I've never seen The Office, nor the British version or the US version, but I've been thinking of doing so. I've seen sitcoms like Two and a Half Men, FRIENDS, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory and I've liked them all. So, would I find this funny, and even so, which one?
shareStart with the original. It's a comedy about comedy but it's not done in the style of a sitcom like Friends or The Big Bang Theory.
shareI watched us first (about 6 seasons) and then uk. Only watch the uk one if you love the us one is my advice. I enjoyed both a lot but the uk one is harder to watch.
shareAfter watching the original, I tried to watch the US version, got about 20 minutes in and found it to be such an unfunny knockoff, I couldn't even get through the first episode. The reason the show is great is because of the British humor. It's an essential component. The American version is like attempting to make peanut butter without the peanuts. I should probably give it another try and actually watch it before judging so harshly, but I didn't like what little I saw. I find it interesting that there are people who like both versions when they clearly don't elicit the same sense of humor.
shareI really wanted to like this series, but after a couple of episodes of season one I returned the DVD to my public library. I didn't like the actors having short soliloquies several times in each episode, for one thing. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
shareUK one. US one is just an American sitcom.
If you love Jesus Lizard and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!
I didn't watch the american version just for a reason: I'm not in favor of take something and squeeze it until it's dry. Therefore my thanks to Merchant, because he and Gervais have a fantastic chemestry. They deliver an original and really well done piece of art. Wich was selled, adapted and showed everywhere with different names - Stromberg (German adaptation) have his own movie- .
U.S., German, Chilean, Canadian, and French among other versions are byproducts, hence not the real stuff.
I only watched the UK version which I loved. I didn't watch the US version because frankly, I had just discovered Arrested Development which in my most humble of opinions is a much better show than any version of the Office. PERIOD.
"Let's get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!"
A lot of americans are going to say the US version because they are not used to British dry humour. The UK version is much more subtle and awkward. That's the genius of it.
shareThere's one big difference between the two: the US version is bollocks and the UK one isn't.
Gervais has never since done anything as good.
I don't get why people think their opinion is some kind of fact.
So, you LIKE a certain stuff more than other type, that doesn't mean the stuff you like is BETTER.
Both shows ARE good, but in their own, very specific, sometimes hard-to-see ways.
It's very, maybe even extremely possible, for someone to watch the UK version and not see the humor in it, not understand why anyone would find it fun, funny, or anything other than cringy, depressing, boring and 'repulsive-realistic' at best. It's not easy to get into, if you are not tuned into that sort of humor, that sort of mindset, worldview, and cultural understanding of the differences between the shows.
For example, culturally speaking, it's more common for the british or 'UKians?' to make fun out of how pathetic they are, so when Tim talks about his genitalia size, he does not boast how big it is, ha ha - but instead, he does the opposite, and diminish its size for humor. He is self-depracating, and that's funny.
An american would do what Gareth tries to do, and instead of doing the culturally expected self-loathing thing and remark how small his genitalia is, boast how big and enormous it is. This is why the old meme video about how all problems dissolve when I look at 'my enormous wiener' is funny.
So you can't really appreciate either show fully without understanding not only this kind of cultural differences in the humor, but also how the very dull, dark, grey and depressing look of Slough IS part of the comedy and humor - you are supposed to find it funny, not depressing (or maybe you are supposed to be depressed about how funny that is supposed to be).
UK is a gloomy, cold, rainy, foggy place, so people get depressed more. USA has so many varieties, because the country is pretty big, so there's no 'similarity' between people - tropical side has different culture than the more northern points, but no place in that country is quite as dark even in the winter as UK, or as foggy, rainy - you get the idea
This means that the UK version, unless you are very well versed in the overall gloominess of the country, can 'woosh' over some people's heads easily, and they 'just don't get it'.
A Californian surfer valley girl with a sunny disposition is probably not going to get the 'depression-based self-depracating subtle humor'.
From this viewpoint, it is also possible that 'UKians' might not always get the american humor style, that may look more brainless, less subtle, more crass and obvious, maybe more cartoony and dumbed down for the lowest common denominator. Some people seem to even be proud for NOT watching the American version, while still having strong opinions of how 'bollocks' it must be.
I can understand that to a degree, and from my perspective that does not rely on either side's cultural humor, it was very tough to get into BOTH of these. At first I watched both out of curiosity, and honestly, did NOT get it.
I did not laugh, I did not find David Brent funny, I did not understand what I was supposed to laugh at with Michael Scott or Dwight, which seemed like a more cartoony, less realistic version of Gareth, except Dwight did not seem to dare say as controversial things with such an innocent face and conviction.
The pranks Jim would pull on Dwight also did not seem as relatable, realistic or 'participatory', for the lack of better word (I felt I am almost participating in the prank when Tim and the blonde woman make Gareth say 'that kind of things').
So I understand people not getting either show, they are not easy to digest, even the American one IS actually pretty subtle a lot of the times, and with first viewing, you can EASILY miss so many interesting subtleties that you can catch with later viewings.
It's sad that people have to take sides like this - in my opinion, they are both so strongly culturally tied to their own style that they can't really be compared beyond the couple of seasons that are very similar.
For the first season and maybe the second to a degree as well, the USA version seems to try to copy the UK version, and as such, falls a bit flat on its face.
If people form their whole opinion about the USA version based on the first two seasons, they are doing a great injustice, but I understand their 'UK version rulz'-opinion in that case.
However, if they were to watch it a bit more, know the characters, see the sometimes surprisingly intelligent and well-crafted subtleties, that can pass by so fast you might miss them, the show can grow on you.
It took me MULTIPLE viewings to even start appreciating the show, and then I started noticing how funny certain things actually are, that I had missed because I didn't see the subtle structures that the show had been building and then utilized for humor. When you understand the characters deeper, you realize the humor that can come from just a couple of stares, that you might not have understood previously.
This means that many people might, and in my opinion, definitely are, judging the USA version unfairly without quite understanding how to get into it, without getting the humor, without understanding the situations fully, partially maybe because they don't understand the characters.
In the end, Michael Scott is the shining gem of the show for me. I would not watch it without him, any more than people would probably not watch the UK version without David.
He really makes the show shine, and his 'misunderstandings' and 'innocent blurtings of unconvenient truths' are absolutely brilliant, and the more you watch this show, the more details of this and other types you will notice, the more you will enjoy it, the funnier it gets.
It's easy to just say the USA version sucks, because it's not as intelligent or whatnot, but the reality is, there IS a lot of subtle, funny intelligence in there, even if there are awfully 'vomity' moments peppered in, too. The american audiences, after all, are different..
My point is, that after I have seen and analyzed both shows quite deeply in my opinion, both shows are FACTUALLY GOOD.
Your viewpoint, opinion, experience, lack of watching either properly, may vary, but please do not let THAT dictate what you say on the forums about the shows.
If the USA version was bad, I would say it, and I would gladly join the chorus of 'UK version rulz', but because it is factually good, anyone disparaging it here only shows their own ignorance, their own lack of investment and understanding of its VERY DIFFERENT humor style and so on.
I suggest you give it another chance, watch the seasons from two to maybe six, and really get into the characters and all, and THEN tell me it's bollocks.
I dare ya.
IT'S BOLLOCKS!!!
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