The Office (US TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Office is an American comedy
television series broadcast by NBC
. An adaptation of the original BBC
series of the same name
, it depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania
, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. To simulate the look of an actual documentary
, it is filmed in a single-camera setup
, without a studio audience
or a laugh track
.
The Office was adapted for American audiences by executive producer Greg Daniels
, a veteran writer for Saturday Night Live
, King of the Hill
, and The Simpsons
. The creators of the original BBC series, Ricky Gervais
and Stephen Merchant
, are executive producers and also co-wrote the pilot episode with Daniels and wrote the season three episode, "The Convict
". It is co-produced by Daniels' Deedle-Dee Productions
, and Reveille Productions
, in association with Universal Television
. The show debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement
on March 24, 2005.
Off-network syndication of The Office began in late 2007, notably on TBS
and Fox
-owned stations in the United States. Lead actor Steve Carell
, who portrays Michael Scott
, left the series near the end of the seventh season. The eighth season premiered on September 22, 2011, with James Spader
joining the cast, and Ed Helms
, who portrays Andy Bernard
, assuming the new role of Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin.
served as the series showrunner for the first four seasons of the series and developed the British series for American television. He then had to leave for Parks and Recreation
and switches off his time between the two shows. Paul Lieberstein
and Jennifer Celotta
were named the series showrunner for the fifth season. Celotta left the series after the sixth season and Lieberstein stayed on as showrunner for the following seasons while Daniel Chun
serves as the series head writer
. Other executive producers include cast members B. J. Novak
and Mindy Kaling
. Kaling, Novak, Daniels, Lieberstein and former Office writer Michael Schur
made up the original team of writers. Credited with twenty-four episodes, Kaling is the most prolific writer on The Office writing staff. Ricky Gervais
and Stephen Merchant
, who created the original British series, are credited as executive producers, and co-wrote the pilot as well as writing the third season episode, "The Convict
". Merchant later directed the episode "Customer Survey
" while Gervais appeared in the episodes "The Seminar
" and "Search Committee
".
Before the series aired its second episode, the writers spent time researching in offices. This process was used for Daniels' other series King of the Hill
and Parks and Recreation
. The pilot is a direct adaptation of the first episode of the British version. Daniels had decided to go through this route because "completely starting from scratch would be a very risky thing to do" due to the show being an adaptation. He had briefly considered using the idea for "The Dundies
" as the pilot episode. After the writers knew who the cast was, they were allowed to write for the actors which allowed the show to be more original for the following episode, "Diversity Day
". A complete script is written for each episode of The Office; however, actors are given opportunities to improvise during the shooting process. "Our shows are 100 percent scripted," Fischer explained. "They put everything down on paper. But we get to play around a little bit, too. Steve and Rainn are brilliant improvisers."
to producer Ben Silverman
for the role of Michael Scott
, but the actor declined. Martin Short
, Hank Azaria
and Bob Odenkirk
were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety
reported Steve Carell
, of the popular Comedy Central
program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC mid-season replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly canceled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations.
Rainn Wilson
, who was cast as the power-hungry sycophant
Dwight Schrute
, watched every episode of the series before he auditioned. Wilson had originally auditioned for Michael, a performance he described as a "terrible Ricky Gervais
impersonation"; however, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much more and hired him for the role.
John Krasinski
and Jenna Fischer
were virtual unknowns before being cast in their respective roles as Jim and Pam, the central love interests. Krasinski had attended school with, and was a friend of B. J. Novak. Krasinski recalled accidentally insulting Greg Daniels while waiting to audition for the series, telling him, "I hope [the show's developers] don't screw this up." Daniels then introduced himself and told Krasinski who he was. Fischer prepared for her audition by looking as boring as possible, creating the original Pam hairstyle. In an interview on NPR
's Fresh Air
, Fischer recalled the last stages of the audition process for Pam and Jim, with the producers partnering the different potential Pams and Jims (four of each) together to gauge their chemistry. When Fischer finished her scene with Krasinski, he told her that she was his favorite Pam, to which she reciprocated that he was her favorite Jim.
The supporting cast includes actors known for their improv
work: Angela Kinsey
, Kate Flannery
, Oscar Nunez
, Leslie David Baker
, Brian Baumgartner
, Melora Hardin
, and David Denman
. Kinsey had originally auditioned for Pam. The producers thought she was "too feisty" for the character, but they called her back for the part of Angela Martin
, which she won. Flannery first auditioned for the part of Jan Levenson-Gould, before landing the role of Meredith Palmer. Baumgartner originally auditioned for Stanley, but was eventually cast as Kevin. Ken Kwapis liked the way Phyllis Smith, a casting associate, read with other actors auditioning so much that he cast her as Phyllis. At the beginning of the third season, Ed Helms
and Rashida Jones
joined the cast as members of Dunder Mifflin Stamford. While Jones would later leave the cast for a recurring role, in February 2007, NBC announced that Helms was being promoted to a series regular.
Four of the show's writers have also stepped in front of the camera. B. J. Novak
was cast as reluctant temp Ryan Howard
after Daniels saw his stand-up act
. Paul Lieberstein
was cast as human resources
director Toby Flenderson
on Novak's suggestion after his cold readings of scripts. Greg Daniels was originally unsure where to use the Indian American
Mindy Kaling
on-screen in the series until the opportunity came in the second episode
's script, where Michael needed to be slapped by a minority. "Since [that slap], I've been on the show" (as Kelly Kapoor
), says Kaling. Michael Schur
has also made occasional appearances as Dwight's cousin Mose, and consulting producer Larry Wilmore has played diversity trainer
Mr. Brown. Plans were made for Mackenzie Crook
, Martin Freeman
, and Lucy Davis
from the British version of The Office to appear in the third season, but those plans were scrapped due to scheduling conflicts.
. The primary vehicle for the show is that a camera crew has decided to film Dunder Mifflin and its employees, seemingly around the clock. The presence of the camera is acknowledged by the characters, especially Michael Scott, who enthusiastically participates in the filming. Others, for example Jan Levenson, are frequently annoyed or uncomfortable with its presence.
The main action of the show is supplemented with talking-head interviews or "confessionals
," with the characters speaking one on one with the camera crew about the day's events. Sometimes two characters share an interview, speaking with each other and the camera at the same time. This occurs most notably with Jim and Pam, or, occasionally, Oscar and Kevin, Kelly and Ryan, Jim and Dwight, and once, Michael and Toby. Dwight frequently interrupts Michael's interviews, as he is often standing off-screen next to Michael as the interview begins.
Some characters use the camera's presence to their advantage. For example, in "Christmas Party", Phyllis' boyfriend, Bob Vance, introduces himself repeatedly as "Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration" to garner publicity for his business. In other instances, the camera seemingly has affected plot lines. In "The Dundies
", a drunken Pam nearly confesses something to Jim, but shies away when she realizes the camera is still there. In "E-mail Surveillance
", Pam asks the crew to help her look for evidence of Dwight and Angela's secret relationship, which they later provide.
In the character's final episode in season seven, Michael Scott
asks the cameraman filming his departure to let him know if the show ever airs. This would seem to imply that the series has yet to reach television within its fictional universe, at least as of the point in time that season seven was being "filmed." Michael may also not have been aware of an airing.
and performed by The Scrantones. It is played over the title sequence, which features scenes of Scranton and various tasks around the office. Some episodes of the series use a shortened version of the theme song. Starting with the fourth season, the theme song is played over the closing credits
, which previously rolled in silence. Originally the theme song began each episode. However, starting with the episode "Office Olympics
", most episodes have begun with a cold open
followed by the theme. The exteriors of buildings in the title sequence are actual buildings in Scranton, Pennsylvania
, and were shot by cast member John Krasinski
.
The mockumentary
format of the show contains no laugh track
, and most of the music is diegetic
, with songs either sung or played by the characters or heard on radios, computers, or other devices. However, songs have been played during montages or the closing credits, such as "Tiny Dancer
" by Elton John
("The Dundies
") and "Islands in the Stream
" by Kenny Rogers
and Dolly Parton
("E-mail Surveillance
"). Featured music tends to be well known, and often songs reflect the character, such as Michael's attempt to seem hip by using "Mambo No. 5
" and later "My Humps
" as his cell phone ringtone. The song "Sing" by Travis
is used twice on the series, first in "The Client" which Jim and Pam jointly listen to through a single pair of earbuds prior to their relationship; and later in a montage of their relationship in the clip episode
. Dwight will often play loud music when driving or to get himself psyched up before making a sale, such as listening to "Wild Side
" and "Kickstart My Heart
" by Mötley Crüe
. In the episode "Michael Scott Paper Company
", Dwight and Andy play John Denver
's "Take Me Home, Country Roads
". Notably, Dwight sings a portion in German.
Originally, only Steve Carell
, Rainn Wilson
, John Krasinski
, Jenna Fischer
and B. J. Novak
were credited in the title sequence. The sequence was first updated in the season 2 episode, "Office Olympics", with an updated clip for Steve Carell's character. The title sequence for the season 5 episode "Stress Relief
", which aired after Super Bowl XLIII
, included new footage and added the rest of the starring cast. However, the sequence only appeared in the aforementioned episode. The season 5 episode "Michael Scott Paper Company
" featured an altered title sequence that focused on the titular company.
Starting with the season 6 episode "Sabre
", Ed Helms
is added to the opening sequence and is credited after B. J. Novak. In the seventh season premiere episode, "Nepotism
", the title sequence was updated with new scenes. Beginning with "The Inner Circle
", the first episode after Steve Carell's departure, Rainn Wilson now receives first billing, and all clips that feature Steve Carell are replaced with new ones of the other cast members. Also, for the rest of the seventh season the image of Carell moving his Dundie would be replaced by that certain manager moving a different object. Then, with the eighth season premiere, James Spader
was added to the credits at the end while new manager Andy Bernard
is seen at his desk adjusting a figurine that falls off the desk.
. A significant number of the main and minor characters are based on characters from the British version of The Office
.
Michael Scott
, regional manager of the Scranton
branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, feels he is everyone's best friend in the office; his employees feel otherwise. His former co-manager, sales representative Jim Halpert
, is newly married to the former receptionist turned sales representative turned office administrator, Pam Halpert née Beesly. Their relationship comes after three seasons of friendship laced with romantic tension. Dwight Schrute
, the assistant to the regional manager, is an award-winning salesman and former Lackawanna County
volunteer reserve deputy sheriff
known for his authoritarian
personality and his adoration of science fiction fandom
. Ryan Howard
, who started out as a temporary worker in the Scranton office, was later promoted to Dunder Mifflin's Vice President for Regional Sales, which would make him Michael's boss, until his treachery was exposed for corporate fraud and he was fired, ending up again as the temporary worker at the Scranton branch. Andy Bernard
, a Cornell alumnus, anger-management grad and Angela's former fiancé, formerly of the Stamford, Connecticut
branch office, now the new Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton.
The accounting department features Angela Martin
, an admitted uptight Christian who wishes to keep things orderly and make sure situations remain as serious as possible; Kevin Malone
, a clueless, overweight man who revels in juvenile humor and frequently indulges himself with gambling and M&Ms; and the patient Oscar Martinez
, whose homosexuality
and Hispanic
heritage make him a favorite target for Michael's off-color comments. Rounding out the office are the stern salesman Stanley Hudson
, who barely stands for Michael's constant references to his Black-American
heritage (he also doesn't like to take part in Michael's time wasting meetings and sometimes sleeps in them or works on one of his crossword puzzles); eccentric quality assurance
representative Creed Bratton
; the kind and caring saleswoman Phyllis Lapin-Vance, who marries Bob Vance from Vance Refrigeration across the hall from the office; the bubbly and talkative customer service representative Kelly Kapoor
; the promiscuous alcoholic
single mother supply relations representative Meredith Palmer
; and frequent target of Michael's abuse, human resources
representative Toby Flenderson
.
Dunder Mifflin Scranton warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin
is a key secondary character who has gained increased prominence throughout the run of the show. At the end of season five, new receptionist Erin Hannon
is introduced as Pam's replacement at the reception desk. Gabe Lewis
, introduced near the end of season six, is a Sabre employee who is assigned to the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch as the Regional Director of Sales. A story arc at the start of the season five has Holly Flax
transferred to the office as Toby's replacement. She acts as a love interest for Michael, as they share very similar personalities. However, Holly is transferred away after corporate discovers that Michael and Holly are involved, resulting in their breakup. Much to Michael's dismay, Toby is rehired shortly after Holly's transfer. Holly returns to Scranton in season seven, where she and Michael rekindle their relationship, get engaged, and move to Colorado. When Michael Scott left the series in the seventh season, he was replaced by a series of short-lived successors. After a search for a new manager, Robert California
is hired as office manager. California is promptly promoted to CEO, and his first order of business is to promote Andy to the Scranton managerial post.
In addition to Scott, former main characters no longer regularly part of the show include Pam's ex-fiancé, Roy Anderson
, who left the show in the third season after nearly assaulting Jim in the workplace; and Michael's former love interest—and former Vice President for Regional Sales for Dunder Mifflin—Jan Levenson, with whom Michael broke up in season four, and who subsequently became pregnant via sperm donation. Both characters returned for one episode each in season five, but neither was seen in the sixth season; Jan returned in season seven as a successful employee and happy single mother to daughter Astrid. Both appear in season seven in Michael's film Threat Level Midnight.
The series has had a large variety of characters including love interests, co-workers and friends. Initially the actors who portray the other office workers were credited as guest stars before they were named series regulars during the second season. The show's large ensemble has been mainly praised by critics and led to the series winning two Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
The series begins by introducing the office's workers via a tour given by branch manager Michael Scott for both the camera crew and a first-day temp (Ryan Howard). The audience learns salesman Jim Halpert has a crush on receptionist Pam Beesly (who helps him play pranks on co-worker Dwight Schrute), even though she is engaged to Roy (who works in the building's lower-level warehouse). News spreads throughout the office that Dunder Mifflin's corporate headquarters is planning to downsize an entire branch, leading to general anxiety, but Michael chooses to deny or downplay the realities of the situation in order to maintain employee morale.
Romantic relationships begin to develop between some of the characters. Michael spends the night with his boss Jan, in the wake of the latter's divorce, but does not sleep with her. Dwight and Angela become romantically involved, but keep the relationship a secret from everyone else. Kelly develops a crush on Ryan, and they start dating. When Roy sets a date for his wedding to Pam, Jim grows depressed and considers transferring to the Stamford, Connecticut
branch, but tells Pam in the season finale that he loves her, even though Pam still insists she will marry Roy. The two kiss, but Jim transfers to the Stamford branch soon after.
