The Office UK vs US Analysis Essay

This essay will analyse the comedy television genre and examples within it. This can be seen through examples of workplace sitcom with analysis of both British and American comedy with the findings of what make programmes in this genre so popular.

A comedy programme is one made with the express intention of making people laugh, smile or smirk (Lewisohn, 1998, p. 9) and within the genre of comedy, there are several types of television programmes which include sitcom, sketch comedy and mockumentary. Programmes such as The Office, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development and Parks and Recreation all fall into these categories. One sub-genre that makes comedy programmes so popular is situational comedy, sitcom for short, and is best defined as ‘a representational art committed to harmony and consensus’ (Marc, 1989, p.118). Situation comedy is one of the staples of television and it sits between sketch comedy and situation drama. Within sitcom, there are many different sub categories such as workplace sitcom and family sitcom (Hartley, 2001, p.66) that are important in making this genre of comedy very popular. The workplace sitcom is focused on the relationships between co-workers in a workplace environment, which may also lead to these co-workers forming close relationships between them.

Workplace sitcom is the following of characters in a working environment, such as an office; The Office or Parks and Recreation, or a bar; Cheers, or anywhere that is classed as a workplace. To distinguish a workplace sitcom, the setting, the character types and the mise-en-scene can help the audience tell what sub-genre of sitcom it is. A key example of this sub-genre is The Office, both the English and American versions, have many differences from each other.

The UK original follows a group of employees of a stationary company in Slough, led by manager David Brent (portrayed by Ricky Gervais), as they face the possibility of being downsized and relocated to Swindon. The US version follows a group of employees of a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, led by manager Michael Scott (portrayed by Steve Carell). You can tell these shows are examples of workplace sitcom as both shows are set in an office, the characters look like realistic office workers and the roles of the characters also show this, such as Dawn (UK) and Pam (US) who are receptionists. In both shows, they feature an ensemble of less well-known actors to bring out the comedic potential in each situation. This can be seen through the original featuring a young Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis and Ralph Ineson. However, as the production for the American show was going to be bigger and more flamboyant, this meant that producers wanted a larger ensemble including; John Krasinksi, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey and many more. The idea that comedy is about character rather than jokes is one often applied to British sitcoms (Mills, 2009, p.57), which can be seen through Ricky Gervais’ character of David Brent. He is presented as the man who thinks he is the life and soul of the party, who wants to please everybody but instead creates an awkward disconnect between him and his colleagues. The same can be seen through Michael Scott but he is presented as more extravagant and ludicrous, which can never be realistic, but both managers represent what both shows are like. The UK version can be described as dry, realistic and sometimes hopeless, just like Brent whereas the US version however, is cheerful, friendly and cartoony, exactly like the character played by Carell.

The members of the Office (UK), particularly, Brent, are all too aware of the presence of the camera and constantly acknowledge it with looks or asides. In Brent’s case, they are often used for self-promotion, as he checks that the camera has picked up some positive phrase or action. He constantly performs for the camera, inadvertently upsetting and embarrassing his colleagues as he does so. In this way, Brent hopes to capitalise on ‘the fact that we have seen an appreciable rise in the number of “ordinary” people appearing on television’ (Holmes & Jermyn, 2003, p.111). In the American version, the characters behave as if they are not being filmed but in the British version, the characters are all aware of the camera. Due to this the comedy is created in the gap between the ‘real’ person and how they attempt to portray themselves for the viewing public (Mills, 2005, p.65).

Also, when looking at the narrative of both shows, the comedy may be resolved each week, but the situation never is and most episodes in the sitcom genre rarely refer to events in previous episodes (Mills, 2005, p.27) and this leads to easy viewing for the audience. The storylines exist to support humour, are more likely to include non-casual scenes such as the shots of the office technology and the use of small, short-lived pleasures being offered.

In terms of production, the use of the documentary shooting style of both programmes positions the audience in relation to the events portrayed very differently than traditional sitcom, the hand-held camera also makes it obvious to audiences in noticing the genre. The three-headed monster shooting style, conventionally defines sitcom and ensures that the actors performance are captured and gives the audience an omniscient position in which the events being played out are readily understandable (Mills, 2005, p.62).

One of the most defining aspects of recent sitcom is the abandonment of the laugh track which can be seen through both the British and American Office. Tara Brabazon argues that the mock-documentary format of The Office (both US and UK) allows the programme to engage with the ‘post-modern, post-colonial, post-industrial’ (Barbazon, 2005, p.101) nature of the contemporary workplace through the lingering shots of office technology and characters engaging in mundane work activities, which would be far less likely to appear in a sitcom with a laugh track (Mills, 2009, p.105). It is also noticeable that due to the abandonment of the laugh track, it has now resulted in both audiences to think, for a short time at least, that they’re watching an actual documentary (Mills, 2005, p.51).

When watching both programmes, The UK Office is only two seasons long, whereas The US Office ran for nine seasons. After the second season of the American version, everything that was made was original, which helped to grow the characters as well as the narratives of their developments throughout. This can be seen through the relationships of Jim and Pam, Angela and Dwight, and Michael and Holly. As defined by Hartley (2008, p.80), workplace sitcoms are also generically driven to be about sexual chemistry rather than occupational specificity. While this can be seen throughout the entirety of the American version, the British show only gives hints that Tim and Dawn do not start a relationship together at the end of the last series. However, upon meeting Tim in the first couple of episodes, that’s all that is interesting in his storyline.

The UK Office, was first broadcasted on BBC Two, the home of small figure television shows where new programmes go to grow. Certain programmes on this channel often get very popular and are moved to big figure channels, such as The Office. Due to this, this where the Office became very well known to audiences. So, when looking at the US version, it was first broadcasted on NBC, one of the most popular channels in America. Due to this, the American viewers were thrown in the deep end without any knowledge it was a remake of a small British television programme and it was something new and original compared to other sitcoms that were already being broadcasted. In some ways, this made the programme more popular than the UK version with the show gaining 11.2 million views on the first episode compared to the UK’s first episode not gaining as many. However, the UK version was broadcasted at late on a Monday night, whereas the Office US was broadcasted at 9.30pm on a Thursday night, moving to the same time on a Tuesday, straight after The Biggest Loser on a Tuesday and Will and Grace on Tuesday, which were two of the most popular shows at the time, both gaining around 9 million views. The market-driven desire to predict and produce popularity lies behind scheduling practice as well. By a careful mix of genres, the scheduler hopes to build an audience for the network or channel that is of maximum size and that contains the right mix of social groups to be sold to advertisers. (Fiske, 1987, p.113)

In conclusion, there are many aspects that make both British and American television programmes in the sitcom genre very popular around the world. This may include the use of actors, such as Steve Carell, Ricky Gervais and the ensemble, or the production which may include the documentary shooting style and the three headed monster camera angles. The scheduling also plays a significant role in what makes these programmes popular as the channel the show is broadcasted on and what time determines the number of viewers. Also, the narrative makes it easy watching for the audiences as they can just watch an episode without worrying about if they have missed information from previous episodes.

Bibliography

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Fiske, J. (1987) Television Culture. London. Routledge.

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Hartley, J. (2001) Situation Comedy, Part One. In G. Creeber., Miller. T, Tulloch. J, The Television Genre Book. (1st ed.). London. British Film Institute.

Holmes, S & Jermyn, D. (2003) Understanding Reality Television. London. Routledge.

Lewisohn, M. (1998) Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy. London. BBC Worldwide.

Marc, D. (1989) Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture. New York. Blackwell

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