My last post was about me and stuff
Aug. 20th, 2009 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenSo this post has to be about something frivolous. Let's talk TV!
For the record, I feel like I've been defeated by the movie/show if I can't get through it. I can count on my one hand the number of movies/shows I've given up on entirely. Skipped some episodes (Smallville season four, ::shudder::), haven't finished the series (Farscape!), watched it in bits and pieces and probably have seen the whole thing but haven't seen it start-to-finish (Silence of the Lambs, and, bizarrely, Casablanca). But I usually finish the damned thing. There are three exceptions I've made on Netflix that I can think of off the top of my head: one was a truly D-level "comedy" that wanted to be American Pie (I got it because the premise and the cast--Heather Matarazzo--inferred it was of higher quality); another was A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which, Robert Downey Jr. or no RDJ, I couldn't be arsed to get on with, especially not when Channing Tatum showed up.
The last was the UK version of The Office. I managed to get through Extras because, despite the cringingly awful parts that made me want to die of embarrassment for abso-fucking-lutely everybody, there were a lot of brilliant bits, too. And the mocking of the film industry was hilarious, especially when Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart were doing it. I've also seen Ricky Gervais' one movie to date, Ghost Town, in which he played a differently costumed version of the same asshole he always plays. I hope the man is a lovely human being in real life, because if he's even remotely like any of those characters he plays, dear God...
So, the UK Office thoroughly defeated me. I wanted to like it! I wanted to because I love Martin Freeman and he was playing an adorable scallywag. But Ricky Gervais...he's just so small and mean as the boss, I couldn't laugh at him. He's just nasty, nasty, nasty all the goddamned time. It's so hard to pinpoint what it is, exactly, about him that makes him so unlikable, but if I had to sum it up, I'd say it's everything. He's a grasping idiot with a vicious mean streak, no self awareness, an inflated ego, and absolutely no courage.
I tossed The Office back in the mail after one and a half episodes. I hate doing that. Despite this wretched experience, I was convinced, from a love of Steve Carell and the recommendations of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
viridian, hslayer, and H, my high school friend, that I could maybe make it through the US version of The Office. I watched the first episode, and it was a carbon copy, minus the accents, of the first episode of the UK version. I switched it off, ready to concede defeat there, too.
But then I got bored at work--my boss was working on a paper the whole time, I was the only one in the lab with too little to do, and I had a new computer on which I could stream my Watch It Now Netflix queue. As it turns out, sitcoms are the best things to watch at work because they're tiny and contained. They fill the twenty minute gaps I have between duties and play nicely as background noise while I'm using the computer to update my billion spreadsheets.
I only have about two or three sitcoms on my queue because I do not like sitcoms as a general rule. Recent exceptions have been 30 Rock and My Name Is Earl, but the former I'm watching with my roommates and the latter is not available on Watch It Now. So, for the past month, I have been watching The Office. As I was promised byviridian and H, the first season is absolutely deadly, but the show steadily improved to the point where the embarrassment humor was tolerable, even funny. I find just about everyone on the show pretty interesting, though I admit to being biased in favor of Jim and Dwight. Pam's awesome, too, as is Andy (whom I never expected to like at all, but whose a capella stylings get more fun as time goes on).
If this got better, I reasoned, surely the UK version did, too? It was available on Watch It Now, so I did. I struggled to get through the entire thing, but did manage. It never got there. It was just six hours (plus the Christmas special!) of awkwardness that made me want to die. I love Martin Freeman still, but I'm going to have to start seriously screening his work from now on. The UK version of The Office made the interesting choice to have the cameras be interactive--I mean, they're sort of taken for granted as an isolated entity in the US version, but no one seems to see the footage, whereas the UK version makes it explicit that this documentary aired and all the people in it have to deal with the fallout from that. It's more realistic, it's a shame it couldn't have been used to better effect. So I was not defeated by The Office-UK, but I was pretty battered by it all the same.
