US gets set for 'The Office'
An American version of Ricky Gervais’s hit show The Office launches in the United States tomorrow night.
Cringeworthy boss David Brent has been reincarnated as Michael Scott, manager of the Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The fly-on-the-wall-style look at 9-5 office life is closely based on the award-winning BBC comedy, parodying the humorous, and often ridiculous incidents that shape the day.
Much like Brent, Michael Scott will make his debut on US television as the boastful tour guide of the documentary.
A single, middle-aged man, he believes he is the office funnyman, a fountain of knowledge and his employees’ cool friend.
The show has received a mixed reception in the US. While the Hollywood Reporter described it as “nothing short of superb", the New York Daily News said compared to the original it was “so diluted there is little left but muddy water".
The Los Angeles Times also claims the import arrived in the US “without some of its luggage intact”.
Scott is played by actor Steve Carell, whose performance has been criticised for being “too cartoon” and “damaging”.
The Washington Post claimed he “overdoes it at times and certainly is no match for the wonderful Ricky Gervais". Gervais, who won two Golden Globes for the show, and original co-creator Stephen Merchant are executive producers on the US version.
Producer Greg Daniels believes the spirit of the British show is that in reality office life can be like a prison.
“You don’t get to choose who you are sitting next to, so you have to deal with characters that are irritating, and that’s within everybody’s experience,” he said.
Carell, who has appeared in films Bruce Almighty and Anchorman, claims the show is a “a little more real than people might be expecting.
“NBC has allowed us to leave in those uncomfortable pauses that I think are so important,” he said. “It has to be awkward, kind of nails-on-a-chalkboard at times.”
