The Office

A TV crew move in to the Slough offices of paper wholesalers Vernom-Hogg to focus on how the ordinary British work place responds to change and business upheaval.

What a surprise this series was when it first came on the TV. Given that it was on BBC2 and not given much promotion you didn't expect much, but boy is this series good. Not only is there moments of absolute comic genius, but it is also very profound. Stand assured I have met all the characters on this show in real life - I have even worked alongside a few of them!

It is impossible to know what foreigners make of lead and star turn Ricky Gervais playing boss David Brent. Americans might not get the full satire of his off-centre and cliché bound management speak. Like another great British character Alf Garnett (of Till Death Us Do Part) he is not so much an invention as an acute observation of a particular type of crass over-promoted idiot that lurks among us. Incompetent and ludicrous, but full of the misplaced confidence that comes from never having to face a reality check. The office runs despite of him - not because of him.

If this was not comedy it would be considered the best portrayal of a man living under self-delusion ever put on film. His belief that he is incredibly popular and has the support of the full staff is clearly false and yet nothing can shake his beliefs. He is not blind but yet he cannot see. He is living in a land of fantasy and time-wasting - for example, inventing game shows instead of writing office reports!

Brent is a self-styled "chilled out comedian" that cracks rude or racist jokes to just the type of people that don't want to hear them. Wearing a fake wan smile he has the unerring ability to make difficult situations even worse. He is always aware of the camera and even plays to it - even lurking in the background to join in other people's on-camera moments as if he has nothing better to do.

Brent has a mini-me in the form of Gareth Keenan played by Mackenzie Crook. A wan and skinny man-youth who is chief support to Brent in the mismanagement of the office. A weekend soldier he makes constant references to this and how it applies to office procedure, as well as trying it on with spare office female talent - with no success whatsoever. He also runs the office course on safety - which is one of the funniest pieces of business I have seen in a long time. Instructing female employees on how NOT to put cups of hot coffee on the top of monitors and how to correctly lift boxes.

Only slightly more sane is Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) the college drop-out that is always threatening to quit and return to his books. A bored mediocrity that fills his days by winding up Gareth and flirting with receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis) - who has less of a role, but looks on in disgust at some of the antics that the others get up to.

Special support comes from Chris Finch (played by Ralph Ineson) who is chief rep and office big mouth: Perhaps the most revolting person ever to appear on TV. His recollections of drunken evenings and stupidity being listen to with wide eyed wonder by the males - with only Dawn daring to show what he really is and even then not in words. When he leads the gang down Chasers (the local small town disco) things really hot up.

This show only ran two series (plus Christmas special - that was only so-so), but in the second series the nature of the Brent management style comes under pressure. Reality starts sweeping in to his little world and his bubble is finally popped, but not without some really funny moments - including the "Comic Relief" day episode that is perhaps the best of the whole lot.

I have seen all the shows and most of them more than once. This series warrants repeat viewings because it is just so funny and perfectly realized. This series will put off thousands of people from working in an office and maybe some of them will go off and do something more creative and interesting with their lives. Writing something as good as this, for example.

Now that I've seen the Christmas specials I must say that this is some of the best material I've ever seen! Every of the 14 episodes is just great and worth watching over and over again.

I'm going to miss you Dawn, Tim, Gareth, David, Keith, Jennifer, Sheila, Rachel and Monkey-Alan...

Even people from Slough have signs on their car windows "Happiness is seeing Slough in your Rear View Mirror". During the war the enemy was invited to bomb Slough; "Come friendly bombs rain on Slough")(no joke).

The Office is one of those programs which when you happen across it, for the first half-hour or so you're completely baffled, its format is so unusual, then before you know it you're hooked.

It's really about the horror of passing so much time with the SAME people (more than with our families). Where any minor incident like the photocopier jamming becomes a slight relief from monotony.

If you like The Office then try "Alan Partridge" like David Brent another nightmarish figure

Brits. You gotta love them. They got the best bands AND the best comedians. "The Office" is probably the best thing in comedy since Monty Python. This show is almost perfect. It's got an original concept, the writing is brilliant, and so is the acting. A group of people completely unknown outside of the U.K. has definitely made a mark in the history of television with this so-called "mockumentary".

