Humanity = not funny
Cruelty = even less funny
― blueski, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link
lol cruelty
― ken c, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:38 (sixteen years ago) link
i haven't seen the US version
does it have gags about the territorial army?
Who was the UK Office guilty of being cruel to, asshole Brent or those who must suffer him?
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Carrell has been great this season so far, more bitter and less cartoonish.
― Jordan, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Both. xp
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link
both? i don't think there is any real "cruelty" in The Office UK tho, more a general but all too familiar unpleasantness.
― blueski, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Jordan OTM, I was worried this season would jump the shark but I REALLY like how Carell's character is evolving, and how much of a total heel Ryan's becoming. Like you could see it coming, him being a dick, but he's in full dick-mode now and it's glorious. That exchange between him and Jan... omg wow
― Will M., Friday, 5 October 2007 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link
xp
Yeah, I didn't realize the skewering of contemporary workplace trials was harder to watch than Hostel or Ben Stiller.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
That exchange between him and Jan... omg wow
Haha, "love the beard, keep it forever"!
― Jordan, Friday, 5 October 2007 16:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh yeah! That exchange between Ryan and Jan really was one of my favorite parts of the episode!
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 5 October 2007 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Tuesday, 16 October 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
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?
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link
That one-second shot of Gareth leaving the bar in the motorcycle car still cracks me up
― Pleasant Plains, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Didn't Gervais end it himself? Extras only ran for two seasons as well (with an upcoming special in the works).
― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link
(x-post)
Yeah, that was sweet. Dwight's never tried (and failed) to be such a player.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 01:37 (sixteen years ago) link
-- 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.
― chicago kevin, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 02:19 (sixteen years ago) link
write in: La Job
― Dr. Superman, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 02:33 (sixteen years ago) link
though yeah, Creed bumps US over UK
― Dr. Superman, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 02:35 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― AlanSmithee, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 07:10 (sixteen years ago) link
The one where Michael Scott has to fire someone on Halloween was on TBS tonight. Brilliant, lads.
― Mike Dixn, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 07:16 (sixteen years ago) link
haven't watched a lot of it but US one is obviously funnier
― RJG, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 07:36 (sixteen years ago) link
"The Office"(UK) was of course a second-rate "People Like Us".
Still good, though.
― PhilK, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 22:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Wednesday, 17 October 2007 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Much closer than I expected.
― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 18 October 2007 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 18 October 2007 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link
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, 18 October 2007 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
"better in an objective sense"=better
― M.V., Thursday, 18 October 2007 22:49 (sixteen years ago) link
"i haven't seen the US version does it have gags about the territorial army?"
Yeah, what is the US equivalent of that joke?
― mei, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
general hayseed gun enthusiasm, i guess
― Will M., Friday, 19 October 2007 19:39 (sixteen years ago) link
There is no equivalent, really.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:40 (sixteen years ago) link
The equivalent is Dwight being a "deputy sheriff" or whatever, right?
― Jordan, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link
ohhh yeah that's good.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link
-- 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.
― gbx, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:45 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― dan selzer, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:51 (sixteen years ago) link
They wouldn't put Dwight in the Guard, because then they'd be making fun of America too much.
― dan m, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― Will M., Friday, 19 October 2007 19:55 (sixteen years ago) link
-- M.V., Thursday, October 18, 2007 10:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link
Not necessarily, ponch.
― n/a, Friday, 19 October 2007 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― dan selzer, Friday, 19 October 2007 20:11 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― dan selzer, Friday, 19 October 2007 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― tremendoid, Friday, 19 October 2007 20:35 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Will M., Friday, 19 October 2007 20:39 (sixteen years ago) link
no the national guard people are all in iraq now, actually.
― Mr. Que, Friday, 19 October 2007 20:40 (sixteen years ago) link
but i'm not from the US or the UK, so what do i know?
xpost ouuuuch.
― Will M., Friday, 19 October 2007 20:40 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― LaMonte, Friday, 19 October 2007 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
The Territorial Army are in Iraq too, and getting killed too, sadly.
― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 19 October 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Sorry to hear that, didn't know. Figured with smaller forces they wouldn't have resorted to that like we did.
― dan selzer, Saturday, 20 October 2007 00:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Anybody seen the Canadian version or the French version?
― Ned Trifle II, Saturday, 20 October 2007 07:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Iranian version, Saudi version, Chinese version, Darfur version, Caveman version, Meerkat version, Down's syndrome version...
