Monday, June 13, 2005
Entertainment That Hurts
Tonight it struck me that Six Feet Under and The Office (original British version) feel like they have a bit in common to me. Both of them seem to have many "cringe-worthy" moments in each episode, moments where the characters are saying horrible things to each other, or making awful mistakes that you're just sidelined helpless to do anything but watch. The Office, of course, always plays these moments for comedic effect. Six Feet Under does that at times too, but also often plays them for dramatic impact. In any case, I know I'd be more likely to watch one of those shows through clenched fingers than any horror movie.
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8 comments:
The Office feels like a successor to the crown of Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers. Is the U.S. version still running? Is it any good? I opted out of cable in March.
Tom and I call them "Frasier moments". Not because we were especially huge Frasier fans, but because that whole show was built around the philosophy that, at some point, one of the characters (usually Frasier or Niles) would gaffe badly for comedic effect. It was usually such an uncomfortable moment that we had to change the channel for a second and then come back to see what happened.
The Office (both versions) made my wife and I uncomfortable many times, which is a good thing, especially in this era where the traditional family sitcom is showing its gray hairs. Even the more ridiculous moments in The Office UK when David would treat the disabled girl like furniture were also very discomforting.
I watched the US version of the Office for about 5 minutes before giving it up. Like many UK programmes that tried to cross the Atlantic it lost a lot on the journey.
The Office is truly crigeworthy and Ricky Gervais created a work of genius - I was a little surprised by the ending though.
While I find the need to translate The Office for U.S. audiences rather suspect, I think it's a decent translation. I still consider the U.K. version far superior, but even an inferior interpretation of The Office is better than most of the U.S. sitcoms airing these days.
I can't argue about that point about the parlous state of US comedy. I really can't get into any of it and am sure I must be missing something.
Oh Giromide - have you watched Father Ted?
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