Ricky Gervais’ British mockumentary, The Office, defied many of the sitcom tropes popular at the time. Rather than relying on a laugh track, the show left the awkward silences and deadpan reactions to land on their own. The result was a painfully authentic portrait of workplace life. The UK audience immediately connected with the mundane office politics, meaningless jargons, and the daily ritual of simply trying to make it through a dead-end job. Naturally, the pressure to recreate that same magic was daunting for the American cast, including Steve Carell. 

Carell recently revealed the one thing that he feels saved The Office’s American adaptation from becoming a sloppy copy of the original. 

Steve Carell, popularly known as Michael Scott, delivered a speech during the dedication ceremony honoring Greg Daniels with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 10. The actor shared how everyone advised him against doing The Office, because nobody believed it could be as good as the original. 

“Everyone told me not to do ‘The Office.’ [They said] it will not work. The original is too good. It is a waste of time. And mostly, it is just going to stink," Carell recalled. "And then a crazy thing happened. It didn’t stink because of Greg Daniels,” the actor added. 

Greg Daniels did not just work on the show. He developed it. He served as the original showrunner and then completely reinvented the series to succeed for American audiences. Without his specific vision, as Steve Carell recounted, the American version likely would have been canceled after its rocky first season itself, with low ratings, mixed reviews, and a low test-screening score as well since it copied the UK version too closely. 

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Nonetheless, Daniels engineered a few shifts in the characters and the overall crew that made the show absolutely iconic. 

When The Office debuted, audiences hated Michael Scott because he was too mean. Greg Daniels, hence, gave Michael a redemption arc. Daniels systematically gave Michael Scott moments of genuine humanity and also showcased his talent as an excellent salesman. This eventually altered audience reception and fans began rooting for the same character they hated. Daniels also hired writers who played characters on screen, like Mindy Kaling. 

The approach allowed the scripts to evolve organically around the cast’s individual comedic strengths. Lastly, unlike the British original, Daniels also made sure to focus on the background characters, instead of keeping them anonymous. It is understandable why Steve Carell credited Daniels for making the show not “stink” after all. 

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