Make Your Way 6, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

Read the newspaper article and decide if the sentences below are true, false or not given. 10 Listen to a radio interview with Paula Brown, an American film critic, talking about the US version of “The Office” and take notes to answer the questions. 9 2/11 “ e O ce”: A story of success When in January 2004 the British sitcom “The Office” was awarded two Golden Globes, a message was sent across the American broad- casting industry – the British are coming. Not only was it the first time a British sitcom won America’s most prestigious award for TV comedy, it was also the first time one had been nominated. Leading actor (and co-creator of the show) Ricky Gervais also made history by becoming the first British actor to win a TV comedy acting award. What made the double award even more astonishing is that the show was not even shown on one of the State’s major channels but was only available on the satellite channel BBC America. “The Office” beat home produced favourites like “Sex and the City” and “Will and Grace” to pick up the prize for best comedy, while Gervais beat hot favourite Matt LeBlanc, nominated for his role as Joey in the hugely popular “Friends”, to win his award. In early spring 2004, NBC decided to have “The Office” adapted for American audiences, hiring Greg Daniels, a veteran writer for series like “Saturday Night Life” and “The Simpsons” for the script. It was not the first time that a major US studio had bought up a British sitcom and given it an American makeover – a practice that by no means guaranteed success. Whereas the US version of “Queer as Folk” was considered a critical success, remakes of “Fawlty Towers” and “Men Behaving Badly” had both failed to find large enough US audiences. More recently “Coupling US”, based on the hit British sitcom “Coupling”, had been dropped after one season with audiences failing to appreciate its raunchy humour. Rather embarrassingly, the show had been bought by NBC as a successor for one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, “Friends”. After a somewhat rocky start in 2005, the US version of “The Office” improved noticeably, becoming, over time, one of TV’s funniest and most popular series. It earned prestigious television honors such as the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, and in 2009 was renewed for a seventh season which premiered in September 2010. 1 Why did she like “The Office”? 2 Why does she think it will be successful in the US? 3 Why does the show need to be remade for American audiences? 4 What does she think will happen to the original spirit of the show? 5 How does the presenter feel about an American version? 170 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv