Yeah, like the rest of the spinoffs I’ve seen (very much US included to be clear here) it wasn’t… very… good.

But you’re strawmanning this: NBC regularly aired the entire UK series in the lulls between Office (American) episodes before they lost the rights. Maybe some people think that it was the OG now, but they were not subtle about it at the start (possibly because Gervais is an attention whore). These days I can’t honestly think of anyone I’ve encountered who cares about that show enough to still remember it, yet is somehow unaware of the UK version. Even the subreddit is explicit about it:

This subreddit is for fans of the US version of the TV show, The Office. The show ran from 2005-2013 but is still watched just as much today. Join us as we discuss the show!