maybe i'm a stupid american, but i do find it a little hard to understand british shows. the majority of the show that accent is not an issue, but everynow and then usually on the subtle jokes i don;t hear them or fully get them

Can't say that I found this show humorous or entertaining. However, the preview of next week's episode looked hysterical.


I agree. While S4 was not as strong as the first 3, I still found it quite funny - funnier than any current American sitcom save possibly Arrested Development.

I actually think The Young Ones is brilliant.

Some great moments are missed because of the cultural divides. A fantastically funny bit can be completely lost while you are puzzling over just what the hell a "peak practice" or "scotch egg" is.

I love many forms of British humor, and rank it slightly ahead of American at times primarily because the English seem less afraid to mock themselves and their own self-admitted foibles.

And Americans know we have a lot of crapola on TV, but only we are allowed to say it.

I thought it was very much like the original series in that it was completely unfunny and uninteresting. I realize that many of you really love the show and I sincerely wish I could jump on the bandwagon and like it to - which is why I am giving the US version a shot - but alas, I can't see this show as anything but lame. I'm gonna stick with the US version because they're supposed to stray from the BBC version and maybe they can pull something funny (to me) out of this concept.

oh, well good then!

A lot of the subtlety was missing. The Gareth character was more of a caricature than a plausible character. It felt far more staged and forced than the original too. I'm willing to keep going since they're using all original scripts from this point on, but I'm not incredibly optimistic.

-Paul Jacobi-

Not true - NBC could have bleeped out the curse words like what arrested development does. A trend I wish more shows would pick up on.

Could someone explain to me what makes Coupling so brilliant? I watched one or two episodes, and I found it a boring remake of another show I dislike, Friends.

How about Good luck getting that on US TV (broadcast-wise).

Gee I don't know. It makes me laugh hysterically. How else can I explain it?

I don't know why people always compare Coupling to Friends. Except for the fact that is has 3 guys and 3 girls, I always found it to be more like S&TC and Seinfeld (kind of a mix of both). Heck, Jeff and Jane don't even have a conversation with each other until S3, so they aren't even all friends.

My comparison goes: Coupling is a lot like Friends, except it's funny.

Another thing to consider, about 3 seasons of episodes on BBC equals a full season of episodes on US TV.

because it's in 'american'... foreign programming is more of an art form and thus it makes you smarter if you can watch it and understand it. I should know... I'm a friggin genius because I watch kung fu movies.

Wait a minute. Gareth was "subtle" in the original? I just can't agree. He didn't really feel like a plausible character to me in the BBC series, even though I found him and especially his interactions with Tim hilarious. I don't think the new character is any more of a caricature than Gareth was.

I know this isn't the case in every situation, but I still think much of the reaction to the new series is people unable to let go of the original. I loved the original (well, at least the first season, after that I thought it fizzled out), but you need to approach things with an open mind. If you don't find it funny, that's fine. Humor is very subjective. But if you are going to spend all your time either comparing it to the original or ripping just the idea of trying to make a remake of the original, like others said, [Mitch Hedburg voice]You are not the target audience.[/Mitch Hedburg voice]

Heh, getting good airplay. Just saw replays of The Office on USA and now it's on BRAVO channel.

It's weird I just caught this replay on USA, and I think I like it better than the second episode that just aired. Maybe I was just in a better mood, but I laughed out loud a few times, and I had already seen the original series about 40 times.

I watched the first episode and it kind of just seemed like a bunch of people roleplaying the BBC show. Kind of silly. I don't know why people wouldn't just watch the original. It was still amusing to see, I guess, if I hadn't seen the original, I would probably have found it ok... but the changes made, I didn't really enjoy (I did kind of like Pam, though, but she's a totally different character from Dawn, but still an enjoyable one) and I really longed for stuff from the original, like the Tim and Gareth interaction and the fact that it just seemed so much more natural.

If anyone missed this, they are replaying 4 episodes starting at 8:00 on 8/17, NBC.

"Pilot"
When a documentary crew arrives at Mifflin, manager Michael Scott attempts to paint a rosy picture but fails after learning the company will be downsizing.

"Diversity Day"
Michael tells everyone it was his idea to hire a special consultant (Larry Wilmore) to teach racial tolerance and diversity, when in fact it was his behavior that necessitated the training.

"Health Care"
When Dwight gets the authority to choose a health plan for everyone, the power quickly goes to his head, infuriating his co-workers.

"Hot Girl"
An attractive woman's arrival has the male staff members vying for her attention.

Wonder why they aren't showing "The Alliance" or "Basketball"? Those along with "Health Care" were the best 3 episodes imo.

the basketball episode was the funniest half hour of sports-related comedy I have ever seen. and i've seen a lot.

it was by far the best episode.

Weird, I thought The Alliance and Basketball were the two best episodes of the short seasons, they should have shown those two.

I'll probably catch them anyway since I found most of the series funny.

Basketball and Diversity day were my favorites. I'm hoping we get the rest the following week, but TiVo doesn't go that far out yet.

Basketball was great, anyone know when there gonna show more new episodes?