"The Office", transplanted to the U.S.

This is a post I originally made on my research blog, London Calling, but it's something that I'm so interested in, I thought I could bring it into mediaville. Last Thursday evening I managed to watch the first episode of the U.S. version of the BBC’s Golden Globe-winning comedy, "The Office". Straight to the point: It really was a clone of the Brit version - right down to about 90% of the gags, and my wife and I were playing "spot the American version of Tim, Gareth, Dawn, etc." to stay amused. (To be fair, the first episode is intended to be a close remake of the original; after that, the U.S. show’s writers are supposed to create original American material for the new show.) Still, even with Ricky Gervais, the show's original UK creator, helping with this version, I don't think that’s going to save it. The odds are that it will follow the calamitous U.S. version of "Coupling" – another failed NBC attempt to import a UK comedy idea - down the tubes.

Inevitably, it seems, the critics in the States quickly panned the show. (See this example from a Slate critic, titled "What have you done with my office?: NBC body-snatches the BBC series"; it's pretty typical.) It seems that American TV critics love most things British - after all, British telly is supposed to be the best in the world (though some HBO execs might take issue with that.) I should point out here that, even though as a general principle I dislike U.S. remakes of successful comedies, I was not completely opposed to this particular example (maybe just 80% opposed). After all, it stars the often-hilarious "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" alum Steve Carell as the Ricky Gervais/David Brent clone. And the show is set in Scranton, PA, a Godawful town that draws a guffaw right from the start. Nevertheless, the show still starts out with two strikes against. Why is this? Dana Stevens of Slate rejects the notion of simple Anglophilic snobbery. Instead, for those loyal fans of the UK original on BBC America:

It's love. The Office's fans love their show with a fierce conviction, and I doubt most of them will take kindly to the idea of simply transplanting the alienated crew of Wernham Hogg paper company to new digs in Scranton, Pa. For those still in mourning for the BBC series (which wrapped up earlier this year with a two-hour special), seeing the roles already recast with American actors is like waking up to find your beloved has been abducted, Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style, and replaced by a random stranger.

But of course there's more to it than that - and yes, snobbery is part of it as well. If Slate is one bastion of Anglophile critics in the States, NPR is surely another. I heard reviews on NPR's Morning edition (click here for the web feed) and later Thursday on Fresh Air. Both reviewers made a similar point that old clones - such as "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son" - worked in the U.S. because almost nobody over here had seen or even heard of the originals, so no-one had a chance to compare the original with the clone. Now the critics can compare much more easily - unlike most of America, they tend to be avid viewers of BBC America, for example - and the U.S. versions always seem to suffer in comparison. This seems to be at least a contributing factor in why more recent sitcom and drama remakes (including "Coupling", "Cracker" and apparently even a US "Fawlty Towers", which I didn't know about) bomb almost every time. Finally, add in the fact that there's just some je ne sais quoi about Brit comedy that usually doesn't survive the translation, and the "bombs" just get bigger and bigger ...

On a related note, Fox has just started a sketch comedy series called "Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show", 9:30 p.m. EST Sunday. It's based on a popular British show of the same name (without the "Kelsey Grammer presents" bit). And it even includes one of the stars of the British show - a bit like having Simon Callow on "American Idol" or Anne Robinson on "The Weakest Link". This one seems to have flown under the radar - maybe it'll work. And it's true that U.S. clones seem to work better with reality TV and (maybe) sketch comedy, but not with sitcoms. Now why is that? hmmmm....