TVSquad

The UK office is like Sandy Koufax -- better than anything else over a very short period of time. The US version is more like Don Sutton. Very good over a longer period of time.

The key move by the US producers was to soften the Michael Scott character significantly after the first few episodes. David Brent was a prick and Scott is a likeably clueless guy. You can't tolerate a prick episode after episode.

Also, Jim is somewhat less pathetic than Tim. Jim is still pathetic, just less so than Tim.

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Thanks for the link, I'm in complete agreement. The UK Office is so cringeworthy and wonderful, but the American Office is just as funny and the characters are so much more developed and layered.

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Mhairi McFarlane is a complete and utter prat, Bob.

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If you watch the first season of the US version, it is trying so hard to be like the original that it feels like a pale comparison. But when things really fall into place, which was the second season, it has managed to surpass the UK version.
It might not be quite so cringe-worthy, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing because now that Curb Your Enthusiasm has raised the stakes in that area, it is hard to do that kind of thing really well.
But the biggest area where it wins is the ensemble cast - there are so many funny characters that it doesn't rely too heavily on the lead. That's always hard to do when Ricky Gervais is involved, but the small, throwaway gags involving Creed or Kelly are often the best in an episode.
British comedy (and television in general) is much better at knowing when to stop, but US television is better at keeping something going because of the longer seasons.

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I can't believe how wrong you all are - sure the american version is watchable and generates some laughs (not as many as 30 rock or even My Name is Earl though) but it is lowest common denominator humour - its not clever and there is nothing subtle about it, thats what made the original Office such a great series. Sure, i'm a massive Ricky Gervais fan so I might be a bit biased but I guarantee in 10 years, the UK Office will be seen as a masterpiece and a real innovator in an industry, which at the time was only interested in coming up with the next friends, the US Office will be forgotten about by then.

I'm not really knocking it, as I say it is watchable and I will continue to watch it but its just not in the same League as the UK version. I also think they need to be careful, the Michael and Dwight characters recently have become a parody of themselves and are in danger of becoming so zany that it just won't work, I certainly think they are amoung the weaker of the characters and imho, the supporting characters such as Toby and Kevin provide the best moments of many episodes.

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No, snife your opinion is the one that's wrong.

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No, Peanut, he's not "wrong," it's just an opinion, and I happen to agree with most of it.

To put it in plain language, the American version has been sanitised and watered-down to the typical network-primetime audience type of sitcom and is just not quite as scathing nor does it have that underlying cleverness and subtlety of the British version.

Neither is better than the other - the concepts are based on the same, and the cultural differences shine through, and we should leave it at that.

Some of the Brit humor is lost on Americans, and some of the Yank humor is lost on Brits. Not a big deal. Take your pick, some may like one more than the other - let's ask the Aussies or the Canadians which one they think it more to their tastes. No, let's ask the Chinese or the Pakistanis instead - they'll be able to give us slightly more un-biased opinions of them.

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I'm a Canadian and while I loved the UK version, the US version's characters are just so much more fleshed out and relatable. They're both fantastic shows and they will both be remembered fondly in the years to come. Also, to say that the US show is LCD humour is so far beyond ridiculous it's downright trollish.

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"much more fleshed out and relatable."

Unfortunately i think you've missed the point of the UK Office as so many people do. I cannot understand how you have even think this - the US office characters are characatures of office workers, the UK office characters are like real people, in the spirit of the faux documentary style that the UK office pulled off to perfection but that the US office uses simply as a convenient plot device and to give forced insight into the characters.

Every US Office joke is laid out for you - anybody will get them, and while they may be funny they are not clever, thats why I called it Lowest Common Denominator - many people simply don't get the genius of the UK Office, it took until season 2 before it really became popular in the UK for that reason.

