Not only is Steve Carell playing it too hard, but he simply isn't LISTENING to anyone else, and that seems to be part of his character choice. Without effectively listening to the other actors/characters, he is robbing some of the painfully comic humanity of the character.
That is what made Ricky Gervais' interpretation 'brilliant' is that the actor/character actively listened and THEN made the wrong decisions, and KNEW it in his subtext (those painfully brilliant glances at the camera!) but he just couldn't help himself and kept drowning, which made it even more comically uncomfortable to witness...
That said, perhaps Carell will relax into the role after a couple of episodes. The rest of the cast has a truly natural docu-comic ease to their performances, which leads me to believe that the director (and/or writers and powers that be) knows what needs to happen. Perhaps the 'ghost' of Gervais is just too intimidating right now?
That is what made Ricky Gervais' interpretation 'brilliant' is that the actor/character actively listened and THEN made the wrong decisions, and KNEW it in his subtext (those painfully brilliant glances at the camera!) but he just couldn't help himself and kept drowning, which made it even more comically uncomfortable to witness...
That said, perhaps Carell will relax into the role after a couple of episodes. The rest of the cast has a truly natural docu-comic ease to their performances, which leads me to believe that the director (and/or writers and powers that be) knows what needs to happen. Perhaps the 'ghost' of Gervais is just too intimidating right now?