Well, this is going to be airing soon. Oddly, they only have six shows. So by the looks of things, this might be just a direct transer (why?).

Link to Clips Here

I like Steve Carell, he's good enough that this should be watchable and just different enough. But, yeah, I don't really see the point either.

It does make sense in a way that it will reach a much bigger audience this way. The Office really put BBCAmerica on the map although they had been around for years and years.

I think that Steve Carell is a very good choice, and the show is probably going to take off and go in a direction of it's own. It will just be very hard to watch the episodes that are the reworked British ones & not think of all the original cast.

Agreed, rabbit. The whole thing seems wholly unnecessary (Then again, most of the time yoinking British shows and refacing them always does. When was the last time it actually worked? Sanford & Son, maybe? And that was practically a different show from Steptoe altogether.)

Steve Carell is tremendously talented, he really deserves something entirely his own, not to have to restyle Gervais's impossible to follow act. Just my opinion.

(Side note: Who saw SC's interview with Mr. T back in The Daily Show days? Geeeeeenius. )

It is the same script, give or take a few local stereo-types, as the English office! Someone has to much spare money

He's been cast as Maxwell Smart in the big screen ruination of Get Smart. True it's not all his own but between that and this his profile should be raised enough to get him some Hollywood clout. Which is a good thing.

YOU can see the US Office

Canadian Review of Show

Also if you check this out you can watch a webcast of the first episode Tonight 8pm est...which I believe is 1am UK time.

I might just do that.

Tell us how it is then, I'm not near a computer at that time.

I hope it goes down better than the American Red Dwarf.

Alright but I have a disclaimer - I'm not the biggest fan of the English version. I just don't think comedy should be that depressing.

Comedy and tragedy are inseparably intertwined, though. And that's what I liked about The Office: It was funny, but it was also human. It wasn't outlandish, and everyone could identify with what was going on, so the humour was that much more genuine.

Nah, you can separate them. I know what you're saying but I always found The Office brought me down far more often than it made me laugh.

1st: - what?
then: -why?
THEN: -CRAP!
now -It will fail.

Ah, excellent. It's another Cornetto Deep Thought Review™! Keep up the good work, fella.

Can we place bets on how long it is before cornetto is banned/leaves.

Everyone thinks I am Controversial even thought no one else likes it I say something and OH MY GOD! you scrutinize me because you spend all day on this forum instead of doing anything productive.

And Cornetto Deep Thought Review™ will be along later this year.
Also you can't ban me because I have done nothing wrong apart from give my opinion, if you don't like it I DONT GIVE A FUCK THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO.

No-one else thinks you're controversial, my love. Just you.

You are quite right, however, I do spend all my days on here instead of doing something productive. It's such a bitch to have a job that pays me to browse the internet on company time.

Thanks for the linkage ! A good article, but this bit made me laugh in relation to Gervais' portrayl

"His performance is definitive," Carell says. "It really goes down in history, with your Ted Baxters and Archie Bunkers."

Ah yes, them....

I actually think the US version could work, it certainly doesn't have the whif of burning rubber and break fluid of the usual car crash TV, and I think it if were truly going to be awful the word would be out by now. It might even be...good !

If it's being transmitted, it's already gone down better than the American Red Dwarf.

Never been much of a fan of the British office either. Watching it just made me think "Am I like that guy?" and then "Oh God, I am. I can never go outside again", but then I am a lot more paranoid than your average bear.

Awww. That's so sweet...you capitalised it and everything.

Here it comes, in just a few days... I didn't catch the webcast, but I did watch some clips, and from what I've seen (especially the clip on the IMDb index page right now), I am going to hate every moment of this show. Steve Carell's delivery is just way too showy. He's way too over-the-top. Where Ricky Gervais was earnest and sincere in his lechery and buffoonishness, Carell is a fricking cartoon character.

EDIT: Okay, so, I just finished watching the first episode, up on MySpace, and I am thoroughly disappointed. As in the clips, Carell is playing an overblown cartoon character, and where Gervais could make you squirm uncomfortably and yet keep your eyes glued to the screen, Carell's more "controversial" bits just made me cringe and bury my face in my hands in embarrassment. He's David Brent for the Ace Ventura crowd.

It's another wonderful example of the US entertainment industry finding a gem of a programme overseas, shipping it to our shores, and sucking all the life out of it.

I'm actually looking foward to seeing it. Mainly because of the casting. Steve Carrell (Brick Tamland from Anchorman) in the David Brent part and Rainn Wilson (Arthur from Six Feet Under) in the Gareth Keenan role. Their both fine comic actors and if anyone can make this transfer work, I think they'll have the best shot.

There's an interesting article from yesterday's Observer which suggests that Gervais worked with Steve Carrell to make the performance of Brent more suitable for an American audience.

