01.27.05
The (American) Office
Those of you in the habit of scrolling down a bit may have noticed the Amazon Associates link to the complete DVD edition of The Office that’s currently residing in my sidebar. Well, today I was alerted by a Metafilter post to an American remake of this great British sitcom. The pilot is available online, and if you want a summary of what’s wrong with American sitcoms, you could do a lot worse than to compare this dreck to the masterful original.
It’s entirely possible that if I saw the American version without having experienced Ricky Gervais as David Brent first, I wouldn’t hate it. But it’s such a pale imitation … I just can’t express how much I hate it. The pacing is off — the original let you wallow in shocked, uncomfortable silence, while this one zips you off to the next scene. The direction is bad — there’s always a reaction shot, always a reminder that what you’re watching is not a documentary. And the casting is all wrong. It’s just wrong.
If you haven’t seen the original, there’s no time like the present. But don’t bother with the remake.
