The Office UK (2001)

Watchseries; I rented the first season almost at random--I'd only barely heard of the show--and I'm so, so glad I did. Within the first ten seconds Ricky Gervais had me quietly snickering; within twenty I was laughing out loud; eventually a few tears welled up and my stomach began to hurt. And I didn't quit laughing until the show was over. Gervais is possessed of the very rare talent of being funny on several different fronts, simultaneiously; he's like a comedic juggler: he's a teller of conspicuously (but not too conspicuously) bad, often tasteless, jokes; he's a backstabbing hypocrite of Tartuffian quality; and for those who have worked in offices and have had bad (or even mediocre) bosses, he is like a balm for the lost dignity office workers experience through petty politicking. (So the show is rather cathartic.) That little look Gervais gives the camera at times (which seems to state, "You didn't see that, did you?") is precious. I have to be careful to not oversell this show, but right now I would say that, as a character, David Brent (Gervais) is right up there with Reginald Perrin and Basil Fawlty, and that is sacred territory in my book. But while writer-actor Gervais is the brightest spot in the show, the other cast members, namely Tim Freeman, Mackenzie Cook (who some will recognize as the eye-popping pirate in PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN), and Lucy Davis, are great too. This show, I predict, will go down as one of the great TV comedies, up there with with FAWLTY TOWERS and SEINFELD but perhaps just below MONTY PYTHON and SCTV (at their best). A word of warning: if you don't like (i.e., don't understand) irony, this may not be the show for you; stick with Jim Carrey and Martin Lawrence. (Nothing against those actors; THE OFFICE, though laugh-out-loud funny, seldom hits one over the head with its comedy.) I only hope the second season approaches the quality of the first.

I rented the first season almost at random--I'd only barely heard of the show--and I'm so, so glad I did. Within the first ten seconds Ricky Gervais had me quietly snickering; within twenty I was laughing out loud; eventually a few tears welled up and my stomach began to hurt. And I didn't quit laughing until the show was over. Gervais is possessed of the very rare talent of being funny on several different fronts, simultaneiously; he's like a comedic juggler: he's a teller of conspicuously (but not too conspicuously) bad, often tasteless, jokes; he's a backstabbing hypocrite of Tartuffian quality; and for those who have worked in offices and have had bad (or even mediocre) bosses, he is like a balm for the lost dignity office workers experience through petty politicking. (So the show is rather cathartic.) That little look Gervais gives the camera at times (which seems to state, "You didn't see that, did you?") is precious. I have to be careful to not oversell this show, but right now I would say that, as a character, David Brent (Gervais) is right up there with Reginald Perrin and Basil Fawlty, and that is sacred territory in my book. But while writer-actor Gervais is the brightest spot in the show, the other cast members, namely Tim Freeman, Mackenzie Cook (who some will recognize as the eye-popping pirate in PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN), and Lucy Davis, are great too. This show, I predict, will go down as one of the great TV comedies, up there with with FAWLTY TOWERS and SEINFELD but perhaps just below MONTY PYTHON and SCTV (at their best). A word of warning: if you don't like (i.e., don't understand) irony, this may not be the show for you; stick with Jim Carrey and Martin Lawrence. (Nothing against those actors; THE OFFICE, though laugh-out-loud funny, seldom hits one over the head with its comedy.) I only hope the second season approaches the quality of the first.

The Office UK watchseries. Set in the bleak, awfully-named industrial town of Slough and the fictional office of the Wernam-Hogg paper merchants, a BBC film crew documents the expressionless workers, ringing phones, copiers churning out clone after clone after clone, pointless meetings and pointless bureaucracy that exist within typical, uninspiring companies.

Sadly, the majority of people in Britain work in dull, dead-end office jobs with lives that go nowhere and even the most meager of ambitions going unrealized. Maybe if they had a boss like David Brent their day would be livened up. Not because he's the 'boss/entertainer' he thinks he is, but for the morbid curiosity of watching a desperate, delusional and detestable man slowly crash and burn.

The majority of laughs in The Office come from awkward and embarrassing situations. Brent constantly forces his bullheaded and bawdy humor on unwitting staff. At first they appear scared of his ruthlessly imposing presence but towards the end they all ignore him completely. But he never realizes this and resorts to even more tasteless ways of getting attention. He loves the camera and rather than acting 'normal' for the purposes of the mockumentary he exaggerates his beastly character to the point of being sickening. He gets what he deserves in the end and by this point the audience has lost all sympathy for him.

