The Office season 2 finale rerun

For those who missed the season 2 finale of THE OFFICE, it's being reran

Milhouse Van Houten...

A lot of times it is, but in this case there actually was about 7 or 8
minutes of extra program, and every minute of that show had to be seen.

Daniel Damouth...

Well... I was planning to watch it for the first time tonight, and I
probably still will, for lack of another option.

karl...

I'd bet they will air another 'supersized' night between now and the
premiere of S3.

theresa...

So what was cut?

karl...

Dunno. I watched the first run and never bothered last night. Went for a
swim instead. I only caught the last 5 mintues or so.

-Dan Damouth

tonight on NBC.

Bailey Legull...

******* SPOILER ALERT ******* SPOILER ALERT ******* SPOILER ALERT
******* SPOILER ALERT

Weird how different the American version is from the British: the
British is pure cutting edge and pushing boundaries, while the American
is above-average fare for the middle-class. America's season 2 ends

zaryzary2003...

It took me a few episodes to get into the US version, but by now I
prefer it to the UK version. Not to say that I disliked the UK version
- I didn't, it was great - just that I think that the longer format (in
terms of the number of episodes, not time per episode) makes the US
version a little more paced, with more room for development of minor
characters.

One thing I've heard people say is that they like the UK version
because it's more "realistic." It's not. Yes, the UK version is more
pessimistic and bleak, but that's not more realistic, it's just more
pessimistic. Also, I love the David and Garreth characters, but I'm
not sure many of the things they say and do could be characterized as
"realistic," at least no moreso than their US counterparts (Michael and
Dwight).

Bryan Harris...

I'm not sure how the UK _Office_ is less middle-class than the US one.
Come to think of it, the UK version was pretty bourgeois: the audience
is supposed to identify with the ennui of the arty, unmotivated Tim and
Dawn, trapped by their own devices in the soul-crushing drudgery of
(gasp!) the paper industry.

By contrast, the odious Brent and Finchy have enormous chips on their
shoulders about being self-made and both tease Ricky the intern about
going to college (and Finchy is obviously Northern, so one could make
the case that regional bias gets a look in as well), Lee is depicted as
selfish and uncaring, and the blue-collar guys on the loading dock are,
with few exceptions, portrayed as disrespectful and uncouth. Nary a
working-class hero in the bunch.

with Jim and Pam kissing. Britain's season 2 -- Jim has already dumped
Pam for greener pastures -- ends with David getting fired while dressed
as an ostrich.

seapig...

I wouldn't say that Tim (Jim) dumped Dawn (Pam), he just got tired of
waiting for her to come to her senses. It was the "greener pastures"
that he had dumped by the end of season 2. The American version went
through a similar story arc with Amy Adams' character.

And it would have been hard for the Americans to fire the boss when
they have season 3 right around the corner.

The former was fun; the latter was one of the funniest things I've seen

Default User...

How do you compare a series that was little more than a mini-series
with a regulation US TV show? There were a total of 12 regular 1/2 hour
shows from the British series, and the 2-hour special. The US series

Default User...

I'm aware of that, and I didn't say it was a mini-series. I said it was
little more than. It ran a total of 12 regular episodes and a movie,
about 10 total hours of content.

Default User...

What pattern?

Matt Messina...

The pattern of having shorter seasons. HBO, Showtime, USA, FX, and
TNT's original series typically have seasons of 13-ish episodes rather
than 22-ish. That's still not as short as typical British seasons (or
"series" as they call them) of 6-ish episodes.

Default User...

Ah. I'm sure that more concentrated series do lead to better overall
qualtity within the episodes. Less "padding" for the arc-based shows
form instance.

The length of a season is proably due to financial considerations more
than anything else, but I agree with Stan's point that shorter seasons
can lead to higher quality.

has already put out 28 episodes.

akjack...

...

Does that imply two seasons with 14 episodes each
or did season 1 start later than January?
Exactly how many episodes were broadcast in season 1?

Default User...

Epguides says there were six in the first and 22 in the second, that's
what I going with.

akjack...

So that suggests NBC's The Office has been airing for a season
and a half, and will begin the second full season this Fall.
Six episodes is hardly a full season.

Default User...

Unless you're in Britain :)

That was still the season 2 finale, what else would you call it?
Epguides call the short season season Season 1, so does tv.com. What's
the criteria that make a season a season?

Barry Margolin...

In US TV, "season" doesn't refer to a number of episodes, just all the
episodes within roughly a year (which doesn't necessarily correspond to
a calendar year -- for broadcast networks it's approximately from fall
to summer, but sometimes they start the new season of a show early, in
August, to beat the rush). They also sometimes refer to half seasons
(the fall season and winter season), for shows that deliberately start
or end their runs early or late, or for shows that take a long break
between new episodes (some cable channels do this regularly).

BTW, "regular series" are 60 minute programs. The 30 minute
shows might be called mini-series. There aren't many of them
anymore.

Default User...

That's some nomeclature I'm unfamiliar with. A mini-series in the US
refers to a limited run TV series with a definite beginning, middle,
and end. The original "Roots", for instance, was six two-hour episodes.

Barry Margolin...

These days they call anything that's more than a single episode, but not
intended as an ongoing series, a mini-series. So what they used to call
two-part movies are now annoyingly referred to as mini-series.

akjack...

I recognize the conventional usage of mini-series terminology, but
was remarking that something should distinguish hour long series from
half hour series, which run about 21 minutes plus commercials.
Perhaps they should be called half episodes.

Default User...

I guess that's not worrying me too much. I wouldn't call them
"mini-series" though. As I mentioned, that already has a TV meaning.

Barry Margolin...

For the most part, the show length corresponds to the genre -- half-hour
shows are usually sitcoms, hour-long shows are mostly dramas. There are
occasional exceptions the blur the lines (for a while the term "dramedy"
was popular): Desperate Housewives, Monk, the new show Psyche. But you
can just call them "hour-long comedies" without needing special terms
for half-hour and hour-long shows.

There's no doubt the British series was an amazing show, in fact I
watched the DVD complete set over the past long weekend. However, you
can't expect a continuing series to try to ape it. In fact, that would
be exactly the WRONG move. The US series has to find its own way.

on TV.

seapig...

I recently rewatched some episodes from season 1, and they felt closer
to the original than this season has. I think it's a good thing that
the American version has become its own show. I loved the original,
but I don't need to see it done again.

In fact, NBC is airing 3 episodes of THE OFFICE, at 7:30-9:00 PM
Central--with the 8:30-9:00 PM Central being the season finale.