Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2125 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-07-21
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 551 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
After a shaky first season of finding its footing, and a second season of establishing itself as one of the funniest shows on TV, the third season of The Office finds the show in its strongest form yet, thanks in large part to the addition of some new characters and stronger plotlines centered on office romances. A corporate merger brings the Stamford staff to the Scranton office of Dunder-Mifflin a quarter of the way through the season giving a nice boost to the season's arc of story lines, especially the addition of Andy (Ed Helms, another Daily Show alum in a role that seems custom made for him) who serves as yet another foil to Dwight (Rainn Wilson) in his unending fight for Michael's approval. As the season begins, the focus is more on Michael (Steve Carell) and his unique "leadership" style in the Scranton office. "A good boss gruntles the disgruntled," and despite his best intentions, he proceeds to somehow screw it up, as in the opening episode, "Gay Witch Hunt," in which he accidentally outs a gay employee.

In the second episode, "The Convention," Michael tries to get the party started at the Mid-Market Office Supply Convention ("fun jeans"), and ends up revealing his insecurity about Jim's (John Krasinski) decision to move to Stamford. It leads up to "The Coup," where Dwight meets with Michael's Boss Jan (Melora Hardin) in a misguided attempt to take control of the office. The merger of the two offices into the Scranton location provides the fuel needed to continue the Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer) subplot as Jim returns with his new girlfriend, Karen (Rashida Jones) who also transferred, and with Pam no longer engaged to Roy, the tension among them increases significantly.

Other major plot points this season include: Dwight shows his true feelings for Angela in an excellent climax to one of the funniest subplots on the show; Michael negotiates a raise after learning he barely makes more than his subordinates; new office suck-up Andy is forced into anger management classes; and finally, in what may be the most bizarre company retreat in history, a day at the beach ends with Pam revealing her true feelings for Jim in front of the entire office. The season wraps up in unpredictable fashion when Karen, Michael, and Jim all travel to headquarters to interview for the same position. The strength of this season just continues to solidify The Office's place as the preeminent satire of today's cubicle culture. --Daniel Vancini

Synopsis
The Office portrays the everyday lives of the employees at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Pennsylvania. In season three, imbecilic boss Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) manages to further offend and alienate his co-workers. Jim (John Krasinski) transfers to another branch after he believes Pam (Jenna Fischer) will still go ahead with her wedding to Roy. The third season also features 'The Convict,' an episode penned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the minds behind the original British show.

Customer Reviews

Genius! More than a cheap American copy!
The previous season of American workplace managed to differentiate itself from the Gervais original. Season 3 is even funnier, and consistently brilliant throughout. Elements of the British version remain (the merging of branches happens this season). However, plot lines are handled with confidence and skill, and don't rely on scene for scene plagiarism (like the pilot of Season 1).

More emphasis is placed on character development. Themed episodes still occur, but the employees of Dunder Mifflin are explored with greater depth. Michael Scott is played to perfection by Steve Carell, whose cringe worthy and politically incorrect remarks are comedy gold! Dwight however, steals the show, especially during the 'talking heads'. The humour is primarily physical, with subtleties and body language coming second.

The Coup, Negotiation & Safety Training are some memorable episodes. Season 4 is set up nicely by the finale, and can't come soon enough.

Side Splittingly Funny!
I cannot recommend the third season of The Office: An American Workplace highly enough. It builds on the somewhat experimental 6 episode first season and the stride-hitting second season to become one of the best shows on TV today. It is certainly without a doubt the funniest. This show -- and in particular Michael and Dwight -- have made me laugh so hard, I have literally been rolling around the floor, tears streaming down my eyes, roaring with laughter until my ribs ached.

The show also touches you on a personal level, as the repressed, slow burning and very sweet relationship between Jim and Pam develops episode by episode. If you work 9-to-5 Dolly Parton style in an office, the show resonates with you even more, as you recognise neurotic characters and idiosyncratic events that actually happen in your own workplace. When you think that an office is just a room with four walls, fluorescent lights, some desks and computers, it's amazing how creative the writers get with this set up and how they breathe life into the dreary, monotonous place where millions of us spend most of our adult lives.

Perhaps the ultimate testament to the show is Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant coming out of "The Office" retirement to pen an entire episode. Unless you hate laughing and feeling good, you have to buy this show. I personally will be counting down the days until this is released and I just hope the release date isn't delayed several times like with Season 2.

Too good to just be a cult..!
This is a flat-out comedy classic. But what is it about British TV networks? Is their quality control so off-kilter, that they would force-feed the population hours of total crap, while hiding the truly transcendent stuff in some nether-world of night-owl TV scheduling?
As with Seinfeld on BBC2, Curb on More4, so it happened with The American Office. Buried by ITV2 in a spot where only insomniacs would have found it ( apart from a brief spell where they put it out at 7pm to try and compete with this DVD release of the same week ), The Office USA, is, as far as I am concerned, the next best thing if you've completed your Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm collections.
Season Three is a show that brings it's A-Game to almost every plot strand, and it's amazing how much they cram into every single episode. My favourite is perhaps the Joss( 'Buffy' )Weedon-directed episode, whereby Jim pretends to have been bitten by a bat. He suddenly becomes averse to daylight and allergic to garlic bread, in order to freak out Dwight, the office geek. Jim's underplayed, subtle impersonation of Bela Lugosi at the end, is pure comedy gold.
It's indicative of how much material goes into every episode, that the above-mentioned plot is not even listed on the episode guide. So i was unable to show it to visiting friends, as i had no idea which episode it was from. In fact, it is only in the incidental details where this particular box set falls short. The printed plot synopses are not exactly useful, and the fact that there are no subtitles, comes across as rather cheap, and stingy. ( No, I'm not deaf - but you try listening to a show where a lot of the dialogue is realistic and mumbled, late at night, without having the sound way up and annoying the hell out of everyone. And besides that, deaf people should be allowed to enjoy this, too..! ).
Both the aforementioned Seinfeld and Curb box sets had well-cued subtitling, and extensive extras and liner notes. This doesn't. However, i will say that the deleted scenes offer much more than you would expect. They are actually more like mini-episodes that must have been lopped-off simply for timing reasons, as the material is so strong that it's just as good as the stuff which makes the final cut.
My girlfriend and i would curl up every night for a fresh episode, only to end up having a marathon viewing session, but we couldn't help it. It's just so good.