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The NBC sitcom The Office was based on the British comedy series of the same name, co-created by Ricky Gervais, who in the original series had also starred as David Brent, terminally disingenuous office manager of Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants (Slough Branch). The American version top-billed Steve Carell as Michael Scott, regional manager in a branch office of the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company. Forever trying to put a "happy face" on office conditions where he worked, Michael was cursed with two fatal flaws: he thought he was funny and cool, and worse yet, he thought he was actually competent. Michael's employees included laid-back, sarcastic sales rep Jim Halpert (John Krasinski); Jim's cubicle-mate and mortal enemy, ineffectual but power-hungry Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson); engaged receptionist Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), whom Jim secretly has a crush on; and office temp Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak), who quietly observes the office hijinks from the sidelines. Filmed in a faux documentary style, The Office began its first season (actually a six-episode trial run) on March 24, 2005.