As the new year has arrived I have been on the lookout for some new comedy to watch. I noticed that one channel was showing the American Office so I thought I would tune in to see what it was like. I did have some misgivings about the American Office because I haven’t seen any good shows the American’s copied from an English original, especially considering the documentary nature of the office. One of the reasons I would attribute to quality of the show is Steven Merchant and Ricky Gervais were executive producers on the few episodes I have seen so far and I think they have made sure the core qualities of the show are intact.
I was pleasantly surprised at how good the show was, the office building itself is exactly the same, the names of all the main characters have been Americanised to Michael Scott (Brent), Jim (Tim), Dwight (Gareth), Pamela (Dawn) and the rest of the gang plus there are new American characters. All the characters have all been slightly twisted and pinched into American versions but they all look like general office workers and for people who have seen the English version of the Office its an added bonus having new characters to get to know.
The David Brent character is played by Steve Carrel (40 year old Virgin, Anchorman) and he is brilliant, his character is a bit more human and a more sad and overall the character is more believable. The other actors all do a good job and its interesting to make comparisons of such a popular show.
What I realised whilst watching the American Office is what a good show it is and particularly the setting and filming style of the Office, I always felt it was a pity there were so few episodes of the Office in England but later on the show was hyped up so much I think the writers wanted to leave it before they disappointed people with a bad episode. This is one of the key reasons I enjoy the American Office, it’s a very enjoyable lo fi comedy without silly repeating catchphrases. The other excellent point of the American Office is it has lots of completely new episodes.
I don’t think the American version is quite as in depth as the English office, which is layered with lots of little jokes you don’t get first time round but this works to the shows advantage because you can sit down and enjoy the show for what it is, which is light hearted feel good entertainment. To augment the lo fi style of the American Office is the feeling that you are not sure what is going to happen because the other non Brent characters are often driving the plot as well as the Brent character, plus it’s not Gervais focusing all the attention on Brent.
The few episodes I have seen saw Michael Scott (Brent) arrange the Dundies (the company is called Dunder Mifflin) and then hands out boring awards to all the workers, who describe the Dundies as “like a childrens party, you don’t want to go but you can’t leave because the child is so happy”. The other episodes have seen a fire happen in the Office (which Michael Scott legs it out first, to show equality to women) and the last episode I saw was the Office Olympics.
I have been enjoying the show so much I am tempted to dig out my Office (English version) to compare the two different shows and I think they are both good shows in their own different ways, I definitely recommend watching the show as its the best thing on the TV at the moment.
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