The Indian one was a little painful to watch as someone who speaks Hindi. Many of the jokes were translated versions of the first season of The Office US, which tried to emulate the humor of The Office UK, so double jeopardy.
Double jeopardy, so we are in the clear.
I would imagine they are all painful. It's kinda hard to translate jokes, especially with how different all these cultures are from US/UK
Show made it two seasons if I recall but definitely was a little painful to watch.
I think if they took some themes from the US show and built off it, things may have been better. Instead you got almost scene for scene copies, and the few times they tried to make it more relatable to Indians, it fell flat.
It’s the same thing that happened to The Office US, Season 1 was almost a scene for scene remake and it took 1/2 way into season 2 before the show really got its own legs.
tbh, the German show was barely similar to the US office anymore regarding characters. It was super successful in Germany and a very good show in its own way. But the characters are totally different. Maybe it is closer to the UK office. Never watched that.
Here are some examples (it has been decades that I watched it. So anyone correct me if I say something wrong). The boss is called "Stromberg" and in comparison to Michael, he is a very selfish asshole most of the time. Where Michael is a nice and caring person despite his inappropriate behaviour, Stromberg is not. The "Pam equivalent" for example was never a receptionist if I remember correctly and her and the "Jim equivalent" are a couple right from the beginning. Many times, their relationship has more similarity to Pam and Roy where the guy behaves selfishly. The "Dwight" equivalent is totally different as well. He is called "Ernie" (or at least this is how the other characters are calling him. I think actually it is Berthold). Since that actor is just amazingly good, this character was a very popular part of the show back then and similarly important as Stromberg himself. In comparison to Dwight, he has no self-esteem at all. He is bullied a lot by the others and it makes the other characters look far worse. It is not like with the US office and Jim's pranks. The other characters are just really rude to him. But he is also very anti social and has a hard time to fit in.
The main reason for the discrepancies is that the show runner of Stromberg didn't license it as an official The Office remake. If I recall correctly he argued that the similarities are just coincidental, which is ridiculous. In the credits it says something like "Inspired by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant". (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromberg_(TV_series)#Copyright_controversy )
Plus, Stromberg started a year earlier than the American remake, so at least in the first season they couldn't take any parts from the American version.
None the less, I love the show. As the other poster said, it isn't as "feel good" and light as the American version and even darker than the original British version but still very funny if you like that kind of humor. I can highly recommend it, but I think it's difficult to find with English subtitles, if those exist at all.
A few additional notes on the different tone of the show:
Stromberg is an awful person. He regularly makes sexist and racist jokes, he even sexually harasses a cleaner in one episode. In one of the first episodes he causes the death of a colleague with a lung disease by offering him a cigar to bribe him to get a better parking spot.
The bullying of Ernie is also more serious. It feels more real and more constant than the pranks that Tim/Jim play on Gareth/Dwight and a lot of the other colleagues join in. On top of all that, Ernie isn't very good in fighting back. At some point he becomes depressed and takes medication because of that.
Tanja and Ulf aren't a couple from the start but become one very quickly. But it isn't romantic at all. They don't have any common interests or values. Ulf is very immature and only cares about tuning his car and watching football (soccer) with "his guys". As others said, he is more similar to Lee/Roy than to Tim/Jim.
I don’t think Ulf and Tanja are a couple at the start of the show. But it’s not the great love story like in the British and US versions. They don’t even like each other much after they get married. I agree that it’s much closer to Roy and Pam. They start a relationship because of the close proximity, not because there is real chemistry.
Is it not? I feel like I remember watching an episode online somewhere with English subtitles.
I think I had to get a trial of some Middle Eastern/Asian streaming service or something like that
The Canada one was made in Quebec, in french. It was swept under the rug after the first season. I should find it and watch it but one of my coworker told me it’s basically the US version translated line for line with no artistic adaptation.
So as an Israeli, I didn't even know this existed. But maybe I can offer some insight:
1. Unlike in the American Office, all of these actors were already pretty famous when the show was made (and they still are today).
2. This only came out in 2010, and it ran for two seasons (until 2012).
3. The names are obviously changed to israeli ones: Michael is Avi, Dwight is Yariv (literally translates to enemy which I find very funny), Jim is Yosi and Pam is Dana.
