BBC's comedy "The Office" is perhaps the most ingenious thing I've seen this year. It's a playful critique on the banality of office life that seems to pervade white-collar management. It's certain that anybody who works in these environments will recognize a bit of themselves in the characters that exaggerate common stereotypes- the regular paper pusher, the legalistic viceroy, the clairvoyant newbie, the love-struck boy in cubicle 3. What is so interesting about the show isn't so much the comedy, but how everyday moments get played up to the point of either silly ridiculousness, or pure melodrama. I am often disappointed with much of the American sitcoms with the same laugh tracks and the same punchlines. It is so refreshing to see something entirely different for a change.

The other moment of brilliance this year for me is "Napoleon Dynamite". The Jared Hess' dead-pan comedy of an awkward teenager living in some hicktown stuck in the 80s has some extremely funny scenes- the li-ger, the dance, Pedro's election campaigning. I am happy that, finally, MTV can produce comedy without resorting to toilet jokes, animal costumes, and profanity.