Yeah, I’m mostly alone in this one. Everyone I know loves that show.
I tried though; I did. 
I felt like season 1 and part of season 2 were a bit derivative of the UK office, Steve Carrell was taking a lot of direction to “act like David Brent” but the episodes are still good in my opinion, I don’t think the pam/jim dynamic could have been established without that material, but at like the end of season 2 and season 3 they really hit their stride and Michael Scott morphs into something like a child and is no longer doing a David Brent impersonation. It becomes a whole other show which I can see someone not liking if they were looking for the UK office with American actors.
The first season is still good, lots of classic moments, but it doesn’t really have anything human to grab onto unless you want to be reminded of how obnoxious workplaces can be. In fact, it seemed to me that the “office / coworker relationship” dynamic is the only thing that really carries over from those first 2 seasons and, moving forwards, carries a lot of the human drama of show on it’s back. The rest of it, up until steve carrell left the show, felt like it existed in a whole different world from the first 2 seasons (to me at least).
The (american) office and the simpsons are two of the only broadcast tv shows that I have watched extensively on dvd and not gotten tired of. At the same time, given the context of it having existed previously as the UK office and having the thematic majority of the plot carry over, I can see where it would be difficult to draw a line and might have the entire body of work feel like poorly orchestrated mimicking, especially if you lost interest within the first couple of seasons.
A show (or movie) where the male protagonist is effortlessly tough and cool and there’s absolutely nothing that can stop them. Basically just a power fantasy where said hero always has the best quips and is an invincible killing machine (the Denzel Equalizer films fall firmly into this category)
Ha! I feel like a bad dad now!
I work like a motherfucker trying to be tough and cool but then I pull a muscle or some other sad shit and stop!
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I enjoyed the series, season 1 more so than 2.
No problem with the actor (not seen him in anything previously) or his portrayal of the character (haven’t read the books or seen the other movies).
It’s just a bit of fun.
To be honest, it’s a losing battle if you have a minds eye picture of a character, seeing them brought to life is rarely a comfortable or rewarding experience.
Comments regarding his physique and how it’s described in the books? I don’t think you will find many actors in the size and muscle category that don’t look like they’re the product of the gym, so eh, what can you do.
American state/establishment thriller tv series are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, I try not to take them too seriously, some others that I’ve enjoyed recently:
- Condor - really liked this one.
- The Night Agent - pretty good as well
- The Terminal List - took a bit to get into, but ok overall all
- Jack Ryan - recently watched the American Office in full for the first time, so yeah this was weird, but overall pretty good.
- Lioness - season 1 felt a bit by the numbers in some ways, but picked up. Season 2 was pretty great but seemed to finish a bit abruptly
- Berlin Station - similar deal but euro focus
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I mean the protagonist doesn’t have to be a dad, just someone that would make a middle aged dad think “if anybody messed with me, I’d probably do just as well as that guy.”
They sound delusional!
I’m more of a I hope I don’t run into that bad ass motherfucker, he’d kick the shit out of me!
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Well for anyone who is interested I just saw this “article” which says reacher only has 2 cast members returning for season 3.
I think it’s a smart move. Having read some of the books, reacher being the lone wolf who moves from town to town, there’s little to no character overlap between them. So they’d have to bend the concept quite a lot to have any more of his old crew keep reappearing.
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