I chalk this all up to Steve Carell's ability to be incredibly charming despite his character and Ricky Gervais' being very similar. Steve Carell's Michael Scott is a doofus, but he's a desperate striver who just wants to be liked and to never be the bad guy. (Which is why he doesn't climb over anyone to get at an upper echelon position.) Aside from the one HR guy he abuses, he's never really mean to anyone. It's sweetly endearing, in its way, even when he's being so tastelessly embarrassing I can't look at the screen. Ricky Gervais plays David Brent as similarly unconscious of his offensiveness but also deliberate in it, which makes all the difference--Michael thinks he's being funny and is being offensive; David is offensive on purpose and expects people to forgive it because it's "a joke." David is equally desperate to be the life of the party, but he constantly hurts people on purpose and loses his temper. More, he's a fame-seeker, not a friend-seeker. He believes he's owed fame, fortune, and (pardon my language) pussy. Steve Carell's character wants things that are unbearably mundane and wonderful--friendship, love, children, a legacy. He assumes they're in his future, not that he's entitled to them.
When it comes down to it, Steve Carell is like a really adorable puppy. Even when he defecates on your blind date's shoes, he's still so cute you feel worse about wanting to smack him to say nothing of actually doing it. No matter how much he embarrasses his coworkers, he still inspires them to some form of loyalty. No one, not even the toady underling, likes Ricky Gervais' character that much.
I think the fact that the US version has so many well developed secondary characters helps it, too. Like I said, I love me some Martin Freeman, but his character (Tim) isn't nearly as witty about his pranks as Jim is in the US version. He doesn't have any worthy adversaries, for one, and the way he chooses to goose his desk-mate basically involves conning him into saying things that could be construed as gay. That's not funny, it's homophobic. The fact that this is virtually the only interaction that Tim has with the receptionist/love interest, Dawn makes their great UST really blah. Certainly, it doesn't sparkle with the humor or the obviousness of mutual attraction that Pam and Jim manage with expressions alone.
Then you have the toady underling character. In the UK, he's actually semi-competant and not really crazy. But crazy is much more interesting, which is why Dwight is awesome. He's so specifically characterized, too. It's not just "Wacky Guy" craziness, it's a thought-out bit of choice insanity that came from a certain background. That it can be so consistently funny and rarely derivative is impressive. After that, I sort of love everyone else equally, though if Kelly were to be hit by a bus, I couldn't care less. (I'm take it/leave it on Ryan most days.)
I wonder if it's just that there's been more time for the US version to flesh out its characters? I can't quite work it out. Anyway, that's how I've spent my August.
Whew. I had far too much to say there. I suspect this is going to be one of those posts only I read ever. :)
For the record, I feel like I've been defeated by the movie/show if I can't get through it. I can count on my one hand the number of movies/shows I've given up on entirely. Skipped some episodes (Smallville season four, ::shudder::), haven't finished the series (Farscape!), watched it in bits and pieces and probably have seen the whole thing but haven't seen it start-to-finish (Silence of the Lambs, and, bizarrely, Casablanca). But I usually finish the damned thing. There are three exceptions I've made on Netflix that I can think of off the top of my head: one was a truly D-level "comedy" that wanted to be American Pie (I got it because the premise and the cast--Heather Matarazzo--inferred it was of higher quality); another was A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which, Robert Downey Jr. or no RDJ, I couldn't be arsed to get on with, especially not when Channing Tatum showed up.
The last was the UK version of The Office. I managed to get through Extras because, despite the cringingly awful parts that made me want to die of embarrassment for abso-fucking-lutely everybody, there were a lot of brilliant bits, too. And the mocking of the film industry was hilarious, especially when Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart were doing it. I've also seen Ricky Gervais' one movie to date, Ghost Town, in which he played a differently costumed version of the same asshole he always plays. I hope the man is a lovely human being in real life, because if he's even remotely like any of those characters he plays, dear God...
So, the UK Office thoroughly defeated me. I wanted to like it! I wanted to because I love Martin Freeman and he was playing an adorable scallywag. But Ricky Gervais...he's just so small and mean as the boss, I couldn't laugh at him. He's just nasty, nasty, nasty all the goddamned time. It's so hard to pinpoint what it is, exactly, about him that makes him so unlikable, but if I had to sum it up, I'd say it's everything. He's a grasping idiot with a vicious mean streak, no self awareness, an inflated ego, and absolutely no courage.
