I treat the US and UK versions as two different shows. The UK version is far more uncomfortable and subtle–the US version is more slapstick and laugh-out-loud funny. The UK version is fairly believable. The US version, not so much. But they tickle different parts of my comedy brain, and I appreciate both. While I loved the UK Office, if I’m in the mood to laugh, I’m usually going to pick the US version to watch (at least the first three seasons–it really has gone downhill the last couple years.)
I like The Office, but I’m on record as hating it when people say things like this to me about shows I don’t like. So to the OP I’ll say if you don’t like the show then don’t watch it. There’s no reason you should if you don’t enjoy it. If for some reason you want to like The Office then I think fluiddruid is right in that it would be better to watch some of the earlier episodes because they were more popular with fans and they don’t have jokes that require previous knowledge of the characters and their relationships. But The Office even at its best isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I don’t see any reason why someone should watch 20+ episodes of a show they don’t like.
ETA: For everyone who thinks Michael is totally unrealistic, you obviously haven’t met my boss. He’s not as out-there as Michael and I actually do like him a lot, but he reminds me of Michael on a regular basis. I’ve heard reliable reports of Michael types from friends working elsewhere too.
Ditto for the thread. If you don’t like it, don’t click it.
My thread is about not liking the show, I’d rather have a shit thread than shit on another thread.
I prefer the UK version of this thread, myself.
The first eight posts of this thread were great, after that it got old fast.
Just popped in to say I don’t like this thread, and all you lamers are lucky to have me in it. Sneeze ya later, losers!
I’m curious OP, as to what you think is funny. Give us an example of a show that’s really hilarious. I’m dying to know what’s actually funny.
That sounds like a great idea for another thread. It could be a spin-off!
Brilliant! I wish I had thought of this! I didn’t know, I just didn’t know.
So, are there *other *things I don’t have to do - like do I have to read *threads *I don’t agree with? Do I have to post in them? Or am I able to say something like, if you don’t like the topic of a thread, just don’t read it?
That just seems too easy. It must be that you really can only apply this logic to TV.
Wow, I guess this’ll teach me to stick up for someone whose preferences I don’t share. Next time I see one poster telling another that they should watch more of a show they don’t like, I’ll just keep my mouth shut. I really had no idea it was so offensive to defend another person’s right to not watch a show they find not to be entertaining, but we live and learn.
I don’t have any problem with the topic of this thread. I happen not to agree with the OP’s opinion, but it doesn’t bother me if other people don’t like The Office. If the OP had made it clear that no one who liked The Office was supposed to post at all, even to say that The Office isn’t for everyone and no one should feel obligated to watch it if they don’t like it, then I certainly would not have bothered.
I haven’t seen that many episodes of it, so I can’t make a fair assessment, but I will say that I do find Steve Carell very funny, and that the unfunniest person on the show is John Krasinski. I’m so glad that Marvel decided not to cast him as Steve Rogers in the upcoming Captain American movie, as I love that character, and I don’t think I’d enjoy watching a movie where I want to slap the smirk off the face of the protagonist the entire time.
Parks and Rec obviously read our SDMB threads and retooled the show for the second season. There is no Michael Scott type character anymore. Leslie Nope (played by Amy Poehler) is now a sweet hardworking naive type and gets laughs out of it. The only true idiot left is Andy the shoeshine boy, who has broken it off with April because he found out she was only 20 years old. Give P & R another chance if you like comedy.
And Krasinski is not funny, neither is Jenna Fischer, but both of them are good straight men/women to the very weird rest of the characters.
I feel like Cartman in the Cartoon Wars episode of South Park with regards to The Office. All my friends keep telling me “You’d love The Office! It’s soooo your type of humor.” I’ve even watched episodes described as the best/funniest. It just doesn’t make me laugh. It’s hard to describe why something isn’t funny, but I’d summarize it thusly: Most of the jokes seem to be “Look! It’s a mildly awkward social situation!” or “He’s really arrogant but he’s actually quite stupid, get it?”
The Big Bang Theory
NewsRadio
Thanks for letting us know about the TV show you don’t like. Please keep us informed if there’s anything else out there that doesn’t entertain you.
The Office isn’t funny and News Radio is? OK, you can safely be discredited.
So the difference between your thread and shouting off the roof is that you get black and white verification that you were heard? That’s a bit small-fry for me. You pointedly refute the idea that you are interested in what others think.
I think it’s really well done embarrassment humor, overall, but I can’t stand embarrassment humor for the most part. My friends and I turned off the UK Office in the first episode because we had to turn on the subtitles to understand it, and when David made the secretary cry after accusing her of stealing, I thought it was one of the cruelest scenes I’d ever seen on tv. I don’t know how that’s funny.
But I didn’t start a thread and then pointedly say that I didn’t want to hear anyone else.
I also don’t like either version, so I’ve never understood the “which is funnier” argument: neither is at all funny. Maybe if they’d added Dawn French or Ben Miller to either version of the show…
Which really made me :dubious: as the actress is 25 in real life and looks closer to 30. No way I believe her character’s 20 on the show.
NewsRadio is a good show, IMHO. The US version of The Office doesn’t really appeal to me. I don’t think the OP is out of line at all.