Danny

This week, I have given Pat every possible advantage in the Grudge Match.  Not only has he chosen the topic, but he has chosen his side of the argument, and I am writing the introduction and “point” side, leaving him the far easier “counterpoint”.  And if that weren’t enough, I was also sent home sick this morning, lest I infect the entire office with the plague like virus that has floored my entire family for the last week and a half.

So, The Office vs. Office Space.  On one side, we have a brilliantly written and conceived TV series, and on the other, a cult classic movie.  Honestly, I love both The Office and Office Space, and in a perfect world, the two would co-exist, marry, and have wonderfully funny, uncomfortable children.  But this is Grudge Match, and so one of them must fall.  That one is Office Space.

The Office started life as Ricky Gervais’ masterpiece TV series and has grown and been readapted for the US, French, German, Canadian and Chilean markets.  I have only seen the original and US versions of the show, but that’s enough to tell me that it is significantly superior to Office Space for the following reasons.

• Have you ever seen Office Space on regular TV?  They butcher it to the point where not only is it no longer funny, it's downright irritating.  The Office comes on regular TV anyway, so that’s not an issue.
• Office Space lasts, what, an hour and a half?  If you combine the UK and US versions of The Office, you get almost 80 episodes.  Even ignoring the fact that some of those episodes are an hour long (or two in the case of the UK Christmas special), you’re looking at 40ish hours of comic goodness.
• Who would you rather have for a boss, Bill Lumbergh, or someone like David Brent or Michael Scott?  Yeah, I thought so.
• In The Office, they work in a paper factory, while in Office Space, they work at some techy/accountancy/bank type place.  As previously indicated, paper wins.
• In The Office Tim, or Jim teach us how to play pranks on our coworkers.  Office Spaces teaches us how to set the building on fire, and how to steal money via bank transactions, although Superman 3 had already taught us the latter.

And finally, if we were just to make the cast of The Office fight the guys from Office Space, who do you think would win?  We’d have a bunch of software engineers getting brutally crushed by the warehouse guys, let alone the arsenal of evil weaponry that Dwight keeps under his desk.

ppemberton

Man oh man. When did Danny become King of the Qualifiers?

First, he says he didn’t choose the topic. Then he says the counterpoint is easier. Then he says he has malaria or something.

Whatever, Danny Boy.  Fact is, he’s already making excuses for losing this grudge match, because he’s been losing a lot of them as of late. And, quite frankly, it’s a little sad.

Now, I do love “The Office.” Don’t get me wrong. It’s clearly the best thing on TV – not just now, but in a long time. But for the purpose of this grudge, I have to take “Office Space” for the following reasons:

1. It spoke to everyone who’s ever hated their office job.

   Before this, there was “9 to 5,” which didn’t quite do it (Besides, who actually works nine to five? It’s more like 8 to 5.) Then there was Dilbert, but that also wasn’t quite right – or funny. When “Office Space” came out, it spoke to people, man. I’d argue there wouldn’t be an “Office” without “Office Space.”

2. Lumberg is a worse boss than Michael Scott.

   Since both “The Office” and “Office Space” play off hatred of the office environment, the office needs to be as bad as you can imagine. And while Michael Scott is bad, Lumberg makes you work on Saturday. And there’s nothing worse than working on Saturday. Nothing.

3. “Office Space” has stood the test of time.

   A lot of TV shows that come on strong and are quickly forgotten (When was the last time you saw “Friends”?) But “Office Space” is still a hit nine years after its release.

4. “O” face.

   ‘Nuff said?

5. Copy machine beating.

   Everyone has wanted to thrash some piece of office equipment (I nominate the fax machine here), but these guys actually did it. And somehow it was therapeutic for the viewers.

6. TPS reports.

   How many office workers have cracked jokes about TPS reports? We once had an employee here dress as Lumberg for Halloween, and his outfit included TPS reports.

7. Milton.

   Do you know that Swingline actually put out a red stapler just because of this movie? That says something, baby. It says that, uh, you know – people want to buy red staplers.

8. “Doing nothing.”

   After an unfortunate incident at a hypnotist’s office, Peter decides that he’s going to do nothing at work. And for his efforts, he’s awarded with a promotion. Finally – there’s hope for all of us!

9. “A case of the Mondays.” You know a movie is good when it gives birth to catch phrases like this one.
10. Flair. Didn’t we all have a lot more respect for Jennifer Aniston after this movie? That scene about the flair is just awesome.