I tossed The Office back in the mail after one and a half episodes. I hate doing that. Despite this wretched experience, I was convinced, from a love of Steve Carell and the recommendations of
viridian, hslayer, and H, my high school friend, that I could maybe make it through the US version of The Office. I watched the first episode, and it was a carbon copy, minus the accents, of the first episode of the UK version. I switched it off, ready to concede defeat there, too.But then I got bored at work--my boss was working on a paper the whole time, I was the only one in the lab with too little to do, and I had a new computer on which I could stream my Watch It Now Netflix queue. As it turns out, sitcoms are the best things to watch at work because they're tiny and contained. They fill the twenty minute gaps I have between duties and play nicely as background noise while I'm using the computer to update my billion spreadsheets.
I only have about two or three sitcoms on my queue because I do not like sitcoms as a general rule. Recent exceptions have been 30 Rock and My Name Is Earl, but the former I'm watching with my roommates and the latter is not available on Watch It Now. So, for the past month, I have been watching The Office. As I was promised by
viridian and H, the first season is absolutely deadly, but the show steadily improved to the point where the embarrassment humor was tolerable, even funny. I find just about everyone on the show pretty interesting, though I admit to being biased in favor of Jim and Dwight. Pam's awesome, too, as is Andy (whom I never expected to like at all, but whose a capella stylings get more fun as time goes on).If this got better, I reasoned, surely the UK version did, too? It was available on Watch It Now, so I did. I struggled to get through the entire thing, but did manage. It never got there. It was just six hours (plus the Christmas special!) of awkwardness that made me want to die. I love Martin Freeman still, but I'm going to have to start seriously screening his work from now on. The UK version of The Office made the interesting choice to have the cameras be interactive--I mean, they're sort of taken for granted as an isolated entity in the US version, but no one seems to see the footage, whereas the UK version makes it explicit that this documentary aired and all the people in it have to deal with the fallout from that. It's more realistic, it's a shame it couldn't have been used to better effect. So I was not defeated by The Office-UK, but I was pretty battered by it all the same.
I chalk this all up to Steve Carell's ability to be incredibly charming despite his character and Ricky Gervais' being very similar. Steve Carell's Michael Scott is a doofus, but he's a desperate striver who just wants to be liked and to never be the bad guy. (Which is why he doesn't climb over anyone to get at an upper echelon position.) Aside from the one HR guy he abuses, he's never really mean to anyone. It's sweetly endearing, in its way, even when he's being so tastelessly embarrassing I can't look at the screen. Ricky Gervais plays David Brent as similarly unconscious of his offensiveness but also deliberate in it, which makes all the difference--Michael thinks he's being funny and is being offensive; David is offensive on purpose and expects people to forgive it because it's "a joke." David is equally desperate to be the life of the party, but he constantly hurts people on purpose and loses his temper. More, he's a fame-seeker, not a friend-seeker. He believes he's owed fame, fortune, and (pardon my language) pussy. Steve Carell's character wants things that are unbearably mundane and wonderful--friendship, love, children, a legacy. He assumes they're in his future, not that he's entitled to them.
When it comes down to it, Steve Carell is like a really adorable puppy. Even when he defecates on your blind date's shoes, he's still so cute you feel worse about wanting to smack him to say nothing of actually doing it. No matter how much he embarrasses his coworkers, he still inspires them to some form of loyalty. No one, not even the toady underling, likes Ricky Gervais' character that much.
I think the fact that the US version has so many well developed secondary characters helps it, too. Like I said, I love me some Martin Freeman, but his character (Tim) isn't nearly as witty about his pranks as Jim is in the US version. He doesn't have any worthy adversaries, for one, and the way he chooses to goose his desk-mate basically involves conning him into saying things that could be construed as gay. That's not funny, it's homophobic. The fact that this is virtually the only interaction that Tim has with the receptionist/love interest, Dawn makes their great UST really blah. Certainly, it doesn't sparkle with the humor or the obviousness of mutual attraction that Pam and Jim manage with expressions alone.
Then you have the toady underling character. In the UK, he's actually semi-competant and not really crazy. But crazy is much more interesting, which is why Dwight is awesome. He's so specifically characterized, too. It's not just "Wacky Guy" craziness, it's a thought-out bit of choice insanity that came from a certain background. That it can be so consistently funny and rarely derivative is impressive. After that, I sort of love everyone else equally, though if Kelly were to be hit by a bus, I couldn't care less. (I'm take it/leave it on Ryan most days.)
