I played the first half of that "The Office" video over at myspace.com, which totally wasn't worth my time. I thought that I might like it from the buzz I've heard, but I'm definitely taking that out of my PVR timer.
More importantly, ever since I played the video my software firewall (inside the NAT-enabled Cisco router, mind you) has been throwing up alarms. Myspace has been portscanning me!
I thought that maybe it was just a remnant of the video playback. A kind of "are you still watching?" sort of thing. But the alarm has popped up twice now (each alarm is triggered by multiple port connections in sequence) with quite a gap between. I would think that they would have realized that I think their show sucks by now and would stop bothering me since I was unconnectable the first time.
Of more worry to me is why the router hasn't dropped the open port yet. It's been a while. Maybe the service provider is mucking with the settings again. I hate days like that - it's like a sign that I shouldn't even try to do work.
Drat! While I was editing this I was portscanned a third time. Something about myspace.com is seriously not kosher.
I can't speak for the portscan's, but I really can't believe that NBC is trying to get another British comedy to work over here! I can't remember if it was NBC that tried Coupling last season, but that was a huge flop. Coupling, the British version, is wonderful, and really worth checking out sometime, but the American version sucked! Worse, the scripts were *IDENTICAL*!
Now, The Office with what appears to be another set of identical scripts. Problem is, that the British version of "The Office" was just stupid! I tried it out about 3 episodes and totally gave up on it. I can't even imagine that the American version would be better, and that video you linked pretty much confirmed it.
Mind you, the British version of "The Office" seems to be doing quite well. I'm not sure if it's doing well in Britian or here or both, but I certainly don't understand why. So maybe NBC thinks they can get dragged along on the shows popularity this time, when they were dumped in the mud with Coupling.
Time will tell...
I'm not sure whether VesperDEM actually lives in the UK or not. Having spent two years studying situation comedy, there are vast differences in the humour used in comedy on each side of the Atlantic. British comedies seem to use more satire and less slapstick than the American shows we studied do. If you just port a comedy, scripts and all across the pond, then it won't work, but if you rewrite it, it won't be the same. However, we do seem to be getting more and more NBC programming on Sky.
Good god that version of The Office is awful. Us Brits and America seem to have an insurmountable barrier between them when it comes to comedy; I find most American imports to be too crude and, as Phill said, slapstick, although we get more and more of them each year, especially on channels like E4.
What is it Americans don't "get" about British comedy, out of interest? :p
Who said Americans don't "get" British comedy?
My main problem with British television is the difference in production. I find many British programs poorly produced from a technical standpoint, and I regret that I may be overlooking a good show for lack of glitz, but go ahead and call me superficial - when I want eye candy (television, I'll remind you) many British shows don't make my cut.
Feel free to point out British shows that you feel are produced well and also are worth watching, and maybe I'll try to download a couple for sampling. I'm certainly happy to have my viewpoint changed. :)