The Office - Season Two | 
| Actors: Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, B.j. Novak
Studio: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
List Price: $49.98
Buy New: $26.43
You Save: $23.55 (47%)
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Rating:  248 reviews
Sales Rank: 143
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 4
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 477 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.8
MPN: 30378
UPC: 025193037824
EAN: 0025193037824
ASIN: B000GETTKM
Theatrical Release Date: March 24, 2005
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Thank goodness for second seasons. While the first season of The Office started dubiously with a pilot that was just a poor copy of the original British version, it did manage to provide enough good material to stay on the air and hint that better was yet to come. And here it is. The second season of The Office finds its own footing and manages to do the near-impossible by not only breaking free of the gravity of that excellent BBC version to stand solidly on its own, but establishing it as one of the best comedies on TV. Season 2 starts out strong with "The Dundies," where Regional Manager, Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The 40 Year Old Virgin) hosts the company's annual office-awards event with his signature less-than-perfect grace. Things seem to only get worse for him this season as he bumbles a potential affair with his boss, Jan (Melora Harding), angers his employees by reading their emails ("Email Surveillance"), cooks his foot ("The Injury"), and accidentally destroys the warehouse with a forklift in "Boys and Girls," one of the season's highlight episodes. Always at his side is the clueless paranoid Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), the Assistant Regional Manager ("Assistant to the Regional Manager," Michael always reminds him in one of the show's running jokes). One of the reasons for the show's improvement in the second season is increased focus on Dwight's character, who's becoming something of a pop-culture icon right down to having his own bobblehead. He in turn provides so much good material for Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinsky) to play off of, to their own amusement. But of course, Pam and Jim's simmering relationship is the real meat of the show, as their compatibility becomes more obvious, Jim's feelings for her continue to grow, and Pam struggles with the impending marriage to her less-than-caring boyfriend, Roy (David Denman). Things have to come to a head, and they do nicely in the final episode, "Casino Night." As strong as the leading characters are in The Office, it's the excellent peripheral characters that really make the show hilarious, especially dimwitted office-slug Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), long-suffering intern Ryan (B.J. Novak), office-ditz Kelly (Mindy Kaling), and ultra-conservative Angela (Angela Kinsey). As with season 1, this season contains excellent bonus features to give you an excuse to spend more time at The Office, including the fake PSAs, commentaries, Michael's The Faces of Scranton movie, the ten stand-alone webisodes, and deleted scenes. --Daniel Vancini
Product Description
It s time to clock in for Season Two of The Office the hilarious and witty TV-mockumentary starring Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) in his Golden Globe Award-winning role. From sexual politics to performance reviews to email espionage the employees at Dunder-Mifflin are there to get the job done or not. Join earnest but clueless boss Michael Scott (Carell) Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight (Rainn Wilson) receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) sales rep Jim (John Krasinski) and the office temp Ryan (B.J. Novak) as they make the daily grind a lot more laughable. Fully staffed with 22 outrageous episodes and hours of side-splitting bonus features it s the must-own collection that caused Time magazine to declare "Never has a lousy job been so much fun!"System Requirements:Running Time: 127 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025193037824 Manufacturer No: 30378
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| Customer Reviews: Read 243 more reviews...
Hilarious, emotional, absurd, sweet -- and great on DVD September 18, 2006
Amy Tiemann (Chapel Hill, NC USA)
101 out of 108 found this review helpful
For new potential fans of "The Office," the DVD set of the break-out second season is a must-see. Start recording the third season now (premieres Sept. 21) and save those episodes, but don't watch them until you've watched the complete second season.
For devotees like myself, the DVD set is a just reward for loyal viewing. The show came into its own this year. I had watched fitfully until the stretch of episodes starting with "The Injury," "The Secret," and "The Carpet" hooked me for good. I am now going back to watch the whole season again and the shows hold up very well upon repeated viewing.
Strengths of the season: Steve Carell gets the award for Most Improved Characterization. It took about a dozen episodes (starting with 6 in the first season) for the show to settle on a tone for Carell's incompetent boss. For a while I wasn't sure what to make of him, which kept me from getting attached to the show. But this season he evolved from a mean jerk to a clueless, lonely man who really just wants everybody to be his friend. While the Michael Scott character still has plenty of totally inappropriate behavior and tons of cringe-worthy moments, his core of pathos and vulnerability humanizes him. I am even rooting for him to find love with Carol or Jan. As we saw this season, the fumbling results will surely be funny.
