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When Office Space came out in 1999 it struck a nerve with IT professionals everywhere. This movie really hit the mark with everything wrong with live in a cubicle. Well, it was only a matter of time before someone took this idea and made it a TV show, but who would have thought it would have been the BBC? The Office premiered on the BBC back in 2001 and was a smash hit. This time it wasn't aimed at geeks, but was aimed at office life in general. Also, since they had more than 90 minutes to work with they were able to tackle a much wider array of issues. Does it work? Do you see the 5 stars at the top of this review? The story is told as a documentary on office life, centering on the boss of a regional sales office for a paper company. David Brent (the boss, played by writer/director Ricky Gervais) thinks he's a comedian and that all of his employees love him. Of course he's not even slightly funny, and nobody in the office cares about him at all. The other main characters are Tim Canterbury (sales), Gareth Keenan (sales), and Dawn Tinsley (reception.) There are many others, and they're all great, but the plot mainly revolves around these three. Gareth is a type-A geek who has no clue as to how stupid some of the things he says are and who has no manners whatsoever. Tim is laid back but also unmotivated, and mainly gets through the day by winding Gareth up on a regular basis with the help of Dawn. Is there a plot to pull this together? Well yes, but that's hardly the point. Seems there are two sales offices that are going to be combined to cut costs, but which office will close and which will move... and in the process, who will be made redundant? Really though the pleasure in this show is just watching how much this office mirrors parts of your own workplace. We all know a Gareth, and we all know a Tim that likes to poke at him. We've all had bosses that think they are brilliant but don't have a freakin clue. The other nice thing about this set is that it's BBC programming, and censorship in England isn't the same as it is here. They can say words we don't even print on the website, and their site gags aren't limited either. Can you imagine seeing a 3ft. long inflatable penis on American TV? How about a purple, studded, rotating vibrator? Oh, and they aren't "Politically Correct" either and can poke fun at race and disability without worrying about lawsuits. Heck, if the food over there didn't suck so bad I might move! Then again, they do have Krispy Kreme now... This DVD set is worth every penny and then some. The 7 and a half hours will go by so quickly you'll think you must have missed a DVD while watching it. In fact, I think I'm gonna go watch it again. - John
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