The Office Online

The thing about NBC's The Office is that many of the people who can relate best to it, namely all those office-bound workers, can't always watch it on TV, either because they're working overtime, or, let's face it, out drinking. Thus many fans of The Office have to download the show online. The good news is, these same fans who have to go online for The Office are the same people who have the money to buy a decent iPod and the broadband internet service you need to get it. Which just goes to prove that the wise thing to do is to not work. That way, you might not be able to afford an ipod, but you can watch The Office at it's regularly scheduled time and not worry about all that online gobbly-gook.

The Office is NBC's version of the hit BBC series created by Steve Merchant and Ricky Gervais, who also starred in it. This version stars Steve "it man" Carrell as Michael, a boss who desperately (and we mean desperately) seeks attention and acceptance from the workers at the paper company office he manages. His co-workers include star-crossed would-be lovers Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) dorky Dwight (Rainn Wilson) who revels in being Michael's lackey, and a host of amusing recurring characters.

The show, while perhaps not as a sharp as the BBC version is very funny with it's mockumentary style and Carrell and the rest of the cast's great portrayals of recognizable and sometimes relatable office characters. It's also a good departure from laugh-track driven sitcoms, not just because there isn't a laugh track, but because the situations are actually usually funny.

If you're one of those people who wants to download the latest installment of The Office, don't bother going to NBC.com but head straight to itunes.com where the downloading fun may begin. You'll have to have itunes downloaded already onto your computer and all that jazz, but it's the same, according to the site, as downloading anything else from them. Why this is easier than just TAPING the show, I have no idea.

But if you've already seen the show, don't hesitate to check out the NBC website which has a lot of cool Office related games and info. First, there's "Your Office" where you can submit photos of weird things in your office, group party shots, your cubic-neighbor's stuff shoved in the fridge. Of course, if your office is the basement and your "co-workers" are your parents, you may want to skip this section.

Another cool feature is "Schrute's Space" which is Dwight Schrute, the dorky uber-synchophant's blog. You ever notice how many fictional character have blogs these days? This one Dwight reflecting on things in his Dwight-like way, extolling the virtues of being to work on time, forgetting to put anything in his sandwich, and correcting the spelling of people who send him messages. Jenna Fischer, an actress not a character, also opens up to fans with her blog on show happenings, connected from the NBC site to the TVGuide site.

Another feature of the Office online lets you ask The Office cast questions, with some questions and answers posted on the site week to week. If that doesn't give you enough to do to procrastinate working (in an office or in the basement) the site also offers some Office-related games like wastebasket basketball, which I couldn't really figure out, but there it is. There's also a mock Dunder-Mifflin newsletter- Dunder-Mifflin of course being the fictional office of The Office. It's sort of limited, but it may give you a laugh or two.

As for normal online show site stuff, there's an episode guide, a credits list, and cast bios, plus photos and videos from the cast and show.

Visit The Office online, especially if you're at your own office, because, really, chances are what you're doing there isn't really that important.