Now that Carell provides a solid anchor for the cast, the rest of the supporting actors can truly come into their own. From Rainn Wilson's complete dedication to the serious idiocy of office suck-up Dwight Schrute, to the smaller roles of wild-card Creed and eternally suffering temp Ryan, the ensemble has truly gelled.
And of course the slow-motion unfolding of Jim & Pam's romance provided the heart of the show throughout the season. Just about anyone over the age of 30 has been either Jim, Pam, or Roy at sometime in their life, and the bittersweet agony of the whole journey provided the summer's biggest cliffhanger. In my online poll to find the "Top Mom Crushes," both John Krasinski and Steve Carell have been nominated.
Finally, the DVD extras are truly great. The deleted scenes for each episode range from about 4 to 11 minutes and they are really funny. The discipline of 22 minutes works in the show's favor keep the stories tight, but the extra scenes are a worthy bonus for true fans.
This is a fantastic show, and a great DVD set. Even if you didn't watch the British version of the show (which I could never quite get into) give the American version of "The Office" a chance. What separates "The Office" from any other current "sitcom" is that much of the humor comes from what is left unsaid, rather than having a barrage of lame one-liners hitting viewers over the head. "The Office" is absurd, laugh-out-loud comedy with a heart--and if you are part of a couple, it's appointment TV that you can both love.
An absolutely brilliant Season Two for what could well be the best comedy on TV September 25, 2006
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Warning: Some spoilers
Of all the half-hour comedy shows that I've ever seen, THE OFFICE is the one that I would have thought the least likely to be brilliant. The BBC original version of the show was a thing of genius. Trying to do an American version of it seemed to me to be akin to Andy Warhol doing a remake of Picasso's "Guernica." Watching the show in Season One I was astonished that it was not only not bad, but that it was in fact very good. Amazingly, in Season Two it became something utterly brilliant. Although I was a huge fan of the original show, I have to confess that the American show is every bit as good as the British original. It is the finest American adaptation of a British show since ALL IN THE FAMILY remade TIL DEATH DO US PART.
Two things make this a great show: the writing, which is persistently brilliant (though obviously aided by a great deal of improvisation on the set), and the cast, which is both talented and very deep. Steve Carrell at first was not completely at home in the role, failing to strike the right balance between an utter absurdity and being likable nonetheless. Ricky Gervais managed to get this perfect from the beginning and he was always someone viewers would find to be the world's biggest idiot while nonetheless inwardly rooting for things to work out for him. At first, Carrell was incredibly funny in the role, but he was not someone to feel much sympathy for. But as Season Two went on and some of his own insecurities were revealed, we came to understand that he was more aware of his own basic unlikability than his persistent bluster made clear. By the end of the season he was near perfect in the role and he fully deserved the Golden Globe he won. Nearly as many laughs were generated by his brown-nosing sycophant Dwight, played brilliantly by Rainn Wilson. But the heart of the show in Season Two was the obvious and endearing attraction between Pam (sweetly played by Jenna Fischer), who is engaged to marry a guy who works in the warehouse, and Jim Halpert (winningly played by Jon Krasinski). If the antics of Michael Scott dominated each individual episode, the non-romance between Jim and Pam dominated the season as a whole. The climax of the entire season comes in the final episode, when Jim confesses his love for Pam and they kiss, just before he transfers to the Stamford, Connecticut branch of the company. I have rarely seen so much anticipation over a summer for the start of a new season for a half-hour show as I did this one, with an army of fans of the show wondering how Pam and Jim would pick up in Season Three.
Although THE OFFICE started off fine in its first season, it got better and better throughout Season Two. Because it has already run for more episodes than the British original, it is beginning to exploit one advantage it has over it: the ability to develop more fully minor characters. In the second half of the season especially a number of characters who initially just took up space became known entities, such as Kelly, the Indian girl who is fixated on getting married and immediately having babies on the one hand and doing this with her coworker Ryan on the other. Or Creed, about whom we learn more and more odd details as the season goes along, culminating in the season finale where he informs us that he likes to steal things. (Creed, by the way, is played by Creed Bratton, who was a rock star in the sixties as lead guitarist for the famous group the Grassroots, which had a string of huge hits including "Midnight Confession" and "Let's Live for Today.") As we get to know the various members of the office and pick up on the intricate interplay between the various personalities, the show becomes more and more irresistible.
THE OFFICE follows a trend in the best American television comedy to move away from the situation comedies that has long dominated our comedy. Most shows have been shot in front of a live studio audience, filmed with three or more cameras, performing each scene more than once in order to have alternate takes for the final version. But wonderfully innovative shows like MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, and SCRUBS has abandoned the situation comedy format and opted for a more realistic format. Like ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, THE OFFICE takes on a documentary style, shooting the film on hand held video, which not only gives the show a more spontaneous feel, but avoids the expensive camera and lighting set ups that adds a lot of time to shooting. I think this is a great trend and I personally would love to see the live audience situation comedy disappear entirely.
