The British Office

Last night we rented and watched some of the DVD of the original BBC show, The Office (second season), as I mentioned wanting to do in a recent post about how good the new American show of the same name is.

The British version is funny, though not, I'm almost happy to report, funnier than our version. It would step on my buzz every week to know I was watching a pale imitation. When the American show was originally announced, I'd wondered, why not just show the BBC version here? Why bother copying it, if it's the same show? And it is indeed the same show; NBC's is very faithful to the setting, style and characters from the original.

But now I know why they had to remake it. For one thing, it's chock full of British pop-culture references and slang that would go over the head of most Americans. In fact, the DVD has three pages of British-to-American translation of names and phrases to help out American audiences. Besides, it's way racier than anything allowed on U.S. TV. "Sloppy seconds," "twat," "shit," and "a black man's cock" were all featured in the dialogue of the episodes we watched.

So, bottom line: the BBC's "The Office" is good, and funny, especially if you're a fan of British humor. However, it's not so good that we'll run out and rent them all, or that it ruins the excellent new show you should be watching every Tuesday.

Lastly, a related coincidence: while reading another positive review of the Hitchhiker's movie (via Slashdot), I saw that Martin Freeman, who stars as Tim in the BBC's "The Office," plays Arthur Dent!

UPDATE
We finished watching all six episodes of series two, and I need to revise my review a bit. First of all, the adult content just kept on coming (so to speak). A big pink vibrating dildo, a well-timed "fuck off" and a brief but unmistakable glimpse of doggy-style sex in the parking lot were all to be found in those episodes. Also, I was impressed by the direction - timing is everything in comedy, and the way they cut the scenes was truly expert.

But neither of those aspects would be enough to make me update this post. The real kicker was the drama, especially at the end. Both the British and American versions work the tension between the one office guy (Tim/Jim) and the receptionist (Dawn/Pam) who is already engaged to someone else. It always seemed just a little odd, that dramatic aspect, in the midst of the hilarious antics of the boss and Gareth/Dwight. But in the season conclusion (which I didn't realize until after was actually the series conclusion), it's all made worthwhile in a very touching scene that's more memorable than most big-budget Hollywood romances. It's just about worth watching the episodes for, by itself.