Jim briefly transfers to the Stamford
branch after Pam confirmed her commitment to Roy, before corporate is forced to merge the Stamford branch and staff into the Scranton branch. Included in the transfer to Scranton are Karen Filippelli
, with whom Jim has developed a relationship, and the anger-prone Andy Bernard
; all other former Stamford employees quit in frustration with Michael's managerial style. Pam is newly single after calling off her marriage and relationship to Roy prior to the merger, and Jim's unresolved feelings for her and new relationship with Karen lead to shifting tensions amongst the four. This culminates when Roy, in a brief reunion with Pam, attempts to assault Jim after learning of his and Pam's kiss.
Roy is summarily dismissed from Dunder Mifflin, and Pam leaves him once again. Feeling confident in her life, and put-upon or ignored by her various co-workers, Pam builds the courage to make a speech which reveals her true feelings towards each of them, and confesses to Jim he was the reason she called off her wedding.
Meanwhile, the Scranton branch inherits all of Stamford's clients, eventually becoming the most successful branch, and eliminating the fear of further downsizing. Ryan has been hired as a full-time sales representative but fails to make a single sale. Michael and Jan begin a relationship, which causes her to behave erratically on the job. Oscar is inadvertently outed
as gay
by Michael, but accepts an offer, from Jan, for a three-month paid vacation and use of a company car in exchange for not suing. Dwight and Angela continue their secret relationship.
Andy is missing for much of the season as he is sent to anger management
training, due to an outburst where he punched a hole in the wall, but he later returns as a much calmer and approachable co-worker. Phyllis becomes engaged to and marries Bob Vance, owner of neighboring business Vance Refrigeration.
In the season's finale
, Jim, Karen, and Michael interview for a corporate position that turns out to be Jan's, who is fired that day for poor performance. Jim wins and rejects the offer off-screen, opting instead to return to Scranton without Karen and asks Pam to a date, which she joyfully accepts. In the final scene, we learn Ryan has been awarded Jan's job due to his business school credentials.
. The season consisted of 9 half-hour episodes, and 5 hour-long episodes to comprise the 19 total episodes of material created.
Karen has left the Scranton branch after her breakup with Jim, and becomes regional manager at the Utica
branch. Pam and Jim date happily. An unemployed Jan moves in with Michael, until the dissolution of their relationship midway through the season. After Dwight's crude (though well-intentioned) method of euthanasia
of Angela's ailing cat without her permission, she leaves him for Andy, leading Dwight into depression.
Ryan, in his new corporate life in New York City, attempts to modernize Dunder Mifflin with a new website for online sales; he also learns that his boss, David Wallace
, favors Jim, and thus Ryan attempts to sabotage Jim's career. Ryan is soon arrested and fired for committing fraud related to the website's sales numbers. Meanwhile, Kelly moves on from her relationship with Ryan and briefly starts dating Darryl. Toby, embarrassed after accidentally revealing an affection for Pam, announces he is moving to Costa Rica
, and is replaced by Holly Flax
, who quickly shows fondness towards Michael. Pam decides to follow her artistic interests and attend a three-month graphic design course at the Pratt Institute
in New York City, while Jim plans to propose.
In the season finale Andy proposes to Angela, who reluctantly agrees, ruining Jim's proposal plans and leaving Pam disappointed. Phyllis then catches Dwight and Angela having sex in the office.
.
Jim and Pam become engaged, and she ultimately returns from New York to Scranton, where Jim has bought his parents' house for the two of them. Having avoided jail and only been sentenced to community service, Ryan returns to Dunder Mifflin as a temp, but then leaves for Thailand. He is eventually revealed to be working at a bowling alley.
Michael initiates a romance with Holly, in part because of Jan's choice to exclude Michael from the birth of her daughter. When David Wallace learns of their relationship, Holly is transferred to the Nashua, New Hampshire
branch, where she gains a long-term boyfriend, to Michael's sadness. Toby returns from Costa Rica
and resumes his duties as Scranton's HR
representative. When Andy is made aware of Dwight and Angela's continued affair, both men leave her—Andy because of her infidelity; Dwight once he learns that she has been sleeping with both of them, despite her claims not to be sleeping with Andy.
Newly hired Vice President Charles Miner
implements a rigid managerial style over the branch that causes Michael to resign in protest; additionally, Jim's job is jeopardized when Miner catches him playing a prank and his reputation suffers from there. Michael opens the Michael Scott Paper Company
, enticing Pam and Ryan to join as salespeople, and though his business model is ultimately unsustainable, Dunder Mifflin's profits are immediately threatened. In a buyout
of the Michael Scott Paper Company, the three are rehired (with Pam promoted to sales and Ryan returning as a temp), while Miner is banished from overseeing the branch. During the chaos, new receptionist Erin
is hired to fill the vacancy originally left by Pam. The season's finale
ends with a cliffhanger ending hinting that Pam might be pregnant.
Jim and Pam marry; Jim, looking to ensure security for his future family, tries to convince David Wallace to promote him to Regional Manager, and Michael to Jan's old job. After Michael refuses, Jim is promoted to co-regional manager alongside Michael. Jim struggles to assert his authority; among his problems is a furious Dwight, who allies with Ryan in attempts to sabotage the new boss. Andy and Erin develop mutual interest in one another, but find their inherent awkwardness inhibits his attempts to ask her out on a date. For a short time after the wedding, Michael dates Pam's mom, Helene (Linda Purl
), but dumps her on her birthday after realizing she's too old for him; to get even, Michael allows Pam to hit him in the face.
Rumors of bankruptcy begin to surround Dunder Mifflin. By Christmas, Wallace announces to the branch that Dunder Mifflin has accepted a buyout from Sabre Corporation, a printer company. While Wallace and other executives are let go, the Scranton office survives due to its relative success within the company. However, they find their own challenges in adapting to new corporate rules and the spirited style of Sabre's CEO, Jo Bennett
(Kathy Bates
). When she discovers that there are two co-regional managers, she orders one of them to return to sales; Jim volunteers, as Sabre policy means he can earn more money as a salesman, anyway.
Jim and Pam have a girl named Cecelia Marie Halpert. Andy and Erin finally date, but Erin decides they need a break when Michael tells her about Andy's previous relationship with Angela. When the local news discovers that Sabre printers have been catching fire, Jo again visits the Scranton branch demanding to know the source of the leak. Darryl, Pam, and Kelly confess to Michael, but Andy is ultimately blamed after Nick (Nelson Franklin) reveals he was the first to contact the press. After Jo suggests he invest in property, Dwight buys the office park. Michael agrees to make an announcement to the press regarding the faulty printers. When Jo asks how she can repay him, Michael responds that she could bring Holly back to the Scranton branch.
, who plays the lead character Michael Scott
, as Carell wanted to move on after his contract expired during this season. Beginning with this season, Zach Woods
, who portrays Gabe Lewis
, was promoted to a series regular. Guest appearances in the season include the return of Melora Hardin
as Jan Levenson, Amy Ryan
as Holly Flax
, David Koechner
as Todd Packer
, Kathy Bates
as Jo Bennett
, Rashida Jones
as Karen Filippelli
, David Denman
as Roy Anderson
, and Andy Buckley as David Wallace
. Ricky Gervais
reprised his role as David Brent
from the original British series
in cameo appearances in the episodes "The Seminar
" and "Search Committee
". Will Ferrell
appears in four episodes as Michael Scott's temporary replacement.
Pam tricks Gabe into promoting her to a phony new salaried
position as "office administrator." Erin and Gabe have begun a relationship, much to Andy's chagrin, and he attempts to win her affection back. Angela begins a relationship with a charming man named Robert Lipton, who is a State Senator (Jack Coleman), and then cancels her procreation contract with Dwight. At the office's Christmas party, Holly returns to Scranton to fill in for Toby who is doing jury duty for the "Scranton Strangler" trial. Michael becomes depressed upon learning that Holly and A.J. are still together and have moved in with each other. Pam gives Michael hope when she tells him Holly is going to give A.J. an ultimatum
regarding their relationship, indicating that they will not last long. Michael is excited to find out that Holly and A.J. are no longer together, and they begin dating soon afterward.
After the office garage sale, Michael proposes to Holly, which she accepts. He then reveals he will be leaving Scranton to go to Colorado with Holly in order to support her elderly parents. Michael begins to train his office replacement, Deangelo Vickers
(Will Ferrell
), including hosting the Dundie Awards. Michael walks to the front desk of the office and sees his former employees working as diligently as ever, none except for Jim knowing his departure is that day. Michael is seen in an airport terminal, where he removes his microphone. As he walks away to board his flight, Pam is seen running up to Michael. They say their goodbyes, and Michael continues walking. Pam watches through a window as Michael's plane takes off. Deangelo is soon badly injured and taken to the hospital after a failed attempt at a basketball stunt, leaving the office without a manager. Jim is offered the position as interim manager but turns it down. The job is then given to Dwight, who loses it after only a week. Jo Bennett then moves Creed Bratton to acting manager, based solely on his seniority. Jo creates a search committee, led by Jim and including Toby and Gabe (who is later replaced by Kelly), to interview candidates and choose a new manager for the office.
reprises his role as Robert California
, the new CEO of Sabre-Dunder Mifflin. Pam and Jim are expecting their second child at the start of the season, to coincide with Jenna Fischer's real life pregnancy.
Robert is hired as the regional branch manager of Scranton but within a day, becomes CEO of Sabre by talking Jo Bennett out of her job. Andy is then promoted to regional manager and works hard to make a good impression on Robert, and tasks Dwight to be his number two. Pam is pregnant with a second child while Angela is also pregnant with her husband's child. Darryl also briefly dates Justine, his ex-wife.
series "The Accountants" was released, the first premiering on July 13, 2006. The webisodes follow the accountants Angela, Oscar, and Kevin as they try to find out who stole $3,000 from the books.
"Kevin's Loan
": Between the fourth and fifth seasons, the summer webisode series "Kevin's Loan" was released in four weekly episodes, the first premiering on July 10, 2008. The webisodes follow Kevin, Oscar, and Darryl. In the story, Kevin attempts to repay his gambling debts by taking out a loan, which he intends to say is for starting an ice cream business. Although Oscar attempts to dissuade him, Kevin goes through with his plan which inevitably fails, even with Darryl's help.
"The Outburst
": During the fifth season, the winter webisode series "The Outburst" was released in weekly episodes, the first premiering on November 20, 2008. Oscar is overheard angrily yelling at someone on the phone; Kevin, Angela, Andy, Phyllis, Kelly, Creed, Meredith, and Toby all investigate the mysterious call.
"Blackmail
": At the conclusion of the fifth season, the summer webisode series "Blackmail" was released similarly to the previous two, in weekly episodes. The first episode was released on May 7, 2009. The webisodes look at a plot by Creed to get money from his fellow employees by trying to blackmail them with secrets. Creed enlists the help of some office workers but the office fights back.
"Subtle Sexuality
": During the sixth season, the fall webisode series "Subtle Sexuality" aired in its entirety on October 29, 2009. The series focuses on Kelly and Erin forming their own girl group called Subtle Sexuality. The first two webisodes document the behind-the-scenes aspects and troubles of shooting the music video for their first single "Male Prima Donna", while the third and final webisode is the music video itself, which features Ryan as a guest rapper and Andy singing the bridge. The webisodes earned The Office a 2010 Streamy Award
for "Best Companion Web Series."
"The Mentor": During the sixth season, the winter webisode series "The Mentor" aired in its entirety on March 4, 2010. Erin wants to be an accountant so Angela decides to train her. But, Erin's relationship with Kelly turns bad when she spends too much time with Angela. Kelly and Ryan then interfere in Angela and Erin's relationship.
"The 3rd Floor": During the seventh season, the fall webisode series "The 3rd Floor" aired in its entirety on October 28, 2010. Ryan attempts to make a horror film titled The 3rd Floor using Dunder Mifflin as a location, and workers such as Kelly, Erin, Gabe, Kevin and Meredith as actors.
"The Podcast
": During the seventh season, the winter webisode series "The Podcast" aired in its entirety on January 20, 2011. The websisodes were previously available on the season 6 DVD. Gabe attempts to record a podcast in the office about the Sabre website, hoping to impress corporate.
"The Girl Next Door": During the seventh season, the webisode series "The Girl Next Door" aired in its entirety on May 4, 2011. The series focuses on Kelly and Erin's girl group called Subtle Sexuality. The first webisode document the behind-the-scenes aspects of their second single "The Girl Next Door", while the second and final webisode is the music video itself, which features Ryan.
and storyline. Almost every episode of The Office includes deleted scenes on DVD and Blu-ray. Deleted scenes have sometimes been restored in repeats to make episodes longer or draw people who have seen the episode before back to see the bonus footage. In an experiment, a deleted scene from "The Return
" was made available over NBC.com and iTunes
; explaining the absence of a character over the next several episodes. Daniels hoped that word of mouth
among fans would spread the information, but eventually considered the experiment a failure.
The Office has had product placement deals with Staples and the Olympic baler
, as well as mentioning in dialogue or displaying clear logos for products such as Sandals Resorts
, HP
, Apple, and Gateway
computers, and Activision
's Call of Duty
video game series. In "The Merger
", Kevin Malone
uses a Staples-branded shredding machine to shred a Staples-branded CD-R
and many other non-paper items, including a salad. As with HP, Cisco Systems
, a supplier of networking and telephone equipment, pays for product placement, which can be seen on close-up shots of the Cisco IP Telephones. Some products have additional branding labels attached, this can be clearly seen with the HP photo printer on Toby's desk in season 6, and is less noticeable with the Cisco phones. In "The Secret" Michael takes Jim to Hooters
to discuss Jim's feelings for Pam. In "The Merger
," Angela refers to Hooters as a strip club, causing Michael to defend Hooters as a family place, and inform the camera of how many chains there are worldwide. Hooters is also identified as the company's caterer in "Casino Night".
