Product Details

• Actors: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak
• Directors: Amy Heckerling, Asaad Kelada, Brent Forrester, Bryan Gordon, Charles McDougall
• Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 13
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
• Run Time: 1591 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001AV3BYA
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,804 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Comedy > Series & Sequels > The Office (US)

• For more information about "The Office: Seasons 1 - 4 Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Season One
The British sitcom The Office has the most devoted following this side of Monty Python, so an American remake seemed doomed. Amazingly, the remake actually finds its own enjoyable version of the original's uncanny comedy of embarrassment. Office manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The Daily Show, The 40 Year-Old Virgin) believes he's the beloved leader of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of a paper products company--but his relentless and painfully forced efforts at comedy creep out everyone around him, including paranoid Dwight (Rainn Wilson, who had a memorable recurring role on Six Feet Under), nervous receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer, LolliLove), and aimless salesman Jim (John Krasinski, A New Wave), who's smitten with the already engaged Pam. The pilot episode suffers from closely replicating the British pilot, but after that The Office finds its own footing, turning diversity training, an office birthday party, and a basketball game into excruciating yet hypnotically funny rituals of humiliation. Carell, though clearly talented, can't match Ricky Gervais' unique performance as the aggressively needy British manager (it's hard to imagine that anyone could); as a result, the supporting roles become more prominent, and Wilson, Fischer, and Krasinski quickly create a rapport that matches and may even exceed that of their British counterparts. Be sure to watch the deleted scenes; remarkably, they're as good as the material that made it on the air in this six-episode season. --Bret Fetzer

Season Two
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

Season Three
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

Product Description
Clock in to everyone’s favorite Office as every episode from Seasons 1-4 comes together in one Ultimate Package! Reunite with boss Michael Scott (Golden Globe® winner Steve Carell) and the staff of the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin (Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak) as they deal with everything from mergers to makeovers, office romances to rivalries, and so much more. This Ultimate Package of the award-winning show developed for American TV by Primetime Emmy® Award Winner Greg Daniels (King of the Hill, The Simpsons) works overtime with hours of outrageous bonus features, including deleted scenes, episode commentaries and blooper reels. It’s laugh-out-loud hilarity with moments you’ll want to relive again and again.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That's What She Said, August 21, 2008

By	Tom Mallard - See all my reviews

The guy above me nailed it on the head. The series has not lost its freshness; it keeps changing enough to stay interesting and is often a full-blown riot. It takes those awkward, embarrassing moments you have no doubt experienced in your own job and allows you to laugh at them (because it's not very funny when the people in your own office are incompetent and dumb). It is, as I refer to it, "believably over-the-top," meaning that although the characters often find themselves in bizarre situations, they never break character and react in realistic ways. If you haven't seen this show, what are you waiting for?

Steve Carell's character will go down as one of TV's all-time greats. He embodies this show perfectly: he is offensive, inappropriate, and completely self-centered, but he has a good heart and he really tries to make people happy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Go Wrong., August 4, 2008

By	Andrew Glantz "Ovi Gale" (PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Yeah I totally agree with the last reviewer. All four seasons of The Office in one nice set, at a great price. The 2-4th seasons alone would cost over 90 dollars USD, and the 1st season (which is still overpriced at over 20 dollars, in my opinion) is thrown in there as well at a total of only slightly more than 100 dollars.

Personally I thought season four was great, and possibly my favorite season of The Office so far, despite that the critics went harsh on it for a while and said the formula was 'losing its originality' this past season. They covered a lot of events and delved into new ground, and I'm hoping that the writers can keep the magic working as well as that for the duration of the series.

And that's not to downplay the first three seasons either - each of them are great, and just seem to get more creative and breathe new life into the series with each new season. I will say that The Office may not be for everyone - this style of comedy moves at a slow and steady pace, and may be too boring and even too heart-warming for people that are more into, say, your 'CSI's'. But it does a great job at duplicating, if exaggerating, the way people think, feel and act in life and at work - and is just plain fun.

For any 'office-fan', new or old, this 4-season set is going to be a steal.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best set ever., July 25, 2008

By	K. Stark (Mesa, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me be the first to say - this will be the best use of your $105 that you will ever spend.