Jules and I watched the original British version of the office when it was on BBC America, and although it was funny at first, it’s a good thing that it only ran for two six episode seasons. By the second episode I was finding it painful to watch. The majority of the characters, particularly Gervais’ David Brent were fairly one dimensional and didn’t seem to grow, and you can only take so much of the situations he got himself into.
After The Office ended he went on to do his podcast. The first couple of episodes were funny, but the next ten were almost identical. Again, by the end, I’d had enough and when he decided to charge for the second and third seasons, I had no problem at all unsubscribing. Apparently enough other people felt the same way that almost no one else has tried to charge for a podcast since.
Now he has a show called Extras on HBO that is in its second season. The first season was pretty funny, but midway through it was becoming clear that there was no second joke. Now midway through the second season Jules and I have both called enough. The last two episodes were totally unfunny, and without even a single character to like, we’re done. I doubt we will bother with any of his future projects either.
Do you find the saem to be true of the US version of The Office? I’m just curious…
I don’t really watch the US version of the Office, but from the bits I have seen, it is much the same kind of jokes as the original. I personally can only take so much of the same shtick, over and over again, especially when it’s this kind of stuff. I’m not really into watching other people’s miserable lives to make me feel better about myself.
I can’t speak about the British original, as I’ve only seen the first episode or two, but I like the American version. It’s one of the few things on TV that I find consistently interesting. I’ll have to give it some more thought, but I don’t think that I like it because watching miserable people makes me feel batter about my lot in life. I think I like it because it’s well written and well acted. Sometimes it veers a bit too far off into the absolutely unbelievable, but I can forgive that. I’ll admit that it’s escapist fluff, but sometimes I need that.