One Show I Can't Miss

To get it out of the way early, yes this show is a remake of the British version and it's a very good version. Pardon me for saying so and I'll probably incur the wrath of many, but I consider it even better than the original. But that's also perhaps because I saw this before the BBC version and my opinion is formulated around the U.S. version. But that's not to say I didn't enjoy the Ricky Gervais version, which I can assure you I most certainly did. But if pressed with a choice, I would go with the Steve Carell version in a heartbeat.

Taking the same cue as it's U.K. counterpart, this Office focuses on the employees of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. What could seem like a relatively boring and uninteresting paper company is easily brought to life by the lives of it's staffers: egocentric middle manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), mildly deranged number two Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), obviously bored Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), obviously unhappy Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer) and just-waiting-to-get-out temp Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak). Aside from these main characters, are the lives of the rest of it's staff, made up of interesting people with their own little quirks. Now as the season has progressed, we get a little more insight into who these people are. But to let you know now if you start watching the Office, it's not that you necessarily have to watch them in order to know what's going on, say like Lost which requires your full attention from the start. I would recommend watching this Office from the Pilot right to it's current run. Not for the non-linear stories which are different each time, but for the progression of it's characters.

What's different about this show from a lot of other past and present shows is there is no laugh track, there's no witty one liner waiting in the wings and there's no situation that will teach it's characters a valuable life lesson. This Office is full of awkward moments, quirky personalities and boring situations made interesting. That of course is helped out by it's cast, headed by a magnificent Carell. For all his griping and immaturity, Carell is perfectly cast in the role as a man far too juvenile than the people he oversees. To really describe Michael in a nutshell is a man who considers himself a friend of everyone in the office, despite the fact that he's almost 100% idiot. Particular examples include how he lost his college savings in a pyramid scheme right to how his philosophy to avoid people the possibility of being laid off, by comparing it to a metaphor where you'd never tell a patient they have cancer if you were a doctor. Michael is immature in practically every capacity and Carell imbibes that with the sympathy of a naive child. Among some great moments include an attempted prank on his receptionist that goes cruelly wrong in the pilot episode to lifting the company prize to serve his own personal attempts to pick up a woman.

But that's not to say it's just Carell that's good, great because of the cast. Krasinski, Novak and Fischer are all good in their roles with Krasinski and Fischer particularly in the straight roles. There's an obvious, unspoken attraction between Jim and Pam that gets explored farther. But this is a good start as we see their lives unfold. But that's not to say their characters are completely straight, since some of the comedy is derived from their interactions with the staff. But best of all is Jim's ongoing feud with deskmate Dwight, which I feel is the best part of the show. Rainn Wilson is absolutely priceless in the part, making Dwight a nerdy master of all who basically believes in superpowers, he could actually have one. This doesn't actually happen in the show, but once you watch Dwight in action, it's not far off.

What's particularly great about The Office is how deadpan funny it is. There are so many awkward moments that make you laugh and cringe at the same time. One guy said to me in mid-conversation "How many awkward moments can you put in one show?" That would accurately describe The Office, and thanks to it's writers (Novak and co-stars Mindy Kaling and Paul Lieberstein amongst them), they do this with terrific subtlety. It also helps that the show's executive producer is Greg Daniels, whose previous credits include King of the Hill, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live. Daniels' work is evident here as a master of the offbeat comedy and this show's an ideal fit. The writers manage to make what a boring suburban company could be, into an interesting one full of possibilities. How Michael drags Ryan the put upon temp into cleaning his car with him, to Jim torturing Dwight by locking him in the conference room.

There are so many more things I want to mention but they're too good to spoil. This is a seriously great show that's not worth missing at all. The humor is very much unlike a standard sitcom so don't expect it to be like Friends or whatever else is out there. It's a different format that works to this show's advantage. The ironic thing is this show ended up prematurely dead when NBC cancelled it, since it wasn't a big ratings grabber. But wisely they renewed it for a growing fanbase, which you'll have to see for yourself. As for the barebones DVD which features a lot of standard things like deleted scenes (which are a must to watch) and commentaries with cast and crew, which are actually boring (as they primarily are). But the show is a must to watch, if you want to laugh at something you want to watch a little differently. This show may not seem like much at first, but it begins to grow on you, and that's the charm of it.