I agree with pretty much everything everyone's already said.

The actor who plays Gareth reminds me too much of the character on the original series who was always questioning David Brent. The one whose pants they pulled off in the last episode.

This is Gareth.



I agree... DJ Qualls would have been great.

Weird. The pop-up window says I need Windows Media 9 installed and that's the very one I have.

I got the same message with Firefox. I had to go to IE to watch it.

And put me down in the 'This looks like rubbish' category. I love the BBC series and this is a pale comparison. I can't believe the people behind the original would sign off on this. I'll probably watch it out of a morbid curiosity though, the way you'd watch a train wreck.

Ding! I didn't even think of that, I was also using Firefox at the time.

The funny thing about "coupling" was that it was a British version of "Friends". So when NBC did their own version, they were doing a remake of a remake. Hmn. Did that make sense?

Did you see SLEEPOVER?

I just had a chance to see the pilot of the US version of The Office, and I think its getting a bit of a bad rap. Yes, its very distracting to watch basically the same episode that you know and love get redone by new people, but I think they've stuck fairly well to the tone of the show (its filmed exactly the same way). I think if I had seen this pilot without ever having seen the UK version, I'd be pretty impressed. I was afraid they would take out things like the awkward pauses, but those were in full effect. The character names are changed, but for simplicity I thought Steve Carrell did a good version of David Brent. Its not unlike how he used to act on the Daily Show. The Gareth substitute (played by the actor who was Arthur on Six Feet Under) was enjoyable, now being a volunteer sheriff during the weekends instead of territorial army. I thought the actor doing Tim seemed too much like he was mimicking Martin Freeman's performance with a little less sympathy, so I'll be curious how he develops as the show moves on to original scripts. That really is the question, since the pilot is based on a previously available (excellent) script, how will the writing on the all-new episodes be. There were a few funny gags that weren't in the original and all the British references (obviously) are made into American ones, so maybe theres hope, but I doubt this show will last long no matter what since I don't think the average Must See TV viewer will appreciate a comedy that makes you uncomfortable.

uh... No. Did you?

I DID see him in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman though.

wasn't aware they were making this, but I saw an ad for it tonight... ugh... Didn't they learn from Coupling?

Well, I checked out the previews from NBC. I really wanted to hate this, but I didn't. The distracting part, as another poster mentioned, is hearing the jokes that they lifeted directly from the original series. I revere the original BBC series, but they seem to have made this show less of a poor impersonation of the original than I expected. Steve Carrell was quite good in what I saw. He's no Ricky Gervais (David Brent), but he isn't exactly trying to be.

I'll give it a shot. But it's going to be tough to not compare to the original. It set a very high standard that's going to be hard to live up to. It'll be interesting to hear from the folks who haven't seen the original.

And while I love the entire cast of the original, Ricky Gervais really made the show what it is for me. I don't think anyone can portray David Brent, or a Brent-like character even close to his version.

DJ Qualls would be an excellent choice for an American Gareth!

In related news, Ricky Gervais is appearing on Letterman tonight.

Nice article here on Entertainment Weekly's site with Gervais and his American counterpart.

Y'know this could actually turn out to be pretty funny if looked at as it's own show. Since they're going to have their own storylines and not be a total rehash (just explanded) I think I'll give it a go. May not approach the brilliance of the original, but it could be fun.

it's horrible !

Myspace is going to webcast this on Wednesday at 8pm... so I hear...

It's actually been getting pretty good reviews. Both TVGuide and EW give it good grades, but say it's not near the brilliance of the original.

I've warmed to the idea of a new version, and am really looking forward to checking out the first couple of episodes. It would be nice if it turned out to be a really good show.