The Office
Recently, through the magic of bittorrent, I got my e-hands on The Office, but the original British series, and the newer, resulting American series. They are both just really excellent shows, and while the British series came first, and was created and written by the same people(Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) as the American "cover," I still just can't enjoy it as much as the American one. I watched the British series, from beginning to end, over a period of about two weeks, and was simply amazed at its quality. But I still had one complaint.

There were times when I just had no idea what the hell they were saying, especially the main character, David Brent(played by Gervais). I found myself having to play certain segments of dialogue over and over again, just to catch the words they were saying. I suppose this is what initially drew me to the American version, but what kept me watching was the painful crush between the characters, Jim and Pam. Their British equivalents were Tim and Dawn, whose never-more-than-a-crush relationship was played out beautifully and tragically in the earlier series.

Jim and Pam obviously have crushes on each other, but are unable to fully say it, partly because Pam is three years into an indefinite engagement with her fiance, Roy(British equivalent: Lee), but mostly because to clear the ambiguity would be to ruin the entire situation, and their strong friendship. It's a friendship in which there is a definite, sometimes intense emotional attraction from both parties, that neither can ever mention, and it tortures them both.

The British series didn't get this across as well, to me. Maybe it's because I just naturally can't feel very much akin to the people on the British series, but the American one has character traits that come across for me.

Vince commented:
John, Have you watched the British comedy "Coupling"? Hilarious!

4:59 PM, Jan 23, 2006

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