The Office: The Untold Story
The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History
By: Andy Greene
[Fulfilling “A book about a famous person” as part of the 2021 Spring/Summer Reading Challenge]
Calling all Office fans!
Here is a happy little book about one of the best shows to have been created!
Andy Greene has compiled snippets from lots of interviews with cast members, writing and production, and executives of The Office into a book that discusses the origin of the show and its transformation and growth from Season 1 to the finale of Season 9.
‘Compilation’ speaks to the choppiness of book’s formatting. There is no flowing narrative other than blurbs from a variety of people talking about the same general topic. It is not in QA format either. In some ways I liked this because Andy Greene isn’t the one with all the insider info, it’s the people involved with the show, so we are essentially cutting out the middle man and just hearing directly from the insiders. What I didn’t like about this formatting is that it got to be a bit repetitive or superfluous. He might include 4 different people basically saying the same thing, you just now know that all these different people thought or felt the same thing.
I had no expectations going into this book except that I wanted to learn a bunch of random or behind-the-scenes info about the show and the characters. In that regard, I feel like it delivered.
We get to learn a lot of the ‘whys’ behind the show. Why they cast who they did. Why they shot and edited scenes the way they did. Why they chose the storylines they chose. Why Michael Scott left the show. Why they hired James Spader. Why they stopped at nine seasons.
Knowing the whys really elevated my opinion of the show and helped me see just how brilliant it really was. I suppose as the audience I might not have cared whether they included one thing and not another or went a different direction than they did, but hearing them explain it makes a lot of sense and speaks to the cohesiveness of the show (at least the first 5-7 seasons).
When you’re watching the show you don’t realize what goes into each episode and how tightly they tried to hold the line of making it like a documentary. They couldn’t just do whatever. It had to make sense within the documentary context- why are these people here, why or how was this caught on camera, etc. It’s a little mind-blowing.
So here are a few of the funny or interesting things I learned while reading this book:
Creed was never originally cast on the show but had a connection with a friend to get him on as a background character with no lines or purpose until he was able to show production that he had a character worth showing.
They were going to have Peter Dinklage read for a midget character they were going to cast but never ended up including.
They got a lot of Scranton, PA paraphernalia (signs, certificates, pizza boxes, etc) from the real Scranton Chamber of Commerce.
They modeled a lot of the office or characters from another paper company they toured. Dwight’s mustard colored shirt and tie came from here.
Many of the lines or things that happen in the show are based on the writers’ personal lives. For example, Michael Scott falling in a koi pond on the way to an important meeting was based on a writer’s experience. Or when Jim and Pam walk in on someone going to the bathroom while interviewing preschools for Cece and that person happened to be the interviewer—that happened to a writer when they were applying to a school. Or the playing of Call of Duty.
The guy who played Mose was Michael Schur, one of the main writers.
The fire safety episode where Angela throws Bandit into the ceiling was actually a ‘cat thrower’ disguised as Angela and they threw a real cat up into the ceiling and dropped an identical one down in a different place. And they were only allowed to shoot this scene a couple times because of the rules around the cat.
James Spader was broke and needed money and so when he expressed interest in the show and they reciprocated he said he wanted to do a whole season. They agreed. I was not a fan of Robert California, so this fact actually just annoyed me.
The feel of the show shifted after Season 5 because Greg Daniels and Michael Schur (mostly) left to produce Parks and Rec (a show that, in my opinion, is completely underrated)
The rest stop where Jim and Pam meet where Jim proposes to her was actually a built set and the store is only 8 feet deep, everything inside is photographs of food etc, and they had rain cranes hooked up to water tanks. And there was much debate about whether or not we should be able to hear what they were saying to each other.
The Niagra Falls episode where Jim and Pam get married almost included a grand entrance of Roy on a horse and later Dwight riding and abandoning said horse in the river where said horse falls down the waterfall in the background of Jim and Pam on the boat. But no one agreed with Greg Daniels that this would be funny.
So if those are the kinds of things you care to know about, this book is for you.
There is a chapter dedicated to each season. Then they include chapters regarding specific/influential episodes such as Dinner Party, Beach Games, Threat Level Midnight, etc. They also include a few chapters on specific people like Steve Carell and Greg Daniels.
One thing I thought was missing was more blurbs from Steve Carell. There were really only a few. Then a tad more from John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and Rainn Wilson. But most of the blurbs that came from the cast came from the people who played Jan, Meredith, Oscar, and Creed. I don’t know if Greene just didn’t interview the others as long or what but I thought that was disappointing to not have as much from the main characters.
In some ways, this book is a biography of Steve Carell. Everyone sings his praises as a person and as an actor. I was happy to know that he is really good human being that everyone liked to work with. It’s always disappointing when a favorite character in a show turns out to be a jerk or egomaniac in real life. I’m glad to know Carell is one of the good ones!
If you enjoy the office, I think you’ll enjoy this book. But if you are looking to hear more from the specific cast members or a lot of details, you might not find what you are looking for here. It’s fairly general and writing/producing heavy.
You may want to check out Mindy Kaling’s books or Jenna Fischer’s book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide to get other tidbits about the show from their own point of view. I enjoyed all three of them.
“May your hats fly as high as your dreams!” - Michael Scott
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