Many products featured are not part of product placement agreements, but rather inserted by writers as products the characters would use to create realism under the guise of a documentary. Chili's
restaurants were used for filming in "The Dundies
" and "The Client", as the writers believed they were realistic choices for a company party and business lunch. Though not an explicit product placement, the producers of the show had to allow Chili's to have final approval of the script before filming, causing a scene of "The Dundies" to be hastily rewritten when the chain objected to the original version. Apple Inc. received over four minutes of publicity for the iPod
when it was used as a much-desired gift in "Christmas Party", though the company did not pay for the placement. Several Apple products have been featured on the series including iPod Classic, iPhone, iBook, MacBook Pro, eMac, and iMac. Adobe
products such as Flash
, Photoshop
and Premiere
have also been mentioned or shown. Web sites such as Craigslist
, TripAdvisor
, Monster
, YouTube
and Wikipedia
are often mentioned. The appearance of Second Life
in the episode "Local Ad
" was rated eighth in the top ten most effective product placements of 2007. The Office was the only non-reality show
to make the list, and Second Life was the only product on the list that did not pay for its placement.
to the series was proposed in 2008, with a pilot episode
expected to debut as the Super Bowl lead-out program in 2009. However, The Offices creative team instead decided to develop Parks and Recreation
as a separate series. In 2009, Greg Daniels
revealed that a spin-off series was still a possibility. Paul Lieberstein
mentioned that a feature film adaptation of the series is also possible after the series ends its run.
called it "so diluted there's little left but muddy water," and USA Today
called it a "passable imitation of a miles-better BBC original." A Guardian Unlimited
review panned its lack of originality, stating, "(Steve Carell) just seems to be trying too hard ... Maybe in later episodes when it deviates from Gervais and Merchant's script, he'll come into his own. But right now he's a pale imitation." Tom Shales
of the Washington Post said it was "not the mishmash that [the Americanized version
of] Coupling
turned out to be, but again the quality of the original show causes the remake to look dim, like when the copying machine is just about to give out."
Reviews became more positive in the second season. Time
remarked, "Producer Greg Daniels created not a copy but an interpretation that sends up distinctly American work conventions ... with a tone that's more satiric and less mordant. ... The new boss is different from the old boss, and that's fine by me." Entertainment Weekly
echoed these sentiments a week later, stating, "Thanks to the fearless Steve Carell, an ever-stronger supporting cast, and scripts that spew American corporate absurdist vernacular with perfect pitch, this undervalued remake does the near impossible—it honors Ricky Gervais' original and works on its own terms." The A.V. Club
expressed its views on the show's progression: "After a rocky start, The Office improved immeasurably, instantly becoming one of TV's funniest, sharpest shows. The casting of Steve Carell in the Gervais role proved to be a masterstroke. The American Office is that rarest of anomalies: a remake of a classic show that both does right by its source and carves out its own strong identity."
The series has been included on several top TV series lists. Times James Poniewozik
named it one of the top 10 returning series of 2007, ranking it at #6. He also included it on his "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME" list. The show was also named the best show of 2006 by BuddyTV
. Metacritic
named it the thirteenth most mentioned series on "Best of Decade" top-ten lists while Paste
named it the sixth best sitcom of 2010. The show has some superficial similarities to the comic-strip Dilbert
, which also features employees coping with an inept superior. John Spector, CEO of The Conference Board, says that both show the impact a leader can have, for good or bad. Dilbert creator Scott Adams
also touts the similarities: "The lesson from The Office and from Dilbert is that people are often dysfunctional, and no amount of training can fix it." A labor-affiliated group praised the episode "Boys and Girls" for what it considered an unusually frank depiction of union busting
on American television. The third season of The Office got a 85/100 score on Metacritic
, while the sixth season of got a 78/100 score.
Recent seasons have been criticized for a dip in quality. The sixth season received criticisms for a lack of stakes for the characters. Several critics and fans have also criticized the Jim and Pam romance. The Office co-creator Ricky Gervais
wrote in his blog, referring to "Search Committee
" particularly Warren Buffett
's guest appearance, "If you're going to jump a shark, jump a big one." and compared the episode to the Chris Martin
episode of Gervais's other series, Extras. He later said "I fucking didn't [diss The Office], that's for sure". Many critics have said the series should have ended after the departure of Steve Carell. Despite this, some recent episodes have received critical acclaim including: "Stress Relief
", "Niagara
", "Garage Sale
" and "Goodbye, Michael
".
on NBC, The Office brought in 11.2 million viewers in the U.S., winning its time slot. When NBC moved the series to its intended Tuesday night slot, it lost nearly half its audience with only 5.9 million viewers. The program averaged 5.4 million viewers, ranking it #102 for the 2004–2005 U.S. television season. "Hot Girl", the first season's finale
, rated a 2.2 with a 10 audience measurement share
, the lowest rating in the show's history. Episodes were also rerun on CNBC
.
As the second season started, the success of Carell's hit summer movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
and online sales of episodes at iTunes
helped the show. The increase in viewership led NBC to move the series to the "Must See TV
" Thursday night in January 2006, where ratings continued to grow. By the 2005–2006 season, it placed #67 (tied with 20/20). It averaged 8.0 million viewers with a 10/10 rating, and was up 80% in viewers from the year before and up 60% in viewers ages 18–49. The third-season premiere received a 9.9 and made a large increase in total viewers and viewers 18–49 over My Name Is Earl
. By the end of the 2006–2007 season, it placed #68 (tied with The Biggest Loser 3
). It averaged 8.3 million viewers with a 11/11 rating, a large improvement from the previous season.
The season five premiere received was on par with the previous season's premiere, placing third for viewership during its timeslot and second in 18-49 demo. Season 5 ranked #14 for Adults 18-49, averaging 5.3 million viewers in that age group. Nielsen Media Research
released figures for delayed viewing, and The Office increased 48 percent from its fourth season debut, adding 2.5 million viewers in playback. Recent seasons have dropped in the ratings with the eight season episode, "Spooked
" ranking as the lowest rated episode of the series to air on Thursday. Despite this, the show is still one of NBC's highest rated shows and currently costs $178,840 per-30 second commercial, the most for any NBC scripted series.
The city of Scranton, long known mainly for its industrial past as a coal mining
and rail
center, has eagerly embraced, and ultimately has been redefined by the show. "We're really hip now," says the mayor's assistant. The Dunder Mifflin logo is on a lamppost banner in front of Scranton City Hall
, as well as the pedestrian bridge to the Mall at Steamtown
. The Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company, whose tower is shown in the opening credits, plans to add it to the tower as well. Newspapers in other Northeastern
cities have published travel guides to Scranton locations for tourists interested in visiting places mentioned in the show.
Scranton has become identified with the show outside the United States as well. In a 2008 St. Patrick's Day speech in its suburb of Dickson City
, former Taoiseach
(Irish prime minister) Bertie Ahern
identified the city as the home of Dunder Mifflin.
The inaugural The Office convention was held downtown in October 2007. Notable landmarks, some of which have been settings for the show, that served as venues include the University of Scranton
, the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
and the Mall at Steamtown
. Cast appearances were made by B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Oscar Nunez, Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, Leslie David Baker, Mindy Kaling, Craig Robinson, Melora Hardin, Phyllis Smith, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Bobby Ray Shafer, and Andy Buckley. Writer appearances, besides Novak and Kaling, were made by Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Jennifer Celotta, Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Justin Spitzer, Anthony Ferrell, Ryan Koh, Lester Lewis, and Jason Kessler. Not present were writer-actor Paul Lieberstein (who was originally going to make an appearance), Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, and Jenna Fischer.
On an episode of The Daily Show
, Republican
presidential candidate John McCain
, reportedly a devoted fan of the show, jokingly told Jon Stewart
he might take Dwight Schrute as his running mate. Rainn Wilson later accepted on Dwight's behalf while on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
. After the airing of "Garage Sale
", Colorado governor John Hickenlooper
issued a press release appointing Michael Scott to the position of Director of Paper Distribution in the Department of Natural Resources.
In multiple episodes, characters can be seen wearing undershirts and sweatshirts from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers
, an Arena Football
team in the Arena Football League
.
. This is done to differentiate this version of the show from the original British series. The show is now being broadcast on ITV4
and Comedy Central
.
In Canada, early seasons were simulcast
or broadcast earlier than their American debut on Citytv
, until simulcast rights were purchased by CH beginning with the third season. The rights were transferred in early 2007 to then-parent network Global
, where it continues to air. In Brazil, FX
began airing the show on April 9, 2006 at 8:30 pm. In Germany, Super RTL
began airing the show on January 5, 2008 at 11:10 pm. In Austria, ORF1
began airing the show on March 6, 2008 at 11:10 pm. In Spain, TNT, Paramount Comedy (Spain)
and laSexta are airing the show. In Ireland, 3e
broadcast the show with the title The US Office. In the Netherlands, the show began airing on Comedy Central
under the title The Office US in April 2007. In India, the show is broadcast on STAR World
. In Australia, it airs on Foxtel
, Network Ten
and in 2011 it will also air on Eleven
. In France, the show is broadcast late nights on Canal+
. In Russia, Channel One
began airing the show on July 14, 2008 at 12:20 am. In Hungary, the series is broadcast by Viasat 3
. In Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it began airing on TV6
since spring 2008. In Denmark, the show ran on DR2
for some months in 2008 before being discontinued. The show's first season ran on the Norwegian channel TV2
in 2007/2008. In the Philippines, it airs on Jack TV
. In Greece, the show is broadcast on Universal Channel
. In Turkey, the show is has been broadcasting on TNT since 2008. In South Korea, it began broadcasting on Fox Life
since May 29, 2010. In Belgium, 2BE aired the first season in 2010. In Croatia, the series airs on HRT
Channel 2. In Republic of Macedonia
, the series started to air in May 2011 on Telma
.
beginning in December 2005. In 2006, ten internet-exclusive webisodes featuring some of the characters on The Office aired on NBC.com. "Producer's Cuts" (containing approximately ten additional minutes of material) of the episodes "Branch Closing
" and "The Return
" were also made available on NBC.com. The Office also became available for download from Amazon.com's Unbox
video downloads in 2006. Sales of new The Office episodes on iTunes ceased in 2007 due to a dispute between NBC and Apple ostensibly over pricing. As of September 9, 2008 The Office was put back on the iTunes store, and can be bought in HD and Regular format. Netflix
also offers the show for online viewing by subscribers, in addition to traditional DVD rental. The Office is also available on Microsoft
s Zune
Marketplace.
Of the 12.4 million total viewings of "Fun Run
", the fourth season's premiere, 2.7 million, or 22%, were on a computer via online streaming. "The Office," said The New York Times
, "is on the leading edge of a sharp shift in entertainment viewing that was thought to be years away: watching television episodes on a computer screen is now a common activity for millions of consumers." It was particularly popular with online viewers, an NBC researcher said, because as an episode-driven sitcom without special effects it was easy to watch on smaller monitors such as those found on laptop
s and iPod
s. Between the online viewings and those who use digital video recorder
s, 25-50% of the show's viewers watch it after its scheduled airtime
.
The show's Internet success became an issue in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
. Daniels and many of the cast members who double as writers posted a video to YouTube
shortly after the strike began, pointing out how little, if any, they received in residuals
from online and DVD viewing. "You're watching this on the Internet, a thing that pays us zero dollars," Schur said. "We're supposed to get 11 cents for every two trillion downloads." The writers were particularly upset that they weren't compensated for the Daytime Emmy Award
winning summer webisodes "The Accountants", which NBC considered promotional material despite the embedded commercials.
—was released in 2007. In 2008 two games were introduced via Pressman Toy Corp: The Office Trivia Board Game and The Office DVD Board Game. In 2009, The Office Clue was released, and The Office Monopoly was released in 2010. Other merchandise, from T-shirts and a bobblehead doll of Dwight Schrute to more office-specific items such as parodies of the Successories
motivational poster series featuring the cast, is available. Dunder Mifflin has two websites, and the cast members maintain blogs both as themselves and in character.
wrote in character on "Schrute Space" on NBC.com, which is updated periodically. However, he stopped writing the blog himself. It is unknown whether Creed Bratton
authors "Creed Thoughts", the blog attributed to his character
. Some cast members also have Twitter
accounts, including Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, Brian Baumgartner and Mindy Kaling. Some of the characters have Twitter accounts as well, including Kelly Kapoor, Erin Hannon, Ryan Howard, and Creed Bratton.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television series broadcast by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. An adaptation of the original BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series of the same name
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
, it depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. To simulate the look of an actual documentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
, it is filmed in a single-camera setup
Single-camera setup
The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, is a method of filmmaking and video production. A single camera—either motion picture camera or professional video camera—is employed on the set and each shot to make up a scene is taken individually...
, without a studio audience
Studio audience
A studio audience is an audience present for the taping of all or part of a television program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack . A studio audience can also provide volunteers, a visual backdrop and discussion participants...
or a laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
.
The Office was adapted for American audiences by executive producer Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
, a veteran writer for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
, and The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. The creators of the original BBC series, Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
and Stephen Merchant
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...
, are executive producers and also co-wrote the pilot episode with Daniels and wrote the season three episode, "The Convict
The Convict
"The Convict" is ninth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 30, 2006 on NBC. It was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant specifically for the U.S. series...
". It is co-produced by Daniels' Deedle-Dee Productions
Deedle-Dee Productions
Deedle-Dee Productions is a television production company owned by Greg Daniels. It is known for producing the long running series King of the Hill, The Office and their newest series, Parks and Recreation...
, and Reveille Productions
Reveille Productions
Reveille Productions is an independently-owned television and motion picture studio and production company based in Los Angeles. The studio was founded by Ben Silverman in March 2002....
, in association with Universal Television
Universal Television
Universal Television is the television production arm of the NBCUniversal Television Group, and by extension, the NBC television network...
. The show debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement
Midseason replacement
In American and Canadian television, a midseason replacement is a television series that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between January and May...
on March 24, 2005.
Off-network syndication of The Office began in late 2007, notably on TBS
TBS (TV channel)
TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
and Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
-owned stations in the United States. Lead actor Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, who portrays Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
, left the series near the end of the seventh season. The eighth season premiered on September 22, 2011, with James Spader
James Spader
James Todd Spader is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Crash, Stargate, and Secretary...
joining the cast, and Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
, who portrays Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
, assuming the new role of Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin.
Writing
Greg DanielsGreg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
served as the series showrunner for the first four seasons of the series and developed the British series for American television. He then had to leave for Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
and switches off his time between the two shows. Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
and Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
were named the series showrunner for the fifth season. Celotta left the series after the sixth season and Lieberstein stayed on as showrunner for the following seasons while Daniel Chun
Daniel Chun
Daniel Chun is an American comedy writer. He has written for The Office and The Simpsons. He received a Writers Guild Award nomination and an Annie Award for his work on The Simpsons. He is now Head Writer and Co-Executive Producer of The Office...
serves as the series head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
. Other executive producers include cast members B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
and Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
. Kaling, Novak, Daniels, Lieberstein and former Office writer Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
made up the original team of writers. Credited with twenty-four episodes, Kaling is the most prolific writer on The Office writing staff. Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
and Stephen Merchant
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...