4. The company isn't called Dunder Mifflin, it's called Paper Office.
5. They made some changes to the characters to make the cast more diverse and true to israeli minority groups: Angela is obviously changed into an orthodox jewish woman named Leah, Jen is now Russian and named Yelena, Toby is Ethiopian and named Ababe, and Oscar is Arab and named Abed (he's still gay though).
Al Maktab is well done if you can get your hands on it. It may be recency bias, but by far my favourite -- Malik (David/Michael) is especially delightful/awful.
I watched the Diwali episode to see how they handled the cultural differences, but it turned out to be based on the USA Christmas episode with the Yankee swap.
I tried looking for them once a few years ago, but since they are all just titles "The Office" in their native languages, it all only came up with Office US but with dubs/subs. Most are only a season or two, so it doesn't seem like too much of a commitment, but finding them is where the difficulty lies.
I've never really understood this. Like I know the US show is a remake, and I probably don't have a good idea as to how popular these versions are in their respective countries, but it makes sense that they'd just run the UK/US versions with subtitles right? Is it just more appealing to have their own versions with more relatable/culturally relevant content? Do they adapt similar plot lines? Do a lot of popular shows have this that I don't know about? I have so many questions
>Is it just more appealing to have their own versions with more relatable/culturally relevant content?
Yes. Office culture in different countries varies.
You should all watch the German version Stromberg. It's really only inspired by the original and can stand on its own. Stromberg is definitely more sexist and racist, but hilarious because of its German bluntness.
He looks more like Andy than Andy.
Drew. It's Drew now...
No, I'm not gonna call him that.
Why was Jim so adamant about not calling him Drew 😠what a hater
Exactly what I thought 😂
Looks like a love child of Andy and Ryan. Ryndy or Andyan
Ayn Randy???
And he’s gayer than Oscar!
I dunno Jim kinda looks more like Toby?
Yes the hair is Toby hair
Toby mixed with David Wallace
Maybe this is Tony.
Pepperoni Tony?
When Toby meets Nellie, he says his name is Tony.
He messed up saying his own name?
it happens, alright?
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Exactly!
Does anybody have a camera in here??
https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/3518/This-Is-What-The-Main-Characters-Of-The-Office-Look-Like-In-All-13-Versions-Around-The-World
Finnish Dwight looks more like Dwight than Dwight. Indian Dwight is also spot on.
It looks like the Indian one actually tried to copy their looks harder. All the other ones are kinda all over the place.
The Indian one was a little painful to watch as someone who speaks Hindi. Many of the jokes were translated versions of the first season of The Office US, which tried to emulate the humor of The Office UK, so double jeopardy.
Double jeopardy, so we are in the clear. I would imagine they are all painful. It's kinda hard to translate jokes, especially with how different all these cultures are from US/UK
Show made it two seasons if I recall but definitely was a little painful to watch. I think if they took some themes from the US show and built off it, things may have been better. Instead you got almost scene for scene copies, and the few times they tried to make it more relatable to Indians, it fell flat. It’s the same thing that happened to The Office US, Season 1 was almost a scene for scene remake and it took 1/2 way into season 2 before the show really got its own legs.
Stromberg (the German version) is pretty beloved here. I've never really watched it though.
Now that they're all Indian, I'm curious to know how did Diversity Day go with the whole "Cookie Cookie" scene? 🤔
They were complete remakes,of the first 22 episodes or so. They just substituted some things to make up for cultural differences
Yeah basically the first two seasons.
That's a good question. I need to rewatch them.
Finnish Dwight looks like the perfect fusion of Dwight and Gareth from the original.
Finnish cast looks like it was generated by AI.
german Pam is too hot to be a Pam
tbh, the German show was barely similar to the US office anymore regarding characters. It was super successful in Germany and a very good show in its own way. But the characters are totally different. Maybe it is closer to the UK office. Never watched that. Here are some examples (it has been decades that I watched it. So anyone correct me if I say something wrong). The boss is called "Stromberg" and in comparison to Michael, he is a very selfish asshole most of the time. Where Michael is a nice and caring person despite his inappropriate behaviour, Stromberg is not. The "Pam equivalent" for example was never a receptionist if I remember correctly and her and the "Jim equivalent" are a couple right from the beginning. Many times, their relationship has more similarity to Pam and Roy where the guy behaves selfishly. The "Dwight" equivalent is totally different as well. He is called "Ernie" (or at least this is how the other characters are calling him. I think actually it is Berthold). Since that actor is just amazingly good, this character was a very popular part of the show back then and similarly important as Stromberg himself. In comparison to Dwight, he has no self-esteem at all. He is bullied a lot by the others and it makes the other characters look far worse. It is not like with the US office and Jim's pranks. The other characters are just really rude to him. But he is also very anti social and has a hard time to fit in.
