(I swear I tried to search for info on the above but didn’t come up with anything!)
My daughter and I have become big fans of The Office and got ahold of the UK versions. Loved them, especially Season 1… Season 2 was heavier but still excellent.
Without spoiling things for me and everyone else who hasn’t seen them… can you tease the Special(s) a little. Not sure if there are 1 or 2? They aren’t included in the DVDs we have.
Well, the Christmas special is, as you might guess, about the office Christmas party. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that David Brent (who you may remember left the company) and Dawn (and her boyfriend Lee) return for the party.
There are technically two specials, but they’re really more like a two-part episode. Ostensibly, the documentary makers return to the office a year or so after the end of series two to see what’s happened to everyone. IMHO, it has one of the greatest endings ever, and you haven’t really seen The Office until you’ve watched the specials.
You can get both Christmas Special episodes on DVD - we have it in region 2 of course. Also included is David Brent’s dreadful CD single, with the videos for If you don’t know me by now and a documentary on making Free love on the free love freeway. Well worth the purchase. I won’t give anything away, but there wasn’t a dry eye in the room when we watched the specials.
The specials do wrap up the entire series, though. When I was at the point you are I was told “you haven’t seen the series until you’ve seen the specials”. That was correct.
You should also checkout Extras. This is another show by Ricky Gervaise about him working as a movie extra and trying to break in to the acting business. It ends with him getting the series The Office off the ground and includes many famous people like Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart and they are absoultely hilarious.
My brother bought me the UK version Season 1 as a Christmas gift when it first came out. He knew I liked British television shows.
Lordknows I tried, but I just hate that show; both British and American versions.
Maybe I just don’t appreciate obnoxious workplace characters, but it just grates on me like the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard.
If anybody wants to buy the UK season one - cheap…send me an email.
Dunno about anyone else but I loved the series.
David Brent was such an egotistical dork I sometimes felt sorry for him
I just want to third the sentiment that you haven’t seen The Office until you’ve watched the Christmas specials.
Season 1: Hilairous
Season 2: Uncomfortable
Specials: Sublime
I feel you have to watch all of Series 1 and 2 in order to appreciate the genius wrap-up that the Specials provide.
Are the specials available for rent in the US? I’ve only seen the first two seasons.
The Office special is available on Netflix. I agree that you need to see it if you are a fan of the UK show.
The specials are sold as a separate DVD.
The Christmas special was my favourite. Have some kleenex handy for the end.
I just ordered it on Amazon. Didn’t even know it existed 'til this thread. Og bless all Dopers.
While I thought The Office fabulously funny it was simultaneously really hard to watch (in that “fingernails” kind of way). The Christmas special, however, reduced me to a blubbering mass of…something blubbering, and made me look back on the whole experience a lot more favourably.
This might be what you ordered, but for those who don’t know: there’s a DVD box set available that contains the complete series, including the Christmas special(s). There’s also quite a lot of bonus material, including interviews with Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant which are at least as funny as anything in the show.
…or did someone mention this already? It bears repeating. As does the show. I’d definitely list it as one of the top 5 TV series most worth owning.
Just watched the final ep. of Season 2 again… it seems to me that they left Sir David’s status hanging at least a little.
Question: When Season 2 ended in the UK, was it known to be the final season or was there a possibility of a third?
It was known and declared to be the final season. Merchant and Gervais have a fear of jumping the shark so got out quick.
The Christmas Specials were added later after much public clamour (and no doubt Beeb persuasion), and were convenient to wrap up a few storylines, buy were then declared to be absolutely the end of the whole thing.
Oh, how I wish American shows would do this instead of always beating something to death.
And yeah, to echo what everyone else has said: see the specials, especially the Christmas one. I still get a little misty-eyed when I think about it. One of the best pieces of television I’ve ever seen (well … so I saw it on DVD, but still).
After hearing how great this show was, and I like British stuff as well, I didn’t laugh but once at the UK version. And that was only because of the stapler in the jello because it was so off the wall.
I like the American one a bit better, I would watch a few minutes after Earl and would then roll my eyes and go to bed. However, it has grown on me a bit with the reruns this summer, though if I miss it I’m not going to worry about it. My wife enjoys it so I’m sure I’ll see more of it this season.