Well, I did it. I got through the whole series, but boy was I wrong (https://trakt.tv/comments/195833) when I thought the American series would be the harder one to get through. While I don't _love_ it, at least I don't dread watching it to quite the extent I did this.

As far as my series rating, it should have been 4.5 based on the average rating I gave both seasons. But in the end, looking back, I was *far* too generous with my ratings for this show. It's _boring_! Not one of the characters felt like a real, relatable person. Actually, I'm not convinced that they were even archetypes—or even stereotypes. Watching their fictional lives here was like watching paint dry. In a show that's billed as a comedy… So I ignored my usual "rule" of using the average, and went with the 3/10 I thought the show deserved. (After all, the few "actually funny" scenes shouldn't be _entirely_ punished for the sins of the vast, insufferable majority.)

I'll throw my weight behind @FinFan's take, one hundred percent:

> It had its moments but in an attempt to make this look like they are doing kind of a documentary on the office staff it feels stiff and studied. Characters are one-dimensional and there is almost no developement [sic]. Personally I can't figure out why this is so highly praised. — https://trakt.tv/comments/11138

@ner0p, I'm also happy to join you in the "minority" that didn't think this show deserved its critical acclaim.

No, I will not be watching the specials. I'm 150% done with this show.

I just recently watched this version of The Office (UK).
I did watch the US version first, back when it was airing and I loved it very much at the time.
For a long time I was curious to watch the UK version because of it being the original, but mostly because I've read so much praise when comparing both versions. The majority of critics I've read always put the UK version way above the US version.
I discovered that I'm not part of that "majority".

There is the bias of having watched the US version first, plus the obvious personal taste, and by the way, I'm not a native English speaker. In almost every way, I prefer Michael to David, I prefer Dwight to Gareth, I prefer Jim to Tim.
As manager, Michael Scott had much more depth in every aspect. Dwight Schrute also was much more fun and authentic in the shoes of the Assistant (to the) Regional Manager. The UK version is also too short. The romance between Tim and Dawn, which is a big part of the show, is very unsatisfying in this short arc. We barely see the inside of the warehouse. There are characters that disappear completely for no reason at all and you never find out what happened to them (ex: Donna, Ricky).

In almost every way, I prefer the US version. The length of the series is part of it, but I think that the UK version focused too much on David Brent, which made it way more dull, and didn't give enough room for diversity from the other characters.

The Office is a very clever, witty, hilarious parody of life in a "typical" office workplace in the UK - the geek, the nerd, the cocky and arrogant one, etc. Ricky Gervais certainly nailed it as the irritating, smarmy, wannabe-slick, desperately sad, team leader who pretends to be hard at work but actually does very little in the way of productivity but revels in the office banter as a way to alleviate the otherwise-dull drudgery of the job. The show style takes a little time to get used to, but the humour is good enough that you sort of get into wanting to see how the character relationship dynamics progress, in a morbidly fascinating way. It is a very 'marmite' show - you'll either love it or hate it, but give it a fair chance, and the odds are that you'll like it more the more you watch. I personally thought it was a brilliant show; full respect and thanks to Ricky, and also the top-class cast, who clearly had a good rapport with each other in real life, as they worked so well together on set. I definitely recommend watching this, if you haven't already, and if it's been a while since you have, give it another run through. I haven't watched it since it originally aired, but just watching the preview on here made me laugh out loud, and has inspired me to do just that - give it another go.

As for this whole "my mum is better than your mum"-style comparison between the UK and US versions of The Office, I honestly think it's not really fair to compare them. The stereotypical office culture in the UK is no doubt vastly different from that of the US, and UK humour doesn't always work as well with a US audience, or vice versa with US humour. I haven't watched the entire of the US Office, only the first two seasons, as there are far more seasons/episodes to watch than the UK Office. Once I stopped directly comparing it to the UK one (I'm English) and thus finding the US doppelgangers of the UK characters just irritating and loathsome without actually being funny, and really started watching it objectively and exclusively from its UK counterpart, I realised that the humour was there, it's just different - like a mirror universe, or the flipside of a coin, or however you like to visualise it. Steve Carrell was a great choice as the US 'David Brent', and the rest of the cast are pretty good. I'm really not a fan of US sitcoms - especially when they're exporting and Americanising a UK show - but The Office (US) was a very rare exception to the rule, as it is very well done. I just don't think it's as cleverly done as the UK version, in my opinion, with my UK humour. Anybody natively from a country that has produced their own version of The Office will probably think that their 'home' version is the best as the humour will feel most familiar, but our differences as people/nations is what makes the world a more interesting and diverse place. Peace out.