Why is there a US-version of "The Office"?

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Has anyone noticed they are using the same scenes/jokes, which means, no reason for remake.

― Holly (an appletross), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:15 (nineteen years ago) link

i thought it was fairly funny. not as funny as the second episode but still quite good.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 05:13 (nineteen years ago) link

The only thing that keeps bugging me about this show is, why doesn't someone fire this guy? I mean, bosses can be jerks and get away with it sometimes, but this guy is a nightmare. Don't they have an HR department to complain to? Can't the office get together and formally complain? I mean, IRL, they would.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 05:18 (nineteen years ago) link

this show is going nowhere fast.

― don weiner, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Like the characters - maybe that's the point.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I think it's shaping up to be a decent US version of the popular BBC show, for those people who haven't seen the British version. Except that I don't think most Americans will think it's funny.

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:17 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/news/2005/04/01/18254.shtml

Looks like it might be getting the chop. It's a shame as I think they've done an excellent job. The second episode had me in stitches.

― wombatX (wombatX), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:23 (nineteen years ago) link

nuh-uh- I worked at a firm wherein HR and the Guy Like Dwight colluded in sucking. I think that may be more common than it would seem- preservation of the status quo and all

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 04:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Particularly in the offices of small companies in mining towns in Pennsylvania (or on industrial estates in Slough.)

― wombatX (wombatX), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 04:37 (nineteen years ago) link

EXCUSE ME
The American Queer as Folk was way better than the brit one.

― Nellie (nellskies), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 04:39 (nineteen years ago) link

last night's ep was i v good.

― seriously, Friday, 15 April 2005 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link

This version sucks so bad. sorry.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link

i laffed non-stop and so did dr vick

― seriously, Friday, 15 April 2005 18:54 (nineteen years ago) link

It was good this week... The alliance between .. um .. Jim and Ger-rareth (whatever their names are) was pretty dasmnfunbny. (beautiful, beautiful typo, I adore thee.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 15 April 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link

I just don't think the acting's as believable or the characters as convicing.

We haven't laughed at any of the three episodes we've watched.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Friday, 15 April 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link

four weeks pass...

According to CNN it seems to be coming back next fall which is actually pretty nice.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/13/television.networks.reut/index.html

― svend (svend), Friday, 13 May 2005 13:18 (nineteen years ago) link

ah I just searched for this thread to post that same news. Good news!

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 22:28 (nineteen years ago) link

NBC is DESPERATE.

― d'ngullberry (noisemeltdown), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 22:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Nah, this was actually good. I wish ABC'd decided to give "Blind Justice" another shot.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 00:22 (nineteen years ago) link

I was really all set to hate the US Office, but I thought it turned out to be pretty funny. It was funniest when I managed to enjoy it without thinking about the original Office. I'm glad it's coming back, anyway, because it was a lot better than most of the godawful crap on American TV.

― kirsten (kirsten), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 00:32 (nineteen years ago) link

it IS funny. it's totally in the spirit of the first office, and yet totally detached from it as well.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 00:34 (nineteen years ago) link

it will get way better if they have a second season to develop. the Dwight character is gold.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 18 May 2005 00:49 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

now showing on BBC3. (first one is shown again tonight and episode 2 is tomorrow). first episode not that far from english original, what i remember of it anyway.

s/jelly/jello/

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 20 June 2005 09:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll be really curious to see what UK folks think of this.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 20 June 2005 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I keep missing it. But it strikes me that having the boss be a relatively attractive man misses part of the point.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 20 June 2005 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link

i enjoyed it and am interested to see what it does when it moves away from the british version. i think it might help that i don't know the actors (except, of course, that that's the bloke out of six feet under, and Monk, and CSI and L&O:SVU...) whereas we all knew that twunt Gervais (used to pop up in mary-anne hobbs' radio show from time to time years ago, before 11 o'clock show even...).

[JT]im's Hair was interesting.

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 20 June 2005 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought the series got funnier and farther from the original as it went on. Is it coming back next seaon? There were only a handfull of episodes, really.

― La Monte (La Monte), Monday, 20 June 2005 15:38 (nineteen years ago) link

it gets better, it really does. i was very surprised.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Monday, 20 June 2005 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

The American Dawn is CUTE.

It blows my mind somewhat how it looks like English TV. I've never seen anything shot in the USA and then broadcast here that wasn't at 60hz (presumably what the difference amounts to). So how/why have they done this? It just doesn't seem like America!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:45 (nineteen years ago) link

It was probably shot in 720p/60 which standards converts to 625i/50 much better as it is massively over-sampled.