A program like this was really what we needed, but hadn't dared to hope for anymore. In a time when it seemed like T.V. would forever be ruled by sitcoms with canned laughter played over the same old jokes (let's face it, even "Coupling" was little more than an edgier version of "Friends"), Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant came along with their accurate observation of everyday life in an office as we all know it. What they did was take "This Is Spinal Tap!" and put it in the context of an everyday working place. In lesser hands, this idea could easily have turned boring all too quickly, because what we are being shown is basically just reality. It could also have gone the other way with stupid and forced jokes thrown in to keep the viewer interested. Gervais and Merchant, however, managed to pull it off just the way it needed to be done. "The Office" is tragic, funny, sad and moving all at the same time. This show is so popular, because people all around the world can identify with it. You feel for these characters. Tim, Dawn, Gareth and Brent (especially Gareth and Brent!) are far from being perfect people, but it's because of their little flaws and personality problems that we care for them. We know colleagues like them, we know those grey days at work. And like this crew a lot of us have big dreams that are moving further and further away as we're stuck in dead end jobs getting older. "The Office" doesn't comfort us, it doesn't tell us that there'll be a happy ending, but it tells us that we're not alone with our situations. The fact, that we know most of those truly horrible scenes from our own lives makes us laugh. Sometimes the laughs are bitter, but they're always cathartic.

SEASON 1 is flawless. Hands down the best first series in a comedy show ever. We get to know Gareth, the annoying colleague who has no life whatsoever and makes up for that by taking himself way too seriously. We meet Dawn and Tim who are fighting their desperation and dissatisfaction by playing pranks on Gareth. The two are secretly attracted to each other with Dawn's boyfriend Lee standing the way. Most importantly, we are introduced to David Brent, the boss who somehow manages to always say the wrong things and embarrass himself and everyone around him all the time. The humour comes mainly from facial expressions, nonsense philosophies (Brent & Gareth), sarcastic comments (Tim) and incredibly awkward situations. Lots of times you'll cringe and the situation gets so uncomfortable you'll cover your eyes with your hands so you don't have to see anymore of it. It's a delightful torture.

SEASON 2 is still very good, but Gervais and Merchant fall into the joke-trap too often. In season 1 they successfully avoided any jokes with punchlines or gags that seemed scripted. It was more or less a chain of uncomfortable events and funny interviews. In season 2 we already know the characters and the concept a bit too well. People expect a certain behaviour from the respective characters and Gervais and Merchant are feeding those expectations a little too often. Side character Keith gets a bigger part in these 6 episodes and sadly his wackiness is a bit overdone, too, so that sometimes you get the feeling that whole thing is getting a bit worn out by now. What I really thought was unrealistic was that everybody hated David so much. After all, he is a funny guy and if you don't laugh with him you'd be laughing about him trying so hard to be funny. People just giving him bewildered looks became a bit annoying at some point. However, the writing was still fine, especially considering how little time the makers had and under what kind of pressure they had to come up with new stuff.

The final Christmas SPECIALS are a tearjerker. After the genuinely tragic ending of season 2, you hope so much that all will turn out well in the end. Let me just tell you this much: when the credits roll you'll be moved to tears. This just shows how well Gervais and Merchant have built their characters.

The way this show found a balance between comedy and drama, the ideas and observations that were put into it and the glorious performances are simply adorable and unmatched to this day. Thankfully, Gervais and Merchant knew when to stop and said that the Christmas SPECIALS were going to be the definite end of "The Office". As with any good show that's sad for the viewer, but it was the right thing to do as there was really nowhere else to go with the story and the concept. Remakes have already been made ("The Office" 2005 - USA, "Stromberg" Germany), but those will always just be a poor man's rehash of the original.

"The Office" made me believe that even in days when Will Ferrell saying "San Diego means a whale's vagina" is considered the ultimate revelation in comedy, there are still people who will come up with clever and original ideas.

Had this been a 'Britcom-proper' it probably wouldn't have been as funny as it is now.

The tragic elements woven into it make it so much greater. Admittedly, there are a lot (and I mean A LOT) of cringeworthy moments in The Office. Moments that make you put your hand over your eyes and look through your fingers, moments that make you gasp and look away, and moments that will make you go "Aaaargh! Noooo!".

Everybody (who is not David or Gareth) who has ever worked in an office setting (especially those who worked in several ..) will feel that The Office is a condensed and compressed series of events, but very true to life. Everybody knows David and Gareth, everybody wants to slap them and shut them up forever. Everybody feels for (and feels like) Tim and Dawn. And everybody knows that an office would be a downright suicidal place were it not for common foes like 'the boss' and 'the wannabe boss' to loathe.

Don't watch The Office if all you want is a quick laugh .. you would feel way too uncomfortable for that. The Office is a true slice of (office) life, a bit larger, a bit darker, a bit more painful, but ultimately more humorous than anything I've ever seen. Make sure you catch the Christmas special(s) as well, as that puts the icing on the cake and makes life slightly more bearable.