Rating: 
Summary: Docusoap-tragicomedy (playing at a workplace near you)
Review: The Office takes some getting used to. It manages to be hilariously funny without making you laugh, instead you cringe and squirm with embarrassment at David Brent and his 'enlightened' take on senior management. It's funny, but also painful to watch. It's hilarious but the laughs are few and far between. Maybe it's because its too close to the bone - anybody who's worked in an office environment in the 80s or 90s will most likely have first-hand experience of the buffoonery that passes for leadership.
It's a good job Gareth is there - we can all laugh at his inept social skills and lack of any kind of redeeming feature - because otherwise the Office would be close to unbearable so close is the line between comedy and blackness. Take Brent's chum Finchy, for instance. You can't laugh at a guy like that, you just pray you never have to meet anyone like him. The Office mimics the earnest mockumentary style of Spinal Tap but is less far-fetched and therefore more scary. The Office takes some getting used to, but that's probably because it is a first-rate comedy that manages to make you want to cry instead of laugh. In fact, the shenanigans of the Office are probably being played out at this very momentin a workplace near you.
Rating: 
Summary: A comedy of errors.
Review: Within a few seconds I can name dozens of shows both in the UK and the US (actually hundreds in the US) that are far, far more funnier than this show. I've painfully watched 3 episodes and the most I've done was crack a smile here or there. To the people who find this show hilarious and are laughing out loud, I must say you must not get out much or have ever watched many other comedic television programs. The fast dialogue strewn out by the David Brent character is so undistinguishable at times, you must switch on the subtitles to see what he just said. I mean he says the word ultimate as "uh-mit". I can't recall another British show where I as an American could not understand what was said. The show's camera style constantly moving like a documentary also made me a bit nauseated. If you want to really laugh, check out Coupling in the UK and just about any other comedy series ever lasting more than one season in the US, which are all miles above this drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: Best TV show ever made
Review: This is by far the funniest thing I've ever seen and I've seen alot of TV in my day. If you work in an office you'll laugh til it hurts. There is a good bit of British reference that I didn't understand but one of the DVD inserts is a translation guide. I didn't use the translation guide and I still laughed myself silly. You maybe miss out on 10-15% of the jokes, but you get the gist of what's going on. Most of the time the "extra" DVD with the making of stuff and out takes aren't worth even keeping, but this one is not only worth keeping but watching as well. Gives you a great look into the comedic genuis of the creators and actors of this fantastic show.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: This is pure genius! This is definitely one of the best things shown on television - EVER. How anything that can cause one to literally squirm in discomfort and embarrassment can be so addictive is beyond me - but it is! I love it!!
Rating:
Summary: AKA - Hilarious!
Review: When I first started watching "The Office", I couldn't decide whether to be horrified or rolling on the floor with laughter. The main character, David Brent, is one of the most painfully uncomfortable characters to watch - but that's the joke! If you have ever hated working in an office, but felt utterly trapped to remain, you will appreciate the intelligent observations made by this show. Highly recommended to those who understand political correctness can be funny!
Rating:
Summary: Ricky Gervais unleashes David Brent on "The Office"
Review: Every time David Brent (Ricky Gervais) starts fiddling with his tie I get anxious. It is like hearing the sound of an artillery shell coming at you and wanting to yell "Incoming." Yes, I know I am contrasting a visual clue with an aural clue, but my point, vis-a-vis "The Office: The Complete First Series," would be, to wit, on point in the same way taking a round hole and finding a square peg to put into it would make a modicum of sense, in a round about way. We live sheltered lives up here in the Northland, so I had never seen "The Office" nor heard much about it until the BBC series won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series: Musical or Comedy and Gervais won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy. But that was enough to check it out. Since this is a British situation comedy there are only a handful of episodes, six to be exact, so we are spared from the sub-par and totally wasted episodes that so many American sitcoms are bloated with (is there going to be even one more great "Friends" episode before the grand finale?). The result is an instant cult classic in the mode of "Police Squad," another limited run sitcom series that inhabited its own little comedy world. "The Office" is the Slough office of Werham Hogg, manufacturer of paper products, where David Brent is the office manager. The key story arc of the first season is the company's impending decision to close either the Slough or Swindon branches and merge the two, which brings up the dreaded idea of "redundancy." Brent talks about protecting his people but we are aware from the start that this guy is talk, all talk, all the time, and has achieved new levels of self-interest and self-absorption in the process. There are also the