Fucking awesome.

Ryan!

K, done with the awesome.

Y Tu Mama Tambien, which means... Throw Your Mama from the Tambien.

Aw, how 'bout Toby.

I can't waaaaaaait. This'll be the first time I actually watch The Office on air. heh.

What was with the scruff?

And I guess they're keeping Karen around to amp up the drama.

Excuse me? Are you questioning the scruff? The scruff is pure brilliance. I think they should make a whole other character just out of the scruff. Or a whole series!

It just looked like a weak attempt to make Ryan look older than a 15-year-old boy.

I'm not getting it myself but figured someone here might want to know that the dvd special gift set at best buy (with bobblehead and dundie) is on sale at bestbuy.com right now for a day or so. If anyone gets that, post about it. I want to know what it says on the dundie.

As to Ryan's scruffy whiskers, I took it as his weak attempt at looking sophisticated. Trying to do everything he can to distance himself from his past in Scranton.

I just re-watched the pilot last night for the first time since it aired. It held up a lot better than I thought it would.

Yeah, I remember people being pretty hard on it at first. Was probably because BBC comparisons were inevitable.

But yeah, I don't think the pilot's bad at all. Certainly not great, but still pretty good.

Well, it seems obvious that the writers were pushing it in the BBC series' direction. I'm glad the show eventually got off onto its own track, and still ended up being one of the funniest shows in a long, long time.

It makes me wonder if the US Coupling had been given a chance if it would have actually been any good.

I was just thinking about that show. I never watched it, but I think they did the same thing as the US Office: they re-wrote the BBC Coupling pilot as the US Coupling pilot, with a few adjustments (I think). Funny how completely different the shows ended up being, despite both starting off with harsh criticism and comparisons to the originals.

I rented season 1 dvd recently and rewatched all those for the first time since they aired and they held up great. There's also some great commentaries on that early dvd set.

I think what it is, for me personally at least, is that the show has become more stylized, pretty and full of wacky supporting characters and I now appreciate more the early episodes that were more realistic, had less makeup, and all that stuff. I still like the show but I kind of miss the more naturalistic feel of season 1 and 2.

A little interesting trivia: the first 6 episodes were shot inside a real office that they rented. They didn't move to a Hollywood set till season 2, which they made as identical as they could to the real place they'd originally filmed at.

I think the first few episodes of the US Coupling may have been almost exactly the same as the BBC Coupling, with the exception of a word or two. I know the pilot definitely was, but that's as far as I watched. I doubt it would've worked because I loved the BBC Coupling and found it hilarious from the pilot but the US one just wasn't for some reason. Probably due to bad casting or something.

I figured the US version of Coupling wouldn't work because the UK Coupling isn't really that great, it's the cast that sells it. With other actors the UK version would have sucked. And then to compound it the US version hired a bunch of ex-model types who all looked good but had no history of being good actors or being funny.

With Greg Daniels, he chose people for The Office that had comedy backgrounds. Almost all the major players other than Krasinski have improv experience, sometimes with each other. Angela and the woman who plays Meredith for example used to work together as part of an improv group called Bitch Planet.

Speaking of Coupling... I've been watching it on BBC America, it's actually pretty funny, I really like it.

So... I suppose the UK version of the Office is defiantly worth a look, correct?
I'll probably end up renting it.

Some people will tell you this is heresy, but I'm not a big fan. It was funny and such, but the characters are all just assholes. Not at all likable. And in the UK version, the Michael character is really the main character. I think it's debatable in the US version. Plus, the side characters are often what makes an episode in the US version, but there are no side characters that have any real part in the UK version, so it feels like it's missing something.

I was just about to make a season 4 office thread but then I thought, do we really need one?

What do you guys want? Keep it here and retitle this to just a general thread name or make a new one?

Meh, whatev. Just make a new one, I say.

So...I just finished season 3. Awesome. I think season 2 might have been slightly better, but with episodes like "Gay Witch Hunt," "Grief Counseling," "A Benihana Christmas," "The Return," and "The Job," you can't diss season 3 at all.

Bring on season 4. It'll be the first time I watch the show from premiere to finale.

Ok, so I just got up to Benihana Christmas.

I'm speechless. That was like the funniest hour of television I've seen this year.

TO ALL OFFICE FANS: if you haven't watched the dvds you are seriously missing half the comedy and genius of this show. Every episodes bleeds deleted scenes. And they are ALL so GOOD!!! I really think The Office can stand on an hour platform and maybe should. It allows for so much more development which allows more humor. Plus, with such a great big cast, everyone can get something in.

The deleted scenes alone account for almost 10 minutes sometimes. Usually around 5+ though.

By far the funniest line in the Benihana Christmas was in the deleted scenes when Kelly tells Ryan "You can't dump me when I'm in the dumpster." I was watching this episode in the school library and I was so embarrassed that I couldn't keep from chuckling and I laughed all the way out of the lab.

I really wonder where the storylines are going. I have a question though. Apparently I missed like the most important episode (Branch Closing) but I read through the summary. But the 2 episodes after I didn't see Oscar and he made like a 5 second cameo in the Christmas episode. Is he still on?

Oscar appears more as the season goes on. I think the reason why Oscar aka Oscar Nunez, didn't appear much in the first half of the season is because he was working on another show for Comedy Central called Halfway Home. I think once that show wrapped, his character started to reappear once again.

They sent his character on vacation after Michael outed him and then embarrassed him in the first episode. Sooooo.......

Which would give Nunez the opportunity to work on his other show while explaining what happened to his character.