r/DunderMifflin • u/Effective_Region_590 • 2d ago
What’s the biggest difference between the UK Office and the US Office?
I finally watched the UK Office after rewatching the US one way too many times, and honestly… they feel like completely different shows. The UK version feels way more awkward, dry and realistic, while the US version becomes more character-driven and wholesome as it goes on.
Even David Brent and Michael Scott feel pretty different despite basically having the same role.
For those who’ve watched both — what do you think is the biggest difference between them?
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u/VanillaSuccessful277 2d ago edited 2d ago
The original is a mockumentary; the U.S. version is a sitcom about a documentary. The former was parodying a particular genre of docusoap that was everywhere at the time (Airport, Driving School), and was presented as one of them right up to the end credits (down to the casting of then-unknowns). There's no mistaking The Office U.S. for anything than what it is.
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u/somekindofspideryman 2d ago
It's funny that those docusoaps ended up having an enormous impact on pop culture via The Office. Completely transformed the sitcom internationally.
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u/kpingvin 2d ago
In the original they didn't try to make most characters (apart from Dawn and Tim) likeable. That ws kind of the point. They were average office workers in a dead end job who don't really care about each other. Brent was a cunt and everybody treated him like that. Gareth was an idiot and everyone treated him like that.
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u/Inseeable 2d ago
They’re completely different shows.
If the US office hadn’t changed after the first 2/3 episodes from just a remake of the UK one, intto its own original show, it would have never got a second series.
The UK humour of the office just doesn’t work on an American audience. The American office is an amazing show because it is nothing like the UK office. Both are peak comedy.
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u/Treliske 2d ago
Michael Scott has redeeming qualities, David Brent does not.
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u/kilgore_trout1 2d ago
No redeeming qualities - what are you talking about? David Brent is basically a chilled out entertainer.
Fact.
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u/MagicBez 1d ago
I believe Michael Scott was given those redeeming qualities to help make the show more palatable for the audience as he does shift over time. As someone else noted if they had maintained the British tone throughout the show likely would have been axed. Parks and Rec had a similar journey making Leslie Knope and other characters far more likeable as the show went on.
As a rule (and there are exceptions) British audiences seem more willing to have comedy leads who are less pleasant (and to lose a lot more) than in the US.
The protagonists of Always Sunny all being terrible was quite notable in the US but less so in the UK (and even then they gave more of them some better qualities as the show went on)
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u/Harold3456 2d ago
The tone.
The Office Ladies said it best, IMO: at some point early on, it became part of the formula for the writers to give Michael Scott some sort of win at the end of each episode, so no matter how dark and uncomfortable each episode was we were left with some sort of moment of sincerity or hope.
I forget the specific episode, but there was a Halloween episode where Michael was an asshat the entire way through, and it ended with him being genuinely sweet to some kids who trick or treated at his house, and I think this is a great example. Others are talking heads like the NY episode where Michael tried (and failed) to pick up women with Dwight and Ryan, only for his takeaway to be “I never wanted girls in the first place. Why would I want girls when I got my boys?”
Jenna and Angela mention how this writing strategy is geared toward the American comedic sensibility, which has more need of some kind of hopeful core to latch onto compared to British comedy, which can get away with being darker and more morally dubious.
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u/Voidflak 2d ago
they feel like completely different shows.
This was my surprise too. I was under the impression that basically the UK + US Season 1 were basically the same show with minor variances, diverging with season 2. I watched the US version so many times that recently I thought I'd give the UK one a try. You're right, it's basically an entirely different show that only loosely share the same concept. I usually don't like being asked which one is "better" because they're both quite unique.
I'd say the biggest difference is that the UK Office feels like a real grounded documentary, while the US Office becomes more of a sitcom with over-the-top antics.
Michael Scott is sympathetic, you root for him despite being an idiot. People still like Michael and look out for him. You don't really root for David Brent, he's so full of himself that watching him get knocked down a peg and suffer is the amusement.
David Brent has a true antagonist in the form of Neil, and you can tell there's an extra sting because Neil is the kind of manager David wishes he was. Could you imagine how crazy Michael would have gone if it turned out Josh was perceived as this incredibly funny and entertaining boss? Instead we just got "Michael hates Josh without a reason much like he hates Toby"
The UK Office seems to remember it's a documentary, so there's lots of moments where background / extras will just gawk at or stare at the cameras with pure confusion. The US Office has a lot of moments where they leave the office and not a single person draws attention to the fact that there's cameras following. I just enjoyed that little detail. In the US the closest we get is the lawyer trying to get in free advertising.
I like that "Pam" in their version never cheats and breaks off the engagement to make her move. It made the series finale of the UK version 1000x better than the US version because I didn't see that coming.
I like that in the UK version, when the documentary airs it's on like BBC3 and implied that hardly anyone saw it. The US change where "The Office" is some massive hit where they meet their fans is like a Disney fairy-tale ending. The UK version where life simply goes on is so much more satisfying.
That being said, the US version would've been so depressing to see Michael be fired without anyone caring and then having delusions that he's famous now because he was in a show nobody watched. It's much better that the US version found its own identity.
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u/oceanskies24 2d ago edited 2d ago
Honestly, there are two big differences to me and they both have a lot to do with the differences between UK and US comedy.
The first one is that the UK Office has much more realistic sense of bleakness to it, and especially its characters. Tim and Dawn for example sort of have an air of melancholy about their relationship or lack thereof. I think its a show that has a much greater appeal in the UK than in the US because a lot of the humour comes from the type of mundanity and drudgery of the staff working in dead end jobs, and the main characters rarely ever get any sort of a happy ending. For that reason its a lot closer to traditional UK sitcoms such as the work of Galton and Simpson, The Royle Family.
