I take part in an online research panel from time to time for NBC/Universal. They just sent me an email with a link to what they call “a special preview of a new NBC comedy The Office”. The show’s gotten good early buzz from hard-hitting journalist Kristin at E! and Steve Carrell is usually great. Follow the link:
Well, my worst fears have been validated. This is like a SNL sketch of what an American version of the Office would look like.
Awful. I mean, where do you start pointing out where it goes horribly awry? The money spent on this show could have been put to better use for earlier cancer treatments for Orbach.
God this is going to ssssssssuuck. Steve Carell is such a ham and for that reason is COMPLETELY WRONG for the part. Ricky Gervais’s acting was nothing short of brilliant, and without the absolute truth of his performance the show would have failed.
I chuckled twice, but the main issue lies in the fact that while Steve Carrell is funny, he does not make you UNCOMFORTABLE. Some of the best parts in The (real) Office are the awkward, interminable pauses. That’s why it works, because life is uncomfortable, and the show replicated it. It’s not that Brent was so much an idiot, as he was a oblivious tool.
LATER
The whole thing just seems like a waste of time. I think if I’d never seen The Office it’d be great, but there’s more originality to be found in the Burger Kind commercials.
Yeah, not impressed. It depresses me that now I will have to listen to people come up and say “Hey, have you seen The Office yet? It’s funny. Kind of like those Burger King commercials. You should watch it.”
This series might work for those oblivious to the awe-inspiring UK original. But thejumbo’s remarks are one… Carrell is funny, but not the right kind of funny. And this will suck.
I’ve become a huge fan of the British Office show, and this just looks like a tragic ripoff. I would have much rather seen a show based around the characters from the Burger King office commercials. They were funny and obviously inspired by the BBC show without being unfunny Earth-2 counterparts.
Sorry, Nerd alert!
I love the BBC Office. This is both a shameless, souless replication but it looks to be unfunny to boot! And I generally like American remakes of foreign hits. (Except “Point of No Return”. Man did that stink!) The sad thing is that this will probably be a huge hit and we’ll have to endure it for years.
Yay! It’s like the British show except so much LOUDER! And dig the “wacky” music! And look how everyone is acting like they’re not trying to act which makes them look all the more like they’re acting!
It’s almost exactly as brilliant as the original except for the brilliance part. Or the orginal, come to think of it.
I love Steve Carell, but I hope this dies an anonymous death in a ditch.
This looks like the best show since John Larroquette’s Fawlty Towers.
Here was my feedback to NBC:
"I am a huge fan of the BBC Series (own the boxset) and this is weak in comparison. It seems forced, staged and over the top. The beauty of the original series was the fact that it felt improvised, real, and allowed the viewer to feel as if they were watching a real office setting.
This just seems like an over-the-top, glammed up, slapstick waste of time. The original creators tried their best to stay away from proper “jokes” that had a sitcom-like feel . . . you don’t.
I hope this goes the way of “Coupling” in short fashion. Sorry, I wanted to like it."
Carell is way funnier than Gervais, problem is this role wasn’t tailor made for him like it was for Gervais. actually Gervais has no range, you see him in anthing else (like his appearances on the 11 O’Clock show… think The Daily Show except not funny) pretty soon you realize he has exactly one act, and it’s always on. you might not even call it an act.
Carell deserves better. he reminds me very much of Steve Coogan, he just needs to find his Alan Partridge.
So what becomes of you my love
When they have finally stripped you of
The writing and the acting and the talent
That the original had for you to rip off
I only chuckled at the diversity training part because I just went through one of those a few weeks ago. I got to be from Africa. And the guy who was leading the training acted just like Steve. Otherwise I found the rest mildly entertaining, but then again I have never seen the original series.
Pardon me, elBraminano, for copping your vibe, but. . .
The network came down to screw up some things
The suits gathered round with shiny gold rings
“This BBC sitcom seems really fresh
Let’s bring it over here and beat it to death
Make it loud and make it flat
Pump up the dumb and take out the laughs.”
The network it giggled, “The people are saps.
They’re afraid of accents, they eat up this crap.”
. . .Racial. . .
No no no. F*ck you where you breathe, NBC. This crap just makes me mad.
God its like a star wars movie just came out with all this fan boy bitching. look i love the original series too. they kill me and are totally rewatchable. Gervais is amazing in it. but its steve carrell and i like him. plus this is just a trailer. it shows off just a tiny bit about the show and itwas decent so far. i am sick of hearing final judgements based on the merits of a trailer. just give it a chance and if u dont like it then complain and bitch all you want. thats the way i go about it
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Calitheus … and itwas decent so far. |
FALSE!
Even in those small clips you can see the “joke” being set up and manipulated. The co-workers are wacky parodies akin to the ones in Office Space and the BK commercials. In the original series they were real fucking people. That’s where the charm, humor, and tragedy was found. I dread seeing how contrived and forced they make the romantic subplot.
Note- I love Office Space and the BK commercials. But they’ve been done now. No need for an entire series of that stuff.
Well then you know exactly how everything in the show is gonna go so dont watch it. that solves that. you know every character and every subplot and every joke thats gonna happen. its impressive i will give u that. look i am not trying to say this is the fuckin savior of TV coming on but i am willing to give it a chance. i will make my judgement based on the final product. no one has to watch what they dont want to watch. but i do love to see people backtrack when they bash something based on about 2 min of material then find out the final product is actually pretty good. i have learned to stay neutral on things till i can judge for myself, but everyone just wants to be the first to say something is shit that no one cares about that anymore