It's tempting to blame it all on John Krasinski's face. But that isn't really fair.

While the U.S. version of The Office may have popularized the mockumentary-style sitcom for American audiences, the U.K. iteration had already been there and done that. Besides, before The Office, there were films like This Is Spinal Tap and Best in Show, iconic comedies from the master of the genre, Christopher Guest, that remind us how funny direct address, interview format can be.

For a while, Krasinski's mugging worked as a punch line: His reaction face was always perfectly timed, the ideal coda to a great line. But over time, that wore thin, and The Office was forced to expand its scope, and to eventually incorporate the previously unseen documentarians into its ninth and final season. The series should serve as a warning to other sitcoms: The mockumentary style has its limits.

And yet, TV writers still haven't learned. The format has persisted and in the process, become lazier and the framework. Who's filming all of this anyway? Apparently, it doesn't matter, as long as the audience gets to see an actor making Krasinski face right into the camera.

The first run of mockumentary series after The Office — Parks and Recreation and Modern Family — get a pass, if only because the trend wasn't totally played out when they began. But at this point, it's strange that either show has stuck with it: Who is still making a documentary about Pawnee, Indiana, and why? How long is this documentary about the today's "modern family" going to last? And how have the cameramen on either show followed these characters around for years without any sort of acknowledgement?