Ricky goes to Hollywood

It's not often that you see a top TV critic gushing like this: "Nobody who has seen the BBC series 'The Office' has anything bad to say about it, and there's a reason for that: It's perfect," wrote the New Yorker's Nancy Franklin in October 2004. "It's a comedy that doesn't make you laugh, and at times it is close to unbearable; some people like it so much that they can't watch it. That's how good it is."

Yet, although the show found a strong cult following here, Gervais is hardly a household name in America. Survey the pop-culturally savvy in, say, New York or San Francisco, and you'll find devotees. But mention "The Office" to most American TV viewers and you're likely to hear only about NBC's hit spinoff of the same name, set in Scranton, Penn., and starring funnyman Steve Carrell. Ricky Gervais? Who the hell is he?