Yes, I just caught up with The Office. (Thanks, Mum, for sending me the DVD for Christmas.)
I watched all 14 episodes in three days chez famille and had a ball. Hardly knew a thing about it in advance, save my mum said she thought I’d like it.
When David Brent was talking to the camera about his special skills with a total lack of self-awareness I was nearly peeing myself. The set pieces (where it veered towards sitcom) were good, but the ordinary interaction stuff was a killer.
And the way he moves his eyes back and forth after delivering a bon mot (cliche to you and me) - perfection!
Sorry to jump on this so late. I feel like Corporal whatsisname in Dad’s Army, who was always a step behind when standing to attention.
Heh. A bit of an obscure title for a thread, but I guessed right on the subject before clicking in. I saw the entire show run about 6 months ago (including the Christmas specials), in two sittings. Though I have never worked in such an environment, I found a number of recognizable characters.
For me, the most memorable bit was David reflecting on his failed music career. Lamenting the success of a band with which he had once shared a stage, he said (from memory):
“We’re both good at what we do. I’m sure ‘Texas’ couldn’t run or manage a successful paper company. I couldn’t do what they do…well, actually I could do what they do, and I think they knew that. That’s probably what spurred them on.”
That’s the thing, innit? The motivational bit. Arousing your interest and then, like, “I get it. He got me to think, to go a bit lateral, out of the box”.
This is a warning to all people who are new to, or have yet to watch “The Office” .
When the first series originally aired, I managed to catch a few episodes, I thought it was funny - definitely leagues above everything else on TV…
Then a few months later, I happened to by chance discover teh whole series run on Digital channel UK play… so I taped it…
Then we had the whole series on one video - - we watched it once… and then again… and then again… until we bacame ADDICTED!!! - - we couldn’t go a day without watching some, or a few minutes without thinking about a Brent face…
At the height of it it got so bad that we came home from the nightclub early - because we were bored, and needed to watch the office just to fuel our addiction… although slowly but surely we regained control… the second series came along and was just as good as the first - -
The point is now two thirds of our vocabulary is derived from Office dialogue - - our facial expressions and actions informed by David Brent… Our comedy peppered with the genius of Ricky Gervais…
Our lives will never be the same - no comedy will ever be as funny…
RUN NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!
because, a company runs on efficiency of communication…