107 The Office Facts YOU Should Know! | Cinematica

once upon a time there was a little British show that could that became a little American show that could that became the biggest sitcom phenomenon of the decade it kicked off another wave of attempts to adapt British sitcoms for American audiences and a first wave of mockumentary TV shows that is still thriving but there would never be another hit like the office hey guys I'm Brendon with cinematic a' and we're here to dive a hundred and seven facts deep into the first season of the series that made us all rethink our day jobs the office everybody knows that the dunder mifflin we've come to know and love isn't the original office but did you know that the idea for an American adaptation of the office came from producer Ben Silverman he had just seen an episode of the British version while on vacation in London and he liked the show so much that he wasted no time in securing the rights for an American adaptation though the show really wasn't considered for major networks early in its development it ended up there by happy accident when the executive who wanted to bring the office to FX move to NBC he took the project with him which is for the best it's hard to imagine how Michael scouts little workplace would fare among the company of the icy surgeons of nip/tuck or the hardened cops of the shield that didn't mean NBC wasn't wary however they had just attempted to adapt another British show coupling thinking that it might be a decent replacement for friends but it hadn't gone as well as they'd hoped in the words of NBC executive Jeff Zucker coupling just sucked so the cards were stacked against the office from the beginning but Ricky Gervais is had different opinions about bringing the show to America despite the hesitation from executive in the fans he said quote I think people are always gonna be wary of a remake it's a tradition but this remake is aimed at the 249 million Americans who didn't see the original TV show there's not gonna be many Texas farmhands going oh not another version I can't believe it end quote so Silverman knew he'd have to bring out the big guns to get people interested veteran comedy writer Greg Daniels was brought on to adapt the show for American audiences bringing some serious credibility from his days as a writer for both SNL and The Simpsons his SNL experience would later inspire him to hire several writer perform the first being BJ Novak hired as a writer and cast as Ryan after Daniels was impressed by his stand-up routine he was a rising standup who I thought had a bright future and I wanted to snap him up said Daniels this was kind of a big win for Novak who at the time had been working as an improviser for the MTV show Punk'd it was 2005 after all then of course there was the matter of where to shoot Daniels considered a few different locations for the show setting before settling on Scranton Pennsylvania these other possible locations included Utica New York and Nashua New Hampshire sort of by definition said Daniels the town we picked wouldn't have a lot of glitzy stuff going on the location they eventually scouted to be the Dunder Mifflin office was conveniently across the street from a local bar called the office maybe too conveniently if you think of the office nailed your work place there's a reason for that Daniels made sure that the show's writers spent time researching in real offices in between episodes taking it another step further the computer scene in the office also had internet so that means that when the actors look like they're aimlessly searching the internet at work they probably are part of what makes the office iconic as it's writing the rules that guided storytelling on the office would shift over time but in the beginning they were very strict chief amongst them no music that doesn't come from inside the world of the show the radio a ringtone karaoke and so forth a frequent problem that the writers ran into was the length of the script which often clocked in at 10 pages too long I guess sometimes you can't have too much of a good thing but good writing can only get you so far you need to find the right actors for the job in order to really sell it Daniels employed a pretty unorthodox approach to casting the show instead of having the actors read from script he asked some questions in order for them to improvise responses in character that skill would really come in handy later Steve Carell then mostly known for his work on The Daily Show and an anchorman nailed the audition right away when being asked to define his use of que sera sera Carell memorably improvises it's kind of a non sequitur is what I've been told but Carell was not the only actor up for the part of Michael the incredibly impressive list of considered actors included Paul Giamatti Martin Short Hank Azaria Bob Odenkirk Alan Tudyk and Paul F Tompkins curls involvement the show was almost jeopardized by his being cast um Levin in a terrible sounding NBC sitcom called come to Papa which followed the foibles of a reporter turned comedian thankfully it was swiftly taken off the air and Carell became the iconic Michael Scott Rainn Wilson auditioned for Michael before being cast as Dwight but bombed the audition due to a in his words terrible ricky gervais s impression some of the future heavyweights he beat out for the role included Seth Rogen Patton Oswalt Judah Friedlander and Matt Besser Rainn Wilson watched every episode of the British original to prepare for his role while Steve Carell didn't watch any of it worried that he might start impersonating Ricky Gervais Asst maybe he would have given that role to Wilson before his audition Phyllis Smith was a casting associate on the first episode who was cast in the show after impressing the director during auditions with other actors other near-misses casting wise include Angela Kinsey who auditioned for Pam before being cast as well Angela John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were almost unbearably cute from the start after auditioning with different options for