I approached the American version of The Office with trepidation for this very reason (in fact I avoided it altogether until after the fourth season had come out). When I finally started watching it, I was delighted to discover that it is, if anything, even better than the original.<p>The characters are more complex and richly realized; the boss is as much an object of pity and even compassion as of scorn (er, Scarn); and Dwight is almost unbearably awesome.<p>There may be a shark-jumping in the show's future (heck, it may be happening as I write this - I won't get to see the current season until it comes out on DVD this coming September), but I haven't seen it yet.