Wednesday, December 28

life after David

Looks like TiVo found back-to-back episodes of The Office Christmas special (2002). For a series that had only 14 total episodes (2 of which comprise the Christmas special - more like a movie unto itself), this is a remarkable piece of thespian delight. If you're a fan of this British TV series, you'll probably adore the special, as it's an update on what happened to David Brent (played by Ricky Gervais) after being sacked .. not to mention how the rest of the Slough office is carrying on without him. No wonder it won a Golden Globe (best TV comedy).

Gervais' performance in the 2-part special was also, without a doubt, spot on. Sadly, there are indeed managers like that.

Tonight, HayJax and I moseyed to Lucky's Cafe (3531 Oak Lawn) for some comfort food. I did broccoli and squash, alongside a Swiss mushroom chicken breast, not to mention a hefty dose of blackberry cobbler. {burp} Supposedly their breakfast is also worth trying; perhaps I'll mosey to their Frankford Road (@ the Tollway) location sometime and try it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

By comparison to "Coupling" which sank rapidly when ported to the USA, how is the US remake of The Office doing over there?

Gene said...

When the US remake of [The Office] first appeared here, they tried to copy the script verbatim, substituting American slang for British slang. Sadly, that didn't work for me (and many others, apparently). Ricky Gervais did a far more credible job capturing the essence of David Brent than did Steve Carell (playing Michael Scott as The Boss).

Carell did a credible job of The Clueless Correspondent on [The Daily Show with Jon Stewart] but his deadpan delivery only goes so far. In contrast, Gervais went far beyond reading the lines from a cue card (I suspect he was born to play the role).

Anecdotally, I've heard that The Office has begun to find its American wings and may yet take off. This is mildly unusual here, in the land of ADD and knee-jerk reaction; persistence rarely enters the American psyche anymore.

I shall program TiVo to fetch a few episodes for my humble review.

Anonymous said...

I'd be interested. Frankly I can't watch the UK programme, since it is too accurate by far. Also it's not really my sort of thing. You can probably remember my approach to dealing with incompetent management, so why watch a programme where you're *not* able to nail the pillocks?

Funny thing is that I was aware of Gervaise slightly back at UCL/college - he used to hang around the student union as did I - but can't say I know the man properly. But what The Office is now, is not merely a reflection of the modern office now, but is also a logical extrapolation of the politics of the UCL student body, back then.