Elite of the Elite : The Office (UK)

Series Name: The Office
Television Network : BBC Two & One
Running Time : 30 Minutes
Broadcast Run : July 9th, 2001 - December 27th, 2003(12 Episodes + Christmas Special)

The inspiration for the American version. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant bring their sensibilities to England's middle class at a paper company in Slough. Gervais, as David Brent, plays the mostly good intention but ultimately self absorbed branch manager. He's a guy who you question how he became the boss of anything. Fleshing out the rest of the cast in the office is overbearing and desperate for power salesman Gareth(Mackenzie Cook, Pirates of the Caribbean), and the pair of the lovestruck salesman Tim(Martin Freeman, Sherlock) crushing on secretary Dawn(Lucy Davis, The TV Set).

The Office is truly a home run program. Never before has awkwardness felt so genuine as watching David Brent dance on this television program. For fans of the UK show, the image above resonates and brings back the sympathetic emotional embarrassment and awkward silence that followed David Brent's attempt to resonate with his fellow co workers. It's spawned countless imitations, such as the American Office that has dominated NBC's Thursday "Must See" programming for six years now. None have done it better than Ricky Gervais.

In America, it's hard to talk about the UK's Office without mentioning the NBC version that has dominated NBC's Thursday Night "Must See TV" block for the past six years. The UK Office tells a story, a realistic one, and does it well. The US Office, having so many minutes to fill, never seems to truly move forward at the pace the UK Office does. With only 12 episodes and a two hour special movie years later, the UK Office covered the same plot of 100 American episodes. The US Office forces stunned silence in a "That's impossible! They'd surely all be fired!" kind of way. The UK Office only forces stunned silence in a "I can't believe he did that!" kind of way. It's a fine line to walk between believable comedy and Animaniacs comedy. The US Office zig zags as it straddles this line. The UK Office stays firmly in the believable real world scenario, even if it involves a man being given a large inflatable penis and having his shoe thrown onto the roof on his birthday..

While all the characters were at each other's throats at different times, there were moments where they all got along. Where they were all on the same page. And that only makes the embarrassing conflicts later that much more excruciatingly hilarious to watch. And the best part? You can catch episodes airing on [adult swim]! both on cable, and on your interweb compuboxport you're currently using. Stare through the series of tubes! Although apparently their net is confused, as the link they share to a full episode currently does not work. I've sent them an e-mail but we'll see. They update every week though, so another episode should be added to list shortly. And I'm sure the more savvy internet users among us can stumble upon it on this spiderweb called the internet.

As always, clips below the cut.

A

The Office hums
 

Gareth(Dwight) investigates a matter in the office.


Oh no the Triads! Let's send Bruce Lee. He'll get the job done.
 

David Brent's Life Philosphy