UK Sitcom "The Office" Coming to China

Early this decade British sitcom The Office hilariously dissected the inanities of office politics and garnered millions of fans around the globe. Local versions of the series have been produced in countries as diverse as France, Brazil and the US. On Friday series co-writer Ricky Gervais, who also played office boss David Brent in the original program, announced on his blog: “I have some amazing news… We are about to start work on developing a Chinese The Office. How cool is that?”

The Guardian newspaper reported the story the story the same day, noting wryly “Given that media outlets in China operate under tight state control, the level of Gervais and Merchant's involvement could be smaller than that it has been in other incarnations, although one suspects David Brent's broad alignment with the philosophy of 90s pop artist Des'ree – ‘Money don't make my world go round, I'm reaching out to a higher ground’ – would fit fairly well with the convictions of the Central People's Government.”

We can see it now – Beijing offices offer so much scope for Gervais’ piss-take brand of humor, from the toilet paper dispenses located outside the toilet cubicles to the hordes of young men paid to loiter around the foyers in ill-fitting uniforms doing nothing at all. Then there’s the country’s ever changing holiday schedule, or the air conditioning systems that fail to deliver anything but puddles of water on your desk.

Sadly, the reality is the Chinese version of The Office will probably be remade into the same sanitized, anodyne fare broadcast by CCTV every night of the week.