, who created the original British series, are credited as executive producers, and co-wrote the pilot as well as writing the third season episode, "The Convict
The Convict
"The Convict" is ninth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 30, 2006 on NBC. It was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant specifically for the U.S. series...
". Merchant later directed the episode "Customer Survey
Customer Survey
"Customer Survey" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's seventy-ninth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on November 6, 2008 on NBC...
" while Gervais appeared in the episodes "The Seminar
The Seminar
"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
" and "Search Committee
Search Committee
"Search Committee" is the hour-long finale of the seventh season of the American television comedy series The Office. It is the 151st and 152nd episodes of the series overall and the 25th and 26th episodes of the seventh season. It was written by show runner and executive producer Paul Lieberstein...
".
Before the series aired its second episode, the writers spent time researching in offices. This process was used for Daniels' other series King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
and Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
. The pilot is a direct adaptation of the first episode of the British version. Daniels had decided to go through this route because "completely starting from scratch would be a very risky thing to do" due to the show being an adaptation. He had briefly considered using the idea for "The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
" as the pilot episode. After the writers knew who the cast was, they were allowed to write for the actors which allowed the show to be more original for the following episode, "Diversity Day
Diversity Day
"Diversity Day" is the second episode of the first season of the American version of The Office. Written by B. J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis, it first aired in the United States on March 29, 2005, on NBC. The episode guest stars Office consulting producer Larry Wilmore as Mr...
". A complete script is written for each episode of The Office; however, actors are given opportunities to improvise during the shooting process. "Our shows are 100 percent scripted," Fischer explained. "They put everything down on paper. But we get to play around a little bit, too. Steve and Rainn are brilliant improvisers."
Casting
NBC programmer Kevin Reilly originally suggested Paul GiamattiPaul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...
to producer Ben Silverman
Ben Silverman
Benjamin Noah "Ben" Silverman is the founder and CEO of Electus, a next generation entertainment studio staked by IAC's Barry Diller....
for the role of Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
, but the actor declined. Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
, Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
and Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, of the popular Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC mid-season replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly canceled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations.
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, who was cast as the power-hungry sycophant
Sycophant
Sycophancy means:# Obsequious flattery; servility.# The character or characteristic of a sycophant.Alternative phrases are often used such as:-Etymology:...
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
, watched every episode of the series before he auditioned. Wilson had originally auditioned for Michael, a performance he described as a "terrible Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
impersonation"; however, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much more and hired him for the role.
John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
and Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...
were virtual unknowns before being cast in their respective roles as Jim and Pam, the central love interests. Krasinski had attended school with, and was a friend of B. J. Novak. Krasinski recalled accidentally insulting Greg Daniels while waiting to audition for the series, telling him, "I hope [the show's developers] don't screw this up." Daniels then introduced himself and told Krasinski who he was. Fischer prepared for her audition by looking as boring as possible, creating the original Pam hairstyle. In an interview on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Fresh Air
Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
, Fischer recalled the last stages of the audition process for Pam and Jim, with the producers partnering the different potential Pams and Jims (four of each) together to gauge their chemistry. When Fischer finished her scene with Krasinski, he told her that she was his favorite Pam, to which she reciprocated that he was her favorite Jim.
The supporting cast includes actors known for their improv
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
work: Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey is an American actress. She currently appears as the uptight accountant Angela Martin on the hit NBC television series The Office.-Personal life:...
, Kate Flannery
Kate Flannery
Katherine Patricia "Kate" Flannery is an American actress best known for playing the role of Meredith Palmer on the NBC hit series The Office.-Personal life:...
, Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez , sometimes credited as Oscar Núñez, is a Cuban American actor and comedian.He currently appears as Dunder Mifflin's paper supply accountant, Oscar Martinez, on NBC's The Office.-Career:...
, Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker is an American film and television actor who plays Stanley Hudson on The Office. He also had several small roles in Scrubs and appeared on That '70s Show as a janitor after a Ted Nugent concert and played an office worker in several of OfficeMax's "Rubberband Man" series of...
, Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.-Personal life:...
, Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
, and David Denman
David Denman
David Denman is an American film and television actor.-Education:After graduating from Fountain Valley High School, Denman attended the summer training congress at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before receiving his B.F.A. from Juilliard.-Career:He made his film debut with Keanu...
. Kinsey had originally auditioned for Pam. The producers thought she was "too feisty" for the character, but they called her back for the part of Angela Martin
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
, which she won. Flannery first auditioned for the part of Jan Levenson-Gould, before landing the role of Meredith Palmer. Baumgartner originally auditioned for Stanley, but was eventually cast as Kevin. Ken Kwapis liked the way Phyllis Smith, a casting associate, read with other actors auditioning so much that he cast her as Phyllis. At the beginning of the third season, Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
and Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
joined the cast as members of Dunder Mifflin Stamford. While Jones would later leave the cast for a recurring role, in February 2007, NBC announced that Helms was being promoted to a series regular.
Four of the show's writers have also stepped in front of the camera. B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
was cast as reluctant temp Ryan Howard
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
after Daniels saw his stand-up act
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
. Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
was cast as human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
director Toby Flenderson
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
on Novak's suggestion after his cold readings of scripts. Greg Daniels was originally unsure where to use the Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam , better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.-Early life:Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam in...
on-screen in the series until the opportunity came in the second episode
Diversity Day
"Diversity Day" is the second episode of the first season of the American version of The Office. Written by B. J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis, it first aired in the United States on March 29, 2005, on NBC. The episode guest stars Office consulting producer Larry Wilmore as Mr...
's script, where Michael needed to be slapped by a minority. "Since [that slap], I've been on the show" (as Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Rajnigandha Kapoor , is a fictional character from the US television series, The Office. She is played by Mindy Kaling, who is also a writer and producer for the show....
), says Kaling. Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
has also made occasional appearances as Dwight's cousin Mose, and consulting producer Larry Wilmore has played diversity trainer
Diversity training
Diversity training is training for the purpose of increasing participants' cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, which is based on the assumption that the training will benefit an organization by protecting against civil rights violations, increasing the inclusion of different identity groups,...
Mr. Brown. Plans were made for Mackenzie Crook
Mackenzie Crook
Paul Mackenzie Crook is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Gareth Keenan in The Office and Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.-Life and career:...
, Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman
Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
, and Lucy Davis
Lucy Davis
Lucy Clare Davis is an English actress. She is best known for playing the character Dawn Tinsley in the BBC comedy The Office and as Dianne in the horror-comedy movie Shaun of the Dead.-Career:...
from the British version of The Office to appear in the third season, but those plans were scrapped due to scheduling conflicts.
Format
The Office is a mockumentaryMockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
. The primary vehicle for the show is that a camera crew has decided to film Dunder Mifflin and its employees, seemingly around the clock. The presence of the camera is acknowledged by the characters, especially Michael Scott, who enthusiastically participates in the filming. Others, for example Jan Levenson, are frequently annoyed or uncomfortable with its presence.
The main action of the show is supplemented with talking-head interviews or "confessionals
Confessional (disambiguation)
A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for confession.It may also refer to:In cinema:* The Confessional - a French movie from 1994.* Confessional , a Cebuano mockumentary indie film.In music:...
," with the characters speaking one on one with the camera crew about the day's events. Sometimes two characters share an interview, speaking with each other and the camera at the same time. This occurs most notably with Jim and Pam, or, occasionally, Oscar and Kevin, Kelly and Ryan, Jim and Dwight, and once, Michael and Toby. Dwight frequently interrupts Michael's interviews, as he is often standing off-screen next to Michael as the interview begins.
Some characters use the camera's presence to their advantage. For example, in "Christmas Party", Phyllis' boyfriend, Bob Vance, introduces himself repeatedly as "Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration" to garner publicity for his business. In other instances, the camera seemingly has affected plot lines. In "The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
", a drunken Pam nearly confesses something to Jim, but shies away when she realizes the camera is still there. In "E-mail Surveillance
E-mail Surveillance
"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...
", Pam asks the crew to help her look for evidence of Dwight and Angela's secret relationship, which they later provide.
In the character's final episode in season seven, Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
asks the cameraman filming his departure to let him know if the show ever airs. This would seem to imply that the series has yet to reach television within its fictional universe, at least as of the point in time that season seven was being "filmed." Michael may also not have been aware of an airing.
Music and title sequence
The theme song for The Office was written by Jay FergusonJay Ferguson (American musician)
Jay Ferguson is an American rock and roll musician, known for his work with Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and his 1978 solo hit "Thunder Island". His later career has been as a composer of music for television programs and films.-Childhood and early musical career:He was born in Burbank, California, in...
and performed by The Scrantones. It is played over the title sequence, which features scenes of Scranton and various tasks around the office. Some episodes of the series use a shortened version of the theme song. Starting with the fourth season, the theme song is played over the closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
, which previously rolled in silence. Originally the theme song began each episode. However, starting with the episode "Office Olympics
Office Olympics
"Office Olympics" is the third episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's ninth episode overall. Written by Michael Schur, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired in the United States on October 4, 2005 on NBC.In the episode, Michael...
", most episodes have begun with a cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
followed by the theme. The exteriors of buildings in the title sequence are actual buildings in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, and were shot by cast member John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
.
The mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
format of the show contains no laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
, and most of the music is diegetic
Diegesis
Diegesis is a style of representation in fiction and is:# the world in which the situations and events narrated occur; and# telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting.In diegesis the narrator tells the story...
, with songs either sung or played by the characters or heard on radios, computers, or other devices. However, songs have been played during montages or the closing credits, such as "Tiny Dancer
Tiny Dancer
"Tiny Dancer" is a 1971 song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It appears on John's fourth album, Madman Across the Water, and was released as a single in 1972...
" by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
("The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
") and "Islands in the Stream
Islands in the Stream
"Islands in the Stream" is the title of a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark and the second pop number-one for both Rogers and Parton...
" by Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
("E-mail Surveillance
E-mail Surveillance
"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...
"). Featured music tends to be well known, and often songs reflect the character, such as Michael's attempt to seem hip by using "Mambo No. 5
Mambo No. 5
"Mambo No. 5" is a mambo and jive dance song originally recorded and composed by Pérez Prado in 1949.The song's popularity was renewed by Lou Bega's sampling of the original, released under the same name on Bega's 1999 debut album A Little Bit of Mambo....
" and later "My Humps
My Humps
"My Humps" is the third single by The Black Eyed Peas from their fourth album, Monkey Business. It samples a section of the song "I Need a Freak" by Sexual Harassment, as well as the 1989 song "Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc and "It's Automatic" by Freestyle. Released in 2005, it reached number three in...
" as his cell phone ringtone. The song "Sing" by Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
is used twice on the series, first in "The Client" which Jim and Pam jointly listen to through a single pair of earbuds prior to their relationship; and later in a montage of their relationship in the clip episode
The Banker (The Office)
"The Banker" is the 14th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 114th episode overall. It was written by Jason Kessler and directed by Jeffrey Blitz....
. Dwight will often play loud music when driving or to get himself psyched up before making a sale, such as listening to "Wild Side
Wild Side (Mötley Crüe song)
"Wild Side" is a single by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe from their 1987 album Girls, Girls, Girls which charted at #2 on the Billboard 200.-Composition:...
" and "Kickstart My Heart
Kickstart My Heart
"Kickstart My Heart" is a Grammy Award-nominated song by the American rock band Mötley Crüe, originally released on their 1989 album, Dr. Feelgood. The song has also been used numerous in media, including the trailers for Robert Rodriguez's family comedy Shorts and the Disney/Pixar film Cars...
" by Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
. In the episode "Michael Scott Paper Company
Michael Scott Paper Company
"Michael Scott Paper Company" is the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 95th overall episode of the series...
", Dwight and Andy play John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
's "Take Me Home, Country Roads
Take Me Home, Country Roads
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" is a song written by John Denver, Taffy Nivert, and Bill Danoff and initially recorded by John Denver. It was included on his 1971 breakout album Poems, Prayers and Promises; the single went to #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100...
". Notably, Dwight sings a portion in German.
Originally, only Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
, Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...
and B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
were credited in the title sequence. The sequence was first updated in the season 2 episode, "Office Olympics", with an updated clip for Steve Carell's character. The title sequence for the season 5 episode "Stress Relief
Stress Relief
"Stress Relief" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the fourteenth and fifteenth episode of the fifth season, and the 86th and 87th overall episodes of the series...
", which aired after Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
, included new footage and added the rest of the starring cast. However, the sequence only appeared in the aforementioned episode. The season 5 episode "Michael Scott Paper Company
Michael Scott Paper Company
"Michael Scott Paper Company" is the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 95th overall episode of the series...
" featured an altered title sequence that focused on the titular company.
Starting with the season 6 episode "Sabre
Sabre (The Office)
"Sabre" is the 15th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 115th episode overall. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by John Krasinski, which marks his television directorial debut...
", Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
is added to the opening sequence and is credited after B. J. Novak. In the seventh season premiere episode, "Nepotism
Nepotism (The Office)
"Nepotism" is the seventh season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 127th episode overall. Written by Daniel Chun and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on September 23, 2010...
", the title sequence was updated with new scenes. Beginning with "The Inner Circle
The Inner Circle (The Office)
"The Inner Circle" is the twenty-third episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 149th episode overall. The episode originally aired on May 5, 2011, on NBC...
", the first episode after Steve Carell's departure, Rainn Wilson now receives first billing, and all clips that feature Steve Carell are replaced with new ones of the other cast members. Also, for the rest of the seventh season the image of Carell moving his Dundie would be replaced by that certain manager moving a different object. Then, with the eighth season premiere, James Spader
James Spader
James Todd Spader is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Crash, Stargate, and Secretary...
was added to the credits at the end while new manager Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
is seen at his desk adjusting a figurine that falls off the desk.
Characters
The Office employs an ensemble castEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
. A significant number of the main and minor characters are based on characters from the British version of The Office
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
.
Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
, regional manager of the Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, feels he is everyone's best friend in the office; his employees feel otherwise. His former co-manager, sales representative Jim Halpert
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
, is newly married to the former receptionist turned sales representative turned office administrator, Pam Halpert née Beesly. Their relationship comes after three seasons of friendship laced with romantic tension. Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
, the assistant to the regional manager, is an award-winning salesman and former Lackawanna County
Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania
As of the census of 2000, there were 213,295 people, 86,218 households, and 55,783 families residing in the county. The population density was 465 people per square mile . There were 95,362 housing units at an average density of 208 per square mile...
volunteer reserve deputy sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
known for his authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
personality and his adoration of science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
. Ryan Howard
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
, who started out as a temporary worker in the Scranton office, was later promoted to Dunder Mifflin's Vice President for Regional Sales, which would make him Michael's boss, until his treachery was exposed for corporate fraud and he was fired, ending up again as the temporary worker at the Scranton branch. Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
, a Cornell alumnus, anger-management grad and Angela's former fiancé, formerly of the Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
branch office, now the new Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton.
