Has the American "The Office" eclipsed the British "The Office"?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oh please... it most definetly is not the only thing that is the same. It is definetly as similar to Friends as All in the Family is to its British parent Till Death Do We Part.

[Boris Godunov]

Coupling was marketed as a British version of Friends (see the product description on Amazon, after all). But beyond the 6 and 6 thing, I don't see any similarities (other than their both being comedies). Of course, I loathed Friends for the most part, but Coupling is vastly superior.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Ah, I think the hour of "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" is the best night of comedy on American TV (well as long as "Arrested Development is on hiatus ). Brilliant shows.

QFT

I'm not sure I'd take the US Office over the British original. However, it is getting close. REAL close. I don't think they've had an episode quite as brilliant as Ricky Gervais playing his guitar in the team-building session.

Last night's episode was incredibly funny. Steve Carrell is terrific, he is walking that thin line between funny and pathetic.

I think the pitfall that the US show will have to avoid is stringing out the Jim-Pam thing for too long. The original had, what, 15 episodes, plus the special? That was just right with the way the romance thing was paced and plotted. The US version is stretching it longer, which is fine... but they can't stretch it too thin.


Dwight is awesome. As much as I loved Gareth, Dwight might be even better.

"Wow! You must be Dwight!"

[Grandpa Troll]

The Office

When I finish lmao @ My Name is Earl, I watch this show

This started out to me like a bad wreck, you know you shouldnt watch it but you do.

Im glad I did

I watch the manager and remind myself what kind of manager I never want to end up being (Michael Scott ) and also what kind of assitant I never want working for me(Dwight Schrute )

Funny show mind you

[Grandpa Troll]

Last night was Hiliraious

Mike scott did improv and in only the way he can..BOMBED

and Dwight

man..He would just so get under my nerves..lol

hes a real dweeb

Remids me of Office Space..funny movie

"Did you get the memo"?

I edited as i saw I need to "improv" my spelling

[Asher]

Office Space.

[ajbera]

Imran, you know that there was an attempt at an American "Coupling", don't you? (Starring the gorgeous Rena Sofer). Copied from the Britcom.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338592/

[Nanimo]

Just to add my 2p.

British comedy shows that I've been liking:

The League of Gentlemen

Brass Eye

Monkey Dust

Little Britain - for the first two series, it's getting a bit tired lately.

QI - Not a sitcom, but Stephen Fry is brilliant (not to mention alluring).

Have I got news for you - I always enjoy a spot of topical/political comedy in the form of a TV quiz

Marion and Geoff - I think that's what it was called. Similar to The Office in that it's played as a fly-on-the-wall documentary... dry, very cringe-worthy, and Geoff borders on the pathetic...

Red Dwarf

Absolute Power

The New Statesman

Nathan Barley



I don't actually watch much TV, and haven't seen anything new in aaages... but I do listen to comedy shows from BBC Radio 4 a lot, there are some real gems, and some of the better shows make it to TV or book form. Little Britain and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to name a couple that started life as a show on Radio4.


Radio Shows I liked:

Paperback Hell

REM

Old Harry's Game

The Consultants

The Now Show

Ross Noble Goes Global

You can listen to these shows here:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/

Anyway... ehm.... back on topic ehmm... I haven't seen the American version of The Office yet, but I would certainly give it a go if I could get hold of a copy...

Although I think I can see what Pekka is getting at. With the original, I caught it on TV on the off-chance. I'd never heard of it before, there wasn't really a big marketing drive for the show (or I could have missed it) In any case I saw it and was watching it, intrigued and amused, until the penny dropped a couple of minutes later. This, to me, is exactly what makes the show; as pathetic and strange as some of the characters are, you can see these as real people. The possible danger that I perceive in an American remake which would ruin the show for me, is if it's glossed up and the characters are played up and exaggerated too far and you're no longer able to suspend your belief.

Having said that, I think Ricky Gervais was in actual fact playing himself in the Office.

[Flip McWho]

Yeah I first thought 'The Office' was some kind of reality tv show. It wasn't till my gf actually told me it was a comedy that I actually started watching it. Really wanna get the whole couple of seasons worth and watch it all.

"Extras" is hilarious. Especially the kate winslett episode.


And Pekka has some truth in those wordfields of his. American humour is just sooo american. British humour is well british. Its just what they are, they can't help it, nothing to get insulted about.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by ajbera
Imran, you know that there was an attempt at an American "Coupling", don't you? (Starring the gorgeous Rena Sofer). Copied from the Britcom.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338592/

Yep. Networks are so retarded. They wanted to make a Friends clone, but attach a respected Britcom name to it. Kind of like what they did with the "I, Robot" movie (they had a movie made up, then bought the I, Robot license and for the most part slapped it on the title and changed a few things to have the 3 laws).

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Asher

WTF? Of the only ones listed there, Cheers was funny. The others were not.

You guys have strange tastes.

Tell me about it, I love "The Red Green Show", which is really horrible but makes me laugh.

ACK!

[Asher]

That's the point of comedy. You don't need high production values and actors making $1M/episode.

[Seeker]

(totally ignores rest of thread, distracted by one thing)

Sava:

You didn't like Fawlty Towers...and you love Malcolm in the Middle?? ??????

Just just....I'm sorry I'm at a total loss of words.