Subtle is good...
I watched two episodes of "The Office" today that were languishing on my DVR. I've never seen the British version, which I hear is really really good, but from what I've heard from people that *have* seen both, the US version at least does it justice. I'm a big fan of Steve Carrell either way, so I would have been willing to give the show a chance even if it was supposed to suck ass.
I like what I've seen so far. It's full of caricatures, foremost among them Carrell's Michael Scott as the boss that wants to be friends with employees rather than their boss. It's always good when laughtrack-free shows (like Scrubs and Arrested Development) actually make you laugh. I've seen reviews that another laughtrack-free show, Jake in Progress, seems to have trouble in that department. The pilot episode of The Office was basically almost word-for-word the same as the British pilot, as a way to establish the characters and tone of the show. Mission accomplished there, at least for four of the five main characters (the last, a temp, hasn't gotten much air time yet, so the jury's still out there).
Jello-antics aside, I think I liked the second episode better. It revolved around Diversity Day, prompted by Michael's prefomance of a Chris Rock routine that employees took issue with. Things went from bad to worse when Michael decided to take the diversity thing a step too far. It was over-the-top (and scarily possible, judging from some of the bosses I've had) humor delivered with the subtly of a sledgehammer and it will probably be what people remember, especially the stereotype send-ups that walk a very fine line between outrageously funny and insensitive and crass. Personally, my favorite bit was the subplot, with Jim (the "bored guy mindlessly doing his job" who has a crush on the secretary, Pam) and his big client. The diversity classes keep interrupting his attempts to re-up with the client, which represents 25% of his commission for the year. He's even got a little bottle of champagne to celebrate the gimme signing of the client. When the client signs on the dotted line with a different employee, Jim takes out the bottle and puts it on the other guy's desk. Obviously a bad day for poor Jim. But as the diversity class ends and Pam dozes off with her head on Jim's shoulder, he says "It was a good day." All of the above was done with basically ten to fifteen second cuts away from Carrell hamming it up, all very blink-and-you-miss-it. But so nicely done.
So, we've got a clever, entertaining show. No big names. No laugh track. It'll probably get cancelled for another mindless "reality show," which is the most ironically named genre of TV show ever. I remember not too long ago, that networks actually gave shows a chance to flourish and get an audience. It took something like a year for Seinfeld to catch hold. Nowadays, it would have lasted three episodes and get replaced by Wife Swap. Oy.
I like what I've seen so far. It's full of caricatures, foremost among them Carrell's Michael Scott as the boss that wants to be friends with employees rather than their boss. It's always good when laughtrack-free shows (like Scrubs and Arrested Development) actually make you laugh. I've seen reviews that another laughtrack-free show, Jake in Progress, seems to have trouble in that department. The pilot episode of The Office was basically almost word-for-word the same as the British pilot, as a way to establish the characters and tone of the show. Mission accomplished there, at least for four of the five main characters (the last, a temp, hasn't gotten much air time yet, so the jury's still out there).
Jello-antics aside, I think I liked the second episode better. It revolved around Diversity Day, prompted by Michael's prefomance of a Chris Rock routine that employees took issue with. Things went from bad to worse when Michael decided to take the diversity thing a step too far. It was over-the-top (and scarily possible, judging from some of the bosses I've had) humor delivered with the subtly of a sledgehammer and it will probably be what people remember, especially the stereotype send-ups that walk a very fine line between outrageously funny and insensitive and crass. Personally, my favorite bit was the subplot, with Jim (the "bored guy mindlessly doing his job" who has a crush on the secretary, Pam) and his big client. The diversity classes keep interrupting his attempts to re-up with the client, which represents 25% of his commission for the year. He's even got a little bottle of champagne to celebrate the gimme signing of the client. When the client signs on the dotted line with a different employee, Jim takes out the bottle and puts it on the other guy's desk. Obviously a bad day for poor Jim. But as the diversity class ends and Pam dozes off with her head on Jim's shoulder, he says "It was a good day." All of the above was done with basically ten to fifteen second cuts away from Carrell hamming it up, all very blink-and-you-miss-it. But so nicely done.
So, we've got a clever, entertaining show. No big names. No laugh track. It'll probably get cancelled for another mindless "reality show," which is the most ironically named genre of TV show ever. I remember not too long ago, that networks actually gave shows a chance to flourish and get an audience. It took something like a year for Seinfeld to catch hold. Nowadays, it would have lasted three episodes and get replaced by Wife Swap. Oy.