Like the FBI, Like the CIA, Like the BBC.....Dig it, Dig it..

The Office (Season 1)

Rating 4.5/5.00

where 5 is a brilliant show and as usual, it was on the BBC

I would have watched Office a long time ago if back then I knew what I know now - if its a comedy and its on BBC, it just has to be good.

The Office Season 1 came in 2001. It was all over the place and beat the likes of a League of Gentlemen to a bafta and that's the reason why I was avoiding it for so long. I dislike easy availability - the entire fun of buying it at Duty free or by downloading torrents is gone if you know its there if you want it at the local DVD shop. Also I dislike immediate popularity - its always fishy - why is everyone running after this when noone is aware of other BBC comedies which are so, so good? Why are people not aware of other amazingly funny BBC shows -

The League of Gentlemen - where everyone is weird, psychotic, obsessive or downright stupid and where weirdness reigns supreme in a league of gentlemanly way

The Mighty Boosh - where everyone is weird, psychotic, obsessive or downright stupid and where weirdness reigns supreme in a mighty booshy way

Monty Python's Flying Circus -  where everyone is weird, psychotic, obsessive or downright stupid and where weirdness reigns supreme in a monty pythonesque way

The Red Dwarf - where everyone is weird, psychotic, obsessive or downright stupid and where weirdness reigns supreme in a red dwarfy way
 
Blackadder - where everyone is weird, psychotic, obsessive or downright stupid and where weirdness reigns supreme in a blackaddery way


The Office takes this legacy forward with its own quirky humor & shaky camera shots and adds to it in a way with its unique documentary approach - unlike the shows mentioned above it doesn't happen on a spaceship (Red Dwarf) or in a zoo (The Mighty Boosh Season 1) or in another century (Blackadder) or in all sorts of odd places (Monty Python) - it happens in an Office and that's a big challenge because you have to limit your imagination to what goes on inside and to keep generating fresh laughs within these confines (as all monthly wage office going labourers are aware) is not easy. We keep laughing at the Boss or the Boss's boss but do we have anything new to amuse ourselves with? "Fresh" being the key word here. That brings to mind the Yes Minister series - just when you would think they can't get better or more innovative, they would. The Office Season 1 does that too quite often. Worth a watch.

imdb link here

Can you *imagine* how I feel about it, Dmitri?... Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello?

Important Things with Demetri Martin Season 1 (2008)


Rating 3.5/5.0
where 5.0 is a mutant animal called The Mighty Boosh

I don't do TV series on this blog.

When you see good comedy that's come out in this century, nearly everything seems derivative of (a) Monty Python (b) Blackadder, (c) Red Dwarf, (d) Arrested Development (e) Friends (f) ____________ (g) _________________ (h) ____________ (i) _________________ (j) _______________ etc etc

Fill in your favorite comedy series from the 60s to 90s and you're done.

So Demetri Martin doesn't come in as a fresh breath of hair....but he succeeds in deriving creatively and adding stuff which atleast to me looks freshly ground. The show won't make you laugh till you drop (that does happen but only once in a while) but it does do really well when it comes to catching my limited attention span for new, untried tv shows -

Demetri plays guitar, drum pads and harmonica at the same time while singing silly songs
Demetri says - Hello, my name is Demetri Martin
Demetri always pushes the Joke button first on his paper button console
Demetri has an expressionless skit face when he does skits which you will come to like slowly, painfully
Demetri likes sketching and sometime he does neat little smarty pants things with his skethces

Also, Demetri is lazy and sometimes doesn't do enough to make it just right - which sort of makes you want to get hold of Season 2 - just to be sure.

Imdb link here
Buy it here Important Things with Demetri Martin: Season One