Lottie

I'm with you, painful definitely sums it up. I'll be sticking with Ricky!

Elvira

That just about sums it up for me too.

I mean: what IS the point of The Office if it DOESN'T MAKE YOU CRINGE???!!!

Bob

Well I'll still give it a couple episodes before I'll commit to not bothering with it, especially if there supposed to be different...

callowman

Why cant they just show the original British version ? Im sure there must be SOME americans with a dry sense of humour !!

and why they keep taking our shows and changing them prooves theres no writing talent in US TV !
(except for Larry David and Seinfeld)

Taffyles

Oh I'd think the American version of The Office would make me cringe..the American version of Coupling did. That was painful enough....think I'll pass on this one.

Bob

They do, on BBCA...

Bob

not the coupling remake was especially a bad one...

Guelder Rose

We do likewise in the UK - we tried to copy 'Married with Children' and made a complete hash of it!

The US tried to copy 'Ab Fab' and made a complete hash of that - whoever thought Sharon Stone could play Patsy and Roseanne Barr play Edina must have had a screw loose! Hmmm, I think it was Roseanne Barr that bought the rights?

I bought The Office on DVD cus I liked it so much - didn't bother watching the US remake as I figured it wouldn't be any good anyway.

AdobePinon

Well, I know most of you probably hated it, but I thought they did a decent job. Nowhere near as big a sell-out as I'd expected. Yeah, he's not Ricky, but he did a credible job. Besides, Ricky's cringe factor would have killed it for certain over here. We'll see.....

scrubbedexpat099

The pace was missing, a very important factor of the original.

I thought thay should have americanised it more, but that is all down to taste.

Just Jenney

Mark and I are HUGE fans of "The Office" so we were very excited -- and curious -- about the US version coming out. We watched it Thursday night and here is our mutual opinion of it:

Watching the US version of "The Office" after seeing the original UK version is like going to see a fantastic play on Broadway and then, six months later, seeing the same play performed by a local theatre group in your hometown.

You already know the characters. You already know the plot. You even know the dialogue and what will happen in certain scenes. There's no spontaneity, no surprise, only predictability. And hence, no "cringe factor".

In trying to "Americanize" it, they made it seem more like a knock-off than anything else. The names, for instance: Michael Scott instead of David Brent (both have first names as surnames); Jim instead of Tim; Dunder Mifflin instead of Wernham Hogg. In addition, they'll have to really change the storyline from the original if they want it to last more than a couple of years!

All that said, we still enjoyed it. We didn't crack up every 30 seconds like we usually do when watching the original, but it was still pretty ok. We're trying to keep an open mind about it, since usually the premiere episode of any tv show can be sort of rough. I love "Seinfeld" but I probably wouldn't have become such a big fan if I had only seen the first few episodes -- they were horrible!

~ Jenney

tony126

I thought the US version of Till Death do us Part was very good.

ladyofthelake

That's spot on for most of us here, but for the majority of people watching it on NBC, it's the first time they've seen The Office. BBCA has a very small viewer base compared to NBC. Could prove a hit...if people are willing to accept the different formula.

dragonfly

:scared: We watched the American version of the office it was utter rubbish give me the British version any day Ricky is so funny

emmals

when ever the us decide to remake a british comedy they make an utter balls up of it......the office is quickly becoming a classic....in fact we were watching it last night!......ricky gervais is a star in his own right....what next pheonix nights set in LA.....