Jim and Pam they both told each other that they were each other's favorite get her room dudes but if you want to imagine an alternate universe for Jim and Pam picture parks and recreations Adam Scott and transparents Kathryn Hahn who both got pretty close when Krasinski was finally cast as Jim Jenna Fischer says she burst into tears save them for the end of season 2 Jenna it's gonna be a wild ride meanwhile when Krasinski found out that he was gonna play Jim he went and filmed the shots of Scranton Pennsylvania that make up the opening credits of the show funnily enough other than John Krasinski's opening credits shots none of the first season ended up actually being filmed in Scranton what's more once the show was a big hit someone realized that the piece of paper highlighted in the opening credits was an LA Zoning document start patting out your resumes now college kids both John Krasinski and Mindy Kaling as well as Ellie Kemper who would eventually played Erin were interns for Late Night with Conan O'Brien ages before they were famous it's no coincidence that most of the offices supporting cast is made of improvisers Greg Daniel specifically hired people he knew would bring their own material to the roles other writers besides Novak pat out the cast's comedy pedigree Paul Lieberstein was cast as Toby while Mindy Kaling was cast as Kelly additionally writer Larry Wilmore of black insecure and the nightly show habit cameo as diversity trainer mr. Brown for the show's iconic second episode not every writer actor was comfortable on screen however Lieberstein who wrote season ones health care was so shy that he never included any lines for Toby in any episode he'd go on to write well there is a redheaded actress sitting at Meredith's desk and the pilot that is not Meredith it was not until diversity day that Kate Flannery was cast as Meredith Eric Stonestreet aka Cameron on Modern Family was almost cast as Kevin we all loved Kevin but that would've been a much longer road Dear Abby there Eric while Jim and Ryan may have had a contentious relationship on show off-camera BJ Novak and John Krasinski are childhood friends having attended Newton South High School in the suburbs of Boston together but they aren't the only classmates who appear on the show together Brian Baumgartner kevin attended the same high school as ed Helms who would later be cast as Andy early on the crew discovered a logistical problem how to show action that couldn't realistically be captured by a documentary crew that required constant meetings and intricate planning to keep consistent by the end of the series this rule became considerably looser however a change not all fans were happy with Daniel's decided to make the pilot of the office almost identical to the BBC's pilot feeling deviation from that starting point would be a very risky thing to do but that turned out alright as the pilot is the second most watched episode of the entire series garnering a whopping 11 million viewers the authenticity of the show's documentary field came out of one really smart hire Randall Einhorn one of the directors of Survivor yes that survivor was brought on as cinematographer the tribe has spoken it was a good choice Krasinski and fischer each snagged about 20,000 an episode at the beginning of the series suffice it to say that number got a lot higher diversity day was the first episode of the series where the writers were able to write for specific actors so it may be there that you noticed the cast's signature quirks really coming into folk it was also the first episode of a TV show that NBC debuted online streaming on myspace in advance of its premiere this decision helped attract new viewers to the office but sadly couldn't save myspace itself sorry Tom in the pilot Dwight can be heard singing little drummer boy which is later revealed to be Angela's favorite song jenna fischer says health care is her favorite episode of the first season this may be thanks to the experience of filming it which saw Ryan Wilson continuously improvising names for fake diseases to keep his cast mates in stitches diseases like hot dog fingers would probably make me lose my cool too even though the cast and crew were having a great time on set that didn't mean they were confident about the show's success actor oscar Nunez who policed the straight-laced accountant Oscar kept his jobs as a server and babysitter while filming it was probably a sensible move considering the show's chances but thankfully it proved unnecessary BJ Novak also had some doubts in an interview with the Chicago Tribune he talks about checking the IMDB message boards a hundred times a day and reading comments about the show failing and even though he was in the show and wrote some of it he still thought they might be right like Novak most of the writers of the office found their way on screen creating some memorable characters writer Michael Shure may have stayed behind the camera for the first season writing the Alliance but he'd later joined the cast kind of as Dwight's weird cousin mose in addition to creating like literally every show that's on TV right now as we know some of the best parts of the office were not scripted in the episode basketball Greg Daniels told the cast to just well play basketball and they kept the best parts so all of that trash-talking is authentic and the scene where Roy hits Jim in the face was sort of improvised as well the actors had actually rehearsed this but while filming actor David Denman's elbow accidentally met John Krasinski's face even though Krasinski was like um hey I'm bleeding can we cut they just kept filming real blood was spilt that day season 1 of the show only had six episode with the season finale hot girl being the first episode written by Mindy Kaling it was directed by Amy Heckerling who also directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High and yep you can do a double-take there because that was Amy Adams playing / saleswoman and hot girl Katy she wasn't a big name at the time but mere months after that episode aired June bug