The Office - NBC
 

The first 5 five minutes have passed and it is exactly the same as the original. Verbatim. Why not just broadcast the original? Its fifty times funnier.......

Clue me in. Is this supposed to be a take off of the BBC's "The Office"?

Yeah, and like MahlerIsGod said, the dialogue is almost an exact carbon copy of the BBC original. The characters are the exact same too. I believe the stapler in the jello scene is actually gonna happen in this episode too (saw it in previews). What's the point in remaking it if you're gonna use the exact same situations/characters/dialogue.

What a shame. i don't think the understated humor in the original BBC series can be reproduced. Great show. Perfect casting.

It is SO boring! I hope it gets better as the show progresses.

Looks like they are trying to hard to be funny.

Steve Carell is funnier then that.

Almost looks like a rip-off of a Chris Guest movie.

Hope it gets better.

So unfunny....

I don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I was fan of the original.

Of course, I don't really like Carell all that much. It's like he's trying to hard. Comedy should be subtle, not thrown out on floor with big "laugh at this" arrow signs pointing to all the jokes.

Maybe their just finding their way. I'll give it a couple of shows before writing it off completely, but right now, it looks like another 'Coupling' in the making.

I saw this pilot a while back, and was extremely disappointed. As many have already said, it's bits and pieces of the UK version's first two episodes (or maybe just the first) spliced together with new actors. However, seeing it tonight, I think it has more potential than I gave it credit for. Coupled with the fact that I read and heard that the first few episodes will be like their UK counterpart, but will branch off into their own storylines and jokes as the show progresses.


I love Carell--and I agree that he seemed like he was forcing it in the pilot--and I think he can steer this into a pretty decent show. I also liked most of the supporting cast, particularly John Krasinski who plays Jim, the US version of Tim Canterbury. However, I wasn't very impressed with Gareth's counterpart, Dwight. Gareth was played perfectly as a character you loved to hate (or at least loved to be irritated with), whereas the role of Dwight is just flat out annoying. Mackenzie Crook had the role of Gareth down perfectly and it's almost unfair to ask anyone to recreate the effect he had with that character, but Rainn Wilson just didn't even come close. I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly that made me dislike the way he played the character, but in my own simple and uneloquent terms, he was just flat out annoying without a side of entertaining, while Gareth was the annoying guy in the office, but you couldn't help but laugh at him and be entertained by what an ass he was and how he was teased and heckled by Tim. On the other hand, Dwight's character just left me annoyed, feeling like I was just watching an irritatingly obnoxious child.


I'm sure I'll tune in next week to see how things progress, and I hope that they can start to do the UK version justice and not take a giant crap on it like Coupling managed to do a year or so ago.

Well, it's a good thing for NBC that they only ordered 6 episodes, 'cause this just went right down the crapper. NEXT!

i read an article about the show a month or so ago and it said that the first episode was taken largely from the bbc series (as we've all noticed), but that it went off on its own after that. i'll give it a few more episodes to give a fair chance...

I have never seen the BBC series, but I have heard a lot about it, and was looking forward to this one with much anticipation. From my experience, pilots are rather dull compared to the entire run of a series. So, I'll give it a few more until I make a judgment.

I agree with the masses that it seems as though they were trying too hard. I will watch it again to give it a fair chance though.

Horrible, I really doubt it'll get better. They managed to butcher just about every joke from the original. It's clear that this show is going to be for those who haven't seen and probably wouldn't like the original, so I'm going to stay away from it from now on.

I like Steve Carrell and all but...the NBC folks need to lay off the crack. To take such an obviously flawed concept to fruition, wow. The characters in the original were so idiosyncratic. Why would anyone watch this knowing what a pale imitation it is?

I've not seen it, but there is no way it could compare to the original.
It's just going to get added to the long list of failed Brit/American sitcom transfers...

I enjoyed this show, but I haven't seen the original, I'll have to try and check it out seems like it might be really funny.

I didn't think it was too bad, I actually watched it by accident. Though I haven't seen the original, so maybe that's why I don't have exactly the same opinion..

I thought it was hilarious, but I haven't seen/heard much about the Brit. version. Im looking forward to the next episode.

yeah...the fact is, even a subpar copy of the UK version is going to be a lot better than most of the garbage on television nowadays. however, for those who have seen, and are fans of the British version, it's difficult to watch what some would call a "perfect" comedy redone at a lower standard.


