By Liz Gartley
Back when I heard that NBC was developing Ricky Gervais’ and Stephen Merchant’s “The Office” for American television, I was totally prepared to hate it. But then I heard that Steve Carrell – who I knew at the time from the Daily Show – was starring in the series, I thought I’d give the show a chance.
The first season (only six episodes) was pretty shaky – the scripts were a mish-mash of stories borrowed from the British series, and watching the series as a die-hard fan of the original was a little surreal – Dawn became Pam, Gareth became Dwight, Tim became Jim. But the American version – which was adapted for American television by Greg Daniels, a former “Simpsons” writer – has gotten increasingly better over the past few seasons. I now see the two shows, as, well, two totally different shows; I barely see a resemblance between the “Offices” now.
For one thing, the American “Office” is much more uplifting than its Blighty counterpart, which – like all the best English comedies – was always mildly depressing (a critic coined the term “situation tragedy” for the English comedy “Blackadder” – another personal favorite starring Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie of “House” – but the term also aptly describes the English “Office”). I can hardly reconcile the fact that Jim and Pam are dating now – I mean, something good happening to characters I like? I keep waiting for something bad to happen.
In many ways the success of the adapted series is in its simplicity. In fact, NBC decided to keep the show for a second season after its rocky start because the show reminded network heads of “Seinfeld” – another show that had a rough beginning and wasn’t really “about” anything, but paid large dividends in the end.
Now in its fourth season, the award-winning series is one of the two sitcoms I watch faithfully. “The Office” airs on NBC Thursdays at nine.
Elizabeth “Liz” Gartley, of Houlton, has a BA in media studies from Emerson College in Boston. She has studied abroad in the Netherlands and Australia, and most recently interned at a production company in Hollywood. She can be reached online at egartley@gmail.com or leave a message for her at your local newspaper office.