I wonder if it's just that there's been more time for the US version to flesh out its characters? I can't quite work it out. Anyway, that's how I've spent my August.
Whew. I had far too much to say there. I suspect this is going to be one of those posts only I read ever. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-20 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-20 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-20 08:35 pm (UTC)(Wow. This icon is strangely appropriate.)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-20 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 02:53 am (UTC)Bingo. I can't stand that kind of humor. It just makes me feel awkward, too, which is why I haven't watched any of Sasha Baron Cohen's movies. I even cringe at the scene in Bridget Jones' Diary where she gets on the microphone and is an idiot. Blargh.
I think you're right about the ensemble stuff--if the lead character is mortifying but there are enough human beings around him to buffer that with sanity, it's easier to take.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 05:08 am (UTC)Office US is a bit different. I've seen a handful of episodes, and I thought those were funny, but I can't seem to dedicate myself to the show.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 02:55 am (UTC)That, and they do some pretty great callbacks. The continuity enhances the experience, but the narrative isn't always dependent on you knowing everything.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 11:41 am (UTC)I have encountered lots of people who prefer to the American to the British "Office". I like both. Regardless of how painful it is, the team-building episode where David ends up bringing in his guitar is pretty phenomenal, as is the end of the Christmas special with Tim and Dawn. I do think the American version's notes of humanizing Michael work considerably better than the UK's flashes of a less-than-repugnant David, but I also think the American version has an over-abundance of free time. The second-season finale of the US show was an amazing cliffhanger, but then I felt the writers really fucked up by not picking up right where they left off, but then they got back on track with Andy (the part where Jim hides Andy's phone is one of the funniest parts of the entire series). I've heard negative things about Season 5 and I have serious doubts they'd be able to keep the quality up at all past a Season 7, but I think both shows are very funny.
I don't think Tim's jokes on Gareth are homophobic, because I felt the idea was clear that Gareth is homophobic, and that Tim is trying to get a rise out of him by making fun of it. Gareth just remains clueless is all.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 03:02 am (UTC)As for The Office, I never once laughed at the UK version. I just never did. I did find Tim and Dawn's resolution really sweet, even though they never really connected as mutually interested very much. But David? Ugh. The US version has gotten better, but I cannot identify that it ever did better than that, if you follow me. It was better in season two than season one, but I can't really say, of seasons two, three, four, or five that any one season was better or worse. The story progressed, but it all felt very much the same to me. Sitcoms always do for me, though--I can't notice them being better/worse, I just identify individual bits that are funnier (or not).
I don't think Tim's jokes on Gareth are homophobic, because I felt the idea was clear that Gareth is homophobic, and that Tim is trying to get a rise out of him by making fun of it. Gareth just remains clueless is all
It doesn't seem like it ends with Gareth's issues, that's all I'm saying. It's not entirely clear that Tim and Dawn aren't getting a good joke out of Gareth just saying "gay" things.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-21 09:29 pm (UTC)Also there was this behind the scenes thing where they inflict one of the show's employees with ever more cruel and humiliating jokes. It's not quite obvious whether this is a set up or for real. Either way I didn't find it at all funny.
And the fact that they let him do his pathetic "are you havin a laugh" line in Stardust cheapene that whole part of the film. *shudder*
no subject
Date: 2009-08-30 03:05 am (UTC)Kate Winslet was really great, as was Patrick Stewart. If you find clips of them at all, they're both funny.
Also there was this behind the scenes thing where they inflict one of the show's employees with ever more cruel and humiliating jokes. It's not quite obvious whether this is a set up or for real. Either way I didn't find it at all funny
I'm really glad I didn't see this on DVD where I might have seen that and been ever more horrified. Yeeesh.
And the fact that they let him do his pathetic "are you havin a laugh" line in Stardust cheapene that whole part of the film. *shudder*
Wow, I'd totally forgotten he was even in that movie. To be fair, a movie that has Robert De Niro in a dress can't really be cheapened by Ricky Gervais--not easily anyway :)