[Inspector Abberline]

Been re-watching the US version of The Office recently,and while it never really reaches the giddy heights of cringe worthyness that the original did,it probably works alot better as a traditional sitcom rather than a faux documentary comedy...It's incredibly hard to take the US version as any thing more than a straight forward sitcom mainly because Steve Carrells Michael Scott,is more of an over top comedy caricature rather than Gervais David Brent... Also where as the UK Office went for the option of finishing on a high after two series and the Christmas specials,( some thing that John Cleese realised with Fawlty Towers),the American Office dragged it out to nine series with some seasons lasting nearly 20 episodes a piece,hardly surprising you are going to loose momentum and spontinaety...On the plus side it did manage to have a life of it's own and making star's out of some of the main cast.... With nearly 200 odd episodes you are not gonna hit the mark every time,but luckily the series had more hits and misses...Steve Carrell played Michael Scott slightly more zany than David Brent, Which didn't always work for me,but when Carrell reigned his performance,it made the character slightly more believable and in some cases sympathetic...I don't class The Office US ,as a classic sitcom, and it's certainly not as good as Seinfeld, but it's a damn sight better than most US remakes of British sitcoms....