CRIT-O-MATIC.

``The Office''

(NBC Channel 4; 8 tonight)

Logline: Michael Scott (Steve Carell), breathtakingly mediocre middle-management sort for the well-named Dunder Mifflin paper company, strives in a thoroughly pathetic manner to get his employees - and a documentary crew's ubiquitous cameras - to like him in this adaptation of the beloved British series of the same title. John Krasinski co-stars as Jim, the lone competent in the crew, who pines for unavailable receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) and delights in irritating hostile toady Dwight (Rainn Wilson).

Pros: Watching Michael's fevered brain race to make the best of escalatingly disastrous situations playing out before the (unseen) documentarians is endlessly priceless. Virtually everyone has a similar bad work experience tucked away on their resume somewhere, so the empathy level is high, even as the show reaches dizzyingly wince-inducing heights. Krasinski is pleasantly amusing and Fischer makes Pam's disaffection palpable, while Wilson is the wild card here: Dwight is quite possibly a lunatic disguised as a stunningly petty button-down stooge. Tonight, the prospect of layoffs looms large, and many on Scott's staff sort of welcome the idea of pink slips.

Cons: It's fairly subtle stuff for a network comedy, which may not connect with enough viewers to keep this on a network (NBC only ordered six episodes, which doesn't feel like a ringing endorsement). Some viewers may look askance at Carell's archly comic manic intensity - what he deems a ``morale-booster thing'' ends, amusingly yet appallingly, with someone in tears. Ricky Gervais, who created the series and starred as the buffoonish boss overseas, employed a lumpier, mellower approach to the same sort of overbearing qualities.

In a nutshell: Despite NBC's dismal track record at comedy (and, particularly, adaptations of British sitcoms), this is a surprisingly effective reimagining of a bona fide comic treasure. Executive producer Greg Daniels (``King of the Hill,'' ``The Simpsons,'' ``Saturday Night Live'') gets what made the original a classic and adds some nice touches of his own. In future episodes, Michael's efforts to promote ``diversity'' go horribly, hilariously awry, and a comely female visitor brings out the absolute worst in Dunder Mifflin's male contingent.

Our rating: Three stars