“And the writers refer to as ‘the pilot after the pilot’… because they felt like this was establishing what the American version is going to be like.” “After the pilot episode of our show, we started writing original story lines,” Fischer said. The second episode of season 1 - “Diversity Day” - was a completely American invention that ultimately set the tone for the rest of the series. The British influence could clearly be felt in the pilot, but NBC’s The Office took on a life of its own after that. However, Gervais and Merchant were there when the cast did a table read and they even had lunch with a few actors to discuss more about the show. Nevertheless, fans who watched both versions will notice the same jokes and punchlines appearing in both pilots.įischer revealed: “Greg Daniels was the person who was tasked with Americanizing the British show, and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant kind of oversaw that process, but they were not on set when we were shooting the pilot.”
For one thing, there was actually only one episode that was based on BBC’s The Office and it was the pilot.Īs shared by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey in their podcast, Office Ladies, the pilot for the American Office utilized the same script as the British one, though of course some changes were made wherever necessary. The two shows might be based on the same premise with very similar characters, but NBC’s The Office did things rather differently than the BBC version.
THE OFFICE SEASON 2 UK SERIES
Only the pilot episode of the American series was based on the British version There is not a clear cut answer as to why the American version of The Office did significantly better than its British counterpart, though some fans have pointed to things such as Michael Scott’s likability compared to David Brent and the more engaging love stories in the American version as reasons why viewers stayed year after year. It became a pop culture phenomenon and won many awards, such as one Golden Globe and four Primetime Emmys. The series also ran for nine seasons long before going off the air in 2013. NBC’s The Office soon became a hit with both viewers and critics alike. He went on to create the American adaptation of The Office for NBC starring Steve Carell as manager Michael Scott. The failure of the British version of The Office did not stop producer Greg Daniels from importing the show to American audiences. A post shared by The Office on at 5:31pm PDT