Pilot

This Americanization of the UK sitcom centers around Dunder-Mifflin, a paper supply company. Amid discussions of impending layoffs, regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), who's the working definition of clueless, tries his best to maintain morale among his employees. He sure has a funny way of going about it, though, especially in a scene with Pam the receptionist (Jenna Fischer).

This version of 'The Office' gets off to a pleasant if not hilarious start. I can believe that the writing will get stronger as the series went on, but overall this made for good if not inspired entertainment. (I have not seen the debut episode of the UK version, but apparently this American pilot follows it pretty closely.) Certainly there are some good laughs: encasing Dwights' (Rainn Wilson) office supplies in Jello, Michael receiving an *extremely* inappropriate call during a meeting with Jan (Melora Hardin) from Corporate, Michael referring to the garbage can as the place to file memos from Corporate, etc.

At least I could see there was potential here. As a man who himself has had an office job for almost 25 years, it has enough of a feeling of familiarity to make it relatable, even if characters & situations will undoubtedly be exaggerated for comedic effect.

In conclusion, I will say that I do like Carell as the dopey boss who *thinks* he's much cooler and hipper than he actually is. Awkward silences really speak volumes about how the employees actually feel about him.

Seven out of 10.

What this episode lacks in a story line, it makes up for in what this series is all about: it's characters and relationships.

There was absolutely no way they were going to be able to match the UK first episode by doing pretty much the same script. The actors don't fit as well into the original roles as they were written. Krasinski is no Freeman, he misses the beats in between the lines most of the time. Carell is closer. But his part works better when the character works to include the audience at home as he searches to he discovered. He doesn't come over quite as desperate. It's good they have tried to make it different but this opening pales when we've seen it done better.

For a episode itself it lacked any real story, the humour didn't really fit for characters we just met but as we go along we connect more and will enjoy more but this episode was just not the best, But did do a good job introducing us to what the characters act like around each other and there relationships.

We've never seen an episode of The Office....never. Loved it. Don't know where to start reviewing the Pilot, but getting to know some of the characters and their hi-jinx is consistent with what I've heard. Don't know why I've never watched it, but looks like I have a lot to catch up on.