The Office
My opinion of the much-hyped premiere of NBC’s latest attempt to imitate a Brit-com: it sucked. Seriously. “The Office” was simply awful…or perhaps offal. Not a single giggle, chuckle, guffaw, titter, laugh, chortle — not even a smile. Was it supposed to be presented as some sort of quasi-documentary? Are we supposed to think that a stapler encased in Jell-O is hilarious? Are we truly expected to believe that the boss was really that oblivious? Was it supposed to be funny at all? I predict a very quick death for this NBC attempt.
March 28th, 2005 at 7:10 am
The original British show sucked. What made anyone think the American version would be watchable?
March 28th, 2005 at 8:32 am
Although I’ve never seen the British version, I did see it online and I thought it was funny. Very funny, in fact. The humor comes from the comes from the dialogue, which is paced more like an off Broadway play and smartly written, in my opinion. The show is written as a documentary of office life and the politics behind it. And, if you’ve ever worked in an office as I once did (thank God I don’t anbymore), you will find folks as ridiculous as Steve Carell’s boss character.
I mentioned in the blog last week that Americans just don’t get British humor like Monty Python, due to the fact that you don’t really expect it from them, with their stereotype of uppercrust. I feel the same thing with The Office, but I hope that being paired with “Scrubs” (also a sitcom with out a laughtrack), will make Tuesday nights between nine and ten the best night for comedy. If you need a show that tells you when to laugh with canned chuckles, then keep watching “According To Jim”.
March 28th, 2005 at 8:36 am
I liked it very much. I thought it was fairly funny, and I think it’s the type of show that could take a while to find it’s audience, ala Seinfeld.
The boss character is so much like Brick from Anchorman, he alone is gonna carry the show.
Then again, maybe it will never find it’s audience. In any case, it’s better than Joey.
March 29th, 2005 at 7:33 am
I won’t watch the Americanized version of “The Office” for one simple reason: it doesn’t have Ricky Gervase. No one else could–or should–carry such a show. Is nothing sacred?
March 29th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Actually T.L., you should. After last week’s episode, which was taken directly from the British version, this show and every show afterward will go it alone if you will, with the humor. The only thing you’ll recognize from the BBC version is the style and tone. When NBC tried this with “Coupling” last season, their mistake was to copy the original word for word, without giving it own chance and pushed too hard. I think they may have learned their lesson with this show.
Hey, David! I’m a TV analyst! Whoo-hoo!