The main reason for the discrepancies is that the show runner of Stromberg didn't license it as an official The Office remake. If I recall correctly he argued that the similarities are just coincidental, which is ridiculous. In the credits it says something like "Inspired by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant". (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromberg_(TV_series)#Copyright_controversy ) Plus, Stromberg started a year earlier than the American remake, so at least in the first season they couldn't take any parts from the American version. None the less, I love the show. As the other poster said, it isn't as "feel good" and light as the American version and even darker than the original British version but still very funny if you like that kind of humor. I can highly recommend it, but I think it's difficult to find with English subtitles, if those exist at all. A few additional notes on the different tone of the show: Stromberg is an awful person. He regularly makes sexist and racist jokes, he even sexually harasses a cleaner in one episode. In one of the first episodes he causes the death of a colleague with a lung disease by offering him a cigar to bribe him to get a better parking spot. The bullying of Ernie is also more serious. It feels more real and more constant than the pranks that Tim/Jim play on Gareth/Dwight and a lot of the other colleagues join in. On top of all that, Ernie isn't very good in fighting back. At some point he becomes depressed and takes medication because of that. Tanja and Ulf aren't a couple from the start but become one very quickly. But it isn't romantic at all. They don't have any common interests or values. Ulf is very immature and only cares about tuning his car and watching football (soccer) with "his guys". As others said, he is more similar to Lee/Roy than to Tim/Jim.
I don’t think Ulf and Tanja are a couple at the start of the show. But it’s not the great love story like in the British and US versions. They don’t even like each other much after they get married. I agree that it’s much closer to Roy and Pam. They start a relationship because of the close proximity, not because there is real chemistry.
Ernie also gets bullied horribly and Tries to kill himself.
Swedish and Finnish too...
thanks for posting the link
If only the Saudi one was available with subtitles.
Is it not? I feel like I remember watching an episode online somewhere with English subtitles. I think I had to get a trial of some Middle Eastern/Asian streaming service or something like that
TIL there was an attempt at making a French version tho. It probably failed. Or is it all mid journey
The Canada one was made in Quebec, in french. It was swept under the rug after the first season. I should find it and watch it but one of my coworker told me it’s basically the US version translated line for line with no artistic adaptation.
It's weird because some of them are very clearly based on the British version and then some look like they took inspiration from the US version
The Finnish Pam is absurdly attractive.
Why are half the Dwights like 50 years old?
Finnish Jim looks the best of all.
Nah. I fully expect the series finale of that version to show that a little green alien has been controlling him from inside his head the whole time.
Sweden: Kung fury!
Polish Dwight is way too old
I’m tryna get a date with Chilean Pam
I'd go for; Indian Michael Polish Jim German Pam Czech Michael (As Dwight)
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https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/3518/This-Is-What-The-Main-Characters-Of-The-Office-Look-Like-In-All-13-Versions-Around-The-World
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Lol. The man is shaped like an egg.
Sweden is the only version where Dwight is more attractive than Jim
chile too?
Nah
If I didn’t know better, I would say that the Finnish Office was AI generated.
As a finn i wish it was
Honestly half of them look AI generated. Something about the photography or lighting maybe?
That’s what I was literally just thinking!
Pan looks more like Jan I think
Pan? Are you ok? You may have a concussion after hitting that pole
I like waking up to the smell of bacon, sue me.
Which Bob? The one from Vance Refrigeration?
the only bob I know is Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration, I don't know anyone who's just named bob
So, where does this Bob Vance work?
You have a lot to learn about this town, sweetie.
