‘The Office’ retires after nine seasons
LOS ANGELES — Not much was expected when a team of American writers and actors decided to adapt the quirky British comedy The Office for the USA. “I just wanted to do something with a faithful tone,” executive producer Greg Daniels says of Ricky Gervais’ and Stephen Merchant’s U.K. hit.
But nine seasons after its premiere in 2005, the domestic-branch Office closes shop Thursday (9 ET/PT) after more than 200 episodes, earning an Emmy and a Peabody while turning awkwardness into entertainment as long-time anchor of NBC’s Thursday comedy lineup.
A one-hour series retrospective will precede the 75-minute series finale, which will feature a wedding, final staff interviews and appearances by former stars Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak.
“When we did the pilot, I (told) the cast that if this was all we got, it would be sufficient, because it was such a marvelous experience. We didn’t have any feeling that it would need to be successful for us to get something out of it,” Daniels says.
The conceit of The Office, in which a documentary crew records routine events at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pa., and its off-balance style of humor brought something new to American television, says Ed Helms, who plays Andy Bernard.
“There really wasn’t anything like it,” he says. “The mockumentary hadn’t really breached television at that point, so it was this fun, new format, but it was also just about incredibly mundane things, which in a way made it very special and unique. It’s not a big, crazy premise. It’s small. It’s normal people.”
A cast with more than a dozen regulars was unusual. Casting director Allison Jones “managed to get a lot of people to sit at desks in essentially extra roles, with the hope they would turn into something,” Daniels says. “It’s hard to imagine assembling 17, 19 people like that for a single show.”
The Office hit its ratings peak in Season 5 (9.3 million viewers), then NBC’s top non-sports show and the No. 7 scripted show among young adults. This season, it averages 4.9 million viewers.
Rainn Wilson, who plays the slightly unhinged Dwight Schrute, saw possibilities, especially with the involvement of King of the Hill’s Daniels and star Steve Carell.
But not this kind of run. “I knew we could make something really fantastic. But I had no idea that it would be lasting 200 episodes. I really thought we would do six or 10 or 12 or 17, be something like Freaks and Geeks or Arrested Development, have a season or two and have it live on DVD.”
Carell, whose Michael Scott was the central character, left after Season 7 for a film career. Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), whose romantic story became the show’s emotional core, have gone from friends to lovers to spouses to parents.
“People related to this couple in a way that was very personal to them, which was really special,” says Krasinski, who also has developed a résumé in films, while still other cast members have also gone on to other projects.
And even that long-in-the-making documentary and the crew behind it finally started to appear.
Wilson says the show is leaving at the right time. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, you should have ended it when Steve left.’ But it wasn’t really time to end then. There was just a lot more story to tell.”