I saw the webcast and you're right-He's not humanising the character enough. However I did find some aspects funny, some of the jokes I actually laughed at. I think you really need to distance yourself from the original office, and also from the notion of it being a documentary-as that really doesn't come across in this version.

Also, the American Tim and Dawn are immensely unlikeable and there's no chemistry there at all.

Don't worry, you'll grow out of it.

hee hee...you so funny andy

It's not looking as bad as I thought it was going to. There's a lot of talented people working on it and it does look as if it will be substantially different to the original.

Ahh, we do it to ruining exports is not a phenomenon limited to the yanks. Sometimes things are just lost in translation

True. Anybody remember The Brighton Belles? We somehow managed to make an even shitter version of something that was shit to begin with.

But if you distance yourself from it being a documentary (of sorts), what has it become? A parody?

I'll be curious to see whether people buy into the notion that this is a real office. Yes, it looks like one, but it doesn't "feel" like any office I've ever worked in. What charmed the American populace (at least, those who get BBC America) about the original is that, besides some regional humour that lost its relevance once it left your shores, it was exactly like what a good many of them have to put up with every day. Everyone has worked for a David Brent at least once in their lives; I'm not sure they've ever worked for a Michael Scott, though.

I didn't expect it to be a clone of the original, or even its identical twin, but I was at least hoping for the painful realism that made the original so damn funny. This has dropped that in favour of that wink-wink, nudge-nudge, aren't-we-clever style that I hate so much.

That's exactly the part I was hoping it would lose. I know I'm alone on that but I'm more than happy for this to be something else. That's what makes it interesting to me. If you're going to remake something but can't make it better then you have to make it diffferent, aim it at a different audience.

Well, to its credit, it's instantly better than anything else on NBC right now. Except maybe Law & Order.

I know the show won't be judged on its own merits and comparisons are impossible to avoid but as long as it's funny it's doing its job isn't it?

Yes. That's I will reserve final judgement until next week, or whenever they air episode two, since everything after the premier will be an original storyline.

As it stands, though, I only laughed once during the first episode.

I don't see how this can be judged on it's own merits... The Office is an Emmy Winning show that did not need to be remade. It was fine as it was and I just see it as another attempt by the American media to cash in on British creativity...

And the remakes of Men Behaving Badly, Coupling and Fawlty Towers fell flat on their respective asses!

However, if the yanks can do it, why not the Brits... I want to see remakes of Knight Rider and The A-Team, done Brit style...

I don't think it's a question of need.

Well, it's a question of something...

I've not seen a positive review on IMDB.

I've seen very little British comedy in the States... except for the stuff they show on BBCA which is cable/satellite only. Americans tend to shun anything that isn't actually made in America. It's not just a British thing... they've just remade Taxi for example. Happy as we are to watch American stuff, the feeling isn't mutual. When I've spoken to Americans about British comedy I get responses like "oh man I love that show Absolutely Fabulous - that's so funny" and I realise that subtle humour (so abundant in the Office) is lost over here. There's so much TV you have to shout to be heard, and the Office doesn't shout. I guess the remake is to make it louder and more obvious humour-wise... but that just destroys everything that the Office was.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the American adaptation of "According to Bex." Can it possibly get any worse?

Just watched it. Don't really know what to say. Laughed once (I wonder if it was the same bit Omnicia laughed at) and I didn't cringe once. Most of the performances seemed pretty lacklustre, like the actors knew they were in something crap, and so couldn't be bothered making an effort. The only emotion it stirred in me was boredom.

Strangely I've read nothng but positive reviews - from newspapers etc.

Transferring Comedy Over The Pond

I watched this last night. You know, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

Yes, the US version of "My Family".

So far I have only seen the first episode. The biggest problem with transferring these show is the PACING. With all the commercials break you really, really lose something. Comedy is all about timing. While they did drop in some of the bored workers cut-aways, the pacing is still a little rushed. However....seeing as this is made for Americans, this may not be a problem.

I thought that most of the actors were perfect. The Tim & Dawn characters are spot-on. The Gareth character didn't have much the first episode, so I can't say. The downfall is the Brent character. While all the others seem natural (as they should be) Brent seems like he is acting.

Right when I heard about this I thought that it could be a success. If it becomes an American show for Americans, it can make it....something like All In The Family taking on a life of it's own and being successful.

If I download them I wont have that problem rabbit... I might give it a go actually then.

I have seen 2 of the new episodes of this now. I actually prefer these new ones to the rehashed one. I do have hope for this to take on a life of its own. The writing is up there with the original.

I still have my doubts about Michael Scott/Brent. He just seems to be trying too hard to me. But again, this is made for americans, so it may just work. The thing that I really dislike is Dwight/Gareth. He just seems psychotic. Gareth was a idiot but Dwight is totally unlikable on all levels. And Pam/Dawn is just too talky. She points out every single one of Scott's errors where Dawn just kept quiet.

Still, it's heads & shoulders above a lot of stuff on American network TV

Office gets Renewed