What's so great about The Office UK?

[Roger Wilco]

Cause I don't get it, maybe somebody can enlighten me. I watched the first season over the last couple days and I didn't think it was especially funny. I thought it's alright, but I don't see what's so apparently revolutionary or whatever about it that makes it so highly rated.
Ricky Gervais is excellent, but imo several other characters are better in the US version, Dwight especially.

 

[cultcross]

It's very British. I don't know how well it translates beyond our borders. The US one is more of a 'regular' sitcom.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, I tried watching the UK version last year and just thought it was really, really boring and full of jokes and references that I didn't understand. I did think it was funny how the US version's pilot was almost a direct copy of the UK's pilot, right down to the dialogue. But after the first episode, I had a really hard time watching it, and I never made it into Season 2.

 

[cultcross]

I think it's notable that they remade it for the US - if the UK version had been international enough to sell beyond the UK, they wouldn't have bothered. Like the original Spaced, it is very reliant on British culture jokes.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, but I love Spaced!

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I think it's notable that they remade it for the US - if the UK version had been international enough to sell beyond the UK, they wouldn't have bothered. Like the original Spaced, it is very reliant on British culture jokes.

That's not an apt comparison at all. Spaced was AWESOME, and I too, couldn't get into the British Office.

Maybe geek culture is less regional than the working-in-an-office culture?

 

[cultcross]

I think it's notable that they remade it for the US - if the UK version had been international enough to sell beyond the UK, they wouldn't have bothered. Like the original Spaced, it is very reliant on British culture jokes.

That's not an apt comparison at all. Spaced was AWESOME, and I too, couldn't get into the British Office.

Maybe geek culture is less regional than the working-in-an-office culture?

Possibly.

 

[RoJoHen]

Maybe geek culture is less regional than the working-in-an-office culture?

Must be. I mean, the dude worshipped a Buffy poster!

 

[Kirkman1987]

Count me in as another American who couldn't get into The UK Office. Strange to me Since I love Life on Mars, Dr. Who, and Spaced.

 

[Trekker4747]

I've never been able to watch a British sit-com as the humor is far too dry and it doesn't make me laugh and after a while the abundence of the accents drives me nuts.

 

[Canadave]

I love the British version, myself, because it's a very contained, well-written story arc. David and Tim both have a strong start, middle, and end to their stories, and that really appeals to me. The US version I could never get into since it feels far less real. It's just another sitcom where the characters get up to vaguely wacky hijinks every week.

 

[Mr Light]

I love Brit shows but UK-Office left me a little cold. It was too serious and cruel and boring and "real" to enjoy.

 

[J.T.B.]

I came across The Office on BBC America back in 2003 or so, having heard nothing about it. I was blown away with how original and different it was. I am probably more familiar with British culture than most Americans, and don't have a problem with accents, having grown up on Dr. Who, Monty Python &c. on PBS. But I think that's a very small part of it. What made the show so unusual was that the humor came from mundane situations with well-developed characters, and nothing seemed forced or written to be funny. Sometimes there were awkward silences, and sometimes nothing happened for a while. Just like a workplace documentary would be.

The US version is a good show, but not great like the British one. Partly because it was not original, and partly because it has gone on too long. It has lost almost all the documentary feel and is just a wacky workplace sitcom. With a show like The Office, two seasons and out was the better way to go.

Also, I've never thought Steve Carell came close to carrying the show the way Gervais did. Michael Scott is like an inflatable dummy compared to the characterization of David Brent.

--Justin

 

[sidious618]

Ricky Gerveis doing the sing along was sublime in episode 4. I really enjoyed the UK Office although I give the edge to the US version because of its pathos and humanity.

 

[Shurik]

I also could never get into British Office and I liked the American one more.

Israeli version of this series came out this year, it followed the general outlines of the British version, but with characters and situations that would be familiar to every Israeli who ever worked in a similar environment. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, the lack of any trace of political correctness definitely helped ...

 

[Mr Light]

^^ Could you elaborate on the Israeli differences?

 

[barnaclelapse]

I'm sure someone else said this already, but I suppose it just depends on your ability to enjoy British humor. The UK version of The Office is about as strong a brand of British comedy as you're going to get. If British comedy is not your thing, or if it tends to be hit/miss with you, then there's a good chance you're not going to dig The Office.

Nothing wrong with that. It sure as hell isn't for everyone.

 

[Shurik]

^^ Could you elaborate on the Israeli differences?

Israel is a country of immigrants, and since the country is fairly young, some people still refer to each other by the original country's name. For example Romanian jews are called Romanians, former USSR jews like myself are called Russians, which is funny for me and so on. There are still lots of stigmas about each community and those stigmas are still being used for jokes.

The characters and many jokes in the local Office version were based on these stigmas and on the differences between various parts of society - like immigrants and people who were born here, Arabs and Jews, secular and religious people and so on. The political situation was also mentioned in one episode.

The thing I liked the most about the local version was the characters - most of them were not exaggerations or caricatures (like in US version) and I've met people like this, so it was really easy to "get" the jokes on the show.

 

[Brikar99]

The characters in the US version might seem like caricatures, until I start telling you about how my boss keeps pieces of fried chicken in his desk drawer to snack on all day long... or my coworker who spends his time falling asleep at his desk or printing out pictures of lighthouses from the Internet... or the elderly IT head who can't speak above a whisper... or the maintenance guy who holds entire conversations with himself while cleaning (including firing and then re-hiring himself, with one part cast as a woman). There should be a sitcom about my freakin' office.

 

[Spot's Meow]

^I know what you mean. The characters in the US version may seem like a big joke, but I can think of several people in offices I've worked in that match their descriptions frighteningly well. It's a more realistic show than I'd like to believe.