The Ricky Gervais- and Stephen Merchant-written comedy, which was commissioned by NBC, has been remade with American actors, with the David Brent character played by Steve Carell.
According to one reviewer who saw the pilot, it was painful. "The acting lacks the masterful underplaying of Gervais and company. A guy tries to fill Ricky's shoes and can't. I don't think many of the test group I sat with [were] as familiar with the original British series as I was.
"It was painfully clear that nobody was liking it. The lady next to me said she found it depressing," according to Derek Flint on the .
Poor early reviews mirror the fate of another BBC hit to be remade in the US, 'Coupling', which was cancelled during its first season in the US.
Like 'The Office', the US version of 'Coupling', also made by NBC, used similar scripts to the BBC version but played by American actors.
The original version of the 'The Office' was a surprise hit in the US when it aired on the BBC America cable channel. The show became the first non-US sitcom to win two Golden Globe awards when it won best TV comedy and Gervais picked up the best comedy actor.
The wins were quite an achievement as 'The Office' beat hits like 'Will & Grace' and 'Sex and the City' to pick up the awards.
It was on the back of that success that NBC moved forward with its own version. However, despite the earlier panning, Gervais has given the show his support.
"It's very flattering that it is faithful to ours. [Carell] plays a different Brent and that's good. He's not as pathetic and weaselly. His main obsession is much more the comedy and less of the philosopher," Gervais told TV Week magazine.
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