THE OFFICE Season 1 and Season 2

The Office is an award-winning American television comedy which deals with the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Although fictional and scripted, the show takes the form of a documentary, with the presence of the camera often acknowledged. Based on the British series of the same name, it was adapted for U.S. audiences by executive producer Greg Daniels, a veteran writer of Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill and The Simpsons. Original series creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have production credits on the show, and wrote an episode for the show's third season.[1] It is co-produced by Greg Daniels' Deedle-Dee Productions and Reveille Productions, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio. The show debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement on March 24, 2005 and is broadcast on that network in the United States and other television stations around the world. It will be available for syndication in late 2009.[2] In Fall 2007 TBS started broadcasting episodes once a week, and will begin broadcasting the series five days a week in Fall 2009. The Fox Television Stations group have also obtained syndication rights starting in late 2009.[3] Production After the original British series won two Golden Globes, a U.S. version of The Office was commissioned by NBC. Though it retains the title and premise of the original, the U.S. version of the show has a different cast and crew and takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Gervais jokingly said before the premiere that the U.S. show would probably have actors with better teeth.[4] The first season of the show had a run of just six episodes, and was filmed in an actual office space.[5] Producer Greg Daniels initially hired four writers for the series: Michael Schur, B.J. Novak, Paul Lieberstein and Mindy Kaling. In addition, he hired two consulting producers, Lester Lewis and Larry Wilmore. Ken Kwapis, who established a reputation with the comedy genre in The Larry Sanders Show and Malcolm in the Middle, directed the pilot and has produced/directed several episodes. The second season brought three new members to the writing staff: Jennifer Celotta and the team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg. Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks, directed some of the episodes. Filming moved to a sound stage that was built to replicate the first season's environment,[5] including plaques and certificates hanging on walls using the names of crew members.[6] [edit] Casting All original series characters were redesigned and re-cast for the U.S. version. When producer Ben Silverman of Reveille approached NBC with the concept, network programmer Kevin Reilly suggested Paul Giamatti take the lead role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Other interested actors included Martin Short, Hank Azaria and Bob Odenkirk.[7] 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, Carell was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa,[8] but the series was quickly cancelled, 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.[9] Rainn Wilson, who was cast as the power-hungry sycophant Dwight Schrute, had watched every episode of the series before he auditioned.[10] Wilson had originally auditioned for Michael (he has referred to his audition 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 recalled accidentally insulting Daniels while waiting to audition for the series, telling him, "I hope they [the show's developers] don't screw this up," as had been done to other British adaptations (Coupling, Men Behaving Badly). It was then that Daniels introduced himself as the developer of the series.[11] Fischer prepared for her audition by looking as boring as possible, creating the original Pam hairstyle at her first audition for the show.[12] 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. Writer / performer Novak stated, "[Daniels] hired people who he knew were improv people who could bring their own ideas to the role."[13] Some minor players came to be as a result of interesting casting choices. Angela Kinsey originally auditioned for the role of Pam Beesly. After her auditions, the producers thought she was "too feisty" for the character, but they later called her back for the part of Angela Martin, which she won.[14] Baumgartner originally auditioned for Stanley, but was eventually cast as Kevin.[15] Phyllis Smith, who plays Phyllis on the show, was working as a casting associate on the show when the pilot's director, Ken Kwapis, had her read the scripts with the actors. He took such a liking to how she read that he had her join the cast.[16] Three of the show's writers were also cast as regular performers: B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, and Paul Lieberstein. Daniels saw Novak doing stand-up comedy and he was cast as reluctant temp Ryan Howard and Lieberstein was cast as HR Director Toby Flenderson by Novak's suggestion after his cold readings of scripts.[13] Greg Daniels originally was not sure where to use Kaling, who is an Indian-American, on screen in the series until the point 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 the chatty Kelly Kapoor), Kaling stated in a February 2006 interview.[16] Steve Carell has also written two episodes, Casino Night and Survivor Man. Ed Helms, Chip Esten, and Rashida Jones were added as cast members for season three.[17] In February 2007, NBC announced that Helms was being promoted to a series regular.[18] A few of the actors who are both part of the main cast or made guest appearances have connections to The Daily Show as Carell and Helms were former correspondents on the show, along with recurring actors Larry Wilmore (who is the Senior Black Correspondent on the show) and Nancy Walls (a former correspondent, married to Carell in real life) have appeared. In addition, Rob Riggle also appeared in "Booze Cruise" as a ship captain who antagonizes Michael. Riggle is one of the correspondents on The Daily Show. A large number of cast members coincidentally hailed from Massachusetts, including Carell, Novak, Krasinski, Kaling, Denman, and recurring actress Nancy Walls. Other members of the writing and production staff have made cameo appearances: Michael Schur plays Dwight's cousin Mose, Larry Wilmore played Mr. Brown in "Diversity Day" and in "Gay Witch Hunt." Greg Daniels made an appearance as Michael's new neighbor in "Office Olympics," and writing team Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky play Bob Vance's delivery men in "Valentines Day" and are in a deleted scene from the "Drug Testing" episode. There were plans for Mackenzie Crook, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis from the British version of The Office to appear in the third season,[19][20] but those plans were scrapped due to scheduling conflicts.