It is an extremely funny comedy with an annoying manager, it has won dozens of awards here in the UK it makes it’s mark by being un PC, so I doubt the American scripted version will be as funny.
If anyone has seen it BBC America, what did you think of it?
I don’t think “The Office” is un PC; it’s about characters who are not PC, either because they don’t want to be or they don’t understand what it means to be PC. I don’t think there’s ever any doubt or ambiguity about whether the writers hold these views themselves, and it’s nothing compared with what Ricky Gervaise (co-writer / star of The Office) used to say on the 11 o’ clock show.
It is a superbly funny programme; I would say the closest thing to it is “The Larry Sanders Show”. Sometimes you watch a whole episode without laughing, but your mouth is open in shock the whole time, because the characters are making such fools of themselves.
Yeah but come on, as if American Networks are gonna allow such un PC terms about minorities and people with disabilities.
I’ve not seen much of the 11’o’clock show, what did he say on that?
You’re probably right; the American shows I was thinking of are probably mostly on cable.
I don’t remember much from the 11 o’clock show but he was at least as provocative as Ali G was on that show. He used his own name but pretended to be a sort of Sun reader type cultural critic. I do remember a line about kids going to a theatre workshop or something where he was worried that they would be “taught gay.”
Off topic, but this Gervaise character also reported enthusiastically on a concert he’d been to where they’d performed “World Cup”; he actually meant “Nessun Dormi”.
Why are american networks so afriad to show this content?
This is only true of the major networks: I believe it’s to do with self-censorship due to the need to retain advertisers, who in turn are scared of pressure and consumer boycotts from lobbyists, the ‘moral majority’, and various other pressure groups.
However, HBO, which is a US subscriber cable station, is producing some of the best TV I’ve ever seen - Six Feet Under and The Sopranos (and Sex in the City, though I don’t really like that) that have broken some major boundaries - well exceeding those of UK drama.
There may be governmental restrictions too, but I am ignorant of this - perhaps a 'merkin could fill us in.
BTW ryan, I agree that The Office will almost certainly fail in its transition to the US. I am guessing that the un-PC stuff, the humor of shame, and the fact that none of the jokes have punchlines will remove its uniqueness and just turn it into another sitcom. I hope I’m proved wrong.
(BTW, for any 'merkins reading this, The Office is one of the best British comedy shows I’ve seen for decades. The parallel is indeed Larry Sanders [which is Canadian, IIRC], but it takes it several steps further. It’s incredibly painful to watch.)
I’m an 'murrican, so here’s my WAG:
Networks (cable or not) are only going to produce and broadcast something that will make MONEY. Occasionally, shows with abysmal ratings will be allowed to live and some become sucessful (like Cheers).
The bottom line IS the Bottom Line. Ofending your cu$tomer ba$e is bad for bu$$ine$$.
Well, thats a shame really.
Anyone else think The Office is overrated? Don’t get me wrong, I like it, I’m just surprised that so much praise is being heaped upon it. I watched one episode, and thought it was pretty funny, albeit in a “car crash TV” sort of way. Then I watched another, and it also was funny… but basically the same joke as before. And so on for all the other episodes I’ve seen. They might as well just show the same episode every week, although I guess you could say that about a lot of programmes. But it’s certainly no Fawlty Towers or Frasier, nor even Larry Sanders or I’m Alan Partridge.
Guess your in the minority, and by the way have you gotten the whole joke of the office?
Um, Larry Sanders wasn’t Canadian. He was as LA as you can get. (The Larry Sanders Show was a US show, produced by HBO.)
There’s no governmental restrictions on TV content in the US, except that you can’t show “obscene” (which these days pretty much means X-rated) material on broadcast TV. And I think that regulation only says you can’t show it before 10 p.m.
It’s self-censorship, as jjiimm says. However, this self-censorship is mainly found at the broadcast networks, and not on the cable stations.
Nah, it’s just trendy to like The Office at the moment. Nobody will remember it 10 years from now (apart from in a “This won loads of awards - no really, it did” way). It’s all been done before (“People Like Us”, countless sketch shows) although not as deftly.
As a Yank in England, I think The Office is hilarious; and most British sitcoms are rubbish and bore me to tears. It has a subtlety, which (as someone already mentioned) means you don’t necessarily laugh your ass off every episode, but it’s still almost always funny. For Americans: Imagine Dilbert, circa 1993, and you’ll understand the humor. But I don’t think it would fly that well in the U.S., unless some really good writers were brought on board. It’s a concept that would be easy to mess up.
