The Office: Season One

If you've ever worked in an office, you'll recognize the hypocrisy, petty cruelty, ass-covering, buck-passing, daily soul-sucking corporate hell on display in this American adaptation of the hit British TV series. Thoroughly refitted for this side of the Atlantic (the impulse to add a laugh track was, thankfully, resisted), the mundane misadventures of the employees of a Scranton paper company can barely satirize an everyday work environment already so absurd it beggars belief. As such, the humor tends to the obvious, and the driving comedic force for most of these six episodes comes from boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell), who thinks he's a beloved buddy to his employees but is, of course, an object of hate and scorn because he's a boor—and a shockingly incompetent one at that. DVD extras include five audio commentaries and nearly an hour's worth of deleted scenes. An optional purchase, unless you just don't get enough of this kind of thing at work. (M. Johanson)