Just a reminder that Ricky Gervais appears on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ tonight.
The Post-Turkey Tally
New blogs this week
- Jenna’s MySpace blog: Gift Ideas, My Favorite Things, And Other News
- Kate’s TV Guide blog: Thanksgiving Message
- Kevin’s MySpace blog: TWO Very Special Announcements | I Love Stuffing
Other notable items
This week’s notable items have very little to do with The Office. Hope they’re interesting anyway!
- Reuters reports that Rainn Wilson’s next project is “Bonzai Shadowlands,” “in which he will star as a once-great ninja who is now living a life of mediocrity.” Read “Office” fascist Dwight dons ninja suit for film.
- Business 2.0 magazine features Michael Scott and his thoughts on employee motivation. An excerpt: “The three keys to motivating your staff are love (positive reinforcement), fear (negative reinforcement), and chocolate (chocolate reinforcement).” See full scans of the magazine article and cover here.
- Here’s Rashida Jones (“Karen”) in an impossibly cute music video for “Be Gentle With Me” by The Boy Least Likely To. Thanks Sydney!
- For you Ricky Gervais fans, he’s released the second of three free “Podfather” podcasts, courtesy of Guardian Unlimited. The podcasts star Ricky, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington.
- What has Karly Rothenberg (“Madge” from the warehouse) been up to? How about voice work in the latest California Cows commercial? Karly writes, “I am the cow that comments on how it was fun while it lasted, and then I suggest a rousing game of dodge ball! How cool to be a California Cow!” Watch the commercial here.
- Okay, one 100% directly-related Office item — check out proudgirl’s latest fanvid creation, “Dance Inside,” in the Office Fan Video Playlist. Sniff, sniff …
U.S. TV gets it right with “Britcoms”
TV critic Alan Sepinwall discusses what it takes to make foreign TV show sensations successful here in the U.S. The Office is used as a prime example.
An excerpt:
Where Ricky Gervais’ David Brent in the original was a sweaty, incompetent clod, Steve Carell’s Michael Scott is presented as a pathetically lonely man who wants everyone to be his friend. It doesn’t make him easier to work for, but it does make us — and, on occasion, the other characters — understand his behavior.
In the second-season premiere, Michael dragged the entire staff to Chili’s for his unbearable annual tradition of “The Dundies,” a gag award show. Everyone complained about having to sit through Michael’s lame, borderline-offensive jokes, but when a bunch of drunks at the bar began to heckle and shame him, the staff rose to his defense — a feel-good moment that never would have happened on the British show but didn’t feel false here.
David Brent teaches Microsoft values
I don’t normally post items related to the original BBC version of “The Office,” but this was too good to pass up.
A Microsoft UK employee (Stephen Merchant) interviews David Brent (Ricky Gervais), former manager of Wernham Hogg paper products in Slough, for his insights on corporate culture and career development.
Even though these videos were produced back in 2003, I just received notice of them today, through the article ‘The Office’ visits Microsoft’s office in PC Advisor.
- The Office Values Part 1 video (20 min)
- The Office Values Part 2 video, “Realising Potential” (17 min)
David’s insights into Nelson Mandela and Stephen Hawking are thought-provoking, to say the least. And please make sure to watch until the end of both videos.
Ricky Gervais talks about The Office
Entertainment Weekly speaks to Ricky Gervais about some of his current projects. Ricky also talks a little bit about the The Office:
Are you pleased with the way the American version of The Office has evolved into its own show?
It’s my favorite sitcom. You try to make shows that you want to watch. I did with The Office, I’m doing it now with Extras. It’s the show you wish someone else had made, but I had to make it. With the American Office, it’s the best of both worlds because someone else made it, and it’s just how I wanted it. So it’s a joy.
Read more of EW’s interview with Ricky Gervais here.
Thanks to Matthew for sending this in!
Original stars to visit The Office
From this morning’s headlines at contactmusic.com:
The British stars of the original The Office show are set to visit the US version of the hit comedy to shoot cameo roles. Ben Silverman, who executive produces the American version for NBC, claims employees of Slough, England paper company Wernham Hogg could find themselves sharing an office with Scranton, Pennsylvania company Dunder Mifflin.
Silverman tells the New York Post newspaper, “There’s a lot of love between (the casts and crews) of the two versions of the show.” “Expect some cameos from the UK paper company.” While Silverman refuses to name which stars will be appearing, he does say the show’s creator Ricky Gervais, who played cringeworthy boss David Brent in the UK version, won’t be on the US comedy anytime soon. He says, “We’re going to save the big man for now.”
Oh boy oh boy oh boy!
Read the New York Post article here. (Thanks, Roger!)
P.S. This article is no longer available.
Michael Scott and David Brent: best friends forever
A recent Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune included a short Q&A with Ricky Gervais, star and producer of the original UK version of “The Office,” as well as executive producer of the US version.
The final question of the article was:
What do you think David Brent [boss of the BBC’s “The Office,” played by Gervais] and Michael Scott would enjoy doing together?
Ricky responds:
Getting drunk and showing off. It would be like Bill and Ted or “Dumb and Dumber.”
Now wouldn’t that be a splendid episode! Maybe they would meet and become friends at some international paper convention …
P.S. This article is no longer available.
The Office receives Rose d’Or nominations
Rose d’Or (“Golden Rose”), the international festival for entertainment television programming, has announced its 2006 nominees.
Among them:
- Best Sitcom: The Office
- Best Male Sitcom Performance: Steve Carell
The Office and Steve Carell are the only U.S. nominees in their respective categories.
Oh, and it’s nice that Ricky Gervais, executive producer of The Office and star and creator of the original UK version, will be given an Honorary Rose d’Or Award “in recognition of his exceptional creative talents, his originality and his innovation.”
The awards ceremony will be held on April 29 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
(Never heard of Rose d’Or until today? Me either! But it’s been around 43 years and is supposed to be the most prestigious competition for international television programming. Learn more here.)
So this brings up the question: in which countries is the U.S. version of The Office broadcast? — please post a comment!