[Note: What follows is my opinion. No, there is no reason on earth why you should care.]

The American version of the BBC’s excruciatingly wonderful “The Office” isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, I’m enjoying it.

In its second season, it seems to be moving away from the British original, which is a good thing: I’m a Steve Carell fan, but he can’t touch Ricky Gervais, the creator and star of the British version. Gervais’ office manager was a masterpiece of unself-knowingness. You could see what he was thinking even as he ran from what he was thinking. Just a gorgeous performance. Carell is funny, but he’s not half the actor that Gervais is.

So, this season wisely has focused more on the ensemble dynamics, and there are some fetching performances — I’m liking Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) almost as much as Tim Freeman and Lucy Davis.

So, “The Office” is definitely on our TiVo list. It’s sillier than the British one, not as deeply funny, and not as squirmtastic. But it’s better than I expected and getting better over time.

Two criticisms/concerns, though. First, Dwight, the buffoon, is too buffoonish for my taste. He’s buffoon all the way through. Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) in the British version verged on caricature, but, as with Gervais, you could see through him. Overdoing the buffoon is practically a national pastime on American TV.

Second, the British version only ran two seasons, which meant the Tim-Dawn flirtation could come to a conclusion. I don’t know how the American version is going to sustain the tension over multiple seasons. [Tags: TheOffice television comedy bbc SteveCarell]

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