The Office

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

sorry ian  ,  I found the support cast to the american office much better the uk version.  That one  of the reasons it lasted so long.  when must uk to us shows are dead and bury by now

Actually mate that is where you are incorrect, Gervais has always stated that the UK Office was suppose to only run as long as it did. They then sold the rights off to various countries to make their own versions of the show.

Merchant and Gervais' money has been made of selling the rights in all honesty. Both have gone onto have decent careers in Movie and TV in the States (Merchant plays a cameo in the office UK in the 2nd season as 'Og-monster', Gareth's friend who comes to the office on red nose day)

Lucy Davis who played Dawn has done quite a bit of TV work in the UK and USA. Crooke who played Gareth landed a recurring role in the Pirates movie series and Freeman has landed also promising work and is slated for the role of Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit I believe. Outside of that the other character's were secondary characters for a reason in my opinion. The Office USA has gone I think 7 seasons, but correct me if I am wrong. The supporting cast have been given bigger roles really because of the length of the series as far as I can tell and the real winner for me as always been Ed Helms out of all of them. I think they ran out of stuff, its' good TV still, but with Jim and Pam already married now it seems they have had to create other love interests and focus on secondary characters in order to give the show longevity. Scott for me became a bit stale, but the show should have always been based around him...I cant see it regardless of who comes into the fold...it lasting much longer. Shame, but I think its run its course, I will still be watching though.

[Black Death]

that man Gervais is a genius ...


you maybe right there... well I will enjoy while it last

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

that man Gervais is a genius ...


you maybe right there... well I will enjoy while it last

If you enjoy his work, I dont know if you have had a chance to check it out, but you might want to try 'Extras' which is the other show he is remotely famous for here in the UK. There are tons of cameos from guys like Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro, Samuel L Jackson, David Bowie to name a few off the top of my head.

The shows' premise if you havent seen it is that Andy (Gervais) is a TV and film extra trying to break in the business. All the mega stars cameos play eccentric and off the wall versions of themselves. Like the Office it ran for 2 seasons and had an Xmas special.

I am also assuming all you Americans who have seen the UK Office saw the two Christmas special episodes which tied the whole thing together? I only say this cause one of my American mates thought the show just finished after Gervais' firing at the end of Season 2 when he is dressed up as that emu for comic relief.

[Alex Smiley]

I've only really seen the first episode and the Christmas special of the UK version, though those are what now has me planning to watch a lot more. I loved the dating game scene, hilarious stuff. I'm familiar with Extras as they had it on HBO I believe.

Another thought, having seen the opening episode for the US and the UK, I also agree on how Gervais' character seems a lot more realistic. I think the main thing for some (maybe not anyone here) is understanding certain words and phrases. Maybe it's just me, I dunno...I didn't understand the way they said "redundancies" until I understood it meant layoffs.

I will definitely give Extras a watch, though. Thanks for the tip, Ian.

[Adam Wrong]

I personally have watched the US version and I don't get it. I've watched most of the first couple of seasons with my old flatmate and neither of us found it partituclarly funny. Now while I loathe Ricky Gervais, I love the office UK.

To be honest, I will no doubt have the same opinion of the US version of Shameless when it comes out over here and Being Human...

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

I personally have watched the US version and I don't get it. I've watched most of the first couple of seasons with my old flatmate and neither of us found it partituclarly funny. Now while I loathe Ricky Gervais, I love the office UK.

To be honest, I will no doubt have the same opinion of the US version of Shameless when it comes out over here and Being Human...

I never watched Skins, but apparently the American version got canned. As for American Shameless it just looks wrong...

[Hondo]

Alright. You bring the Snuggie built for two.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

Christmas Special Favourite Moments:

Brent spends his redundancy money on trying to make himself a music icon with this music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaacRgUgj4

and when he meets the bird from online dating and she isn't what he is expecting looks wise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOwXkSODdZ0

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS_WmeALz7E&feature=related

And this was from Season 2...honestly this slays me everytime I see it.

[jagilki]

I never watched Skins, but apparently the American version got canned

It was made by MTV, that's about all that needs to be said.... although I'll admit, I never watched.

[Flins.]

Thought I'd join in with the UK Office love, agree with pretty much everything Ian has said about the show. Really was great.

Martin Freeman is great in this, as he is the rest of the series.

Having never seen the American version, how different is to the UK version? I know it has different characters and such, just humour wise, is it similar?

[SNA]

I LOVE The Office.

I might love Parks and Recreation even more!

[Hondo]

Having never seen the American version, how different is to the UK version? I know it has different characters and such, just humour wise, is it similar?

It's similar in a lot of ways, especially since Gervais is listed as an Executive Producer on the show and adds some influence to the writing process. Greg Daniels is the "creator" and head honcho of the American version, having previously written for shows like King of the Hill, The Simpsons and SNL. So essentially, take the UK Office formula and add in some Simpsons/KotH humor stylings and that's what you have.

If I were recommend the show to a new viewer, I'd direct them to Seasons 2 and 3, when the show was at it's best. Season 1 wasn't terrible, but the characters hadn't completely fleshed out yet and didn't start to jell until the beginning of the 2nd season.

Season 4 was pretty good, but had two things working against it. 1) They got Pam and Jim together in the first episode, which was the payoff everyone was waiting for. But then, the writers were like "What now?" With no real "will they or won't they" drama, they shifted the romance drama to Dwight/Angela, thus robbing us of the always-hilarious Dwight/Jim prank interactions. And 2) The Writer's strike ended up cutting the season short, therefore leading the writers to hot-shot a lot of storylines and angles. (this is starting to sound like wrestling, lol.)

Season 5 was OK, but was lacking the "oomph" of the last seasons. Although one of my favorite episodes of the series, "Stress Relief" (which aired after the Super Bowl in the US), the first part of the season was a little meh. It really picked up towards the end of the season, with Michael quitting DM and starting his own paper company.

Season 6 was also good, but you could tell the writers were running out of ideas. They ended up having the Pam/Jim wedding in the fourth episode of the season, which was a HUGE mistake. That's season or series finale material, and they blew their wad four episodes in. It also had the "Jim as Co-Manager" storyline, that I didn't like at all.

And of course Season 7 was more or less a farewell to Steve Carell. There were some good episodes, but others that fell FAR short of expectations.

But that's just me rambling.

[SNA]

Yeah I definitely wasn't a fan of Jim being co-manager for sure.

[Hondo]

As of today, the word on the street is Catherine Tate will NOT be the new boss. She was rumored to be the producers' first choice, but she has a lot of theater commitments and probably couldn't/wouldn't break them.