The Office - Season One

Season One of The Office got off to a bit of a slow start. Some of the episodes I sort of cringed my way through at the humor. Maybe it was me, and the comic sense of this show takes a while to get used to. Either way, The Office has become one of my favorite TV shows, it has me rolling over laughing each week! And yes, I still cringe at Michael Scott at times, but I've come to appreciate his ridiculousness.

Season One had only 6 episodes I believe. Personally, I own all the seasons but this one, only because it is so small and it didn't have any stand-out episodes for me. But, it is priced accordingly at often, esp. during the holidays you can find it for very cheap. Normally for $10-$15...I see right now Amazon has it quite high for $22, I'd shop around for a much better rate. This season is a great intro to the show and characters though so I do recommend watching it, even if you rent it.

If you haven't watched The Office, I highly recommend it if you like a bit of silly humor at the end of a long stressful day. Sometimes you've just got to laugh at the craziness that happens in "the office". If you're a bit skeptical, you may want to start with Season 2 where the show definitely picks up steam and it may catch your fancy a bit more.

I started off as a huge fan of the British series...Ricky Gervais and friends created this entire new way of filming and television show that you have to give him an enormous amount of credit. I was slightly hesitant to watch the American Office based on principle. How could you improve upon Gervais' perfect formula, and why would I want to "start over" with the love story of Tim and Dawn? These speculations stemmed from ignorance. I just simply did not give it a shot for a while.

I went on a week-long Office spree, cramming three seasons on DVD and NBC's website broadcasts of the fourth season. The show is fantastic simply for the fact that it stands alone in its own unique way from the UK version. It pays homage to its predecessor but does not rely on the formula as a crutch. Each episode, filmed from Ex-Survivor cameramen captures the awkward office tensions of Jim and receptionist Pam, hilarious pranks on Dwight, and the absurd boss that is Michael Scott. Steve Carell's Scott is NOT just another representation of Gervais' David Brent. None of the characters are carbon copies of their British counterparts.

What the show accomplishes most is expanding upon all the characters. Though not as apparent in the first season, the next few seasons develop everyone much better. Season One on DVD has plenty of extras, but you will definitely feel like you need to see more episodes. So buy the other seasons on DVD as well!

I really liked the office when I bought this season. It was very funny, and I enjoyed it very much. The only problem that I had was that it only had a few episodes, actually less than I had expected. It's still great if you like the office.

I got hooked into this series after my wife and daughter were reduced to hysterics on a plane flight while watching one episode. I had seen the Brit version, but never quite got into it, I found the couple of times I watched Ricky Gervias' version that it was a little too caustic with an almost grating edge. The US version seems just a little softer.

The writing is really very clever, and interestingly, many of the cast: BJ Novak (Ryan the temp), Mindy Kaling (Kelly the ditz) and Paul Lieberstein (Toby, the hang-dog HR guy) are writers and occasional producers of the show. Clearly a very talented cast.
The first series takes a little while to get the characters in place, though it is well worth buying, even though the later series are better.

The aspect I most like is the rounding out that the writers do of the characters, particularly in the later series. Even Dwight gets an occasional win and occasionally gets to act like a human being. This softening of the characters makes them less one-dimensional and the pathos makes the humor even more humorous when it happens. There are even occasions where they stand up for each other, where Jim says to Michael, like he really means it, "You're a good boss,... a very good boss..." Well, he's not, but what Jim means is something like "...you're a terrible boss,... but you're *my* terrible boss...".

This is sometimes like your family, eh? They may be a weird and perhaps obnoxious set of relatives, but they're YOUR weird and obnoxious set of relatives. This humanizing of the characters lends the sometimes abrasive humor just the right amount of lighter touch that saves it from being acidic.

Perhaps the US version is a little less edgy than the UK version, but me, I like that. Anyway, you don't have to have one flavor, you can get both. They are both good and they don't need to be compared to give really good value.

Though there have been much better seasons since this one, you have to start somewhere. Easily the best show on television and worth your $19.99. :-)