The accounting department features Angela Martin
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
, an admitted uptight Christian who wishes to keep things orderly and make sure situations remain as serious as possible; Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
, a clueless, overweight man who revels in juvenile humor and frequently indulges himself with gambling and M&Ms; and the patient Oscar Martinez
Oscar Martinez
Oscar Jual Paul Martinez is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Oscar Nunez.-Overview:Oscar Martinez is an accountant at the paper distributor Dunder Mifflin. He is a first generation Mexican-American. Oscar is also openly homosexual after being...
, whose homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
heritage make him a favorite target for Michael's off-color comments. Rounding out the office are the stern salesman Stanley Hudson
Stanley Hudson
Stanley James Hudson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Leslie David Baker. Stanley's counterpart in the UK series is Malcolm.-Overview:...
, who barely stands for Michael's constant references to his Black-American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
heritage (he also doesn't like to take part in Michael's time wasting meetings and sometimes sleeps in them or works on one of his crossword puzzles); eccentric quality assurance
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
representative Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton (character)
Creed Rowland Bratton a.k.a. "William Charles Schneider" is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. Confusion may arise from the fact that the character is played by and partially based on the musician of the same name, Creed Bratton...
; the kind and caring saleswoman Phyllis Lapin-Vance, who marries Bob Vance from Vance Refrigeration across the hall from the office; the bubbly and talkative customer service representative Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Rajnigandha Kapoor , is a fictional character from the US television series, The Office. She is played by Mindy Kaling, who is also a writer and producer for the show....
; the promiscuous alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
single mother supply relations representative Meredith Palmer
Meredith Palmer
Meredith Elizabeth Palmer is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. She is played by Kate Flannery. She is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office....
; and frequent target of Michael's abuse, human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
representative Toby Flenderson
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
.
Dunder Mifflin Scranton warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin
Darryl Philbin
Darryl Mathias Philbin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Craig Robinson.-Overview:Darryl Philbin is the foreman of the warehouse of the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin....
is a key secondary character who has gained increased prominence throughout the run of the show. At the end of season five, new receptionist Erin Hannon
Erin Hannon
Kelly Erin Hannon is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is the office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously held by Pam Halpert before she left the company. Erin is played by Ellie Kemper...
is introduced as Pam's replacement at the reception desk. Gabe Lewis
Gabe Lewis
Gabriel Stuart "Gabe" Lewis is a fictional character on NBC's The Office. He first appears in the sixth season, where he is the Coordinating Director of Emerging Regions for the Sabre Corporate headquarters in Florida...
, introduced near the end of season six, is a Sabre employee who is assigned to the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch as the Regional Director of Sales. A story arc at the start of the season five has Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
transferred to the office as Toby's replacement. She acts as a love interest for Michael, as they share very similar personalities. However, Holly is transferred away after corporate discovers that Michael and Holly are involved, resulting in their breakup. Much to Michael's dismay, Toby is rehired shortly after Holly's transfer. Holly returns to Scranton in season seven, where she and Michael rekindle their relationship, get engaged, and move to Colorado. When Michael Scott left the series in the seventh season, he was replaced by a series of short-lived successors. After a search for a new manager, Robert California
Robert California
Robert California is a fictional character on The Office, played by James Spader. He has no counterpart on the original British version of the series.- Season 7 :...
is hired as office manager. California is promptly promoted to CEO, and his first order of business is to promote Andy to the Scranton managerial post.
In addition to Scott, former main characters no longer regularly part of the show include Pam's ex-fiancé, Roy Anderson
Roy Anderson (The Office)
Royson "Roy" Allan Anderson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office, portrayed by David Denman. His counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Lee.-Overview:...
, who left the show in the third season after nearly assaulting Jim in the workplace; and Michael's former love interest—and former Vice President for Regional Sales for Dunder Mifflin—Jan Levenson, with whom Michael broke up in season four, and who subsequently became pregnant via sperm donation. Both characters returned for one episode each in season five, but neither was seen in the sixth season; Jan returned in season seven as a successful employee and happy single mother to daughter Astrid. Both appear in season seven in Michael's film Threat Level Midnight.
The series has had a large variety of characters including love interests, co-workers and friends. Initially the actors who portray the other office workers were credited as guest stars before they were named series regulars during the second season. The show's large ensemble has been mainly praised by critics and led to the series winning two Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Season synopses
A typical episode for a half-hour time slot runs 20-and-a-half minutes. The final episode of season two introduced the first of what would be several super-sized episodes that are approximately 28-minute running time for a 40-minute time slot (shortened in repeats and syndication). Season three introduced the first of occasional hour-long episodes (approximately 42-minute running time; suitable for being shown as two separate normal episodes).Season one
The first season consisted of six episodes.The series begins by introducing the office's workers via a tour given by branch manager Michael Scott for both the camera crew and a first-day temp (Ryan Howard). The audience learns salesman Jim Halpert has a crush on receptionist Pam Beesly (who helps him play pranks on co-worker Dwight Schrute), even though she is engaged to Roy (who works in the building's lower-level warehouse). News spreads throughout the office that Dunder Mifflin's corporate headquarters is planning to downsize an entire branch, leading to general anxiety, but Michael chooses to deny or downplay the realities of the situation in order to maintain employee morale.
Season two
The second season was the series' first full (twenty-two episode) season, and had its first 40-minute "super-sized" episode. Many workers seen in the background of the first season were developed into secondary characters, while the general threat of downsizing continued.Romantic relationships begin to develop between some of the characters. Michael spends the night with his boss Jan, in the wake of the latter's divorce, but does not sleep with her. Dwight and Angela become romantically involved, but keep the relationship a secret from everyone else. Kelly develops a crush on Ryan, and they start dating. When Roy sets a date for his wedding to Pam, Jim grows depressed and considers transferring to the Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
branch, but tells Pam in the season finale that he loves her, even though Pam still insists she will marry Roy. The two kiss, but Jim transfers to the Stamford branch soon after.
Season three
The third season consisted of 25 half-hours of material, divided into 17 half-hour episodes, four 40-minute "super-sized" episodes, and two one-hour episodes.Jim briefly transfers to the Stamford
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
branch after Pam confirmed her commitment to Roy, before corporate is forced to merge the Stamford branch and staff into the Scranton branch. Included in the transfer to Scranton are Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is played by Rashida Jones. She is loosely based on the character of Rachel from the original UK version of the show, in that she transferred during the merger of the two branches, and became romantically...
, with whom Jim has developed a relationship, and the anger-prone Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
; all other former Stamford employees quit in frustration with Michael's managerial style. Pam is newly single after calling off her marriage and relationship to Roy prior to the merger, and Jim's unresolved feelings for her and new relationship with Karen lead to shifting tensions amongst the four. This culminates when Roy, in a brief reunion with Pam, attempts to assault Jim after learning of his and Pam's kiss.
Roy is summarily dismissed from Dunder Mifflin, and Pam leaves him once again. Feeling confident in her life, and put-upon or ignored by her various co-workers, Pam builds the courage to make a speech which reveals her true feelings towards each of them, and confesses to Jim he was the reason she called off her wedding.
Meanwhile, the Scranton branch inherits all of Stamford's clients, eventually becoming the most successful branch, and eliminating the fear of further downsizing. Ryan has been hired as a full-time sales representative but fails to make a single sale. Michael and Jan begin a relationship, which causes her to behave erratically on the job. Oscar is inadvertently outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
as gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
by Michael, but accepts an offer, from Jan, for a three-month paid vacation and use of a company car in exchange for not suing. Dwight and Angela continue their secret relationship.
Andy is missing for much of the season as he is sent to anger management
Anger management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger & aggression can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state...
training, due to an outburst where he punched a hole in the wall, but he later returns as a much calmer and approachable co-worker. Phyllis becomes engaged to and marries Bob Vance, owner of neighboring business Vance Refrigeration.
In the season's finale
The Job (The Office)
"The Job" is the third season finale of the U.S. version of The Office, and the show's 52nd and 53rd episode overall. It aired in the United States on April 19, 2007 on NBC. It is the season's second hour-long episode...
, Jim, Karen, and Michael interview for a corporate position that turns out to be Jan's, who is fired that day for poor performance. Jim wins and rejects the offer off-screen, opting instead to return to Scranton without Karen and asks Pam to a date, which she joyfully accepts. In the final scene, we learn Ryan has been awarded Jan's job due to his business school credentials.
Season four
NBC ordered a full fourth season of 30 half-hour episodes, but ended with only 19 due to a halt in production caused by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. The season consisted of 9 half-hour episodes, and 5 hour-long episodes to comprise the 19 total episodes of material created.
Karen has left the Scranton branch after her breakup with Jim, and becomes regional manager at the Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
branch. Pam and Jim date happily. An unemployed Jan moves in with Michael, until the dissolution of their relationship midway through the season. After Dwight's crude (though well-intentioned) method of euthanasia
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
of Angela's ailing cat without her permission, she leaves him for Andy, leading Dwight into depression.
Ryan, in his new corporate life in New York City, attempts to modernize Dunder Mifflin with a new website for online sales; he also learns that his boss, David Wallace
David Wallace (The Office)
David Wallace is a character in the American television show The Office and was the chief financial officer of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, before being fired in late 2009 after the company was bought by Sabre. He is portrayed by Andy Buckley.- Character history :David Wallace was...
, favors Jim, and thus Ryan attempts to sabotage Jim's career. Ryan is soon arrested and fired for committing fraud related to the website's sales numbers. Meanwhile, Kelly moves on from her relationship with Ryan and briefly starts dating Darryl. Toby, embarrassed after accidentally revealing an affection for Pam, announces he is moving to Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, and is replaced by Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
, who quickly shows fondness towards Michael. Pam decides to follow her artistic interests and attend a three-month graphic design course at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
in New York City, while Jim plans to propose.
In the season finale Andy proposes to Angela, who reluctantly agrees, ruining Jim's proposal plans and leaving Pam disappointed. Phyllis then catches Dwight and Angela having sex in the office.
Season five
The fifth season consisted of 28 half-hours of material, divided into 24 half-hour episodes and two hour-long episodes, one of which aired after Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
.
Jim and Pam become engaged, and she ultimately returns from New York to Scranton, where Jim has bought his parents' house for the two of them. Having avoided jail and only been sentenced to community service, Ryan returns to Dunder Mifflin as a temp, but then leaves for Thailand. He is eventually revealed to be working at a bowling alley.
Michael initiates a romance with Holly, in part because of Jan's choice to exclude Michael from the birth of her daughter. When David Wallace learns of their relationship, Holly is transferred to the Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...
branch, where she gains a long-term boyfriend, to Michael's sadness. Toby returns from Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and resumes his duties as Scranton's HR
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
representative. When Andy is made aware of Dwight and Angela's continued affair, both men leave her—Andy because of her infidelity; Dwight once he learns that she has been sleeping with both of them, despite her claims not to be sleeping with Andy.
Newly hired Vice President Charles Miner
Charles Miner (The Office)
Charles Miner was the Vice President of Northeast Sales for Dunder Mifflin, having taken over the position vacated by Ryan and Jan. He is portrayed by Idris Elba.-Character history:Charles is first introduced in "New Boss"...
implements a rigid managerial style over the branch that causes Michael to resign in protest; additionally, Jim's job is jeopardized when Miner catches him playing a prank and his reputation suffers from there. Michael opens the Michael Scott Paper Company
Michael Scott Paper Company
"Michael Scott Paper Company" is the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 95th overall episode of the series...
, enticing Pam and Ryan to join as salespeople, and though his business model is ultimately unsustainable, Dunder Mifflin's profits are immediately threatened. In a buyout
Buyout
A buyout, in finance, is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" control of the target company....
of the Michael Scott Paper Company, the three are rehired (with Pam promoted to sales and Ryan returning as a temp), while Miner is banished from overseeing the branch. During the chaos, new receptionist Erin
Erin Hannon
Kelly Erin Hannon is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is the office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously held by Pam Halpert before she left the company. Erin is played by Ellie Kemper...
is hired to fill the vacancy originally left by Pam. The season's finale
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009...
ends with a cliffhanger ending hinting that Pam might be pregnant.
Season six
The sixth season consisted of 26 half-hours of material, divided into 22 half-hour episodes and two hour-long episodes.Jim and Pam marry; Jim, looking to ensure security for his future family, tries to convince David Wallace to promote him to Regional Manager, and Michael to Jan's old job. After Michael refuses, Jim is promoted to co-regional manager alongside Michael. Jim struggles to assert his authority; among his problems is a furious Dwight, who allies with Ryan in attempts to sabotage the new boss. Andy and Erin develop mutual interest in one another, but find their inherent awkwardness inhibits his attempts to ask her out on a date. For a short time after the wedding, Michael dates Pam's mom, Helene (Linda Purl
Linda Purl
Linda Purl is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for portraying Ben Matlock's daughter Charlene Matlock in season one of Matlock.-Early life and education abroad:...
), but dumps her on her birthday after realizing she's too old for him; to get even, Michael allows Pam to hit him in the face.
Rumors of bankruptcy begin to surround Dunder Mifflin. By Christmas, Wallace announces to the branch that Dunder Mifflin has accepted a buyout from Sabre Corporation, a printer company. While Wallace and other executives are let go, the Scranton office survives due to its relative success within the company. However, they find their own challenges in adapting to new corporate rules and the spirited style of Sabre's CEO, Jo Bennett
Jo Bennett
Joleen MaryAnn "Jo" Bennett is a fictional character from the US comedy television series The Office, who first appeared in Season 6. She is the CEO of Sabre, who purchased Dunder Mifflin, and is played by Kathy Bates.-Biography:...
(Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
). When she discovers that there are two co-regional managers, she orders one of them to return to sales; Jim volunteers, as Sabre policy means he can earn more money as a salesman, anyway.
