I can't muster any hate for The Office or Extras, but I will say that The Ricky Gervais Show is pretty unfunny to these ears. The first part of the new Halloween podcast (which you can download
here) illustrates everything that's one-dimensional and, most fatally, boooring about the show: Karl describes one of his "outlandish" theories (this time about ghosts) and Ricky and Stephen scoffs and mocks him; if there's humour in there Ricky kills it with his laughter, which sounds winsome on telly but sinister here. (Karl is lovely though!)
Nomadologist is spot on about The Office being a depiction of the common-yet-not-poor-man's living hell.
Kent: I'm a little surprised you can't find any redeeming qualities in The Office. I always thought the genius of it is that the humour works on so many different levels simultaneously that anybody is
bound to find details that tickles their funny-bone. An example: The famous "Saturday Night Fever" spoof. Some think that scene is funny because Gervais dances funny ("the slapstick level"); some think that scene is funny because Gervais has no self-distance ("the default level"); some think what makes the scene funny is in the subtle details, e.g. the way Gervais utters "impromptu" ("the highbrow level"); some also think that scene is funny because of everything put together, of course, BUT, I'm still to meet someobody that doesn't think that scene is funny whatsoever.