonredundant contacts. Building on Granovetter’s (1973) weak tie argument, Burt theorized that a person who occupies a structural hole is privy to novel information, resources, and ideas by virtue of bridging two otherwise disconnected social circles. Burt (2004) supported his theory by demonstrating how individuals who occupied structural holes within a network of company managers were likely to express good ideas at work because their unique network position gave them “an advantage in detecting and developing rewarding opportunities” (p. 354). Clearly thinking along similar lines, Greg Daniels similarly leveraged the network structure of The Office to (1) identify structural holes within the cast of characters and (2) assign his writers to develop stories involving characters who span structural holes. This network theory approach helped generate “good ideas” or, in this case, comedic ideas by virtue of combing seemingly incompatible social situations (Fine 1983).

Figure 1 plots a social network depicting the strongest relationships between the 17 main characters of The Office. ¹ The red boxes highlight examples of when characters who are not strongly connected costar in episode subplots. For instance, Jim avoids an office dispute by hiding in the breakroom and playing chess with Creed (season 5, episode 26), a situation that causes Jim to say, “I feel like I am describing a dream I had.” Although Jim and Creed often coappear in large group scenes together, they personally exchanged just 37 lines over nine seasons. ² Toby, Darryl, and Dwight also rarely interacted, yet in season 6, episode 2, Toby and Dwight unite to investigate Darryl’s worker compensation claims to comedic effect. In season 9, episode 10, Pam accidently infects the entire office with head lice but remains silent while Meredith takes the blame. She is about to confess until she sees Meredith shaving her own head. After Pam’s secret is discovered, she and a bald Meredith unexpectedly bond over a beer and karaoke.

Figure 1.

Exchange network from The Office.

The three episodes highlighted in Figure 1 are intended to exemplify the systematic approach the writers of The Office used to leverage the network concept of structural holes for comedic purposes. Overall, approximately one third of episodes (66 of 201) across the show’s nine seasons had at least one storyline involving two or more characters who did not routinely exchange lines on the show. It is also worth noting that Michael Scott—the show’s lead character, who occupied a central role within the exchange network—departed from The Office at the conclusion of season 7. Michael’s absence afforded the writers more screen time to devote to unusual pairings of characters. Indeed, 30 percent of the episodes with Michael Scott (seasons 1–7) had instances of structural holes compared with 43 percent of the episodes without Michael Scott (seasons 8 and 9). Ultimately, there is no documentation that Greg Daniels and his writing staff ever plotted a network graph like that in Figure 1. Yet it is clear from the interview with Mike Schur, as well as interviews with other writers, that Daniels was thinking like a social network theorist in his careful development of one of the most successful sitcoms in television history.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-srd-10.1177_23780231221141524 – Supplemental material for Social Network Theory and Comedy: Insights from NBC’s The Office

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-srd-10.1177_23780231221141524 for Social Network Theory and Comedy: Insights from NBC’s The Office by Adam R. Roth in Socius