Jim and Pam have a girl named Cecelia Marie Halpert. Andy and Erin finally date, but Erin decides they need a break when Michael tells her about Andy's previous relationship with Angela. When the local news discovers that Sabre printers have been catching fire, Jo again visits the Scranton branch demanding to know the source of the leak. Darryl, Pam, and Kelly confess to Michael, but Andy is ultimately blamed after Nick (Nelson Franklin) reveals he was the first to contact the press. After Jo suggests he invest in property, Dwight buys the office park. Michael agrees to make an announcement to the press regarding the faulty printers. When Jo asks how she can repay him, Michael responds that she could bring Holly back to the Scranton branch.
Season seven
The seventh season consisted of 26 half-hours of material, divided into 22 half-hour episodes and two hour-long episodes. This is the final season for Steve CarellSteve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, who plays the lead character Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
, as Carell wanted to move on after his contract expired during this season. Beginning with this season, Zach Woods
Zach Woods
Zach Woods is an American actor and comedian. From 2010-11, he portrayed Gabe Lewis on the NBC sitcom The Office. He was promoted to a series regular beginning in Season 7....
, who portrays Gabe Lewis
Gabe Lewis
Gabriel Stuart "Gabe" Lewis is a fictional character on NBC's The Office. He first appears in the sixth season, where he is the Coordinating Director of Emerging Regions for the Sabre Corporate headquarters in Florida...
, was promoted to a series regular. Guest appearances in the season include the return of Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
as Jan Levenson, Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
as Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
, David Koechner
David Koechner
David Michael Koechner is an American comedian, musician, and character actor. Koechner began studying improvisational comedy in Chicago at the ImprovOlympic, under the teachings of Del Close, before joining the Second City Northwest...
as Todd Packer
Todd Packer
Todd Finch Packer is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by David Koechner, and based on Chris Finch from the original British version.-Overview:Todd is a boorish Outside Sales Representative...
, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
as Jo Bennett
Jo Bennett
Joleen MaryAnn "Jo" Bennett is a fictional character from the US comedy television series The Office, who first appeared in Season 6. She is the CEO of Sabre, who purchased Dunder Mifflin, and is played by Kathy Bates.-Biography:...
, Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
as Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is played by Rashida Jones. She is loosely based on the character of Rachel from the original UK version of the show, in that she transferred during the merger of the two branches, and became romantically...
, David Denman
David Denman
David Denman is an American film and television actor.-Education:After graduating from Fountain Valley High School, Denman attended the summer training congress at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before receiving his B.F.A. from Juilliard.-Career:He made his film debut with Keanu...
as Roy Anderson
Roy Anderson (The Office)
Royson "Roy" Allan Anderson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office, portrayed by David Denman. His counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Lee.-Overview:...
, and Andy Buckley as David Wallace
David Wallace (The Office)
David Wallace is a character in the American television show The Office and was the chief financial officer of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, before being fired in late 2009 after the company was bought by Sabre. He is portrayed by Andy Buckley.- Character history :David Wallace was...
. Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
reprised his role as David Brent
David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
from the original British series
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
in cameo appearances in the episodes "The Seminar
The Seminar
"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
" and "Search Committee
Search Committee
"Search Committee" is the hour-long finale of the seventh season of the American television comedy series The Office. It is the 151st and 152nd episodes of the series overall and the 25th and 26th episodes of the seventh season. It was written by show runner and executive producer Paul Lieberstein...
". Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
appears in four episodes as Michael Scott's temporary replacement.
Pam tricks Gabe into promoting her to a phony new salaried
Salary
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....
position as "office administrator." Erin and Gabe have begun a relationship, much to Andy's chagrin, and he attempts to win her affection back. Angela begins a relationship with a charming man named Robert Lipton, who is a State Senator (Jack Coleman), and then cancels her procreation contract with Dwight. At the office's Christmas party, Holly returns to Scranton to fill in for Toby who is doing jury duty for the "Scranton Strangler" trial. Michael becomes depressed upon learning that Holly and A.J. are still together and have moved in with each other. Pam gives Michael hope when she tells him Holly is going to give A.J. an ultimatum
Ultimatum
An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests...
regarding their relationship, indicating that they will not last long. Michael is excited to find out that Holly and A.J. are no longer together, and they begin dating soon afterward.
After the office garage sale, Michael proposes to Holly, which she accepts. He then reveals he will be leaving Scranton to go to Colorado with Holly in order to support her elderly parents. Michael begins to train his office replacement, Deangelo Vickers
Deangelo Vickers
Deangelo Jeremitrius Vickers is a fictional character in the television series The Office. Played by actor Will Ferrell, Vickers was Michael Scott's replacement as Branch Manager during the end of Season 7, since Michael was moving to Colorado with his fiancee Holly...
(Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
), including hosting the Dundie Awards. Michael walks to the front desk of the office and sees his former employees working as diligently as ever, none except for Jim knowing his departure is that day. Michael is seen in an airport terminal, where he removes his microphone. As he walks away to board his flight, Pam is seen running up to Michael. They say their goodbyes, and Michael continues walking. Pam watches through a window as Michael's plane takes off. Deangelo is soon badly injured and taken to the hospital after a failed attempt at a basketball stunt, leaving the office without a manager. Jim is offered the position as interim manager but turns it down. The job is then given to Dwight, who loses it after only a week. Jo Bennett then moves Creed Bratton to acting manager, based solely on his seniority. Jo creates a search committee, led by Jim and including Toby and Gabe (who is later replaced by Kelly), to interview candidates and choose a new manager for the office.
Season eight
The eighth season premiered on September 22, 2011. James SpaderJames Spader
James Todd Spader is an American actor best known for his eccentric roles in movies such as Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Crash, Stargate, and Secretary...
reprises his role as Robert California
Robert California
Robert California is a fictional character on The Office, played by James Spader. He has no counterpart on the original British version of the series.- Season 7 :...
, the new CEO of Sabre-Dunder Mifflin. Pam and Jim are expecting their second child at the start of the season, to coincide with Jenna Fischer's real life pregnancy.
Robert is hired as the regional branch manager of Scranton but within a day, becomes CEO of Sabre by talking Jo Bennett out of her job. Andy is then promoted to regional manager and works hard to make a good impression on Robert, and tasks Dwight to be his number two. Pam is pregnant with a second child while Angela is also pregnant with her husband's child. Darryl also briefly dates Justine, his ex-wife.
Webisodes
"The Accountants": Between the second and third seasons, the summer webisodeWebisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
series "The Accountants" was released, the first premiering on July 13, 2006. The webisodes follow the accountants Angela, Oscar, and Kevin as they try to find out who stole $3,000 from the books.
"Kevin's Loan
Kevin's Loan
thumb|225px|Darryl trying to get the bank to give Kevin a loan for his Ice Cream business.Kevin's Loan is a spin-off series of mini-episodes of The Office; it premiered as original internet-only content, available online at NBC.com. It started its run on July 10, 2008...
": Between the fourth and fifth seasons, the summer webisode series "Kevin's Loan" was released in four weekly episodes, the first premiering on July 10, 2008. The webisodes follow Kevin, Oscar, and Darryl. In the story, Kevin attempts to repay his gambling debts by taking out a loan, which he intends to say is for starting an ice cream business. Although Oscar attempts to dissuade him, Kevin goes through with his plan which inevitably fails, even with Darryl's help.
"The Outburst
The Outburst
The Outburst is a spin-off series of mini-episodes of The Office; it premiered as original internet-only content, available online at NBC.com. It started its run on November 20, 2008...
": During the fifth season, the winter webisode series "The Outburst" was released in weekly episodes, the first premiering on November 20, 2008. Oscar is overheard angrily yelling at someone on the phone; Kevin, Angela, Andy, Phyllis, Kelly, Creed, Meredith, and Toby all investigate the mysterious call.
"Blackmail
Blackmail (Webisodes)
Blackmail is a spin-off series of mini-episodes of The Office; it premiered as original internet-only content, available online at NBC.com.-Cast:*Creed Bratton as Creed Bratton*Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez*Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer...
": At the conclusion of the fifth season, the summer webisode series "Blackmail" was released similarly to the previous two, in weekly episodes. The first episode was released on May 7, 2009. The webisodes look at a plot by Creed to get money from his fellow employees by trying to blackmail them with secrets. Creed enlists the help of some office workers but the office fights back.
"Subtle Sexuality
Subtle Sexuality
Subtle Sexuality is a spin-off series of mini-episodes of The Office. It premiered as original internet-only content, available online at NBC.com. It aired its episodes on October 29, 2009.-Cast:*Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor...
": During the sixth season, the fall webisode series "Subtle Sexuality" aired in its entirety on October 29, 2009. The series focuses on Kelly and Erin forming their own girl group called Subtle Sexuality. The first two webisodes document the behind-the-scenes aspects and troubles of shooting the music video for their first single "Male Prima Donna", while the third and final webisode is the music video itself, which features Ryan as a guest rapper and Andy singing the bridge. The webisodes earned The Office a 2010 Streamy Award
Streamy Awards
The Streamy Awards, popularly known as the Streamys, are presented annually by the International Academy of Web Television to recognize excellence in the arts and science of web television production, including directing, acting, producing, and writing. The formal ceremony at which the awards are...
for "Best Companion Web Series."
"The Mentor": During the sixth season, the winter webisode series "The Mentor" aired in its entirety on March 4, 2010. Erin wants to be an accountant so Angela decides to train her. But, Erin's relationship with Kelly turns bad when she spends too much time with Angela. Kelly and Ryan then interfere in Angela and Erin's relationship.
"The 3rd Floor": During the seventh season, the fall webisode series "The 3rd Floor" aired in its entirety on October 28, 2010. Ryan attempts to make a horror film titled The 3rd Floor using Dunder Mifflin as a location, and workers such as Kelly, Erin, Gabe, Kevin and Meredith as actors.
"The Podcast
The Podcast (webisodes)
The Podcast is a spin-off series of mini-episodes of The Office; The webisodes were made available on January 20, 2011 on NBC.com, but were previously included on the season 6 DVD release.-Cast:*Zach Woods as Gabe Lewis*Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez...
": During the seventh season, the winter webisode series "The Podcast" aired in its entirety on January 20, 2011. The websisodes were previously available on the season 6 DVD. Gabe attempts to record a podcast in the office about the Sabre website, hoping to impress corporate.
"The Girl Next Door": During the seventh season, the webisode series "The Girl Next Door" aired in its entirety on May 4, 2011. The series focuses on Kelly and Erin's girl group called Subtle Sexuality. The first webisode document the behind-the-scenes aspects of their second single "The Girl Next Door", while the second and final webisode is the music video itself, which features Ryan.
Deleted scenes
On The Office, deleted scenes are considered part of the show's canonCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
and storyline. Almost every episode of The Office includes deleted scenes on DVD and Blu-ray. Deleted scenes have sometimes been restored in repeats to make episodes longer or draw people who have seen the episode before back to see the bonus footage. In an experiment, a deleted scene from "The Return
The Return (The Office)
"The Return" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the US version of The Office. It aired on January 18, 2007 on NBC and marked the return to work of Oscar Martinez, who had been on vacation since the first episode of the season....
" was made available over NBC.com and iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
; explaining the absence of a character over the next several episodes. Daniels hoped that word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
among fans would spread the information, but eventually considered the experiment a failure.
Product placement
Baler
A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport and store...
, as well as mentioning in dialogue or displaying clear logos for products such as Sandals Resorts
Sandals Resorts
Sandals Resorts is an operator of all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and part of Sandals Resorts International , parent company of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts and The Royal Plantation Collection. Sandals Resorts has a total of 15 couples-only properties,...
, HP
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Apple, and Gateway
Gateway, Inc.
Gateway Computer Corporation, is a computer hardware company headquartered in Irvine, California, USA which develops, manufactures, supports, and markets a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories...
computers, and Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
's Call of Duty
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...
video game series. In "The Merger
The Merger (The Office)
"The Merger" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 16, 2006, as a special 40-minute episode on NBC.In this episode, the Scranton and Stamford branches are merged...
", Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
uses a Staples-branded shredding machine to shred a Staples-branded CD-R
CD-R
A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
and many other non-paper items, including a salad. As with HP, Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, a supplier of networking and telephone equipment, pays for product placement, which can be seen on close-up shots of the Cisco IP Telephones. Some products have additional branding labels attached, this can be clearly seen with the HP photo printer on Toby's desk in season 6, and is less noticeable with the Cisco phones. In "The Secret" Michael takes Jim to Hooters
Hooters
Hooters is the trade name of two privately held American restaurant chains: Hooters of America, Incorporated, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Hooters, Incorporated, based in Clearwater, Florida...
to discuss Jim's feelings for Pam. In "The Merger
The Merger (The Office)
"The Merger" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 16, 2006, as a special 40-minute episode on NBC.In this episode, the Scranton and Stamford branches are merged...
," Angela refers to Hooters as a strip club, causing Michael to defend Hooters as a family place, and inform the camera of how many chains there are worldwide. Hooters is also identified as the company's caterer in "Casino Night".
Many products featured are not part of product placement agreements, but rather inserted by writers as products the characters would use to create realism under the guise of a documentary. Chili's
Chili's
Chili's Grill & Bar is a restaurant chain founded by Larry Lavine. The chain has more than 1400 casual dining restaurants, mostly located in the United States and Canada...
restaurants were used for filming in "The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
" and "The Client", as the writers believed they were realistic choices for a company party and business lunch. Though not an explicit product placement, the producers of the show had to allow Chili's to have final approval of the script before filming, causing a scene of "The Dundies" to be hastily rewritten when the chain objected to the original version. Apple Inc. received over four minutes of publicity for the iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
when it was used as a much-desired gift in "Christmas Party", though the company did not pay for the placement. Several Apple products have been featured on the series including iPod Classic, iPhone, iBook, MacBook Pro, eMac, and iMac. Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
products such as Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
and Premiere
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative Suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing, and web development applications developed by Adobe Systems, though it can also be purchased separately. When purchased separately, it comes...
have also been mentioned or shown. Web sites such as Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
, TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor.com is a travel website that assists customers in gathering travel information, posting reviews and opinions of travel-related content and engaging in interactive travel forums. It is part of the TripAdvisor Media Group, operated by Expedia, Inc. TripAdvisor is a pioneer of...
, Monster
Monster.com
Monster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Monster is one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide, according to comScore Media Metrics...
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
are often mentioned. The appearance of Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
in the episode "Local Ad
Local Ad
"Local Ad" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixty-second episode overall. The episode was written by B. J. Novak, who also acts in the show as Ryan Howard, and directed by Jason Reitman...
" was rated eighth in the top ten most effective product placements of 2007. The Office was the only non-reality show
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
to make the list, and Second Life was the only product on the list that did not pay for its placement.
