Office remake 'a flop'

First look at US transfer

The pilot American episode of The Office has been completed and at least one critic says it's a turkey.

Derek Flint of the Ain't It Cool website went to a secret test screening of the NBC sitcom, and says they've ruined it.

He predicts it will go the same way as the US version of Coupling, touted as a hit replacement for Friends but unceremoniously dumped a few episodes into its run.

The network recruited King Of The Hill co-creator Greg Daniels to adapt Ricky Gervais's original but Flint says he fails badly.

He writes: "Daniels makes the same mistake that Coupling did by basically copying the original so much that you might as well just ignore this and buy the DVDs from BBC Video.

"The acting lacks the masterful underplaying of Ricky Gervais and company. A guy from The Daily Show [Steve Carell, pictured] tries to fill Ricky's shoes and can't. The American dude comes off as bland, uninteresting and really irritating.

"I don't think all that many of the test group I sat with was as familiar with the original British series as I was. Still, it was painfully clear that nobody was liking this much. The lady next to me said she found it depressing. The reviews will be scathing."

Gervais has said he isn't concerned how the American version fares, as he already has the original episodes to be proud of.

Ain't It Cool review