The Office

The Office (NBC, Thursdays, 9:30 ET) is the American version of a British comedy that racked up loyal fans on BBC America for its dry satire of the white-collar work world. The American Office, slow to catch on, is now a hit, with its episodes becoming popular downloads for the new video iPod: Picture office workers watching it secretly in their cubicles.

The show's premise is that filmmakers are shooting a documentary on management style at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The boss, Michael, opines for the camera, which follows the employees as they go about their daily grind. And in a send-up of reality TV, everyone does talk-to-the-camera confessionals.

Old sit-coms often lampooned the boss as a cold-hearted tyrant. Here, the boss is far worse. He wants work to be fun and thinks, incorrectly, that he is funny. Michael subjects his employees to motivational pep-talks, sensitivity workshops, and male-bonding retreats.