Proposed spin-off series and feature film
A spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
to the series was proposed in 2008, with a pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
expected to debut as the Super Bowl lead-out program in 2009. However, The Offices creative team instead decided to develop Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
as a separate series. In 2009, Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
revealed that a spin-off series was still a possibility. Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
mentioned that a feature film adaptation of the series is also possible after the series ends its run.
Reception
Before the show aired, Gervais acknowledged that there were feelings of hesitation from certain viewers.Critical reviews and commentary
Before its first airing, the New York Daily NewsNew York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
called it "so diluted there's little left but muddy water," and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
called it a "passable imitation of a miles-better BBC original." A Guardian Unlimited
Guardian Unlimited
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
review panned its lack of originality, stating, "(Steve Carell) just seems to be trying too hard ... Maybe in later episodes when it deviates from Gervais and Merchant's script, he'll come into his own. But right now he's a pale imitation." Tom Shales
Tom Shales
Thomas William "Tom" Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize...
of the Washington Post said it was "not the mishmash that [the Americanized version
Coupling (U.S. TV series)
Coupling is a 2003 American remake of the British television sitcom of the same title which aired on NBC.-Reception:It failed to perform in the ratings and was canceled before the November sweeps, with several episodes remaining unaired despite heavy publicity by the network. It was immediately...
of] Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
turned out to be, but again the quality of the original show causes the remake to look dim, like when the copying machine is just about to give out."
Reviews became more positive in the second season. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
remarked, "Producer Greg Daniels created not a copy but an interpretation that sends up distinctly American work conventions ... with a tone that's more satiric and less mordant. ... The new boss is different from the old boss, and that's fine by me." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
echoed these sentiments a week later, stating, "Thanks to the fearless Steve Carell, an ever-stronger supporting cast, and scripts that spew American corporate absurdist vernacular with perfect pitch, this undervalued remake does the near impossible—it honors Ricky Gervais' original and works on its own terms." The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
expressed its views on the show's progression: "After a rocky start, The Office improved immeasurably, instantly becoming one of TV's funniest, sharpest shows. The casting of Steve Carell in the Gervais role proved to be a masterstroke. The American Office is that rarest of anomalies: a remake of a classic show that both does right by its source and carves out its own strong identity."
The series has been included on several top TV series lists. Times James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
named it one of the top 10 returning series of 2007, ranking it at #6. He also included it on his "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME" list. The show was also named the best show of 2006 by BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
named it the thirteenth most mentioned series on "Best of Decade" top-ten lists while Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
named it the sixth best sitcom of 2010. The show has some superficial similarities to the comic-strip Dilbert
Dilbert
Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. First published on April 16, 1989, Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character...
, which also features employees coping with an inept superior. John Spector, CEO of The Conference Board, says that both show the impact a leader can have, for good or bad. Dilbert creator Scott Adams
Scott Adams
Scott Raymond Adams is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation....
also touts the similarities: "The lesson from The Office and from Dilbert is that people are often dysfunctional, and no amount of training can fix it." A labor-affiliated group praised the episode "Boys and Girls" for what it considered an unusually frank depiction of union busting
Union busting
Union busting is a wide range of activities undertaken by employers, their proxies, and governments, which attempt to prevent the formation or expansion of trade unions...
on American television. The third season of The Office got a 85/100 score on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, while the sixth season of got a 78/100 score.
Recent seasons have been criticized for a dip in quality. The sixth season received criticisms for a lack of stakes for the characters. Several critics and fans have also criticized the Jim and Pam romance. The Office co-creator Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
wrote in his blog, referring to "Search Committee
Search Committee
"Search Committee" is the hour-long finale of the seventh season of the American television comedy series The Office. It is the 151st and 152nd episodes of the series overall and the 25th and 26th episodes of the seventh season. It was written by show runner and executive producer Paul Lieberstein...
" particularly Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
's guest appearance, "If you're going to jump a shark, jump a big one." and compared the episode to the Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
episode of Gervais's other series, Extras. He later said "I fucking didn't [diss The Office], that's for sure". Many critics have said the series should have ended after the departure of Steve Carell. Despite this, some recent episodes have received critical acclaim including: "Stress Relief
Stress Relief
"Stress Relief" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the fourteenth and fifteenth episode of the fifth season, and the 86th and 87th overall episodes of the series...
", "Niagara
Niagara (The Office)
"Niagara" is an hour-long episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office. It is the 4th and 5th episodes in the season's episode count and the 104th and 105th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by executive producer Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling, and was...
", "Garage Sale
Garage Sale (The Office)
"Garage Sale" is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 145th episode overall. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and was directed by series star Steve Carell...
" and "Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
".
Ratings
Premiering on Thursday, March 24, 2005, after an episode of The ApprenticeThe Apprentice (U.S. TV series)
The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...
on NBC, The Office brought in 11.2 million viewers in the U.S., winning its time slot. When NBC moved the series to its intended Tuesday night slot, it lost nearly half its audience with only 5.9 million viewers. The program averaged 5.4 million viewers, ranking it #102 for the 2004–2005 U.S. television season. "Hot Girl", the first season's finale
Season finale
A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...
, rated a 2.2 with a 10 audience measurement share
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
, the lowest rating in the show's history. Episodes were also rerun on CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
.
As the second season started, the success of Carell's hit summer movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
and online sales of episodes at iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
helped the show. The increase in viewership led NBC to move the series to the "Must See TV
Must See TV
"Must See TV" is an advertising slogan used by the NBC television network to brand its prime time blocks of sitcoms during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured such popular sitcoms as The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, A Different...
" Thursday night in January 2006, where ratings continued to grow. By the 2005–2006 season, it placed #67 (tied with 20/20). It averaged 8.0 million viewers with a 10/10 rating, and was up 80% in viewers from the year before and up 60% in viewers ages 18–49. The third-season premiere received a 9.9 and made a large increase in total viewers and viewers 18–49 over My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...
. By the end of the 2006–2007 season, it placed #68 (tied with The Biggest Loser 3
The Biggest Loser (Season 3)
The Biggest Loser is the third season of the NBC reality television series entitled The Biggest Loser. The third season premiered on September 20, 2006 with fifty overweight contestants , each competing to lose the most weight...
). It averaged 8.3 million viewers with a 11/11 rating, a large improvement from the previous season.
The season five premiere received was on par with the previous season's premiere, placing third for viewership during its timeslot and second in 18-49 demo. Season 5 ranked #14 for Adults 18-49, averaging 5.3 million viewers in that age group. Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
released figures for delayed viewing, and The Office increased 48 percent from its fourth season debut, adding 2.5 million viewers in playback. Recent seasons have dropped in the ratings with the eight season episode, "Spooked
Spooked (The Office)
"Spooked" is the fifth episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 157th episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 27, 2011. It was written by Carrie Kemper and directed by Randall Einhorn...
" ranking as the lowest rated episode of the series to air on Thursday. Despite this, the show is still one of NBC's highest rated shows and currently costs $178,840 per-30 second commercial, the most for any NBC scripted series.
Seasonal ratings
| Season | Timeslot (ET Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time... ) |
Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday 9:30 pm ("Pilot") Tuesday 9:30 pm |
March 24, 2005 | April 26, 2005 | 2005 | #102 | 5.4 |
| 2 | Tuesday 9:30 pm (September 20 – December 6, 2005) Thursday 9:30 pm (January 5 – May 11, 2006) |
September 20, 2005 | May 11, 2006 | 2005–2006 | #67 | 8.0 |
| 3 | Thursday 8:30 pm | September 21, 2006 | May 17, 2007 | 2006–2007 | #68 | 8.3 |
| 4 | Thursday 9:00 pm | September 27, 2007 | May 15, 2008 | 2007–2008 2007–08 United States network television schedule The following article details the developing fall prime time schedules for the United States' six major English language broadcast networks. Following are lists of what programs have been either renewed or canceled by their networks, the new programs picked up by the networks, and then a schedule... |
#77 | 8.0 |
| 5 | September 25, 2008 | May 14, 2009 | 2008–2009 2008–09 United States network television schedule The following is the 2008–2009 network television schedule for the six major English language broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2008 through May 2009. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and... |
#53 | 9.2 | |
| 6 | September 17, 2009 | May 20, 2010 | 2009–2010 | #52 | 7.8 | |
| 7 | September 23, 2010 | May 19, 2011 | 2010–2011 | #53 | 7.7 | |
| 8 The Office (U.S. season 8) The eighth season of the American television comedy The Office premiered on September 22, 2011 on NBC. The Office is an American adaptation of the British TV series of the same name, and is presented in a mockumentary format, portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton,... |
September 22, 2011 | 2011–2012 2011–12 United States network television schedule The 2011–2012 network television schedule for the five major English commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 2011 through May 2012... |
Cultural effects
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
and rail
Rail transport in the United States
Presently, most rail transport in the United States is based on freight train shipments. The U.S. rail industry has experienced repeated convulsions due to changing U.S. economic needs and the rise of automobile, bus, and air transport....
center, has eagerly embraced, and ultimately has been redefined by the show. "We're really hip now," says the mayor's assistant. The Dunder Mifflin logo is on a lamppost banner in front of Scranton City Hall
Scranton City Hall
Scranton City Hall is located at Washington and Mulberry streets in the downtown section of that city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is a three-story limestone ashlar Victorian Gothic Revival building with sandstone trim, designed by architects Edwin L...
, as well as the pedestrian bridge to the Mall at Steamtown
Mall at Steamtown
The Mall at Steamtown is a shopping center and the commercial centerpiece of Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States. It features nearly one hundred retail and specialty stores. The Mall at Steamtown was conceived in the mid 1980s as the keystone of downtown revitalization, though the project was...
. The Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company, whose tower is shown in the opening credits, plans to add it to the tower as well. Newspapers in other Northeastern
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
cities have published travel guides to Scranton locations for tourists interested in visiting places mentioned in the show.
Scranton has become identified with the show outside the United States as well. In a 2008 St. Patrick's Day speech in its suburb of Dickson City
Dickson City, Pennsylvania
Dickson City is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, north of Scranton. Coal mining had been an important industry in the past. Some of the population totals follow: in 1900, 4,948; in 1910, 9,331; in 1920, 11,049; and in 1940, 11,548...
, former Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
(Irish prime minister) Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
identified the city as the home of Dunder Mifflin.
The inaugural The Office convention was held downtown in October 2007. Notable landmarks, some of which have been settings for the show, that served as venues include the University of Scranton
University of Scranton
The University of Scranton is a private, co-educational Catholic and Jesuit university, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the northeast region of the state. The school was founded in 1888 by Most Rev. William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. It was elevated to a...
, the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel
The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a neo-classical building in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was built as a train station and office building in 1908; closed in 1970; listed on the U.S...
and the Mall at Steamtown
Mall at Steamtown
The Mall at Steamtown is a shopping center and the commercial centerpiece of Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States. It features nearly one hundred retail and specialty stores. The Mall at Steamtown was conceived in the mid 1980s as the keystone of downtown revitalization, though the project was...
. Cast appearances were made by B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Oscar Nunez, Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, Leslie David Baker, Mindy Kaling, Craig Robinson, Melora Hardin, Phyllis Smith, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Bobby Ray Shafer, and Andy Buckley. Writer appearances, besides Novak and Kaling, were made by Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Jennifer Celotta, Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Justin Spitzer, Anthony Ferrell, Ryan Koh, Lester Lewis, and Jason Kessler. Not present were writer-actor Paul Lieberstein (who was originally going to make an appearance), Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, and Jenna Fischer.
On an episode of The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidate John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, reportedly a devoted fan of the show, jokingly told Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
he might take Dwight Schrute as his running mate. Rainn Wilson later accepted on Dwight's behalf while on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
. After the airing of "Garage Sale
Garage Sale (The Office)
"Garage Sale" is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 145th episode overall. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and was directed by series star Steve Carell...
", Colorado governor John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper is an American politician and current Governor of Colorado. A Democrat, he was previously the Mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.-Early life, education and career:...
issued a press release appointing Michael Scott to the position of Director of Paper Distribution in the Department of Natural Resources.
In multiple episodes, characters can be seen wearing undershirts and sweatshirts from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers were a minor league arena football team that played in the AF2. The team was part of the East Division in the American conference. The Pioneers were an expansion team for the league's 2002 season, and were the runner-ups in ArenaCup VIII and ArenaCup X.-2001:The...
, an Arena Football
Arena football
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....
team in the Arena Football League
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League is the highest level of professional indoor American football in the United States. It is currently the second longest running professional football league in the United States, after the National Football League. It was founded in 1987 by Jim Foster...
.
International broadcast
In the United Kingdom, the show was named in listings magazines (but not onscreen) as The Office: An American Workplace when it was originally aired on ITV2ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
. This is done to differentiate this version of the show from the original British series. The show is now being broadcast on ITV4
ITV4
ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...
and Comedy Central
Comedy Central (UK)
Comedy Central in the United Kingdom and Ireland is a localised version of Comedy Central which first began in the United States in the 1990s. The television channel is available through the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV in the United Kingdom, Sky Ireland, UPC Ireland and Magnet Networks in the...
.
In Canada, early seasons were simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
or broadcast earlier than their American debut on Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, until simulcast rights were purchased by CH beginning with the third season. The rights were transferred in early 2007 to then-parent network Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
, where it continues to air. In Brazil, FX
FX Latin America
FX Latin America is a cable television channel and is the Latin American version of the popular American television network FX. The channel does not share the same logo as its American counterpart. FX Latin America is intended as a counterpart to Fox Life, the first being produced for the male...
began airing the show on April 9, 2006 at 8:30 pm. In Germany, Super RTL
Super RTL
Super RTL is a Cologne-based German television network operated by RTL Disney Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG. It was the second German television channel aimed mostly at children...
began airing the show on January 5, 2008 at 11:10 pm. In Austria, ORF1
ORF1
ORF eins is an Austrian television channel. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955.ORF eins is one of four public TV channels in Austria. ORF eins broadcasts TV series and featured films, whereas ORF2 focuses on cultural programming and information. ORF Sport Plus is the...
began airing the show on March 6, 2008 at 11:10 pm. In Spain, TNT, Paramount Comedy (Spain)
Paramount Comedy
Paramount Comedy is a 24-hour Spanish cable television and satellite television comedy channel available in Spain. It is owned by MTV Networks Europe and Viacom. In other parts of the world, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, the channel is known as Comedy Central...
and laSexta are airing the show. In Ireland, 3e
3E
3E or 3-E may refer to:*3e, general entertainment channel operated in Ireland*3rd meridian east*Third edition in the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons*NY 3E, alternate name for New York State Route 104*OK-3E, abbreviation for Oklahoma State Highway 3...
broadcast the show with the title The US Office. In the Netherlands, the show began airing on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
under the title The Office US in April 2007. In India, the show is broadcast on STAR World
STAR World
STAR World is an Asian English language cable and satellite television network owned by Star TV and Fox International Channels, fully owned subsidiaries of News Corporation. The channel is the successor of STAR Plus, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
. In Australia, it airs on Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
, Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
and in 2011 it will also air on Eleven
Eleven (TV channel)
Eleven is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel, which was launched by ElevenCo, on 11 January 2011.-Joint venture:...
