Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

[Merged] The Office (USA Version)...Official Thread!

edesignuk

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
ModNote: After the most recent one popped up, I merged the first few threads on The Office (USA) into one thread. Please use this one rather than creating new ones. And actually, I can't seem to find an Office (UK) thread -- if anyone knows of one, please PM me or report this post with the link and I will edit it in. Thanks! --mkrishnan

OMFG! :eek: I don't know what to say, I feel ill, this is awful.

Download (38MB - WMV)

I have no idea when this aired, if it ever did in the US, so some may have seen it, but i'm fairly sure none of the brits here will have seen this...and they must!
 
It was always going to be awful. There was just no way the concept was going to work across the pond, sad thing is Ricky Gervais was actually the executive producer.
 
No. No, no, no, NO!

:eek:

Surely not.

No.


No, no, no.


Oh, so wrong.


So so so wrong.

(Pam was cute though) :D


<sighs. wanders off shaking head, praying that Ricky Gervais can 1. Sleep at night and 2. Was paid enough so that he can now retire somewhere that noone knows him>
 
You can add Men Behaving badly to that list!

Can't say I've ever seen a Brit comedy of any sort translate across the pond...
 
Um, errr, doublepost, nuts....

Ah, well whilst I'm here.... how come we can take American ideas and make them work - albeit in a completely different way. I remember when Coupling first came on it was supposed to be our version of friends, but it was really completely different - yes there were six main characters of equal gender mix, but thats pretty much were it stopped, and it was an fantastic series IMO...
 
It just doesn't work. Can you imagine if we tried to pull off Friends (I suppose Coupling could be vaguely compared, and that was good, but anyway...) or Cheers? Don't think so, wouldn't work either.
 
Piarco75 said:
I remember when Coupling first came on it was supposed to be our version of friends, but it was really completely different - yes there were six main characters of equal gender mix, but thats pretty much were it stopped, and it was an fantastic series IMO...
Click to expand...

Clearly you haven't seen the 4th season.

I don't understand the point of this US version of the office. It's the same damn show, shot for shot, line for line, expression for expression. The only thing they've changed are the place names and some political references.

Wait. Something slightly different...
 
10 seconds into it and I had to stop it for my health. That was just so not right on many levels.

Why can't our TV big shots, producers, writers not rewrite a show just so they could air it on primtime? Lesson #1: Don’t rewrite a show that was a success in the past. A rewritten show almost never succeeds and fails miserably.

There was a Faulty Towers remake in the USA? I did not know that. Thank god :D

We can't even make any really decent and enjoyable car commercials so how could they even begin to think that this was even worth the trouble to air.

I have never seen it until now. I don’t even know if it was aired and if it was I feel sorry for those poor suckers who saw it.
 
miloblithe said:
Clearly you haven't seen the 4th season.

I don't understand the point of this US version of the office. It's the same damn show, shot for shot, line for line, expression for expression. The only thing they've changed are the place names and some political references.

Wait. Something slightly different...
Click to expand...


Because essentially The Office was a very British thing. It has very British characters, and the scenario is very British. The types you find in the equivalent american workplace are different, and so is the setting.
For Americans to relate they must have a scenario which is like the average American office. Otherwise they just wont quite get it.

There are differences between uk workplacea and ones in the US. Everything from mannerisms to job titles to workspaces to names of jelly based foods used for setting Gareths "company property" in.

It think they attempted to make it different.
So i agree with you, it was a pointless remake.


But dont think Gervais even cares it was a flop. Hes raking it in. He clearly doesnt give a ****, why would he? hes rich now and hes doing other stuff. Ive just seen his 'animals' stand-up on channel 4. Its actually very good.
 
there was a US remake of Red Dwarf too, just to bring tears to everyone's eyes. It lasted only a few episodes...

and, the office/gervais contract with the beeb was pretty crap towards everyone outside of said broadcasting corporation. gervais didnt have any choice.

it was a little like the situation with edward norton and that GOD DAMN AWFUL remake of The Italian Job. he was contracted by the studio to do six pictures, i think, with them. the last one was held off for a few years and then finally used this to try help pull the punters in, cause the actual movie was prob awful (never seen it, never will!)

i remember seeing him on an interview saying "i deliberately acted badly because of the film being mediocre". hahaha.
 
The ORIGINAL "The Office" has got to be one of the best, funniest tv shows I have ever seen. I am quite afraid to watch this one. Stupid Americans. We always ruin tv.
 
OK so the file jst downloaded and I'm half way through. I feel dirty and want to take a shower. It's a real shame 'cause I really liked my iMac but now I not sure it'll feel the same again. Maybe I'll just burn it and get a new one without that file on it.

OK Iraq I can understand but this, do Americans have NO shame?
 
I just think it's sad that Americans can't be counted on to be able to comprehend/be interested in British culture enough to get the slight (and in the grand scheme of things they are slight) difference between our languages and cultures. Brits watch a ton of US programming (along with almost everyone else) and can be counted on to understand American humor/life. Are Americans that dumb?

Wait. Wait. Don't answer.
 
Why did I start shaking and having cold sweats whilst watching that? Desecration. Couldn't they have left it alone?
 
mpw said:
They'd have to be really good friends!
Click to expand...
That reminds me of a story I heard about an england player(could've been Rodney Marsh) the manager said to him"if you don't do as I say I'm going to pull you off at half time"he replied"jeez boss at QPR we only get half a orange and a cup of tea" whoever it was never played for England again. :)
 
For what it's worth, I don't think Americans (or at least some Americans), are completely incapable of "getting" British humor. I mean, heck, you will find any number of fans here of Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Are You Being Served?, Red Dwarf, etc. etc. etc. Heck, I think the Office DVD's released by BBC America have sold quite well here too.

The real question as I see it is why do they feel like they couldn't just take a British show and air it as is, without doing a remake? The British certainly seem to be able to handle various US shows in their original forms. And there's clearly at least some sort of American audience that is able to appreciate and get the original versions of British shows.

I guess the difference is the more mass audience that you are trying to reach on network TV during prime-time, but even so.......

-Zadillo
 
Oh my god! This is hilarious! In an awful kind of way!

Why do they do this? What's also funny, is that it's almost word-for-word the same script as the original (apart from substituting certain British words/references to American equivalents) - except that all the subtlety has been taken out. So rather than being given the opportunity to work it out themselves, the audience is treated as being very dim, with everything being explained to those who are watching.

It has always been said that the Americans don't understand irony. And this remake treats that as gospel, explaining every subtlety along the way. Complete rubbish! What capped it off for me, was the replacement of "didn't work out in the end... he was rubbish" with "he sucked." :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back