Post: #1

The Office was, at first, an acclaimed British TV show that spawned a much more popular American version. It was an acerbic, subtly brilliant take on the modern workplace. While the British version is brilliant in its own right, I want to shine a light on the American version.

I have written about the show here and here on ROK. The Ribbon Farm has must-read series here on the show about power relations in the workplace. It's been talked about here on the forum -- you are doing yourself a great disservice if you don't read.

Like most shows, the best of The Office came in the first few seasons.

One of the best episodes, Diversity Day:





A few of the best moments of Season 1:





Sexual harassment and "That's What She Said":





Longer clip, but some of the best moments of Season 2:





Bonus clip from the British version. Hilarious:





Share your favorite clips or observations on the show. . .

Post: #2

The Office is among my favourite TV shows. I prefer the British version, but the US version comes very close. It's a shame that the British version only ran two seasons - I understand that Rickey Gervais wanted to end while the show was still on a high, and I do think that the US version ran slightly too long, but I think they had at least one season more left in them.

The appeal of the show is that it's cringe inducingly embarrassing to watch, but it's something we can all relate to. Even though the characters are exaggerations of reality, they still seem very real based on our experiences. We've all had a narcissistic boss like David Brent, who believes that all his staff love , he's hilariously funny, he's a great boss, and that he's "one of the boys," even though in reality he's the butt of everyone's jokes - and his narcissism is only fueled by the fact that nobody can openly mock him. We've all had colleagues like Gareth (or Dwight in the US version) that takes their meaningless jobs seriously to an annoying and irrational degree.

It seems strange that anyone would endure a mind-numbing day of drudgery in an office to come home to watch a show set in a mind-numbingly boring office, but it's a kind of way to blow off steam, to laugh at your own life and a reminder not to take it too seriously.

Here's some of my favourite scenes.