. In France, the show is broadcast late nights on Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
. In Russia, Channel One
Channel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
began airing the show on July 14, 2008 at 12:20 am. In Hungary, the series is broadcast by Viasat 3
Viasat 3
Viasat 3 is a Hungarian TV channel. It was originally named Alfa TV, but when in 2000 the station was bought by Swedish MTG its name was changed. It began broadcasting as Viasat 3 in October 2000....
. In Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, it began airing on TV6
TV6
TV6 may refer to:*TV-6 , defunct Russian television channel, closed by Russian authorities in 2002*TV6 , defunct French television channel broadcasting in 1986 and 1987, predecessor to M6...
since spring 2008. In Denmark, the show ran on DR2
DR2
DR2 is a Danish television station. It is part of Danmarks Radio, the public service broadcasting company of Denmark.It was launched in 1996 as a satellite-/cable-only channel. This was highly controversial at the time, as it was considered close to a breach of public service principles that the...
for some months in 2008 before being discontinued. The show's first season ran on the Norwegian channel TV2
TV 2 (Norway)
TV 2 is the largest commercial television station in Norway. Over 30% of the time Norwegians spend watching TV is spent watching TV 2. The station has 65% of the market for TV commercials in Norway....
in 2007/2008. In the Philippines, it airs on Jack TV
Jack TV
Jack TV is a Philippine cable TV network owned by Solar Entertainment Corporation, test launched on May 2005, officially debuting on July 12, 2005. It offers Western comedy, animation, sports entertainment, drama series and reality shows, such as Cartoon Network, USA Network, The CW, MyNetworkTV,...
. In Greece, the show is broadcast on Universal Channel
Universal Channel
Universal Channel is a television channel specializing in movies and television series in the thriller, drama, comedy, horror, crime and investigation genres, owned by Universal Networks International, a division of NBCUniversal and available on satellite and cable platforms...
. In Turkey, the show is has been broadcasting on TNT since 2008. In South Korea, it began broadcasting on Fox Life
Fox Life
Fox Life is a television network, launched by the Fox Broadcasting Company, which airs across Latin America, Europe and Japan . Its basic programming include numerous television series, sitcoms and movies, among others, which includes some original programming in certain regions...
since May 29, 2010. In Belgium, 2BE aired the first season in 2010. In Croatia, the series airs on HRT
Croatian Radiotelevision
Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
Channel 2. In Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, the series started to air in May 2011 on Telma
Telma (TV channel)
Telma TV is a private national and satellite television channel in Macedonia, formed in September, 1996....
.
Online releases
Episodes from The Office were among the first shows available for download from the iTunes StoreITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
beginning in December 2005. In 2006, ten internet-exclusive webisodes featuring some of the characters on The Office aired on NBC.com. "Producer's Cuts" (containing approximately ten additional minutes of material) of the episodes "Branch Closing
Branch Closing
"Branch Closing" is the seventh episode of the third season of The Office . It was first aired on November 9, 2006 on NBC. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Tucker Gates. It is the first episode to have a "Producer's Cut" on NBC.com, with deleted scenes edited into the full episode...
" and "The Return
The Return (The Office)
"The Return" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the US version of The Office. It aired on January 18, 2007 on NBC and marked the return to work of Oscar Martinez, who had been on vacation since the first episode of the season....
" were also made available on NBC.com. The Office also became available for download from Amazon.com's Unbox
Amazon Unbox
Amazon Instant Video is an Internet video on demand service, only available in the United States, offered by Amazon.com which offers television shows and films for rental and purchase. The service became available on September 7, 2006 as Amazon Unbox...
video downloads in 2006. Sales of new The Office episodes on iTunes ceased in 2007 due to a dispute between NBC and Apple ostensibly over pricing. As of September 9, 2008 The Office was put back on the iTunes store, and can be bought in HD and Regular format. Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
also offers the show for online viewing by subscribers, in addition to traditional DVD rental. The Office is also available on Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
s Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
Marketplace.
Of the 12.4 million total viewings of "Fun Run
Fun Run
"Fun Run" is the fourth season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifty-fourth episode overall...
", the fourth season's premiere, 2.7 million, or 22%, were on a computer via online streaming. "The Office," said The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "is on the leading edge of a sharp shift in entertainment viewing that was thought to be years away: watching television episodes on a computer screen is now a common activity for millions of consumers." It was particularly popular with online viewers, an NBC researcher said, because as an episode-driven sitcom without special effects it was easy to watch on smaller monitors such as those found on laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
s and iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
s. Between the online viewings and those who use digital video recorder
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
s, 25-50% of the show's viewers watch it after its scheduled airtime
Time shifting
Time shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to at a time more convenient to the consumer. Typically, this refers to TV programming but can also refer to radio shows via podcasts....
.
The show's Internet success became an issue in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. Daniels and many of the cast members who double as writers posted a video to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
shortly after the strike began, pointing out how little, if any, they received in residuals
Residual (entertainment industry)
A residual is a payment made to the creator of performance art for subsequent showings or screenings of the work. A typical use is in the payment of residuals for television reruns. The word is often used in the plural form.-Radio and television:The residual system started in U.S. network radio...
from online and DVD viewing. "You're watching this on the Internet, a thing that pays us zero dollars," Schur said. "We're supposed to get 11 cents for every two trillion downloads." The writers were particularly upset that they weren't compensated for the Daytime Emmy Award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
winning summer webisodes "The Accountants", which NBC considered promotional material despite the embedded commercials.
Promotional
The show's success has resulted in expansion outside of television. Characters have appeared in promotional materials for NBC, and a licensed video game—The OfficeThe Office (video game)
The Office is a video game based on the sitcom of the same name, developed by MumboJumbo featuring the characters from the show as bobblehead dolls. Players will be challenged to complete jobs and pull pranks around the office...
—was released in 2007. In 2008 two games were introduced via Pressman Toy Corp: The Office Trivia Board Game and The Office DVD Board Game. In 2009, The Office Clue was released, and The Office Monopoly was released in 2010. Other merchandise, from T-shirts and a bobblehead doll of Dwight Schrute to more office-specific items such as parodies of the Successories
Successories
Successories is a producer and retailer of motivational office decorations, mostly featuring photographs paired with sentiments about motivation, teamwork, and perseverance. The word "Successories" is itself a registered trademark.-History:...
motivational poster series featuring the cast, is available. Dunder Mifflin has two websites, and the cast members maintain blogs both as themselves and in character.
Cast blogs
Several members of the cast maintained blogs. These include Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, and Brian Baumgartner, who posted regularly during the season. Rainn WilsonRainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
wrote in character on "Schrute Space" on NBC.com, which is updated periodically. However, he stopped writing the blog himself. It is unknown whether Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton is an American actor and musician, a former member of The Grass Roots...
authors "Creed Thoughts", the blog attributed to his character
Creed Bratton (character)
Creed Rowland Bratton a.k.a. "William Charles Schneider" is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. Confusion may arise from the fact that the character is played by and partially based on the musician of the same name, Creed Bratton...
. Some cast members also have Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
accounts, including Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, Brian Baumgartner and Mindy Kaling. Some of the characters have Twitter accounts as well, including Kelly Kapoor, Erin Hannon, Ryan Howard, and Creed Bratton.
Home video releases
| Season | Region 1 Release Date | Region 2 Release Date | Region 4 Release Date | Episodes | Discs | Bonus Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 16, 2005 | April 10, 2006 | June 6, 2006 | 6 | 1 | Deleted scenes from all episodes, five commentary tracks by cast and crew on select episodes. |
| 2 | September 12, 2006 | January 28, 2008 | April 4, 2007 | 22 | 4 | Deleted scenes from every episode, ten commentary tracks by cast and crew on select episodes, The Accountants webisodes, Faces of Scranton video, blooper reel, 17 fake public service announcement Public service announcement A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media... s, Olympics Olympic Games The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate... promos and "Steve on Steve" promos. |
| 3 | September 4, 2007 | July 21, 2008 | August 20, 2008 (Part 1) April 22, 2009 (Part 2) |
25 | 4 | Deleted scenes, eight commentary tracks by cast and crew on select episodes, "Kevin Cooks Stuff in The Office", 2006 NBC Primetime Preview, Toby wraparound promos, Dwight Schrute music video, Joss Whedon Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures... interview, blooper reel, Lazy Scranton The Merger (The Office) "The Merger" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 16, 2006, as a special 40-minute episode on NBC.In this episode, the Scranton and Stamford branches are merged... video, and a 58th Annual Emmy Awards excerpt. A special edition for Target Target Corporation Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's... called the "Nifty Gifty" set also contains footage from the Museum of TV festival and script facsimile. |
| 4 | September 2, 2008 | June 14, 2010 | September 2, 2009 (Part 1) December 1, 2009 (Part 2) |
19 | 4 | Deleted scenes, outtakes, Second Life Second Life Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars... footage, The Office Convention invitation, The Office Convention: Writer’s Block Panel, "Goodbye, Toby Goodbye, Toby "Goodbye, Toby" is the fourth season hour-long finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's seventy-first episode overall... " music video, four commentary tracks by cast and crew on select episodes. |
| 5 | September 8, 2009 | February 7, 2011 | October 6, 2010 (Part 1) March 2, 2011 (Part 2) |
28 | 5 | Deleted scenes, outtakes, ten commentaries by the cast and crew, "The Academy of Art and Sciences presents, 'The Office,' Summer Olympic promos, Super Bowl promos, Kevin's Loan webisodes, and The Outburst webisodes. |
| 6 | September 7, 2010 | TBA | TBA | 26 | 5 | Deleted scenes, outtakes, gag reel, cast and crew commentaries, two extended episodes, minisode The Podcast, "Welcome to Sabre" corporate welcome video, promos. |
| Overtime | November 16, 2010 | TBA | TBA | N/A | 1 | The Accountants, Kevin's Loan, The Outburst, Blackmail, Subtle Sexuality and The Mentor webisodes, The Podcast minisode, The Office Convention: Cast Q&A, Paley: Inside The Writer's Room, Subtle Sexuality commentary with Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak, and Ellie Kemper, Blackmail video commentary with Creed Bratton, Subtle Sexuality music video, Dwight Schrute music video, Lazy Scranton video, Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin ad and fake PSAs. |
Awards
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Winner | Golden Globe Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy | Steve Carell Steve Carell Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office... |
| Winner | Television Critics Association Television Critics Association The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming... Awards |
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy | ||
| Winner | Individual Achievement in Comedy | Steve Carell Steve Carell Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office... |
||
| Winner | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Comedy Series | ||
| Winner | Women's Image Network Awards | Outstanding Comedy Series | ||
| Winner | Outstanding Female Actress | Jenna Fischer Jenna Fischer Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,... |
||
| Nominee | Rose d'Or Awards | Best Sitcom | ||
| 2007 | Winner | Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"... |
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | |
| Winner | American Cinema Editors – Eddie Award | Best Edited Half Hour Series for Television | Dean Holland Dean Holland Dean Holland is an Emmy Award-winning, American film editor, television director and producer best known for working on Entourage and the NBC comedy shows The Office and Parks and Recreation... and David Rogers David Rogers (editor) David Rogers is an Emmy Award-winning, American film editor, television director and producer best known for working on NewsRadio, Entourage and The Office... for "Casino Night" |
|
| Winner | Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Comedy Series | ||
| Winner | Comedy Writing | Steve Carell for "Casino Night" | ||
| Winner | Guild Awards | Episodic Television Comedy | Greg Daniels Greg Daniels Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:... & Kent Zbornak |
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| Winner | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Director in Comedy Series | Ken Whittingham Ken Whittingham Ken Whittingham is an American television director.His most notable directorial work includes a number of episodes from each of the television series 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Suburgatory, The Middle, Parenthood, The Bernie Mac Show, Scrubs, Everybody Hates Chris, The Office, My Name Is Earl,... for "Michael's Birthday Michael's Birthday "Michael's Birthday" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's twenty-fifth episode overall. Written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, and directed by Ken Whittingham, the episode first aired in the United States on March... " |
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| Honored | Peabody Awards | |||
| Winner | Webby Awards Webby Awards A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile.... |
Webby Award, Comedy: Individual Short or Episode | The Accountants | |
| Winner | People's Voice, Best Comedy: Individual Short or Episode | |||
| Winner | People's Voice, Best Television Website | |||
| Winner | Daytime Emmy Award Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming... s |
Outstanding Broadband Program – Comedy | producers Vivi Zigler Vivi Zigler Vivi Zigler is an American television executive, and a President of NBC Universal.-Education and early career:Zigler attended California Polytechnic State University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. From there, Zigler began working at the local NBC affiliate... , Jeff Ross, Jordon Schlansky, Mike Sweeney, and Robert Angelo and performers Paul Lieberstein Paul Lieberstein Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S... , Michael Schur Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels... , Brian Baumgartner Brian Baumgartner Brian Baumgartner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.-Personal life:... , Angela Kinsey Angela Kinsey Angela Kinsey is an American actress. She currently appears as the uptight accountant Angela Martin on the hit NBC television series The Office.-Personal life:... , and Oscar Nunez Oscar Nunez Oscar Nunez , sometimes credited as Oscar Núñez, is a Cuban American actor and comedian.He currently appears as Dunder Mifflin's paper supply accountant, Oscar Martinez, on NBC's The Office.-Career:... for The Accountants |
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| Winner | Emmy Awards | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series | Dean Holland and David Rogers for "The Job The Job (The Office) "The Job" is the third season finale of the U.S. version of The Office, and the show's 52nd and 53rd episode overall. It aired in the United States on April 19, 2007 on NBC. It is the season's second hour-long episode... " |
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| Winner | Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series | Greg Daniels Greg Daniels Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:... for "Gay Witch Hunt Gay Witch Hunt "Gay Witch Hunt" is the third season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's twenty-ninth episode overall. Written by executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis, the episode first aired in the United States on September 21, 2006... " |
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| 2008 | Winner | Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"... |
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |