Office Politics

I finally saw the complete first season of the BBC series The Office this week. I've heard about it for years, but didn't even think about checking it out until recently.

The show itself starts out slow. (If you're looking for the easy humor of Fawlty Towers, you'd best look elsewhere.) But the show eventually becomes more interesting and the ending is surprisingly bittersweet.

What's so interesting about this show isn't so much what it does but what it doesn't do. Though there are bits of rude humor, the show makes it clear early on that it's not exactly interested in catering to Benny Hill fans. And though there are signs of a potential romantic relationship between two major characters, said relationship doesn't exactly develop the same way it would in an American sitcom like Cheers or Friends. It's tempting to compare the show to Yes Minister because it too has a major character who relies all too much on jargon, but in many ways, it manages to be even more subtle than that series.

I kinda liked this show although I wouldn't exactly describe it as the feel-good sitcom of the year. And to think this entire show does so much in only six episodes.

American sitcom creators should be ashamed of themselves.