I didn't mind the remake so much, but it just can't capture the same spirit and timing of the original. I guess the best way to put it is that the UK version was not forcing jokes and just acted natural--haha at that oxymoron--whereas the US version is more like a typical sitcom where things seem to happen conveniently and allow for a predictable set up to a punchline. the original series was really almost like watching a documentary of a typical office, with all its mundane glory, and the humor came from the tension which came from awkward moments everyone faces in real life.

Total disappointment. What a piece of crap if you ask me. Its shit like this that makes me sick. Its such an American thing to do. Lets take something from a different country that is brilliant, put it into a shaker and spit it right out at the American public. I mean, it is totally verbatim minus the stupid tie-ins into the American pop-culture. Totally gay. Don't waste your time with it. Go get the BBC's "The Office" on DVD and watch those. They are brilliant.

My thoughts exactly. What a waste of time.

I feel fortunate in that I haven't seen the British version. I was able to judge this one pretty much on its own merits. Oh, and for all those getting their panties in a bunch, from what I've read, only the pilot is the same - the rest are original.

Personally, I enjoyed it. It was refreshing to see a sitcom on a major network that was not only single-camera, sans laugh track, but also allowed some really long, uncomfortable pauses. They let the jokes just settle and stew a little bit, and I think that really adds a lot of color to the show.

I found the show amusing. I only laughed out loud once, at Steve Carell's face after he "fired" Pam. But I think they'll probably do some good stuff with it. I watched it twice, and on the second time, I picked up on a number of subtleties that I hadn't seen the first time.

I gave it a TiVo Season Pass and I'll continue to watch it over the next few months.

see..that is interesting to hear that. I tried to give the show a chance and i figured for the people that never watched the BBC show they might enjoy this one. Just so you know all know, the guy that played the Boss in the BBC show is the guy that is producing this American version. Kinda weird..i know. I am glad you enjoyed it. I still think you would like the BBC version much more.

First off, I've been a fan of the original for a while. So I had to give this a fair chance. That said...

Goddamn, it's horrible. It's not so much that the jokes aren't funny, it's just that they seem so forced. I like Steve Carrell, but he's forcing it, and it comes off as over the top. He just doesn't grasp that the jokes are supposed to be subtle, not screamed. Also, I don't know who exactly to blame, but those akward silences aren't quite hitting it either. The BBC version nailed it. So much that you'd turn away, hoping someone would walk away. I'll keep watching, but only cause there's nothing better on.

I watched a little bit of the new episode tonight, and I really hope that the move away from ripping off the UK version goes faster and very soon. The little I saw tonight was a change from the original storyline, but it was still clearly taking the premises and basic elements from the UK version. Frankly, I've been extremely patient with the show so far, but my patience is very quickly running out.

think it's going to be one ofthose shows that if you are a fan of the original just isn't going to measure up, so I think the target audience is mainly the majority of americans who haven't seen the original, for those who don't like it nobody is forcing you to watch it, get the bbc version on dvd

I didn't think it was funny. I haven't seen the original on BBC. You would think that NBC would have learned a very big lesson from Coupling. Not everyone appreciates British humor, and for many, it's a taste that's acquired over a looong time.

Damn. I didnt know that they were doing an american version. They did this with red dawrf and it was a major flop.

I haven't seen the BBC version, I thought the NBC version was pretty good. I'll watch it until it gets cancelled a few weeks from now.

after you watch the original....you see this crap they are trying to pawn off, and you just shake yoru head. I don't care if they are going to spin off new story lines....the characters are a rip off......of the originals, and nothing will beat that. This show is total crap.......

From what most of you say this is dying on its arse, i just don't understand why they didn't just show the orginal, i'm sure it would have been well received, afterall i won a couple of emmy's. Us brit just buy all your successful shows, and even some that are not and we make do. It would be funny to see a british 24 with our own Jack Bauer but i'm sure it would be terrible. Anyway back to the office i could never see it working without Ricky Gervais, a little fat bloke, everyone can relate to someone like that and therefore laugh at him. He was the office and he will always be the office, plus lots of the stuff that ended in the final cuts were him just messing about and taking people off guard, that was what made classic TV.

About a year and a half ago, NBC tried to make their own version of Coupling. Now they're trying The Office. When will the NBC execs get it through their thick heads that they can't just rip off BBC shows and expect the same results?

They did ? what was it called