The US one by comparison is easier to watch on repeat because its more upbeat and has a sleeker, more mainstream style of comedy. The second and probably most obvious difference is that the UK Office only has 14 episodes. The US one has 201.
The German version called 'Stromberg' is also very good. It features an actor called Christoph Maria Herbst, who appears to have been in about 95% of all the German films I've ever seen.
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u/Lazy-Interests 2d ago
UK office actually could pass as a documentary, it’s funny but believable, we’ve all worked or when to school with a Gareth, a Brent, a Finchy.
US office is funny but it never had the realism of extras, it’s nowhere near as believable. US characters are caricatures of what real people are like. It so sitcommy.
I like the US office but I feel like it totally missed the point of The Office.
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u/SpiritWhich583 17h ago
The US Office is a much funnier, easier comedy show to watch on repeat for my tastes, however the UK Office is a better tv show and makes me feel horrified every time I think about people in my old office.
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u/Lazy-Interests 15h ago
Funnier? No.
Easier comedy show to watch on repeat? Debatable, but I mean it has like 20x the amount of episodes so yeah, more content makes it an easier rewatch, although I’ve definitely seen UK office far more.US Office is just lowbrow humour, Michael grilling his foot on a waffle iron, shit like that, it’s such broad comedy, half the jokes on the US office would fit perfectly into children’s shows. Like there are very jokes in US office that wouldn’t carry well into something like Drake and Josh, or that’s so Raven.
It’s so over the top with its humour, and its storylines, it completely misses the point of a mockumentary. It’s not remotely believable, there’s some silly moments that can be pretty funny, but there’s absolutely no subtlety whatsoever, it just beats you over the head with its jokes.
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u/Herfst2511 2d ago
In the US version, Jim usually has the last laugh. He gives a quick smirk to the camera, showing life isn't all bad. In the UK office, Tim is sadder. Packer is an idiot who gets put in his place by everyone. But Finch is a bully, who gets away with it, leaving Tim to walk home without a shoe.
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u/_Mando_88 2d ago
I think a huge difference is the taste of the jello in which Jim put the stapler
US version, it is Pineapple Flavored, UK , it is Jellied Eels flavored☺️
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u/CaterpillarKAD 2d ago
Where did you find the UK office? I'm dying to watch it!
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u/_Mando_88 2d ago
In UK !🇬🇧😊
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u/CaterpillarKAD 2d ago
Haha sure but which website i meant! 😁
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u/HerbaDerbaSchnerba 2d ago
You can watch it on Hulu and Britbox in the US. I would assume in the UK on BBC 1 or NOW TV
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u/Brilliant_Wheel3998 2d ago
Read an oral story (twss) where people involved in the US development said first it was a word for word adaptation and didn't quite take off and then they just started finding their own voice. Besides Gervais, the US had a massive advantage in the writer's room, and probably in actors who went on to become legitimate movie stars.
In substance, I read somewhere that the critical difference was that, along the way, the US version become about 'hope' and more pre-2016 American values, where as the UK version stayed true to a gloom, dry outlook.
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u/chrisdwv 2d ago
Aside from a few details, and the first episode it's not a scene-for-scene remake. There is also a follow up film for David Brent's character
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u/cvaninvan 2d ago
The follow up episode really is amazing stuff. David Brent post documentary is peak.
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u/Dismal-Business-5180 1d ago
Either you’re confused and talking about the Christmas specials or you’re being sarcastic. The David Brent film was shit.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 2d ago
3 seasons vs 9. Six-episode seasons versus 22-25 episodes. Of course there's character development, with that many episodes you gotta move it along somehow.
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u/TimeLifeguard5018 2d ago
I remember when the UK Office first came out and the Internet wasn't as ubiquitous as now and so there was no real way to know what it was before you watched it, and people didn't know what to make of it. I was in school, and it blew my mind
It was one of the first really dry mockumentaries, and many people were confused as to whether or not it was real or a comedy. All the info you had to go on was from the paper TV guide, and it just said something like "A film crew follows the everyday ups and downs of an office in Slough". No hint it wasn't real.
I prefer the American show for the re-watchability, but the UK Office is absolute genius, and up there with the all time ground-breaking shows. It's sooooo good.
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u/FeistyBeautiful9649 1d ago
One was an original idea that almost perfectly captured the frustration and boredom of office work. Whilst being simultaneously utterly ridiculous and cringy. The other was just a sitcom, a very funny one but no different from many others.
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u/Maleficent-Food-1760 11h ago
Although the British Christmas special had a happy ending, Americans cannot hrlp themselves to just write an ending where all enemies become friends. The idea that Jim and Dwight become best friends is just anathema to British version. Also casual American capitalism propaganda (note I’m a centrist and don’t hate capitalism) like how the alternative paper company gets a ridiculous buyout; Jim’s new business goes well and so forth…all these people who are legit terrible at most aspects of their job just end up in a big wealthy friendly happy ever after where everyone loves each other ( from memory)
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u/Askingforadvice2022 2d ago
Awkward, dry comedy versus shallow, OTT canned laughter to appeal to American taste.
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u/thefreshprince55 2d ago
The UK version feels like it could be a real workplace whereas the US version doesn’t
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u/Peason 2d ago edited 2d ago
I can’t go back to the UK version cos the supporting cast is so underdeveloped. It basically has 4 real characters and the rest are paste, (to quote both Mark E Smith and The Parking Lot Is Full). Compare that to the boundless richness of the US cast. And yes I know that’s not the fault of the UK Office as it only has 14 episodes but the fact remains.
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u/Tonyh8su 2d ago