It may be ‘trendy’ to like The Office, but I think it has genuine, enduring merit and I disagree about its being forgotten in ten years. The show’s wholly un-subtle ‘party pieces’ get most of the attention (Brent’s charity dance, the ostrich costume etc.), and they make for good mpeg clips for people to email to each other. But the show has much to offer besides high farce and slapstick.
There is many much more telling and subtle gags, such as the episode with Brent repeatedly trying to prove that he knows about Dostoevsky, or the entire sequence of his ‘helping’ Dawn to nominate a positive role model (himself).
I think the acting and performances are of exceptional calibre. Gervaise and Merchant, sharing honours as co-writers and co-directors, have gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure the performances are note perfect. Look at Brent’s body language when, in rehearsing his management tutorial, he invites Gareth to insult him and despairs at Gareth’s attempts to do so, or at his struggle to maintain higher status than the management consulant. Look at the physical comedy of Tim and Gareth sparring over the stapler which Tim eventually drops out of the window, or Brent posing for a photo.
It’s amazing how much of the comedy derives entirely from silent reaction shots of people’s expressions shot in fairly authentic ‘cinema verite’ style: Dawn observing Tim’s burgeoning relationship with Rachel; Brent observing everyone’s enjoyment of Neil’s wit or his dancing; Tim’s reactions to Gareth’s girlfriend on the speaker phone when she mentions ‘the toys’. It is amazingly challenging to make this kind of humour work, and the cast and crew are to be congratulated for getting it so right. Let’s also congratulate the insight and courage of whoever commissioned the show, since very little of the show’s merits can have been obvious from a script or outline.
I saw an interview with one of the cast who said that actors normally try to gain attention, whereas Gervaise and Merchant spent forever getting them to do the opposite and “not be there”. I think the supporting cast have been superb throughout both series, and I’d single out Lucy Davis (“Dawn”) for her note-perfect and touchingly funny performancem, even when she has no lines at all - just a few glances across the desolate landscape of the office.
I don’t think there is a snowball’s chance in hell of the series being successfully adapted for an American audience. I’m not disparaging American TV comedy at all - I hold it in very high esteem. But The Office is well-nigh non-exportable. Brent’s role is to be (in the words of Angus Deayton) the world’s most embarassing man, but what’s acutely and painfuly embarassing about him is deeply rooted in the major fault lines of the British psyche. When I watch the show I am horrified by all the shuddering moments of recognition and self-recognition. I don’t think Yanks will respond, or could respond, in the same way.
Everything that ianzin said. Well said, sir.
You could be describing Basil Fawlty there, someone who quite a few “Yanks” respond to. Anyway, you’re saying there’s something unique about being British which means that there could never be an American David Brent? I don’t buy that at all; I’m sure I’ve seen Brent outside Slough before - wasn’t he in Glengarry Glen Ross, and Office Space, and others? No doubt he has appeared in French films and, who knows, Iranian plays, too. He seems to be a pretty universal character.
I tend to agree with Usram. I think it’s a very clever show based on a single joke. That doesn’t detract from the quality of the characters, or the intricate subplots, but I’ve very quickly grown tired of it.
Ryan_Liam: I hope you didn’t mean to sound so patronising, because it is possible to “get” the joke and still not like it.
I agree with ianzin.
For me its Tim’s acting that is the best. After you’ve seen the main jokes, the dance, the guitar etc you begin to pick up on the bits you missed first time, and mostly this is Tim and his faces. In the episode with the guitar, which incidently is my favourtite, Dawn is going through a hard time with Lee, David Brent offers some encouragement;
'Now im not one to pry, but i wouldn’t be the boss, or indeed the man i am (camera pans across to Dawn) if i didn’t lend some words of encouragement(Dawns eyes suddenly look very scared and you here the strum of a guitar chord)
Its the totally subtly that does it, they dont show him picking up the guitar, and you really have to look for Dawns eyes showing all her feelings without saying a word. But its all there, and its all very very funny.
Another very funny bit is in both the final episodes of seasons 1 & 2 a janitor comes out of a closet and spots the camera, he stares at it, looking confused, and the other characters notice him looking at it and look at him confused, you end up with Tim, Gareth, Dawn and Neil all looking at him, looking at us. Genius.
As for is it un-pc, one of the main characters traits of both Gareth and David is their view that they are open-minded and that they are thoughtful (‘isn’t schindlers list a brilliant film’), but in reality they’re total morons, who only say they are all the things they wish they were in order to sound sophisticated and clever. So really they are neither PC nor Un-pc.
I’m with Ianzin all the way. Dawn’s performance in particular is award-worthy. I’m a big fan.