BBC's "The Office"

David Brent is the type of boss who wants to be everyone's friend and mentor. He imagines that everyone finds him very funny and loves being around him, yet still respects him and looks up to him as a boss and even a father figure. He is, of course, spectacularly wrong - his employees find him tolerable at best and often irritating.

Michael Scott's social immaturity and inability to cope with responsibility is balanced with a personality that is much more caring than Brent, even if he retains the ability to make unwise comments in the heat of the moment. Unlike Brent, who pretends to be friendly with many of his employees purely for the benefit of the cameras, Scott seems to genuinely like his colleagues, with the sole exception of Human Resources Director Toby Flenderson. Brent appears much more aware of his own social awkwardness, whereas Scott's belief that people see him as a genuine friend leads him to become very hurt when he realizes this is not the case.