Many arguments have been made about the benefits of working from home. Productivity, happiness and health can all be improved, but there’s a less-reported upside – it reduces the chances of another remake of The Office.
After lightning struck twice for the show – first with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s game-changing 2001 BBC original and then in 2005 with the global-smash US adaption – there have been 11 other attempts, none of which have matched up to those originals. So when Amazon announced it would be backing a 14th version for its streaming platform Prime Video, this time set in Australia, people weren’t exactly optimistic.
When the trailer dropped last month, the reaction of a comedic sacred cow being turned into a Big Mac was fierce. Reading the bloodbath comments underneath it, the viral Australian 2024 Olympic Games breakdancer Raygun probably exclaimed, “Thank god I’m no longer the country’s most-mocked cultural export of the year!”
Thankfully, The Oz-ffice doesn’t disgrace itself in the same manner as, say, American remakes of Peep Show or Spaced. The first three episodes made available for review are amiably amusing and, if you squint, you can see potential there as it finds it feet.
Taking its tonal cue from the gentler, broader stateside Office, we’re now in Sydney-based box company Finley Craddick, overseen by cringey boss Hannah Howard (the David Brent lead in Britain/Michael Scott in the US), played by comedian Felicity Ward. Also gender-swapped is her humourless deputy Lizzie (Edith Poor),a proxy for Gareth/Dwight, who possesses an “unemotional support animal” crow named Russell. Everyman Tim/Jim is now Nick (Steen Raskopoulos) and Dawn/Pam becomes Greta (Shari Sebbens), with all their will-they-won’t-they sexual chemistry intact. In fact, it sticks so scrupulously to its source material that you wish they’d titled it, with a knowing Charli XCX ‘Brat‘ wink, The Office And It’s The Same But It’s Aussie And David Brent Is A Woman So It’s Not.
The comedic beats are imported wholesale: the pranks, the boss who’s desperate to be her underlings’ mate, HR meetings going awry, forced-fun events like ‘Pyjama Day’, and low-stakes plots involving coffee machines breaking down. Trouble is, the naturalistic mockumentary format that once seemed fresh compared to traditional studio-set sitcoms more than 20 years ago (and spawned countess imitators including Parks and Recreation and Modern Family) now looks as hackneyed as the laugh track it replaced. Considering that reality TV has also drastically changed (and it’s never explained who is filming the staff of Finley Craddick), you might even assume you were watching found footage from 2005, were it not for the first episode’s central premise about the office being threatened with closure due to the popularity of remote-working since COVID-19, as well as gags about zany Zoom backgrounds and standing desks.
Despite the clear talent of all involved, a purgatorial air of ‘what’s the point? We’ve done this’ déjà vu lingers. It took the US Office two seasons to stop being a bad cover version and hit its stride. In this cutthroat climate of streaming where series are prematurely culled, will this be allowed time to settle into its own unique rhythm? A fatalistic question that would probably be followed in The Office by a reaction cutaway shot to somebody’s eyes awkwardly darting from side to side.
‘The Office’ is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video from October 18