Pam Beesly, Sigh!

I'm not so far gone to have developed a crush on a fictional character, but if I had the chance to make moon-eyes at any character currently on TV, it would certainly be Pam Beesly, the receptionist at Dunder Mifflin on NBC's The Office. Played by Jenna Fischer, Pam is a somewhat meek, artistically-inclined foil for some of the more bumptious members of the ensemble, and now the flame of Jim, the bemused salesman.

The Office is my absolutely favorite TV comedy (to tell the truth, I don't regularly watch any other TV comedies, so the competition isn't very fierce, but I do like this show a lot nonetheless). Pam and Jim have engaged in a series-long flirtation, with the show beginning with her engaged to be married to Roy, a loutish warehouse worker. Pam and Jim have sort of considered themselves the two sane people in the midst of an asylum, giving each other raised-eyebrow looks across the office, or playing pranks on the fussy nutcase Dwight (my favorite--when they convinced Dwight he was receiving faxes from himself in the future).

The show has now taken the risk of getting characters together, which has doomed some shows, like Moonlighting, but not others, like Cheers. So far the relationship is in the rosy stage, but I'm sure they'll hit their bumps sooner or later. The British version of the series may have been wise in having the series end when their version of Jim/Pam, Tim/Dawn, got together.

So what makes Pam so appealing? To begin with, she's certainly very easy on the eyes, in a girl-next-door kind of way. She's attractive, but not a stunner, the kind of girl who usually goes casual but then when she does dress up you're like, "Wow!" She's incessantly good-natured and kind-hearted (she took pity on Dwight when his office romance with Angela fizzled). In an episode last season she announced that she was through being a doormat and would be more assertive, and now things to be going very well with her.

Confusing an actress and her role is a dopey thing to do, but based on her MySpace page, Jenna Fischer would seem to share traits with Pam. Fischer is from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and her solid Midwest values can't be hidden.

So every Thursday night I tune into The Office and enjoy the rich comedy, but I also feel a little pang of regret that Pam isn't real and isn't someone in my life.