(no subject)

[stonebender]

Has anybody seen and liked the British comedy The Office? I rented it from Netflix because I heard casual friends ooing and ahhing. I have watched the first two episodes and part of the third and I really don't get it. The type of humor being used makes me feel very squirmy.

I really love Six Feet Under, but I always tell friends who are going to see it that they need to wait for the third episode. (I think that's the one. The episode with the street gang member's funeral). Because the first few aren't particularly spectacular, but after the gang member episode, the show really takes off. Is that the case with The Office? Is there an episode I haven't seen that really clicked with folk?

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen The Office, but I know there are some sorts of British humor I LOVE, and some I can't stand. I can't deal with the "embarrassment factor" present in Fawlty Towers, for instance. So maybe that's the sort of thing at work here, too.

Speaking of British humor, you HAVE seen Coupling, haven't you?

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

Speaking of British humor, you HAVE seen Coupling, haven't you?

I've seen the first season. Very funny stuff. I really should check out the next one.

[the-maenad.livejournal.com]

I'm British and I've never rated it either. But I, of course, am a humourless feminist.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

:-)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

It's a very particular kind of British humor, and I'm actually surprised it became as popular here as it did. I get it, but it didn't particularly grab me. I watched a few episodes when it ran on BBC America and sort of went, "Eh", and never watched it again.

[ailbhe]

I too don't find it or Fawlty Towers very funny.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

Its interesting. I can see how people lump The Office and Fawlty Towers into the same pile. Some how I loved Fawlty Towers but disliked The Office. I'm not sure what's different. Perhaps Basel Fawlty was such a pompous, racist, snob that his embarrassment felt deserving. Plus the Fawlty Towers situations were so unlikely or absurd.

In The Office the boss knows how to "say the right things" but doesn't seem inclined to do the right thing. Plus, it feels like the staff pay for the bosses behavior. In Fawlty's case, he always paid for his mistakes. I'm just supposing here.

[minimo.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, that is the humor of it. Don't know if you have ever worked in an office with mind-numbing policies, but that experience does help to relate to the humor.
I've just seen a few, thought it was pretty funny, Thought Fawlty was hilarious.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, that is the humor of it. Don't know if you have ever worked in an office with mind-numbing policies, but that experience does help to relate to the humor.

Only worked in a small architectural firm for a short time. That may be what I'm missing.

I've just seen a few, thought it was pretty funny, Thought Fawlty was hilarious.

Yep, loved Fawlty Towers too!