Things I have learned from watching season two of the American version of the TV show The Office on DVD:
1. It is getting funnier, just like people said it was.
2. The (plethora of) deleted scenes were actually quite entertaining.
3. It will never be funnier than the British version of the show.
4. Office life is just absurb. How millions of professionals show up dutifully five days a week to serve as desk jockeys in fluorescently lit, air-conditioned boxes of blandness seems like a special kind of wrong.
2 comments:
I love both versions of The Office and I think the UK version is better TV (especially if you exclude the Christmas special) but the American version is funnier. The problem is that some of the laughs in the American version come at the expense of consistent characterisation. For example, there's one scene where Michael has been taken in by some pyramid scheme, and then other characters tell him that it's bullshit and he misunderstands what they are saying; sorry I can't recall the dialogue but it struck me that although very funny, Michael is just not that stupid. They have a similar problem with the characterization of Dwight.
Interesting observation about the American show's humor, Mathew. That makes a lot of sense.
I think that's why I enjoy the UK version's humor more--it springs authentically from the characters vs. being a funny sit-com set-up.
Figures that the American version wouldn't trust subtlety to work.
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