I liked the U.S. version a lot and recently started watching the first episode of the original U.K. show on Netflix. I was surprised at how similar the show's characters were and even the scripts seemed parallel. Before I get too much further into it, I wanted to see if anyone thought it would be worth watching (there are far fewer shows, only 14 I think, but I don't want to waste time if they're basically the same).

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What channel? I like the ones with the 40 year old virgin guy.after he left the show sucked.


I thought Cleaver was great, Australian barrister, Underbelly too .

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The U.S. show began as nearly word-for-word adaptations of the original but diverged pretty quickly.

I like the UK Office but don't love it, because even though the conventional wisdom is that all things British are inherently drier and smarter and funnier, the truth is that it's hard to follow, not even intellectually but just aurally: it's a very quiet show. Between the accents and the murmuring, there are times you wish it were subtitled.

US Office ended up being the superior show if you lop off the years at the end when it became cloying, lost its lead actor, and got hopelessly lost up its own ass. The show should have ended with Jim and Pam getting married (but not the way they actually did get married with the stupid Chris Brown viral video tribute, good lord), because at that point, they'd already gone so far afield from what the UK Office was supposed to be about and there was nowhere left to go. Then they went there anyway and invented like twenty new characters no one cares about.

EDIT: Incidentally, until Last Week Tonight and Mad Men coincided on Sunday nights, the Earl/Office/Scrubs/30 Rock block was the last time I had appointment television for multiple shows.

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British version is very good, all the british actors are better at their characters than their american counterparts.

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CH is right about the US version--simply because they decided to take it to deeper levels for the first few seasons until it did eventually become unwatchable. the UK version is far darker, and more uncomfortable. David Brent is not Michael Scott. He is despicable and oblivious to how sick of an individual he is. so i would just say, don't watch the UK version thinking you're getting a fun little office parody show.

https://youtu.be/p6Eaz-1_3iA?t=175

I love this, though.

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I thought Carrell was great,too. Loved his hate for the HR guy.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yeah, speaking of the show going on too long, there was nowhere left for that relationship to go after "Why are you the way you are? I hate so much about the things you choose to be." Slayed me.

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well hey there's at least chris morris stuff (the day today and brass eye) if you want some of that. i think most of the full eps of those series are on youtube and they're definitely worth your time. goddamn i still need to get a F.U.K.D. and B.O.M.B.D. shirt

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The first season of the US Office is just a remake of the Bri'ish version.

They lost me when they made Andy the boss. That should've been Dwight's job & they fucked him, & the audience over. I also didn't like Holly. I agree Michael vs Toby was gold.

They completely went of the rails with the Andy character. I don't understand the motivation there. The rumors I read were that Rhys Darby (Murray Hewitt from Flight of The Conchords) or Harvey Keitel were supposed to be the new boss. Those would've been inspired choices and that's not to say Robert California didn't work because he did when he was actually on the show.

Andy was the boss because Ed Helms was somewhat hot still coming off of the hangover movies. It was the wrong choice, of the "interviewed" people, I was hoping it would be the Nellie character. I said in another thread that the second to last episode was the best episode of the series post Carrel because it was Dwight and Jim fucking around for a half hour and was rather funny.

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Steve Carrell got worse every year on The Office and I'm a fan of his.

In my opinion, the show improved after he left but it wasn't great by the end of his run.

I think The Office was just another example of the Moonlighting Effect. Once Jim and Pam got married the show lacked a strong theme to keep it moving forward.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Unfortunately you can say the same thing regarding about 90% of the shows out there that have a romantic subplot.

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especially hawkeye and hunnicutt.

Once you had the two of them being happy and satisfied, it wasn't as fun to watch them rip on everyone else. Fucking leave if you're so much better than everyone else.

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Athlead!

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I ended up binge-watching seasons 2 and 3 when they got added to Netflix a couple years back, and watching all those episodes at once made it clear for the first time that Pam is just the absolute fucking worst.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

I never picked up on that then (though I thought Jim and Pam were both pretty awful by season 6 or whatever, good god this show went on too long). Can you elaborate?

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If you keep watching to the end they just really rub your nose in that fact over and over again. Anything remotely resembling career advancement for her always showcases how incompetent and useless the character is as a human being. The writers destroyed her character.

As for the UK version, this is the highlight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEtQj9wuqhs

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Another fine example of my belief a show should stop after 3 seasons. I believe the finale of season 3 was when they finally got together. I actually think Jim is the worst character on the show. I dislike Andy too but he didn't become intolerable until about midway through the show's run. Jim's written and developed well but I can't stand men like him.

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

Part of it is her constantly running back to Roy, part of it is her turning down Jim twice and then acting all pissy when he comes back from Stamford with a girlfriend, but mostly it's just that she's such a watered-down Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She's a secretary, but with the soul of an artist! She's hot, but she doesn't dress like it! If only she could find an immature prankster who can understand her child-like innocence and accompany her on life's great adventure! Meanwhile, Karen, who is superior to Pam in every conceivable way, is presented as ugh such a drag because she committed the sins of finding Michael's racist and sexist comments offensive as opposed to adorable, getting upset when she found out Jim was in love with someone else, and--most unforgivable of all--taking her job seriously.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

With all that said, Schur & co. clearly learned from their mistakes, because Parks and Rec had some of the strongest female characters in the history of TV.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Definitely was not enough Karen Filippelli on that show. Loved her. "You look exotic. Was your father a GI?"

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-- source

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

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-- source

Another show I have never seen an episode of

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I get that. Karen felt sort of like the Frank Grimes trope where a normal, well-adjusted person with reasonable goals and struggles wanders into a cartoon and is made to feel that she's the ridiculous one. As for Pam being an artist, I thought that was a good demonstration of small-town folks having big but unreasonable and ultimately doomed dreams, with Oscar making some catty remark about her painting looking like motel art. I thought she lacked the writer-wish-fulfillment of a true Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but like you said, very watered down.

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I didn't dislike Pam as much early on, but Season 6+ Pam and Jim are two of the most obnoxious characters in the history of television.

Frank Grimes, or Grimy, as he liked to be called...

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way