The Office American Workplace - Series 1 to 3 Box Set

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With their hit BBC TV series The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant redefined the British sitcom. Their style was pseudo-documentary, with no laugh track, yet it still had a cringe-worthiness that British comedy thrives on.  So how could it ever translate for an American audience?  

The first series is a short run of just 6 episodes. The office itself has been relocated to Scranton, Pennsylvania and a branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.  Steve Carell, who’s instantly recognisable from US comedy flicks 40 Year Old Virgin and Anchorman, plays the clueless boss Michael Scott.  The rest of the office is based largely on the UK version except the actors are much better looking.  Jim (John Krasinski) is the easy-going hero who secretly fancies Pam (Jenna Fischer) while Rainn Wilson plays his nemesis Dwight.

These early episodes are a mixed bag, trying too hard to translate the UK storylines for a new audience, and the series received a mixed reaction when it originally aired – although so did the British version when it first appeared. The second series of 22 episodes gives the writers and cast room to breathe and introduces a rival Stamford branch along with the threat that one branch is going to have to close.

With more airtime to fill the American version feels more like a soap opera with various characters involved in one or more relationships. Where Gervais’ David Brent was the ultimate buffoon, Carell’s Scott gets involved with two women so he at least appears to have some redeeming qualities.  

Unlike other remakes (Red Dwarf, Men Behaving Badly), The Office has gone from strength to strength in the US and is now in its sixth season. Your enjoyment will depend on your own sensibilities and how much you’ll miss the much more inept Brent and the original’s darker streak, but look out for the episode The Convict in series 3 penned by Gervais and Merchant themselves.

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