The Office- Television's New Engines

Jon Phillips
October 23, 2009
The Office
The original UK BBC Two version of The Office (Ricky Gervais, 2001) has been sold, in various dubbed, subtitled, or in its original forms, to over 80 countries worldwide, and remains one of the most successful British television shows of all time in this respect. Not only is the original popular, but there have been a number of franchised remakes done, each growing respectably successful in its country of origin. The show itself is a sitcom about the drudgery of office life, shot in a mockumentary style without a laugh track or studio audience.
There are currently franchised remakes of the show in The United States (The Office), France (Le Bureau), French-Canada (La Job), and Chile (La Ofis) with rumors of more to come in Russia and India (1,2) , and a very popular unlicensed German version entitled Stromberg. The ones I will be focusing on here are the two English-speaking versions of The Office, US and UK (NBC and BBC), and La Ofis (Canal 13). Clips from these variants can be seen on the blog post.
The homogenization of media by the spread of these shows is readily apparent. The pilot episode of each is practically word for word the same, with only localizations changed (or, as in the case of the Canal 13 version, translated into another language). It is easy to understand, even if one does not understand Spanish but has seen the original Ricky Gervais version, the setup and punchline, as well as the general gist of the story, for the entirety of the pilot episode of La Ofis. The characters as well, despite minor personality characteristics, are practically identical copies of one another in each- David Brent, Michael Scott, and Manuel Cerda are practically the same oafish, socially unaware boss archetype, an example of spreading the humor and characterizations involved in the original British television show throughout the world.
The similarities don't stop at character and story points- the format of the sitcom is copied to each as well. The most obvious television engine is the mockumentary format, in which the characters address the camera and are aware of their presence on television. This leads to many interesting and metafictional moments.
While for the most part, the various shows are incredibly similar, they also differentiate themselves from one another. The harsh, squirming, and oftentimes painful subliminal discomfort of the British TV show's humor (see corresponding video on blog post) didn't translate well in the States when the show was first adapted, so the humor gradually became less painful and developed an undercurrent of hope to lighten the mood. The Chilean version, as well, is adapted to its own nations style of humor. Writing in her blog (3), Renee from Buenos Aires states:
But what I love the most is that "La Ofis" is so CHILEAN! When I first heard about the show, I thought they were going to do some kind of pan-latin american thing to be aired all over the Spanish speaking world. But instead, "La Ofis" is Chileno to the core. The chilenis (estai enoja'o? No poh, no 'toy enoja'o, cachai?), the references of places and things within Santiago (the boss' minion is also a volunteer fireman in Ñuñoa whose colleague hid his walkie-talkie in a completo during the first episode), and the way Manuel is constantly making racist jokes about the Peruvian office worker.
So what can these localized, but still templated, versions of a television show teach us? The fact that the style of humor and the engines utilized transcends national boundaries and cultural borders is highly indicative of our unity as television-watching creatures. However, the fact that they needed to be adapted at all, instead of shown in their original form (the French dub of the original UK version fell flat, but when it was adapted it became well respected and popular), still shows us that we are different in many important ways.
1. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/28/2316091.htm
2. http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php
3. http://rms81alreves.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-love-la-ofis.html


The Office UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShtqquBMBTY&feature=related

The Office US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgohZtd558Q&feature=related

La Ofis Chile
http://www.tu.tv/videos/la-ofis-1x01-the-office-chile-_1