His brutalized and beleaguered staff struggle to get on with their work as Brent's tyranny escalates. Among them we have Tim, an increasingly unhappy man who wishes to escape the monotony and drudgery 'ordinary life' brings him. He's long had the confidence crushed out of him but still has more humanity than anyone else.

Gareth is Tim's worst enemy. A dorky, 95 pound weakling who boasts of being in the (territorial) Army and is keen to assume more and more power from Brent's failing management. Like Brent, he has no clue about social interaction and behaves strangely among potential friends.

Dawn is the receptionist. She is engaged to a controlling, unloving boyfriend who insists she spend her life doing dull work despite the fact that she has higher and happier dreams. She has feelings for Tim, and they are more than mutual. But fear of change and happiness stops her from falling for him.

As soon as once branch of Wernam-Hogg incorporates the other it becomes clear how useless Brent is. The new staff are amazed at how such a horrid man has been employed at all, never mind become a boss. Complaints and unfinished work rise and the upper management are forced to take action. Sadly, Brent just won't learn.

In the end, his staff have the slightest chance at happiness and escape. Brent however doesn't learn from his mistakes and will probably go on to have an endlessly miserable life.

If you work in an office, get out! Among the blackest of humor there is a message; office life is fit for no human being. And Ricky Gervais' dark comedy is filled with thousands of examples of why this is so. It's absolutely classic stuff that is far ahead of dozens of canned laughter sitcoms.

Absolute magic! This is one of the best comedy series of recent years. It is brilliant stuff. This is a documentary about an office who make paper. What is so funny is that it is played so seriously that casual observers will believe that this is a real documentary and these characters are real. It's all larger than life in many ways and with some of the situations but it is pure genius.

The cast play their characters brilliantly. Ricky Gervais is outstanding. He, as an actor, writer, and director of this show has created one of comedies great characters. He is the imbecile and arrogant boss who we all have had experience of and who we can see some of our own traits in. It's frightening how many faux pas this guy comes out with, its cringe worthy and we all know we have said things like he has. You feel sorry for him because he acts so deluded but at the same time he can make you wince and burst out in laughter at some of his actions (remember the dance?). Also superb is Mackenzie Crook as Gareth the dorky and also deluded young worker who follows the book down to every crossed T and dotted I. He plays it to perfection, like Gervais. Also good is Lucy Davis, as receptionist Dawn. The one who I think plays it really well because his character has a more emotional element in his performances is Martin Freeman, as Tim, who has a big crush on Dawn. There is a great dynamic and he plays the lovesick worker, bored with his life with a real depth which is really evident in the Christmas special and end to the Office. The Christmas episode was the best from the Office; it was hilarious, tragic and brilliantly cringe-worthy.

It is no more and the American version will not hold a candle on this. All I can say is make sure that if you haven't seen the last episode of it, the Christmas special, then watch it. It's the best; it's beautifully done and will almost bring a tear to your eye.

Now that I've seen the Christmas specials I must say that this is some of the best material I've ever seen! Every of the 14 episodes is just great and worth watching over and over again.

I'm going to miss you Dawn, Tim, Gareth, David, Keith, Jennifer, Sheila, Rachel and Monkey-Alan...

I hold everything I watch to a very high standard and in general I can't watch the vast majority of what is put on TV - 24, Lost, Gray's Anatomy, Heroes, essentially anything you can think of that people seem to go crazy for... and the reason is simple: they aren't driven by the writing.

And to those who are already upset and ready to describe the genius of the plot of X TV show or one I named above, consider that none of those shows are driven by the characters, by pureness of emotion created, by novelty of the plot, it can all be reduced to a few things: 1) Love triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, etc. 2) Action (doesn't take a PhD to blow something, put a child in harm's way, etc.) 3) THE BIGGEST ONE - leaving you hanging (which makes the viewer, in between episodes, feel like they just can't stand to not be watching this show, but really, you could tell one of the worst stories ever and stop just short of an important climax and people will naturally be interested - but why not ask for more)

And in general, what I like to think of as the plot skeleton (the core conflict or plot outline) in these shows is tried and cliché in all of these shows. There's nothing new.

