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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: BBC Video
Salesrank: 14543
Released: April 20, 2004 |
| Our Price: $11.95 |
| Used Price: $5.73 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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| Features:
Color Dolby DVD Widescreen NTSC | |
Editorial Review:
Welcome to Wernham Hogg the paper company a world away from London where life is stationery. Critics and fans alike have lauded this hilarious biting look at the everyday hell of office life as a cult comedy classic in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap and The Larry Sanders Show. Series two marks the final full season of the life in the office.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 794051198822
Description of The Office - The Complete Second Series (BBC Edtion):
The second series of the award-winning BBC mockudrama The Office exceeded even the sky-high standards of the first. Indeed, it ventured beyond caricature and satire, touching on the very edge of darkness. Ricky Gervais was once again excruciatingly superb as David Brent, a subtly shaded modern English comic grotesque in the desperate and self-deluding tradition of Alan Partridge and Basil Fawlty. In this series, however, Brent's to-the-camera assertions concerning his management qualities and executive capabilities are seriously challenged when the Slough and Swindon branches are merged and his former Swindon equivalent Neil takes over as area manager. To compensate, Brent cultivates his pathologically mistaken image of himself as an entertainer-motivator-comedian whose stage happens to be the workplace.
Meanwhile, Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman), who can only maintain his sanity by teasing the priggish Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), continues to wrestle with his yearning for receptionist Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), a sympathetic character persisting in a relationship with a man about whom she still maintains unspoken reservations. As ever, it's the awkward, reality TV-style pauses and silences, the furtive, meaningful and unmet glances across the emotional gulf of the open-plan office, that say it all here. As for Brent, his own breakdown is prefaced by a moment of hideous hilarity--an impromptu office dance, a mixture of "Flashdance and MC Hammer" as Brent describes it, but in reality bad beyond description. Then, when his fate is sealed, he at last reveals himself in a memorable finale to perhaps the greatest British sitcom, besides Fawlty Towers, ever made. All this and Keith too. --David Stubbs
The Office - The Complete Second Series (BBC Edtion) Reviews:
working my way backwards... 
2009-10-08 - I started watching the US version of The Office first, fell in love with that, then decided to try out the UK version. I bought The Office Special first, then got the second series, and will hopefully have the first eventually(told you i was working backwards). Anyway, i'm glad i bought these cause i found them as funny as the US one, which is saying something since i started out with the American one first. But then, i've mostly enjoyed British 'humour' with my very limited knowledge of it(mainly Monty Python, Black Adder, etc).
There are only six episodes though, with the middle four being my favorites which include awkward scenes involving the boss David Brent dancing(more embarrasing than Michael Scott's dance, and was that "Disco Inferno" he kept humming? hilarious), and one with him and a sex toy. Episode 6 was downright depressing but had some powerful moments: Tim turns his mic back on...and David in a meeting with his superiors. Great stuff. I do think they need to find a way to get Mackenzie Crook's Gareth to do a guest appearance on the US one as some sort of business-exchange programme or other. His character is as unique as Rainn Wilson's Dwight is. The extras on the disc are pretty good as well: about 7 min of bloopers, 20 min of a video diary which gets good around the 'awards' part, and 13 min of funny deleted scenes round out the dvd. Worth owning or at least a watch.
And as for the ongoing debate as to which is funnier, the UK or US version, i don't really care. I'm just glad they both exist for our enjoyment. Besides, i thought it was understood that the original Japanese version shown on Saturday Night Live by Ricky Gervais himself was considered the best ;)
British humor? Absolutely! 
2009-01-15 - Steve Correll and folks do a great job at the American recreation of this British sitcom, but it still doesn't come close to the original! Thats a little too harsh... it does come close, BUT you gotta see the tea sippers version to really appreciate the colonists attempt!
Funny
2008-10-03 - It's like the American version of the office, except: they can curse and discuss sexual situations. It has quite a bit of British humour(that one is for the Brits) so sometimes it can take a while to get, or not all, unless you do a quick check on Wikipedia (I know it can't be trusted) or use Google. But as much as there is humor that you can't get there is humor you can, and again, as in typical Office fashion, plenty of that awkward, uncomfortable situational humor.
Spot On, Spot On. Different Than American Humor!
2008-05-22 - I prefer British humor due to it being more dry & straightforward than slapstick American humor. This "Office" has its rights bought out by NBC for the smash-hit (of the same name) here in the states.
Each version has its own ROFL parts, and is a great view for any comedy fan.
The acting is top-notch, and is a must-have for any US Office fan!!
Painfully funny
2008-02-21 - The second series of this brilliant British series is just as funny, though even darker, than the first. The Swindon and Slough branches of Werham Hogg have been combined. David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is now in charge of the combined sections, while Swindon's former boss, Neil (Patrick Baladi), has been placed above David, and he proves to be the kind of perfect boss that David has always fancied himself to be. David's naked jealousy, so transparent to everyone around him, is as painful to watch as it is hilarious.
No show has made me laugh and wince simultaneously so often. Gervais and his co-writer Stephen Merchant have the courage to take these characters to their logical fates, leading to an unusually downbeat, though honest, conclusion for a truly great show. As before, fellow cast members Martin Freeman, MacKenzie Crook, and Lucy Davis contribute to the overall excellence.