was released the indie film that would bag her her first Oscar nomination but the time BJ Novak tried to get Adams to return for a cameo in season sevens threat level midnight she was far too busy getting an Oscar nomination basically every other year to do it Mindy Kaling would go on to write many many more episodes of the office and become everybody's favorite drama queen Kelly Kapoor Kelly Kapoor first appeared in episode 2 of season 1 before writing for the office Kaelin had co-written and acted in an off-broadway play called Matt and Ben about none other than Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Kaling said that she was making 500 a week and felt like she owned the city her feelings changed a little bit more once she joined the writing team with the office Kealing recalls being excited to be around the impressive talent of her co-workers but also terrified and silent during the first season her co-workers remember that time differently however they've assured Kaling that she was not silent and expressed her opinions very loudly truly a boss attitude that Kelly Kapoor herself would be proud of it was in fact Kaling who decided that Michael Scott would have a man crush on Ryan who would also be the love interest of Kelly a real office love triangle but these next couple effects are not gonna make diehard fans happy the second episode was watched by only 6 million people in comparison to the pilot episode those numbers would be huge today but at the time it was seen as a disastrous stumble for the show this could be attributed to NBC moving the show from Thursday night to Tuesday night in between those episodes confusing potential viewers hot girls scored even lower a 2.2 rating with a 10 share for those of you who are on big Nielsen heads that basically means bad the critical reception to the first season was also lukewarm at best critics largely saw the show as another failed attempt to translate British humour for American audiences maybe said one critic after the office dies a quick death on NBC the network will decide that trying to Americanize British TV comedies isn't such a great idea almost unfathomably the element of the season that received the most criticism with Steve Carell performance considered to be too cartoonish did they see anchorman however once the writers were allowed to do more original work the criticism did ease up a bit but with the ratings tumblin the poor reviews for the pilot the damage was done the office was ranked a hundred and second amongst TV shows that year right above 7-7 and right Oh Jake in progress I will personally give a Dundee to anybody who can tell me what Jake in progress is about in retrospect obviously we remember the first season more fondly with Rolling Stone even ranking the video from diversity day as the third greatest moment of the entire series in fact BJ Novak's writing was the first element of the show to stand out as a qualified success being nominated for a Writers Guild Award for his work on diversity day shockingly what might have saved the show after all of this was Steve curls part in the 40 year old virgin the film that would make him an overnight movie star and arguably led to renewed interest that saved the office after mixed reactions to the first season I guess the spike in popularity could also have been thanks that Jenna Fisher's role in the 40 year old virgin in a deleted scene opposite Steve Carell but somehow I doubt it the writers used the second chance to retool the series and make it more their own one of the most interesting changes made was to brighten the lights in the office giving the series of warmer feel a lot of work was also put into fleshing out the supporting cast leading to one of the most iconic ensembles in TV history by the time the second season aired the office was a massive success with critics praising many of the elements they had previously found disappointing while still cheering the series for finding its true voice the cartoonist Steve Carell was nominated for an Emmy for his performance as Michael Scott and the show won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series a huge part of the second season success was the availability of the show online bet you're glad you debuted diversity day online now huh NBC the show left up in the ratings coming in just behind the West Wing another workplace show when you really think about it by the end of the year the ultimate success of the show has led to many international versions of the show satirizing that country's corporate culture in Canada the adaptation of the adaptation was simply called love job though they paid tribute to the original by naming their regional manager David Gervais s while there were never any official spin-offs of the office Parks & Recreation was originally planned as a spin-off with a copy machine from Dunder Mifflin as the only connecting character Mo's Schrute himself Michael Shore would eventually go on to create Parks and Rec bringing many of the offices creative team with him there are even more parallels between the two shows Parks and Rec would actually repeat the offices journey being discredited as a ripoff during its first season before people caught on by the second the office was also a true feather in the cap of the real-life town of Scranton which hosts a convention for fans of the show every year you have never seen people so excited to attend a stockholders meeting plus despite being a fictional company dunder mifflin is officially recognized by the Scranton Chamber of Commerce now all they have to do is recognize the Michael Scott Paper Company the fictional company's popularity has also been embraced by the paper industry Office Depot considers Dunder Mifflin to be one of its chief competitors the one executive noted that Michael Scott is actually the perfect person to run their Scranton office plus the US News and World Report considers the company an accurate depiction of how difficult it is for smaller companies to compete with large corporations like staples which is pretty ironic since