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The two Offices are like apples and oranges. I found the UK version a super black comedy that usually made me feel sad for David Brent even though I wasn't supposed to, and the faux documentarty style was more realistic. The US version is very much a typical American sitcom aside from the documentary style that is sort of there. It has longer legs on it than the UK version since the UK series are shorter runs. I end up looking at the shows as two wholly different entities. They both have their charms. I resisted the US version for a long time, but I found I can just turn my skeptical brain off and just sit back and laugh at the corporate world I gladly left some years ago.

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K,
Snife wrote that the opinions of the posters before him were wrong, so I was mocking him.

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"i think you've missed the point of the UK Office as so many people do"

Making that statement fulfils the axiom "While all answers are replies, not all replies are answers" to a tee. You don't actually state what the point of the UK office was. Is your point that the characters are not supposed to be relatable? Even if your statement that the US characters are caricatures was true (which I don't believe) does that invalidate the relatability? People watch Babe the Pig and relate to his struggle; would relating to slightly exaggerated versions of people you deal with on a daily basis in an office be any more ridiculous?

You seem to think that because the entire core of the humour of the US version isn't horribly awkward situations you cringe through that it is inherently inferior. You also seem to think that when the UK version had the talking head scenes and when they talked to the camera it was brilliant but when the exact same thing is done in the US version it's a "convenient plot device to give forced insight." How is the character insight given by the on camera interviews in the UK version better in any way? It's the exact same device.

I don't understand this extremism that some people hold to regarding this show. I love both shows. They're as different as they are brilliant.

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I'm a Brit and I'm glad other people are starting to come out of the closet on this issue. To say that you like the US version of The Office more than the UK version feels almost like treason because you instantly get the defensive, snidey comments from any other British people who invariably have seen half of the first episode and made their minds up from articles in the media.

It boils down to this: US television is superior to ours. You have more money, better talent, better ideas (at the top end of the scale, obviously there's a lot of crap out there too). Even Gervais couldn't wait to get out there as soon as he got successful. British people feel insecure about that and jealous, and it's that age-old animosity towards America because you guys take what we do and do it better. Personally, I applaud it. But most British people are cynical miserable souls and love to hate the Americans and their optimism and positivity.

The Office is one of our only halfway decent shows in the last twenty years. Seriously, come over here and try and sit through a week's worth of television. It's all bilge. Repetitive, derivative bilge. You wouldn't last, you'd die of either depression for what this country's creativity has descended into, or sheer boredom. It's shocking, the low quality of television in this country.

So when something decent gets through the ridiculous net of mediocrity that the producers and script editors hold around the industry (trust me, I work there), then it's held up as a great bastion of British culture and people get very precious about it. You can't blame us, I suppose. We don't have 24, The West Wing, The Sopranos...we're looking across the Atlantic with eyes of jealousy and resentment. Well, not me. I have eyes of admiration. :)

Plus, Steve Carell and Ed Helms rule my world. :)

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I think snife is a self-important tool who takes himself way too seriously and his comments laughable, but he did get one thing right.

The Dwight character is becoming a parody. The Michael character, less so.

Still, I've always hated the obvious, over-the-top characters on any show. Kramer is a perfect example. When it becomes a "no real person could exist like that," it pulls you out of the moment and induces an eye roll where a laugh should be.

Dwight is almost there.

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Is there an Oggmonster in the US version?

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I'm an American. I do like the U.K. version but think are "humor" is more up to par. I watch some/most British show's but get the idea that your all a little stuck up! Get the clue people. We do everything better. Period. You look up to us and it's clearly noted. Please dont hate. We're just better at what we do. Thank God we broke away from you red coats when we did. We fucking rock. Thats all. ta-ta and have a spot of tea and all that good shit!

-peace-

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Oh btw:In addition to "stuck up" humor I also ment very D R Y humor at
that. You people and your humor accross the pond is very bland
and...well it's somewhat boing and stupid. When I watch a "British"
show I thank God I'm an American. God Bless our humor, country, and
our "telly" =)

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