The US version of the Office is just plain unbelievable. The characters are not real people. It's very funny SOMETIMES and I do watch it (which makes it like 1 of maybe 5 shows in the last several years), but Michael Scott could never exist in real life, and he's the only decent actor in the show. Jim and Pam don't have the incredible subtle, Victorian, romance that Tim and Dawn had. Martin Freeman is also 10x more the legitimate actor, and Dawn was significantly better than Pam - Jenna Fischer just doesn't have much of an emotional range. Dwight is just always high strung - Garreth had depth and incredible subtlety and a range of moods. Stanley's humor was meant for 9 year olds. Keith was infinitely better at deadpan and numb-skull humor. Angela, Meredith, Oscar, Creed - all 1 dimensional. Ryan's not awful.

AND THEN THERE WAS THE OFFICE (BBC)...

Incredible realism. Incredible and subtle use of the documentary genre. A barrage of original, subtle, diverse jokes. No laugh track (which many people notice, but it's more than that - it's that the show doesn't hit high hat cymbals to cue you to laugh too, it creates genuinely funny and awkward moments). The actors are outstanding too - such an incredible repertoire each of them has of emotional capacity (even, and in fact ESPECIALLY, Garreth, whose US counterpart Dwight can't come close to the pathos and sadness Garreth can evince - or really even realism, Dwight is just always high-strung and not a real human character).

I've seen lots of movies. More than anyone I know. I'm a pretty smart guy (at least on paper). Movies are my favorite thing in the world. If I put this series as a whole into my list of top movies of all time, and ignored the differences of the media, it would make the top 5.

My life is better because I've seen The Office (BBC). Just don't watch season 1 and 2 and forget about the Christmas special, like I did for a year. But I do think if you give yourself at least a week after watching 1 and 2 before watching the special, you can better "simulate" the time lapse that is meant to exist before the fictional creation of the documentary.

Do yourself a favor.

A TV crew move in to the Slough offices of paper wholesalers Vernom-Hogg to focus on how the ordinary British work place responds to change and business upheaval.

What a surprise this series was when it first came on the TV. Given that it was on BBC2 and not given much promotion you didn't expect much, but boy is this series good. Not only is there moments of absolute comic genius, but it is also very profound. Stand assured I have met all the characters on this show in real life - I have even worked alongside a few of them!

It is impossible to know what foreigners make of lead and star turn Ricky Gervais playing boss David Brent. Americans might not get the full satire of his off-centre and cliché bound management speak. Like another great British character Alf Garnett (of Till Death Us Do Part) he is not so much an invention as an acute observation of a particular type of crass over-promoted idiot that lurks among us. Incompetent and ludicrous, but full of the misplaced confidence that comes from never having to face a reality check. The office runs despite of him - not because of him.

If this was not comedy it would be considered the best portrayal of a man living under self-delusion ever put on film. His belief that he is incredibly popular and has the support of the full staff is clearly false and yet nothing can shake his beliefs. He is not blind but yet he cannot see. He is living in a land of fantasy and time-wasting - for example, inventing game shows instead of writing office reports!

Brent is a self-styled "chilled out comedian" that cracks rude or racist jokes to just the type of people that don't want to hear them. Wearing a fake wan smile he has the unerring ability to make difficult situations even worse. He is always aware of the camera and even plays to it - even lurking in the background to join in other people's on-camera moments as if he has nothing better to do.

Brent has a mini-me in the form of Gareth Keenan played by Mackenzie Crook. A wan and skinny man-youth who is chief support to Brent in the mismanagement of the office. A weekend soldier he makes constant references to this and how it applies to office procedure, as well as trying it on with spare office female talent - with no success whatsoever. He also runs the office course on safety - which is one of the funniest pieces of business I have seen in a long time. Instructing female employees on how NOT to put cups of hot coffee on the top of monitors and how to correctly lift boxes.

Only slightly more sane is Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) the college drop-out that is always threatening to quit and return to his books. A bored mediocrity that fills his days by winding up Gareth and flirting with receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis) - who has less of a role, but looks on in disgust at some of the antics that the others get up to.

Special support comes from Chris Finch (played by Ralph Ineson) who is chief rep and office big mouth: Perhaps the most revolting person ever to appear on TV. His recollections of drunken evenings and stupidity being listen to with wide eyed wonder by the males - with only Dawn daring to show what he really is and even then not in words. When he leads the gang down Chasers (the local small town disco) things really hot up.

This show only ran two series (plus Christmas special - that was only so-so), but in the second series the nature of the Brent management style comes under pressure. Reality starts sweeping in to his little world and his b