― M.V., Sunday, 21 October 2007 18:21 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― Ballistic, Sunday, 7 March 2010 00:55 (fourteen years ago) link
my kid got hooked on this at the end of last year and I wound up wathing the last few seasons which I hadn't seen while broadcast and I agree this series went out pretty strong even though it certainly wavered at times.
― akm, Sunday, 19 August 2018 15:48 (five years ago) link
His stand-up comedy is excruciating, his movies are instantly forgettable, and his smug, dorm-room atheism makes any self-respecting unbeliever want to convert to Wahhabi Islam just as a personal fuck you.
lol
― Trϵϵship, Sunday, 19 August 2018 16:04 (five years ago) link
Agree with people about US Office getting worse and then better again. Robert California and Catherine Tate’s character were later season highlights, but it really peaked around the fourth season.
The bleakness of the UK version was too uncomfortably real and the sentimentality was difficult to stomach. Gervais is definitely someone to culturally forget outside of this role. I preferred the US Office for its hysterical melodrama. That episode where Michael and Jan throw a dinner party is one of my favourite moments of 00s TV.
― tangenttangent, Sunday, 19 August 2018 16:06 (five years ago) link
Little fat man who sold his soulLittle fat man who sold his dream
Pathetic little fat manNo one's bloody laughingThe clown that no one laughs atThey all just wish he'd die
He's so depressed at being hatedFatso takes his own lifeHe blows his stupid brains outBut the twat would probably miss
― omar little, Sunday, 19 August 2018 16:30 (five years ago) link
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
There were writers in the cast from the first episode - I don't think any of the non-writing actors got added to the writing staff late on?
the Baffler piece doesn't even go near odious things like Gervais relentlessly physically bullying his employees, or hiring a one-man PR firm to create a fansite and twitter account for him and then retweeting that site's tweets daily with notes about how they're thoughtful appreciations of his art
― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Sunday, 19 August 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
No, I mean the stars who weren't writers got added as producers, and Jenna Fischer (for one) was reportedly extremely hands-on in wanting to get away from silly sit-commy stuff and get back into the character-driven tension.
― Three Word Username, Sunday, 19 August 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
I honestly don't think the US version (esp season 1) is all that less bleak or uncomfortable than the UK version
Tbf, a lot of s1 is a direct remake. The US show already gets way softer by s2 imo: for a start, Jim is a pretty-boy romantic underdog hero, less of a bullied sad sack whose crush on the receptionist is an object of mockery for the entire office.
― The inexorable rise of identity condiments (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 August 2018 21:22 (five years ago) link
Tbh I just rewatched the dinner party ep and it's not as good/funny as I remembered
― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Sunday, 19 August 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
"Gervais is definitely someone to culturally forget outside of this role."
I give him Extras too
― akm, Sunday, 19 August 2018 22:35 (five years ago) link
I missed this the first time round, but binged seasons 2-4 without coming up for air - they're pretty great on a comedy and soap opera level, but no specific individual episode sticks out. I kinda lost interest after Michael breaks up with Holly.
― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 19 August 2018 22:44 (five years ago) link
I'd tell you when to dive back toward the end of the series, but I don't remember when or what specifically happened to make it stop sucking.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 19 August 2018 23:07 (five years ago) link
The selling of Dunder MIfflin and introduction of Catherine Tate, IMO.
― akm, Monday, 20 August 2018 00:26 (five years ago) link
Gareth, are all these questions going to be about war?
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 August 2018 00:31 (five years ago) link
Starting to become very "WATCH ANOTHER SHOW" about this one, you guys.
― person industrial complex (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 April 2019 16:47 (five years ago) link
about which one
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Monday, 22 April 2019 17:21 (five years ago) link
the american office
― person industrial complex (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 April 2019 17:21 (five years ago) link
yeah, they should cancel this already
― We were never Breeting Borting (President Keyes), Monday, 22 April 2019 18:05 (five years ago) link
"the american office" always sounds like a grim frontline documentary
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 22 April 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link
even more so with the Season One title
― blokes you can't rust (sic), Monday, 22 April 2019 18:15 (five years ago) link
― 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!
― person industrial complex (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 April 2019 18:16 (five years ago) link
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.
― treeship., Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:01 (two years ago) link
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.
― not up to Aerosmith standards (Neanderthal), Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:02 (two years ago) link
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.
― treeship., Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:02 (two years ago) link
Yeah good point neanderthal. Gareth is repulsive.
― treeship., Thursday, 1 July 2021 01:03 (two years ago) link
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.
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Saturday, 10 December 2022 06:25 (one year ago) link