TV review: The Office (US) is something funny to keep you going over the summer
The Office originally featured Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and B. J. Novak as the main cast.
What’s the one show you could watch over and over again?
Mine is — the UK version with Ricky Gervais. You can watch all three seasons on NOW TV. I watched the first episode there again, it’s all gold.
Which is probably why I resisted the US version of (Netflix), with Steve Carrell as the gormless boss in the regional office of a paper company. I don’t see how it could ever be as good as the original.
So I have to put up with a steady chorus of people telling me I’m missing out, that if anything the US version is better, and there is more of it (nine seasons!), so you’re set for months once you get into it.
My wife put it on recently and we’re up to season five. By ‘we’ I mean she watches it and I pretend to read a book, while it plays in the background because I’m too petty to admit that I like it. A bit.
It’s not really like the UK show. Both have daft bosses who fancy themselves as comedians, a will-they won’t-they office flirtation, and a second-in-command angry loner with a penchant for weapons. But they feel different.
The UK office is poignant and sentimental and most of the laughs come from what isn’t said.
The US one is hitting you over the head with a gag every 30 seconds in case you go away. It’s as needy as Steve Carrell’s character, Michael Scott, dying for you to like the strained jokes. Now, there are plenty laughs, probably as many as the UK version in total, but that’s across nine seasons rather than three.
My main issue is that it’s a sitcom. Almost all the characters are exaggerated for comic effect, so none of it feels real.
The UK version broke the mould with its mockumentary style, so it feels like you’re watching a documentary about a branch office with a terrible boss. The colours are beige and muted, the theme music plays as we watch traffic rounding a drab roundabout, highlighting our monotonous lives and making us laugh at them.
You can’t take your eyes off the UK because most of the comedy is in the glances to camera from the people at the sharp end of David Brent’s (Gervais) management style. We haven’t all had a boss like that, but he’d definitely remind you of a teacher or two.
There are plenty of glances to camera in the US version as well, but you don’t need to keep your eyes glued to the screen, because most of the comedy is in the dialogue. It’s grand but without the giddy sense of actually being in the office you get in the UK counterpart.
If you’re looking for something funny that will keep you going over the summer, the US will do the trick on Netflix. It’s a decent sitcom, maybe even better than that.
It’s unfair really to compare it to the UK version. That’s the best TV show of all time.
