busker

US version of The Office

But nil desperandum, later efforts are promised to be more original and palatable, i.e. less slavish to the original brilliant Beeb version.

• No need my opinion. Slate nails the March 24 grotesquerie in one.
• It can't get worse - well, it can, and I could script a devastating parody - but the barely Merkanised script from the Brit version was as ash in the mouths of the hapless US cast who might as well have been spouting Swahili for all the understanding or feeling they brought to the imposed foreign dialog.
• My misgivings are that the cast are identikit characters with none of the verbal or physical originality that distinguished the hit version.
• The core idea of trying to contort the original into American was a misbegotten one which is why the carpentry of the show creaks so loudly and makes amateurs of the entire cast.
• Such abortive beginnings can be hard to recover from and my guess is that most of the NBC audience will end up wondering what the heck the fuss was all about.
• If this leads to good British shows being left alone, the sacrilege will have been worth it.
• I know this version has been bought for inflicting back on the UK market. I don't have dates but will report back with the reaction(s) from the boroughs and shires.

Back to the US version, it will have to change out of all recognition to be remotely acceptable.