The Office

Abstract

This article analyses the first series of both the original British and American remake of the sitcom The Office. We discuss how television format adaptations work through articulations of national identity, and suggest that the success of an adaptation may be linked to its ability to reflect and interpret its new context. Despite the global success of the sitcom genre there are clear differences in the situations, characters and humor used by British and American sitcoms which must be addressed by an adaptation. The way in which The Office has adapted to the institutional context, culture and humor of the United States, after its success as a British sitcom, illustrates that national identity is a vital part of the global television format trade. While it may appear that the growth of format adaptations reflects the increasingly globalized contemporary world, in fact, format adaptations encourage articulations of national identity and cultural belonging.