With the unfortunate demise of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (I still haven't recovered from that shock of its disappearance), THE OFFICE becomes the finest and most innovative comedy on American television (its only rival for the title being SCRUBS). There are still a few diehard fans of the BBC series that won't give this one a try. They should. It not only does great honor to the British show, it has become an absolutely wonderful show in its own right.
Laugh Out Loud Funny July 8, 2006
Buffy
20 out of 27 found this review helpful
I look forward to this show on Thursday nights because it always brightens up my week, especially paired with "My Name Is Earl". From what I understand, though critically acclaimed, this show isn't getting the viewership it deserves. I don't know why. It's hilarious! Just watch the Christmas Party and Booze Cruise episodes and you will know what I mean. What a wonderful cast of strange characters and what unusual (and hilarious) predicaments they find themselves in. I don't know what I'd do if I actually worked in an office like this (possibly hang myself), but it sure is fun to watch!
Can't Wait for Season 3 August 28, 2006
N. Privette (Wake Forest, NC, USA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I'm going to use this review as a forum to say Thank You to NBC for this absolute jewel of a show, and for finally giving your audience intelligent, introspective humor. Thank you to the ingenious writers for finding a style that manages to be engaging and smart while it's being silly. And thank you to every single one of these fantastic actors, who honestly make me believe they're in Scranton, PA, trudging through another day at Dunder-Mifflin as we speak. I didn't discover The Office until about midway through the second season, and I'm so glad I did. It feels so good to have 30 minutes of belly laughs every week at "The Office".
"The Office" (US) avoids redundancy August 25, 2006
Chuck Barstow (USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
The second season is where this show seemed to really hit its stride and begin to carve out an identity all its own, apart from the British version. Sure, the basic premise of the UK show remains in place here, including the general characterizations of the four primary characters. However, the real charm of this second season is the expanded familiarity now given to the other office workers.
In many ways, the US version of "The Office" was always going to be at a disadvantage to the UK version because of the time and commercial constraints of the half-hour sitcom format in America, coupled with the stricter broadcast standards that forbid some of the content that the UK version could get away with. But, the US show takes advantage of the greater number of episodes per season, and really uses that extra time to flesh out the rest of the office cast, which is something the UK series simply would not have sufficient time to do. Someone like Kelly, for instance, has now been given distinct personality traits and quirks that distinguish her from the other characters, which would not have been possible with only 6 episodes in a season. It's actually remarkable how much these supporting characters have been developed in so short a time. When you see a quick shot of Merideth taking a sip from a plastic cup at her desk, you know (more or less) what's inside now. When Oscar seems to avoid talking about who it was that gave him a Valentine's Day gift, you know why. Simple little moments are now given extra meaning and comedic potential because of the increased familiarity.
Maybe these are just superficial "characterizations" at this point. But, it has still only been two seasons so far (it's really only been about one and one-third seasons, to be fair). It's obvious, though, that this is the direction the show is headed, and it seems to be working very well.
The main cast, of course, is still the anchor of the show. And, the inter-office romance theme that really only found expression through Tim in the UK version, has now also expanded to include several characters. In fact, by the end of Season Two, all four of the main male characters are in some way involved in a romance with a co-worker. Three of these four relationships are mined for comedic gold (Dwight and Angela are especially golden). But, one of these four relationships serves an entirely different purpose for the show.
Like the UK series, there is intense angst and frustration at the heart of all the comedy. The significance of Pam & Jim (and Dawn & Tim from the UK series) goes beyond mere sexual tension. Their relationship is about overcoming spirit-crushing complacency, both at their job and in their love-lives (or lack thereof, in some cases). It seems like an easy-enough cliche in TV and film for characters to break free of their inhibitions and just "go for it!", but it's never really that simple, and "The Office" doesn't take any shortcuts. There's comfort in routine and familiarity. That comfort can eventually turn into dependency. Even if one person in a relationship is ready to make the leap, it doesn't mean the other is. It took about three attempts in the UK show for Tim & Dawn's lives to finally align in the correct way for them to get together at last. Season Two of the US show ends with a cliffhanger suggesting maybe Jim and Pam have both arrived at the same point. But, I have a suspicion we're in for at least a couple more seasons of suffering before it all works out.
Luckily for me, I happen to find suffering hilarious.
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