If you just can't wait until tonight's season premiere of The Office, Slate has a little something to whet your appetite: clips from The Office. Well, more specifically, they have clips from Le Bureau and Stromberg, the French and German versions, respectively, of the original British classic.

The article, written by Liesl Schillinger, examines the reasons why the remakes -- including the American version -- were done, paralleling how each fictitional office is portrayed with how each country views their respective 9-to-5 grinds. For instance, the "Tim and Dawn" equivalent in Germany are even better looking than the American "Jim and Pam," and are already fooling around under the desk. And, the British and French Offices emphasize that life isn't all about work, while the American version reflect our nation's desire to revolve our lives around the workplace, even if we don't actually do much productive work. Not a bad read for a lazy Thursday afternoon at work.