The Office REALLY premieres tonight - watch it!

As a huge fan of the original BBC version of The Office, I was more than a little scared when I heard they were making an American version. I had hope, however, when I also heard that creators Ricky Gervais (who also played boss-from-hell David Brent) and Stephen Merchant were coming on board as exec producers. But I was still skeptical, seeing as how other translations of British shows have gone (see Coupling).

Then they announced that Steve Carell would play the boss in this new version, I was encouraged, but what has convinced me more than anything else that this show won't be a disaster is the marketing. The ads have set the tone just right, and NBC has done a great job of getting buzz going online -- debuting an episode commercial-free with a partner site last week in live streaming video was genius.

The final straw was watching that very episode online. The NBC version is Americanized, but in a good way. It still has the quirky awkwardness and potentially endearing (and cringeworthy) characters. It holds on to the theme of office life as purgatory that was so crucial in the original. Give The Office a chance tonight when it premieres (NBC after The Apprentice). And if you haven't seen the original, go out and rent or buy the DVD set.

Posted by tivogirl at 6:06 PM