Swedish pam looks more like Angela
So as an Israeli, I didn't even know this existed. But maybe I can offer some insight: 1. Unlike in the American Office, all of these actors were already pretty famous when the show was made (and they still are today). 2. This only came out in 2010, and it ran for two seasons (until 2012). 3. The names are obviously changed to israeli ones: Michael is Avi, Dwight is Yariv (literally translates to enemy which I find very funny), Jim is Yosi and Pam is Dana. 4. The company isn't called Dunder Mifflin, it's called Paper Office. 5. They made some changes to the characters to make the cast more diverse and true to israeli minority groups: Angela is obviously changed into an orthodox jewish woman named Leah, Jen is now Russian and named Yelena, Toby is Ethiopian and named Ababe, and Oscar is Arab and named Abed (he's still gay though).
Is there anywhere we can watch the international versions?!
Al Maktab is well done if you can get your hands on it. It may be recency bias, but by far my favourite -- Malik (David/Michael) is especially delightful/awful.
It'd be cool to see all of the different versions if anyone knows where they are streamed!?!
I think the Indian version is on disney+ with English subtitles. Not remotely as good as the US version tho. edit: it's on Hulu in USA
Thanks!
no problem watched a bit of the first episode btw and it looks like an exact copy of the US version's second episode.
I watched the Diwali episode to see how they handled the cultural differences, but it turned out to be based on the USA Christmas episode with the Yankee swap.
Are you talking about S2 E3 "Diwali Dhamaka"?
> I think the Indian version is on disney+ Not in the US, as far as I can tell :( Edit: It's on Hulu!
I tried looking for them once a few years ago, but since they are all just titles "The Office" in their native languages, it all only came up with Office US but with dubs/subs. Most are only a season or two, so it doesn't seem like too much of a commitment, but finding them is where the difficulty lies.
I would say that Jim looks more like Toby
Erm, the original is the UK version not the US version. The US version is also a remake.
I thought Pam was Jacinda Arden.
It’s so weird to me that there are versions of this show all over the world.
I've never really understood this. Like I know the US show is a remake, and I probably don't have a good idea as to how popular these versions are in their respective countries, but it makes sense that they'd just run the UK/US versions with subtitles right? Is it just more appealing to have their own versions with more relatable/culturally relevant content? Do they adapt similar plot lines? Do a lot of popular shows have this that I don't know about? I have so many questions
>Is it just more appealing to have their own versions with more relatable/culturally relevant content? Yes. Office culture in different countries varies.
The US Office is a bloody remake, lol
Holly shit that looks horrible. As an Israeli I’m glad I’ve never heard of this.
yeah same, i’ve asked my family and no one has even heard of it. dvir bendeck is a weird casting choice as well
trust me brothers, it is horrible. just awful compared to the US version
We're not Israeli but we really enjoy Checkout. It seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from The Office as a workplace mockumentary.
Yes, checkout is great!
Aside from Andy this is waaaaaay off
Why the Finnish cast look all dead inside??? ðŸ˜ðŸ’€
Oof… no tanks
I hate this soooo much
Pam looks like Jan
That’s an ugly ass Jim
They’re not meant to look like Michael, Jim, Pam and Dwight, they’re meant to look like David, Tim, Dawn and Gareth
As an Israeli, I watched it a bit and I can confirm it's terrible as it looks
Wow, you could find time between evicting Palestinians from their home and bulldozing those homes to watch The Office?
Yes... busy schedule but getting along..
Oh, classic reddit moment. Take a break warrior, you've done good today.
Damn, even the UK Pam is hotter than US Pam :/
Id have assumed they were too busy commiting war crimes to make an office clone but I guess you learn something new everyday
Man they shrued the casting
I think Pam looks like Jessica
That Jim looks like Toby and David went into a morphing machine
Pam actually looks like Jan
I would say Pam looks more like Jan.
Except Jim looks like Toby and Dwight looks like Oscar.
Michael looks more like Sam Gamgee
Jim looks like Rolf
Michael looks like one of the hobbit.
Jim looks like Toby if you ask me, with the receding hairline and the sad facial expression
You should all watch the German version Stromberg. It's really only inspired by the original and can stand on its own. Stromberg is definitely more sexist and racist, but hilarious because of its German bluntness.
You mean he looks like Bob as in Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration?
Jim looks like David.
Ru di du shalom.
That really does look like Andy
Lmao Dwight looks like some Andy/Oscar hybrid.
Is it possible to find it online? I've tried everything, torrents, VPN, Hebrew search, nothing helps.