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For the show's pilot, the Americans essentially photocopy the British script. While that could have been disastrous, it turned out not half bad. Steve Carrell of "The Daily Show" plays the David Brent role, but since David is too British of a name, he goes by Michael Scott. I have faith that, given time, Carrell will make the role his own, but in the pilot he only is able to convey one dimension - the ass. You don't feel any sympathy for him, and much of bits where Brent played the jokester and entertainer were cut out of the American script (the exchange rate cutting the 30 minute script to 22 minutes). The Gareth role is played by Rainn Wilson, best known as the even more creepy Arthur from "Six Feet Under." There's a change in tone to this role too, as Wilson's character, which extra pudge and less hair, seems to be more of a passive agressive putz than Mackenzie Crook's wonderfully aggressive-agressive jerk. The Dawn and Tim couple seem most like the British characters, and likely that storyline will be the easiest to duplicate. While I have doubts the show will survive (over-under is currently 5 episodes, getting cancelled just before sweeps), if the scripts become less photocopies and more tangents unique and new to this version, it should be at least mediocre and watchable, which is more than can be said for all but about two sitcoms of the last few years.

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