Staples has licensed the Dunder Mifflin brand from NBC so they can use it to sell more paper The Office has also been parodied several times by SNL Greg Daniels is comedy alma mater often parodying the stapler in jello scene from the first season which only increases its reputation of the show signature gag surprisingly some HR firms even feel that the offices cringe-inducing antics should be used in employee training certainly diversity training would be the top of the list of episodes to show people what not to do hey speaking of bad bosses and real-world implications a copy of the art of the deal can be seen on a shelf in Michaels office though Michael Scott is the king of awkward flubs John Krasinski made a pretty big one himself while auditioning for gym while on a break for lunch Krasinski was asked by a man sitting next to him are you nervous Krasinski replied oh no you either get these things or you don't what I'm really nervous about is them screwing up a perfect show the Americans always have this ability to screw up these really amazing British shows and I'm afraid there's gonna be another one of them oh great said the guy eating lunch I'm Greg Daniels the executive producer out however this kind of worked in Krasinski's favor Krasinski said that once he went into the room for his audition everybody was basically laughing at him for being the quote jackass that made that comment and because the room was so loose and warm he managed to get through the audition just fine not sure if insulting your future boss is always the way to get the job but apparently it wasn't the end of the world for our beloved Jim Halpert the offices opening theme was played by a band named after the show's low-key the scram tones truly upon worthy of Michael Scott but that iconic theme song that is surely stuck in your head now sorry was almost very different Rainn Wilson wrote in his memoir the bassoon King that many different songs were considered these included songs like better things by the kinks and float on by Modest Mouse to be fair both of these songs do add to the idea of Scranton being a place where people hope for better things but flowed on okay everyone's favorite choice for theme song though was mr. blue sky by Electric Light Orchestra Wilson writes in his memoir that it's jubilant upbeat refrain would have fit perfectly over the drab video of the opening credits hey if you want to see that for yourself just play the opening credits while muted with mr. blue sky playing in the background it actually does kind of work mr. blue sky ended up being taken by another NBC show at the time called lax and honestly we're not mad because the office just wouldn't have been the same without that jingle another thing that would have changed the whole show it was originally gonna be retitled the American workplace so that American viewers wouldn't confuse it with the original British version an idea that the Brits then used subtitling the show the office and American workplace so that British viewers wouldn't confuse it with the original an idea that the American version then took back since the film the fictional documentary crew is making is eventually revealed to be called the office and American workplace in season 9 because the pilot of the office was essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the British version many of the jokes and cultural references had to be Americanized one of these cultural references include Michael asking Ryan if he liked the Jamie Kennedy experience and Punk'd as we mentioned before BJ Novak was a member of the second season of Punk'd so there's a little homage to MTV's classic prank show for you the office itself is known for its pranks the pilot has the most pranks in one Episode one being pulled by Michael the other three being pulled by Jim a recent rumor claims that NBC is developing a revival of the show which would feature a mix of old and new characters though unfortunately probably not our beloved Michael Scott Greg Daniels however would be helming the project and possibly bringing back more familiar faces with him while the project has not been confirmed yet NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt wouldn't deny its existence during NBC's recent upfront so there may be yet hope to return to Scranton an unthinkable future for a midseason replacement struggling to get renewed for a second season until that happens I guess we'll keep binge watching on Netflix thanks for joining me Brendon for a hundred and seven facts about the office season one would you like to see a repo to the office or would making a reboot of the office be another huge risk let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe too so you know whenever we upload keep an eye out for other videos about your favorite TV shows and movies here on cinematic a'

Channel: Cinematica

Views: 1,881,393

Rating: 4.8140388 out of 5

Keywords: cinematica, the office, the office season 1 facts, facts about the office, 107 facts about the office, the office season 1, the office facts, facts about the office season 1, kelly kapoor, the office facts you didn't know, scranton, nbc, michael scott, jim halpert, office, the american office, dwight, mindy kaling, ricky gervais, stanley, jim, dunder mifflin, rainn wilson, steve carell

Id: 3nxuoXuKkuc

Length: 19min 53sec (1193 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 28 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/riptide747]

Toby definitely just killed someone and made it look like a suicide

[u/thxxx1337]

The guy from the suggestion box

[u/FarkinRoboDer]

“He worked in accounting up until about a year ago. You know....... tom🔫?”

[u/NicoleL88]

Holy shit, never knew that.

[u/thxxx1337]

Depression? Isn't that just a fancy word for feeling, "bummed out?"

[u/justkeriann]

That’s a long as hell investigation.

[u/ViceroySynth]

I just watched that video and I don't think it was in there..?

[u/brock_lee]

I'd always wanted to see the final documentary.

[u/adambomb1002]

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