For the former Daily Show “correspondent” and talented star, Steve Carell (who’s acting abilities, incidentally, shine the most when he takes on more subdued roles, as in the case when he played a gay, Proust scholar in Little Miss Sunshine), the opportunity to star in the American Office, assuming the same role that Gervais had perfected even before the show’s inception on BBC, must have been, I can only presume, a bit daunting.

Indeed, those are big shoes to fill, as my previous piece, which introduces the mastermind(s) behind the Office indicates. (Despite my focus on Gervais, he shouldn’t be given all the credit, as Stephen Merchant was also the co-creator of the Office and their hit series on HBO, Extras).

THE VERDICT: FIRST IMPRESSIONS AREN’T ALWAYS CORRECT

I’ll be the first to admit, when I watched the first few episodes of the American Office, my leeriness was confirmed. Jim (played by the now famous John Krasiniski, a native – like the writer/actor of the show B.J. Novak – of Newton, MA) just parroted Tim (Martin Freeman), and as a mere mimicker of the British actor, I wasn’t impressed. It was worse for Carell, however, as he was taking on Gervais’s role. All eyes were on him. While Gervais received gushing praise (one critic, as I mentioned previously, lauded, “the show is perfect.”), American TV critics, not surprisingly, reviewed Carell’s initial performance with either tepid (ahem) approval or outright despair, the latter bemoaning the fact that he was channeling Gervais and in a decidedly not-so-subtle manner. Read More »