The Office: Season One (UK) - Complete First Series

Comedy, Drama

Ricky Gervais	David Brent
Martin Freeman	Tim Canterbury
Mackenzie Crook	Gareth Keenan
Lucy Davis	Dawn Tinsley
Joel Beckett	Lee
Ben Bradshaw	Ben
Sally Bretton	Donna
Oliver Chris	Ricky Howard
Angela Clerkin	Jackie
Yvonne D'Alpra	Joan
Jamie Deeks	Jamie

Director	Ricky Gervais; Stephen Merchant; Ken Kwapis; Dennie Gordon
Producer	Ash Atalla
Writer	Ricky Gervais; Stephen Merchant

The British sitcom The Office has the most devoted following this side of Monty Python, so an American remake seemed doomed. Amazingly, the remake actually finds its own enjoyable version of the original's uncanny comedy of embarrassment. Office manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The Daily Show, The 40 Year-Old Virgin) believes he's the beloved leader of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of a paper products company--but his relentless and painfully forced efforts at comedy creep out everyone around him, including paranoid Dwight (Rainn Wilson, who had a memorable recurring role on Six Feet Under), nervous receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer, LolliLove), and aimless salesman Jim (John Krasinski, A New Wave), who's smitten with the already engaged Pam. The pilot episode suffers from closely replicating the British pilot, but after that The Office finds its own footing, turning diversity training, an office birthday party, and a basketball game into excruciating yet hypnotically funny rituals of humiliation. Carell, though clearly talented, can't match Ricky Gervais' unique performance as the aggressively needy British manager (it's hard to imagine that anyone could); as a result, the supporting roles become more prominent, and Wilson, Fischer, and Krasinski quickly create a rapport that matches and may even exceed that of their British counterparts. Be sure to watch the deleted scenes; remarkably, they're as good as the material that made it on the air in this six-episode season. --Bret Fetzer