Maybe most of you know about this but I just learned today via a recent YT video that back in the aughts some idiots at NBC actually thought an American remake of this was a good idea, complete with Richard Ayoade in his original role, but with Joel McHale in the Chris O’Dowd one. It never went into production but the pilot leaked around ten years ago, and from the scenes I’ve watched it’s just as disastrous as the time they tried to clone Coupling (which they actually aired a couple of episodes of).
I think I’ve seen clips of that. Anyway, I thought Friends was the American version of Coupling. Oh, except I guess Friends came first. Oops. Anyway, the American version of The Office was successful, so I guess it isn’t always a bad plan.
And if you want to watch a show about making an American version of a British TV show, (starring a Friend!) you could watch Episodes.
Is that Jane Leeves there at the bottom of the frame?
BTW the US version of The Office only worked because they VERY QUICKLY moved away from having Michael Scott be as much of a dick as David Brent was in the UK version. Unlike Gervais, Carell’s performance as Michael Scott with the same lines (in the pilot episode) really DID make him come off as a massive tool, without any of the obliviousness that made Gervais’ Brent somehow pitiable, so you just ended up hating Scott.
