The Office

Have they started filming the American version of "The Office" yet?

You funky gibbon, you.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

I saw on IMDb that the US version of "The Office" aired last night.

So how was it?

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Pretty good. Not hysterical, but I laughed out loud a couple of times. Not sure whether or not there's enough there for an entire series, but it's a decent start. I'll definitely watch next week.

I think most Yanks who have not seen the original would probably give the first episode of the U.S. version a passing grade, but for fans of the BBC show I think we'd have to be much more critical and more disappointed.



There are some plusses with the NBC version, primarily that they did not force them to put a blasted laugh-track on the show and that the same basic premise is in tact. However, they just plain messed up a lot of it in the translation. First of all, the initial episode was extremely distracting because 90% of it was from the first episode of the BBC show. And frankly, the timing is all off. The intent is mostly good, but the execution is off. Slightly, but off. However, all the subsequent scripts have just about entirely new material, which is the only chance the U.S. version has to excell.

The main thing the've gotten wrong thus far, and I don't see how they'll be able to correct it, is Steve Carrell isn't right for the role. I like Steve a lot. Loved him on "The Daily Show" and he steals Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy, but his character is simply obnoxious without being terribly offensive or bringing that painful soicial awkwardness that Ricky Gervias embodied so magnificently. Carrell's boss is just a noisy idiot, but he's not the kind of guy who says things that make you cringe in embarassment for the people around him. Not so far anyway. The only time I really all-out laughed during last night's premiere was at a clip for the second episode, the bit with the ethnic sterotypes on post-it notes on all the worker's forheads, winding up with an Indian woman slapping him in the face. THAT is the direction the show needs to head, and in a hurry. Then it needs to stay there.

The other aspect of Carrell's boss that was off was that he was not a lecherous scumbag. Ricky Gervais' David Brent was inappropriate on just about every level imaginable, including a highlighted perversion and total lack of instinct for how to deal with women - in a professional or personal setting. In the U.S. pilot there's only one minor crack at the beginning, when he introduces the "Dawn" character (now called Pam here) and he says, "If you think she's hot now, you should have seen her a couple years ago". Brent would have said much worse than that. Then later when his boss is in the office in her skirt, one of the few moments from the BBC show they didn't replicate is having his rude friend on the phone reference her sexuality and have him being caught staring up her skirt. I think it's pretty clear the creators of the show and/or the network have decreed that kind of stuff is off limits. And that's too bad.

As for the rest of the cast, they didn't have too much to do this first time out. From what I've seen I liked receptionist Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer) the best of the other three principals. The fella they have as the Tim equivalent is passable, but doesn't seem to have the layer of real intelligence underneath that Martin Freeman nailed so perfectly. The Gareth equivalent simply isn't bizarre enough, and the two of them have zero chemistry together. Watching him fret over his stapler in the Jello, there was no spark to it. And likewise and perhaps most fatally, no chemistry between the Tim and Dawn counterparts. This element was really one of the things that made "The Office" so special, that after all the uncomfortablity with Gervais, their unrequited love affair was the soul driving that show, and the workplace romance we've all experienced on one level or another. Oh well. Maybe that will get better too? It has to, or the show is toast.


But as I say, the brief clip for the next episode was the funniest bit of the night, so perhaps there's still hope. I'll certainly be watching, especially as it is on after "Scrubs", which along with FOX's "Arrested Development" is far and away the best sitcom on the networks right now. Lots of problems with this new "Office", but maybe they'll fix 'em and salvage something of their own from the pretty botched reworking of the pilot?

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And again Holden's response leaves no further room for input because it's all already been perfectly stated.

Cue Applause.

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Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

Second episode is on tonight, we'll see if they right the ship once they get into their own waters.

I doubt this show will ever enter it's own ground, and as for tonight's episode, my expectations are so very low. This remake is just a total waste of time.

So what's the verdict on the second episode, guys?

"But if you go, we'll only have two lef...okay, go ahead."

David Brent in a meeting in a Pub with the new Swindon employees:

"Welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous!"
(Silence)
"No - purely social. I know someone who is an alchoholic and it is no laughing matter - particularly for his wife. And she's got alopecia. So... not a happy homelife."
(more silence)

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I haven’t seen the American version, nor do I really want to, even though I like Steve Carell as much as I do. I rarely watch regular television (not because I feel I am above it…just that I could care less) so I haven’t even seen a commercial for it yet.

However, I love the original Britcom a whole bunch.

I can’t imagine how it could be improved on, or even emulated well.

BTW: I’m in love with Dawn. Maybe if Tim turns out to be a turd, I’ll have a shot.

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i hear that the american version is really funny and have been told to watch it although the same guy (my supervisor at MY office) explained that the british one was hilarious...

"I'd say, at one time or another, every bloke in the office has woken up at the crack of Dawn!"

I was just poking around and noticed that Ricky will be in Mission: Impossible III. Interesting. I wonder if he will be comedic relief.

Too bad Tim and Dawn turned into zombies, too. They would have made a great couple.

What what what?

They both were in Shaun of the Dead. We watched Dawn bite it, and Tim's was inferred. Remember when Shaun's good friend Yvonne walked by with her own enteroge of survivors that mimicked Shaun's band of survivors? Tim was Shaun's equivelant...at least he sure looks like Tim.

Yup, it was Martin Freeman - along with Matt 'Little Britain' Lucas, Tamsin 'Black Books' Greig and That 'Guy Who's Name I Can't Remember From The League Of' Gentlemen.

That's what I had thought, but it appears that he wasn't listed because IMDb doesn't have Shaun of the Dead as one of Martin's credited films.

EDIT: Whoops...it looks like I skipped right over the listing when I was looking last night. Thanks Tacitus.

Ahh this be true. But if you have a look at the extra's on the dvd, theyve wonderfully included short films in comic book form of what happened to each character during their time off screen, and as it turns out Dianne aka Dawn managed to avoid the hunger of the zombies, and hid up a tree for a few days eating her dead boyfriends leg until she got rescued...something like that anyway. As for Tim, we shall never know. When you said they were turned into Zombies i thought you had seen something i hadnt
'That guy' is the superb Reece Shearsmith AKA Pappa Lazarou. "Hello Dave?"

I loved that bit in Shaun of the Dead when the alternative gang walk past. All those Brit-Com geniuses on the screen at once...a little overwhelming.