I don’t know about the writers or the rest of the cast, but I saw a commercial of The Office, the American version. From what I know its loosely based on the british version, but none of the original talent is involved. I know nothing, thought, other than what I vaguely remember from reading about it a long time ago. I also remember very negative expectations from most people
But…
I noticed that Steve Carrell plays the boss…with a slicked back hairdo. Now, I’m not big Steve Carrell Fan. I loved him on the Daily Show but otherwise he’s pretty much normal to me. But what I saw from the preview was that he played the role pretty well. Obviously its not British humor. But… from what I could tell its got an American sense of humor in the same spirit as the office. I mean, they all had cards on their head with different races written on them. In the end, Steve ends up saying something over the top about indian, or asian (I can’t remember) shopkeepers and gets slapped in the face because he said something insensitive to someone who actually had the race that they were attached above their heads. Acually from what I could tell, everyone had their race on their cards. But if this were to happen in the original office, as I can imagine easily, someone would likely get their feelings hurt and then talk to the camera later, and it would all be much more subtle. But I think that the Office in America could do well. It seems to capture the situations that are common in all offices internationally, but puts an American spin on it in an American way.
Anyway, I for one, thought that the American version of the Office would be complete crap, but it appears that they have done a good job (from what I can tell from the brief clip) of translating it into the American humor without leaving a key part of it, being mundane, and almost universal disdain for all things that relate to the muntane of the office.
Anyone else see this trailer? Maybe I can find it on the net… brb.
okay, I can’t play it because I don’t have Media Player 9, which is stupid because I have MP10, but there appears to be much more content on NBC.com. but I’ll check that out later on my mac and I’ll get back, but so far I am impressed with what little I’ve seen.