November 9th, 2006
It is difficult to imagine a different response to Arts Central airing the American version of Ricky Gervais The Office than indignation. The pilot episode was widely ridiculed when it first aired on America s NBC network, and quite rightly so. Not even USA Today liked it.
Much of the American spinoff s early woes came from not knowing what to copy from the original. I d say that, at one time or another, every bloke in this office has woken up at the crack of Dawn, the delightfully tactless David Brent says when introducing receptionist Dawn Tinsley in the original Office.
Good puns are rare enough in sitcoms, but Gervais had somehow figured out a morbidly funny and rude double-pun. It was a joke that supposedly would not work out quite well with the Americans. And so it came to be that, in the American universe, the Gervais character introduced receptionist Pam Beesley without alluding to her crack.
If you think Pam is cute, says Michael Scott, purring lustily, you should have seen her a couple of years ago. That is just stupid.
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