The Office - British or American? - Page 2 - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

UteStar · 05-22-2006, 03:46 PM

My wife and I are actually rather pathetic. We became hooked on the british office a couple of years ago. We bought the complete collection and have watched it, seriously, probably 5 times. Ricky Gervais is truly a comic genius.

We dreaded it when we heard that the american version was coming. I like Carrel, but I hate it when we try to take another version and do it american-style.

I hated the first episode. They copied their first episode after the first british office episode. It felt disjointed and I had to force myself to watch the next episode. I am glad we did. It seems that they have decided to get a little bit away from the british version and do their own thing...and the american version is now pretty funny. In fact, I think it is the best comedy on tv right now (now that Arrested Development is gone and it is slightly ahead of Scrubs for me).

But as said before, though these shows have the same name, they are very different. The British version is brutally awkward. It is more subtle and painful. The american version is awkward but clever. Different shows, both funny in their own way. if you have to compare the two, the british version is vastly superior. Just my thoughts.

SteelBlue · 05-22-2006, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UteStar

We dreaded it when we heard that the american version was coming. I like Carrel, but I hate it when we try to take another version and do it american-style.

Normally I'd agree with you, but I'm fairly certain that Gervais is the one who produces the American version.

UteStar · 05-22-2006, 08:55 PM

You are correct and that was one reason that we had hope...but we felt that even with Gervais being involved, we thought NBC would not allow it to keep its rough edges. I believe that Gervais will pen his first US office version show next year which I am very excited about.

Parrot Head · 06-02-2006, 06:10 AM

Last week I had a great experience -- I felt like that dumpy kid with the speech impediment in A Christmas Story because I realized I hadn't seen the British Office Special that came out a couple of years after the original series. I found one last present. Put it in the Netflix queue and finally was able to watch it last night. It was good to have a solid ending to the series and get a few more laughs. I thought we had rented it but we never did.

How much of the show was scripted, anyone know? The ending lines in the last Christmas episode were actually pretty deep and powerful, I thought.

UteStar · 06-03-2006, 01:28 PM

Ricky Gervais said that 95% of it is scripted. He said that there are some improv lines but that he wanted the acting to reflect a feeling of talking without a script. I think they did a pretty good job of it as well. I really liked the special as well...it was a good way to wrap up the series.

06-02-2006, 06:10 AM	#14
Parrot Head Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 763	Last week I had a great experience -- I felt like that dumpy kid with the speech impediment in A Christmas Story because I realized I hadn't seen the British Office Special that came out a couple of years after the original series. I found one last present. Put it in the Netflix queue and finally was able to watch it last night. It was good to have a solid ending to the series and get a few more laughs. I thought we had rented it but we never did. How much of the show was scripted, anyone know? The ending lines in the last Christmas episode were actually pretty deep and powerful, I thought. __________________ Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. - Bronco, when asked how to describe PH

05-22-2006, 03:46 PM	#11
UteStar Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,817	My wife and I are actually rather pathetic. We became hooked on the british office a couple of years ago. We bought the complete collection and have watched it, seriously, probably 5 times. Ricky Gervais is truly a comic genius. We dreaded it when we heard that the american version was coming. I like Carrel, but I hate it when we try to take another version and do it american-style. I hated the first episode. They copied their first episode after the first british office episode. It felt disjointed and I had to force myself to watch the next episode. I am glad we did. It seems that they have decided to get a little bit away from the british version and do their own thing...and the american version is now pretty funny. In fact, I think it is the best comedy on tv right now (now that Arrested Development is gone and it is slightly ahead of Scrubs for me). But as said before, though these shows have the same name, they are very different. The British version is brutally awkward. It is more subtle and painful. The american version is awkward but clever. Different shows, both funny in their own way. if you have to compare the two, the british version is vastly superior. Just my thoughts.

05-22-2006, 08:55 PM	#13
UteStar Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,817	You are correct and that was one reason that we had hope...but we felt that even with Gervais being involved, we thought NBC would not allow it to keep its rough edges. I believe that Gervais will pen his first US office version show next year which I am very excited about.

06-03-2006, 01:28 PM	#15
UteStar Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,817	Ricky Gervais said that 95% of it is scripted. He said that there are some improv lines but that he wanted the acting to reflect a feeling of talking without a script. I think they did a pretty good job of it as well. I really liked the special as well...it was a good way to wrap up the series.