interpersonal conflicts in the office, where the number two man in the office, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook) is blind to his own incompetence and Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) divides his time between making life difficult for Gareth, trying to connect with Brent's secretary Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), and keeping on the good side of the man himself. The six episodes from the first season consist of: (1) "Downsize" is where Brent is told that his branch might be closed down and absorbed by the other office. Of course that would not be a popular thing to tell his workers, so Brent flies in the face of reason and tells them the exact opposite; (2) "Work Experience" presents Brent with two headaches, the first being a doctored pornographic image of himself sent over the company computers and the second a return visit from Jennifer Taylor Clark wanting to know what changes he has made to improve the office; (3) "The Quiz" starts with Tim's birthday and his various gifts (one of which is large and inflatable), but comes down to Tim and Ricky (Oliver Chris) against Brent and Finch (Ralph Ineson) in the office's annual trivia quiz contest; (4) "Training" is my favorite of the bunch as it is training day. Of course Brent cannot play second fiddle to anybody and it is not long before he is livening up the boring session with some of his original musical compositions; (5) "New Girl" has Brent firing and hiring as the deadline for a decision comes closer while Tim is thinking of moving on; and (6) "Judgement" deals with redundancies judgement day and the choice that Brent has to make. Of course, no selfish deed comes unpunished. My only complaint is that given how Jennifer Taylor Clark (Stirling Gallacher) saw through Brent in episode two, how she can come back in episode four and have a different attitude. I know the short answer is because Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote it that way, but it only underscores that for "The Office" to work nobody above Brent on the corporate food chain can really know his true value. Done in mockumentary style, just another piece of evidence that Brent's ego is too great to ever see the harm of having his every word being recorded by a camera, "The Office" is ultimately about a man who is trying to have it both ways. Every time he tries to stay ahead of the game he falls farther and farther behind, with the one constant being that he basically never ever shuts up. There is just something so compelling about watching such verbal self-immolating, especially when we are only talking about six episodes where only the fifth one is less than completely satisfactory.
Rating:
Summary: Hardest series I've ever tried to watch.
Review: Yeah, one star in the face of 5 star ratings. I really hate giving anything one star, but this series was one of the most painful I've ever tried to watch; and it wasn't from a lack of trying. To be sure that it wasn't me, I subjected several other friends / coworkers to it. But we all had the same reaction, even after the first 3 episodes. Don't get me wrong, on paper, the summaries sound hilarious. I'm just guessing the problem is with the delivery. I don't know if it is the handheld camera, the lack of a laugh track, or the fact that 100% of all acting in a cubed environment. It could even be that much of the humor is physical, buried in gestures and not so much in the dialog. Maybe if you don't work in a cubed environment it might be funny to you (hit too close to home for me), but just a warning that I've yet to find anyone I know who can tollerate it.
Rating:
Summary: British Humour, best in the world
Review: David Brent is the boss from hell. Let the comedy begin. This show is the best the Uk has had to offer for a long time. The writers have done the perfect thing in so few episodes, this ensures that all 14 (series 1,2 and x-mas specials) go down in history. My favourtite being the quiz night. With great characters including Brent, Gareth, Dawn, Tim and of course Keith and his scotch eggs. Now the program has finished, whats next for the muti award winning Gervais, well theres the American version of the show to come. please let it be good.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, but only 6 episodes.
Review: The British humor aside, I can't help be reminded of the hillarious book "e" by Matt Baumount. Similar theme - the bizarre and twisted subculture of office life - and brilliant writing. My biggest complaint is there are only six (6!) episodes on this DVD. I felt a bit short-changed.
Rating:
Summary: Funny to watch but I would not want to work there....
Review: I bought this without ever having seen an episode, based on the Golden Globes victory and word of mouth, and I am very impressed. This is a defining moment in combining comedy and reality tv. It really is a non sitcom comedy filmed in documentary style. There are some very funny moments in this. There are incidents that are highly politically incorrect, that would be difficult to imagine happening in an American workplace without multi million dollar lawsuits taking place, yet in Britain you obviously can still get away with this stuff. To me the strongest scene, was when he fired the receptionist as a practical joke for alleged gross misconduct to impress a new employee and it totally backfires. Others have compared this to Fawlty Towers. This first series is not that brilliant, and they are not that similar. However, I am told that the second series is way funnier than the first, so I can hardly wait to buy the second series dvd.
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