The Office - The Complete First And Second Series (2003)

It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks, and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable. Set in the offices of a fictional British paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television show. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful, and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth (Mackenzie Crook); the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson); and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim (Martin Freeman), whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of the life he dreams uselessly of escaping. The show is stolen, as it was intended to be, by insufferable office manager David Brent, played by codirector-cowriter Ricky Gervais. Brent will become a name as emblematic for a particular kind of British grotesque as Basil Fawlty, but he is a deeper character. Fawlty is an exaggeration of reality, and therefore a safely comic figure. Brent is as appalling as only reality can be. --Andrew Mueller

The second series exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first. Indeed, it ventured beyond caricature and satire, touching on the very edge of darkness. Ricky Gervais is once again excruciatingly superb as David Brent, but in this series, Brent's to-the-camera assertions concerning his management qualities and executive capabilities are seriously challenged when the Slough and Swindon branches are merged and his former Swindon equivalent Neil (Patrick Baladi) takes over as area manager. To compensate, Brent cultivates his pathologically mistaken image of himself as an entertainer-motivator-comedian whose stage happens to be the workplace. Meanwhile, Tim, who can only maintain his sanity by teasing the priggish Gareth, continues to wrestle with his yearning for receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), a sympathetic character persisting in a relationship with a man about whom she still maintains unspoken reservations. As ever, it's the awkward, reality TV-style pauses and silences, the furtive, meaningful and unmet glances across the emotional gulf of the open-plan office, that say it all here. As for Brent, his own breakdown is prefaced by a moment of hideous hilarity--an impromptu office dance, a mixture of "Flashdance and MC Hammer" as Brent describes it, but in reality bad beyond description. Then, when his fate is sealed, he at last reveals himself in a memorable finale to perhaps the greatest British sitcom, besides Fawlty Towers, ever made. All this and Keith too. --David Stubbs Amazon.com

Great!

This series is hilarious. Takes a few minutes to warm up to, but once you get in the groove of the straight humor it absolutely kills. I've not seen any of the US versiona nd I love Steve Carell, but I can't imagine it being as good as this BBC version. Worth owning. September 25, 2006

Buy the newer 3 part set and Save Money

If you are undecided about whether to start with a single disc of this great show or go for a multi-disc set, my advice is to go for the set that includes season 1, 2 and the special. (Identified as "The Office - The Complete Collection (First And Second Series Plus Special)"). Once you start, you will end up buying all three anyway, so you might as well save money by buying this set, which in sum costs less than buying individually. The series, the plot, the characters, especially Ricky Gervais, work their way into you consciousness, and you won't let go until you see the full way it plays out, so comic, yet so real and riveting. This is more than just a comedy, it's a world that is created and inhabited by the characters AND by you, the viewer -- they way they draw you in with soliloquies to the camera, and reveal little pieces of themselves. Comic yes, but also drama and character You will be very happy with this purchase. January 29, 2006

Priceless Humour

I love this series. I really love this series. I highly recomend it to any one who is a fan of the Black Adder or Are you Being Served. May 11, 2005

The Best Sit-com Ever...

Simply put, "The Office" contains some of the wittiest, strangest, most real and downright best comedic performances I have ever witnessed. You cannot compare this to a "Friends" or "Will & Grace" because it simply transcends their contrived plot lines, ridiculous situations, and horrendous acting. David Brent is funny, odd, crazy, and real, which makes this all the more effective in getting you to play along with his team's insane shenanigans. He had me hooked when in the opening scene of episode one, he calls himself the "Brentmaster General". If only American TV could produce more of this kind of fare... March 21, 2005

Skip this Edition for the One Including Specials (Plus Eggs)

[No spoilers; Egg info below]

If you're considering purchasing The Office on DVD, this is not the edition to buy. There is a better and more satisfying set available for purchase.

The writers of this award winning mockumentary decided not to tie everything up neatly but preferred to leave most of the issues created over the span of the show's two seasons mostly unresolved. In this way the show is more like life and its imperfect messiness than the typical sitcom which wraps up neatly at the end of each half hour. Although the final episode of the final season is considered one of the funniest, it can also be one if the most painful because of the emotional investment a viewer has given to the characters over the course of two years. Situations certainly come to a head in the final episodes and to avoid any spoilers, I'll just say most of the action comes to an inevitable point. As it would be impossible for even a casual viewer to suspend their disbelief long enough to believe the action in the office could possibly continue on it's present course, the series, after two years, more than 24 international awards including two Golden Globes, and two painfully funny situation filled seasons, ends its two season run in an inevitable crash and burn.

The 'balm of Giliad' for the emotional wounds inflicted upon the viewer from said crash and burn comes in the form of 'The Specials.' The mockumentarians revisit the objects of their office documentary three years after we last left their lives. Most of the questions left in the mind of the viewer are answered or at least visited and closure is available for all. The two-part Special series gives hope that well . . . there's hope. When the season ending makes you want to slit your wrists in despair, the Specials will make you reconsider. In fact, without spoiling anything, some parts will make you cheer.

Basically what you want to buy is "The Office The Complete Series and Specials." It will arrive in a black package rather than the white package found here. If you've already purchased this set, sans Specials, have no fear; The Specials are also available for separate purchase. I linked both "The Office Special" in addition to "The Office - The Complete Collection (First And Second Series Plus Special)" sets above in the "Our Customers' Advice" section for your convenience.

DVD Hidden Features AKA Easter Eggs
Many DVDs these days have hidden extra features to fox and frustrate you for days on end as you try to work out how to activate them. The Office DVDs are no exception. Below you will find out how to access the extras on the series one and series two discs.

Disc 1: Freelove Freeway -- Go to the main menu and when the phone rings amidst the background office noise, hit enter on your remote. Voila! You should be greeted with talented songsmith David Brent performing Freelove Freeway.

Disc 2: Who Cares Wins -- Go to the Slough by John Betjemen scene. Wait for the room to go dark and then hit enter on your remote. You will be rewarded with the full length Peter Purves training video featured in Episode Four

One note -- there are rumors that an American version of The Office is in the works and . . . they are absolutely true! Let's hope they don't muck up the American version as much as Rickey Gervais mucked up his job at the paper company. December 12, 2004

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