The Office (UK)

For those unbowed by the lack of formula, this second season of "The Office" has rewards even greater than the first. The series is both funnier and darker -- much darker -- than last season.

As did the six previous episodes, the new installments generate a tension so awful, from circumstances so awfully lifelike, that you have to watch at times from behind laced fingers, with teeth clenched and the remote control close at hand.

Television's funniest show. ... On a less carefully written show, the [mockumentary] conceit would almost certainly pall after a few episodes. 'The Office' is instead addictive, less because viewers grow to love David and his batty employees than because the show refuses to let those characters grow too lovable.

The laughs are still there ... But the show begins to take on ominous overtones, a kind of small-scale tragedy in the making as it plots the apparent path of a little dictator's downfall. [10 Oct 2003]

David Brent, brilliantly conceived and played by Gervais, remains among the most wonderfully annoying characters in modern TV comedy. [12 Oct 2003]

Never have lives of quiet desperation been so laugh-out-loud funny as in "The Office." [10 Oct 2003]

It is depressing, brilliant, hysterical, excruciating, full of irony, and nothing you'd ever expect to find on American network TV. Rather than sweetening the workplace with fantasies of a home away from home, "The Office" heightens the reality and disconnection of corporate life until it is absurdly funny. The show doesn't touch your heart so much as tickle your spleen. [9 Oct 2003]

"The Office" makes you cringe in delight and heave with giggles when you see the absurdity of it all. [23 Oct 2003]

It takes a while to get into the rhythms of Gervais' writing and seemingly improvised acting, but once you've become a fan, it's the kind of show you can watch over and over. [10 Oct 2003]

The pleasure to be taken from 'Office' isn't merely that of laughter -- it's the pleasure of watching a piece of entertainment so perfectly made and so delicately acted.

"The Office" is hilarious, but it is an acquired taste as it serves up comedy of the uncomfortable. [10 Oct 2003]

It takes a real artist's eye to concentrate reality so realistically, and a true wit to pull it off in a sitcom that makes you gasp as frequently as it makes you laugh. [10 Oct 2003]

Dark, sly, ironic, subtle, brilliant. ... A taste for British humor comes in handy in watching "The Office," though. If you're bothered by deliberate (but tongue-in-cheek) bad taste, raging political incorrectness, sexual innuendo or comedy involving large sexual toys, or if you just don't get satire, "The Office" may not be right for you. [24 Oct 2003]

It's dependent almost entirely on characters rather than plot - but, with such recognizable characters, "The Office" works beautifully. [10 Oct 2003]