The Office vs. The Office

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I went with UK. I've only seen the first two seasons of each, but I watched them over the course of a weekend while I was sick. Steve Carell and John Krasinski's eyebrows really bugged me out. That might've been the Nyquil talking, but I'm convinced. I also feel like the pacing was more fluid in the UK version.

I'll have to check out the later seasons of he US version though. Why was the UK version cancelled after only two seasons?

That one-second shot of Gareth leaving the bar in the motorcycle car still cracks me up

Didn't Gervais end it himself? Extras only ran for two seasons as well (with an upcoming special in the works).

(x-post)

Yeah, that was sweet. Dwight's never tried (and failed) to be such a player.

That one-second shot of Gareth leaving the bar in the motorcycle car still cracks me up

-- Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, October 16, 2007 8:36 PM (Tuesday, October 16, 2007 8:36 PM) Bookmark Link

me and my ex had this permanently saved on our dvr just for that moment. maybe one of my favorite tv moments of all time.

write in: La Job

though yeah, Creed bumps US over UK

It's pretty much an apples/oranges comparison.

If you can't compare two comedy tv shows with the same characters, the same set-up, the same jokes - even sometimes the same lines - good luck comparing, say, anything else in the whole world.

The one where Michael Scott has to fire someone on Halloween was on TBS tonight. Brilliant, lads.

haven't watched a lot of it but US one is obviously funnier

"The Office"(UK) was of course a second-rate "People Like Us".

Still good, though.

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Much closer than I expected.

I was watching the UK one again last night (having been pretty much immersed in the US one) and was surprised at how funny it is. I think my memory of it was more that it was just more cringeworthy but there are plenty of just plain funny moments.

I don't think I could have ever chosen. I think the UK show is better in an objective sense of being more creative and more realistic and just having the character of David Brent, and at its peaks it's probably funnier than the US office. But the US Office is just more fun to watch, and there's more of it, and has better side characters and side plots since it's had more time to develop them.

"better in an objective sense"=better

"i haven't seen the US version
does it have gags about the territorial army?"

Yeah, what is the US equivalent of that joke?

general hayseed gun enthusiasm, i guess

There is no equivalent, really.

The equivalent is Dwight being a "deputy sheriff" or whatever, right?

ohhh yeah that's good.

I don't think I could have ever chosen. I think the UK show is better in an objective sense of being more creative and more realistic and just having the character of David Brent, and at its peaks it's probably funnier than the US office. But the US Office is just more fun to watch, and there's more of it, and has better side characters and side plots since it's had more time to develop them.

-- n/a, Thursday, October 18, 2007 1:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

David Brent is outstanding, and the UK version definitely makes me squirmier, but yeah, the US version is consistently funnier overall.

I would have, and used to say, that the US equivalent of the Territorial Army is the National Guard and Army Reserves, but in the past few years any distinction may have been erased.

They wouldn't put Dwight in the Guard, because then they'd be making fun of America too much.

I think the Nat'l Guard became something different from the territorial army around the same time everyone found out that GWB dodged nam via it

"better in an objective sense"=better

-- M.V., Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Not necessarily, ponch.

not sure I follow you Will. Before the war, how was the National Guard much different then the TA? I don't know anything about the TA, but I assumed they served similar purposes.

I mean when I saw the Office UK I didn't understand the TA jokes untill somebody said "it's like the National Guard". I don't think anybody's opinion of it changed drastically after the GWB stuff.

the national guard might be analagous to the territorial army in practice but i don't sense much disrespect for the guard in this country, it just wouldn't have worked. the 'volunteer deputy' jokes seem to nail the same tone as the TA ones, not saying i fully understand the TA connotations.

I thought the territorial army was a place where, like, the nerdy skinny gun nerds went, whereas the nat'l guard is where you go when there's a draft and yr dad's rich.

no the national guard people are all in iraq now, actually.

but i'm not from the US or the UK, so what do i know?

xpost ouuuuch.

i find the american version better when it's farther away from the british version. i don't think it's any surprise that those early episodes based on some of the british ones are the least funny. the US one isn't as bleak and doesn't really explore class issues like the UK one did, which is probably for the better.

The Territorial Army are in Iraq too, and getting killed too, sadly.

Sorry to hear that, didn't know. Figured with smaller forces they wouldn't have resorted to that like we did.

Anybody seen the Canadian version or the French version?

Iranian version, Saudi version, Chinese version, Darfur version, Caveman version, Meerkat version, Down's syndrome version...

the other Office thread inspired me to look this up.

I think the first series of the UK Office was hilarious through and through. I thought the second was uncomfortable and too over the top even for itself. David Brent was beyond annoying by series end.

I do prefer it to the US one though

I'm kind of torn on this one now. I have not been watching the US one over the years so maybe that clouds my mind, but I used to be a UK version stan. and I still love it, but I really disliked the second series -- David Brent was way too over the top, and got his rightful (spoiler) FIRING in the end.

think the USA blends in drama better, even if some of its more comedic moments are sometimes more irritating.

never seen the Xmas special until now and I am having a hard time not doubling over at the David Brent 'single'.

love how little work they do in the true version (US)

The US version had longer stretches of complex brilliance, and long, loooooong stretches of inconceivably unwatchable dreck. Maybe the first show to be utterly destroyed by the idea of "fan service".

this scene still kills me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-wfO6_eq-A

feel like series one of UK The Office was brilliant, series two was meh

The US version would be remembered so much more fondly if they had just quit while they were ahead. Stupid TV producers always want to milk that shit dry.

^ That's US televsion for you.

UK office bleak as fuk

The US version would be remembered so much more fondly if they had just quit while they were ahead. Stupid TV producers always want to milk that shit dry.

I totally gave up on it around the middle of its run, but came back toward the end and it had certainly rebounded. I think it went out strong.

A weird case where naming some of the cast executive producers with story responsibility late in the game fixed rather than caused a lot of the show's problem (although Jenna Fischer's husband was the worst director in the show's history).

UK office bleak as fuk

yeah was gonna say there's nothing in the US series as devastating and true as the Christmas party episode. whether that makes either one "better" i don't really care.

The selling of Dunder MIfflin and introduction of Catherine Tate, IMO.

Gareth, are all these questions going to be about war?

Starting to become very "WATCH ANOTHER SHOW" about this one, you guys.

about which one

the american office

yeah, they should cancel this already

"the american office" always sounds like a grim frontline documentary

even more so with the Season One title

yeah, they should cancel this already

― We were never Breeting Borting (President Keyes), Monday, April 22, 2019 1:05 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they should cancel the memes!

I like how in the UK version they portray true contempt. Like in “New Girl,” the new girl is not bemusedly frustrated with David and Gareth, she fucking despises them.

otm, one of the best elements of this show.

also Gareth is pathetic in a way that Dwight doesn't manage to achieve. Dwight's irritating and OTT obnoxious, Gareth however could make you murder him if you had to spend 10 minutes with him.

The look of murder in her eyes is never broken. I imagine it took several takes to get it that intense—it’s a definite directorial choice.

Yeah good point neanderthal. Gareth is repulsive.

I've never like intentionally watched US The Office for long periods of time, but every time it's on, it feels like someone is running a cheese grater across my head. the further the show went on, the characters didn't feel lived in, they just tack on more awkward quirks on them as if this is a Kids in the Hall sketch.

I was a much bigger fan of UK The Office Series 1 than Series 2, but give me Gareth and Tim over Dwight and Jim anyday.