The war at work
The staffers at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company are reliving the laughs in The Office.
The Office Season 1 Fridays (from 9 June) SABC3 (*193) 22:00
Branch manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his Dunder Mifflin workmates are getting a rerun on SABC3 in the US version of The Office (2005-2013; the original British series ran for two seasons from 2001 to 2003). And that means one-liners, dry humour and misadventure as the team go about their work with a film crew documenting their every move. “These people are what society would call losers,” says Steve. “They have their idiosyncrasies but I think of them as human. I find people who aren’t mainstream interesting.”
KNOW YOUR ROLE
There are five important faces you’re going to see a lot of in season 1…
Ryan Howard (BJ Novak, Jamie
1 in comedy The Mindy Project, 2012- current) is the newbie who’ll do any task for anyone with authority. That’s why he’s Michael’s favourite.
Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer, Jenni2 fer in cop comedy The Mysteries Of Laura, 2014-2016) is the shy receptionist at Dunder Mifflin who’d rather doodle than answer phones all day.
Jim Halpert (John Krasinski, the 3 voice of Lancelot in the Shrek movies, 2001-2010) is the “handsome and tall” salesman on the team who loves pranking his co-worker Dwight. He’s also got a crush on Pam.
4 Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson, Everett Backstom in single-season detective show Backstrom, 2015) is Michael’s assistant who covets the top job. He’s also trained in a number of martial arts and defensive skills.
Michael is the branch manager 5 who tells inappropriate jokes and rags his co-workers. They love him and understand that it’s “just who he is,” says Steve. He’s also got a juvenile sense of humour and alter egos.
COPYCATS
The show isn’t just a US reboot – episode 1 is an almost identical copy-and-paste job. “We changed the characters’ names, the town and the company,” laughs Steve. “Otherwise it’s pretty much the exact same words that were said over there [in the UK].”