Any love for the original UK The Office?*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by chronic kebab, Sep 20, 2016.

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  1. éder

    éder Forum Resident

    I don't agree with all that Gervais says - he can come across as an arrogant know it all with his views on life... If he has joined the 'dark side' i don't know , but i do admire him for his genuine concern in raising awareness on animal cruelty and i do think he is a decent human being ...
     
    Mark R Jones likes this.
  2. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I came away from "Life on the Road" with mixed feelings. It had its funny moments. But as someone mentioned a bit earlier, it doesn't hold together as an even vaguely sensible narrative, particularly the last 10 or 15 minutes where credibility is thrown completely out the window in exchange for a contrived "feel good" ending that would have made the Gervais of 15 years ago puke.

    One of my favorite "Office" episodes, Tim's 30th birthday ("The Quiz") ends with Tim just completely downtrodden. In what he perceives to be a dead-end job at 30, watching the woman he loves prefer some jerk, and then being emasculated by the likes of Finchy. And yet Gervais & Merchant were comfortable leaving Tim there as the credits roll. There's artistic courage in that. And when Tim finally wins Dawn in the Christmas special, this moment is redeemed. There's no artistic courage in "Life on the Road". The ending is worthy of the brain-dead-est sitcom.

    But no one can write an intentionally bad socially conscious song like Gervais.

     
    Mark R Jones, Jim B. and éder like this.
  3. paulbright81

    paulbright81 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glasgow, Scotland
    I also don't doubt he's a good person and still class myself as a fan. This is the reason I was so disappointed in LOTR.
     
    éder likes this.
  4. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident

    Comments above seem to confirm my reservations (based on viewing the trailer). Brent in The Office was one of the best comic characters ever, in my opinion, so I think I will skip the new movie lest it tarnish that impression.
     
  5. peteham

    peteham Senior Member

    Location:
    Simcoe County
    I was miffed when the network chose to not let that show develop.
     
  6. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Brent looked like Noel Edmonds.
     
  7. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Comedians these days seem to be like bands in the old days. They have an amazing run of say seven years and then they seem to lose the magic and spend the rest of their careers churning out pleasant and OK material but not a patch on what they did in their prime. Gervais for me is like McCartney after he left the Beatles in this respect.

    The original Office I thought was just brilliant at the time but the style is somewhat dated now.

    I think today I prefer watching Extras which definitely doesn't get the credit it deserves. The Xmas special of Extras is one of the most brilliantly written and acted 'comedy' things ever shown on TV, funny, very moving, thought provoking...a work of genius IMO.
     
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  8. éder

    éder Forum Resident

    My thoughts exactly on the Extras christmas special.. brilliant acting
     
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  9. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    Extras was a fantastic show, there are so many scenes that just had me crying with laughter. And Gervais actually won the Emmy for Best Actor for Extras in 2007, beating Steve Carell.
     
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  10. éder

    éder Forum Resident

    My favourite episodes of extras are with les dennis and ross kemp .. hilarious stuff..
    " if vinnie jones comes anywhere near me, i will unleash hell ".
     
  11. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    I just watched it on Netflix again, love it. For me, Gervais is actually funny, Carell just annoyed me. I hate man-boys. Deserve a good beating.
    :buttkick:
     
  12. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    (Pointlessly closed thread reopened.)

    I'm a big fan of the US series, although it certainly had some dips after season 4 or so. On the whole, it's probably in my top 5 favorite sitcoms; certainly top 10. Recently, I was browsing around and found the dvds of the UK series -- still sealed -- for $6 total in a pawn shop, and snapped them up. Just finished watching the first six episodes, and loved them. Looking forward to the next round.
     
  13. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    What people tend to overlook is that the second season of the British series wasn’t as funny as the first. Obviously, it wasn’t anywhere near as big a dip in quality as we saw towards the end of the US run, but I think I only laughed out loud twice. Still, they redeemed themselves for the specials and they avoided the schmaltz that marred last few seasons of the US version.

    Sadly, to my mind, the second worst things about the American season-after the group proposal but ahead of the cringeworthy flash mov scene-were Ricky Gervais’ season 7 cameos. Even though the show had largely abandoned it’s mockumentary ethos for s more traditional sitcom style, this jarred and it undermined both the British and the US iterations of the programme.
     
  14. Andy Saunders

    Andy Saunders Always a pleasure never a chore

    Location:
    England
    The Office was brilliant.... loved all the characters- especially 'Finchy' along with Fawlty Towers something one can watch over and over again.
     
    Peace N. Love and SRC like this.
  15. SRC

    SRC That sums up Squatter for me

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I love the original UK version of The Office. Big Gervais fan here. I'm American but I've never watched the U.S. version, I've had no interest. I think I just prefer British humor.
     
  16. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    I had no reason to ever watch the American version - the UK is absolutely awesome. I don't even wanna get started...
     
  17. The American and UK show are quite different and each capable of being enjoyed on their own merits. I'm not sure why loving the UK show precludes enjoying the US one. I like both.
     
    Isaac McHelicopter likes this.
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