What makes US stuff that started out as NTSC 480i/60 is that the colour encoding in NTSC is fucking attrocious reds are over saturated and in resolution terms it is undersampled and has to be interpolated and because of the interlacing you basically have to drop 5 frames somewhere.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Reading upthread now and surprised by much of the hate as nothing seemed that bad (inc. the acting) at all based on the ONE i've seen (the 'diversity' episode). Like the original series I found it quite hard to watch, smirking a couple of times but not really finding it 'funny', just smart.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 10:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Agreed with Jams Murphy, it gets better and better with every episode.

If you've seen the first two and halfway liked them, it's well worth watching the rest of the season.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 11:20 (nineteen years ago) link

it has been renewed for next season

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

US office = a success

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Reading upthread now and surprised by much of the hate as nothing seemed that bad (inc. the acting) at all based on the ONE i've seen (the 'diversity' episode).

OTM.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 15:38 (nineteen years ago) link

I have seen one episode (with basketball). It was not as good as the original. In fact I couldn't equate it with any origianl epsiode - what did they do, play netball? I found it left an even more depressing aftertaste. Perhaps this means it is cleverer, but it was very much a downer. I prefer Kath and Kim.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Thursday, 23 June 2005 06:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Dan, natch, is right.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 23 June 2005 06:11 (nineteen years ago) link

the UK version was irritating. the US version is dreadful.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Thursday, 23 June 2005 06:12 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

They showed FOUR episodes last night back-to-back. I must say, it was VERY funny, not to mention kind of heartbreaking. I haven't however seen the English original.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:15 (eighteen years ago) link

you haven't?

that's AWFUL

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:18 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

The new season began last night.

I've finally gotten over the fact that this version is merely done in the spirit of the original, that Jim isn't as crushed as Tim was, etc. But they really are relying too much on the boss being racist and sexist. The reason why David Brent in the UK version was so horrifying was because he was veiled enough to plausibly remain employed. If any boss in the US put in fake teeth and wore ch!nk glasses to parody an Asian-American subordinate, he'd be fired immediately.

Everyone could relate to the humor of the UK Office because we've all had bosses like Brent. I can't relate to the US version. I've had bosses whisper uncomfortable racist jokes (like the black cock joke) and stick around, but the "Spicy Curry" award jokes are a bit over the top of plausibility.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:31 (eighteen years ago) link

The only worthwhile thing about this version is that their Pam-secretary makes adorable evil faces sometimes. Maybe if the whole show were just that, I'd watch.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 15:57 (eighteen years ago) link

somehow, i started to love this show when it debuted, dispite all odds, but last nights episode sucked. too over the top. Pleasant OTM, the boss would be fired immediately. And Pam, as much as I love her, was hamming up the whole drunk thing, just not believable. and her chemistry with Jim is completely gone.

i was excited to hear about it coming back, but now i kinda wish it had stayed cancelled.

― JD from CDepot, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 16:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't know if America's ready for a prime-time non-news-magazine show that isn't about cops, lawyers or forsenic scientists.

-- Miss Misery (texan...), March 12th, 2005.

It's funny, I was just thinking the other day about how if you don't want to work in a corporate/office job your main options are lawyer, doctor, teacher, cop, etc. Those jobs also seem to all make for more "exciting" television than your typical office job, or perhaps most people are more inclined to want to see a show about lawyers, cops, etc. because those are the "exciting"-sounding jobs that most people don't have. They're jobs of action, jobs of heroism. Etc.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 23 September 2005 01:13 (eighteen years ago) link

You mean the white collar options, Hurting. There are a ton of blue collar ones, but if a character is blue collar then the show can't be about their job, it has to be about their family life.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 23 September 2005 01:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, the blue collar options increasingly seem to be service jobs, which I was thinking is a little like crap office jobs.

I guess what I mean is that you can't wholeheartedly root for a guy to beat his sales numbers from last month, or to get a really good performance evaluation. So even The Office (the Brit version at least) has to be as tragic as it is comic.

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 23 September 2005 01:24 (eighteen years ago) link

i did get a good laugh out of the "bushiest beaver" award.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Friday, 23 September 2005 09:13 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

the halloween episode this week was a stone classic, best episode yet.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:12 (eighteen years ago) link

this show is SO much better than last year

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:46 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah, I think this is funny. I liked last week's episode the best, but they have all been good this season.

― gunther heartymeal (keckles), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 04:53 (eighteen years ago) link

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