Quick Links
From 2005 to 2013, NBC invited viewers to an American workplace that has since gone down in pop culture history. Of course, the joy of The Office was about a lot more than the building in which they did their business. Each character could always be relied on to offer a great deal of reliability and pathos, qualities that make the show a massive hit nearly five years after it went off the air. Thanks to reruns and online streaming, it will likely remain that way for a very long time to come. In some respects, it could even be said the popularity of The Office is expanding to this day.
All the successes and laughter Michael Scott and his employees have provided make for some pretty great memories, but believe it or not, there are certain things about The Office that the show’s cast and crew might prefer we forget about. No, we aren’t talking about how the quality started to dip after Michael left, or the fact Pam totally turned into a jerk in the last few episodes. On top of these issues with the writing, there was always a lot going on at The Office behind the scenes that the general public didn’t know about.
Truth be told, none of these stories are particularly shocking or scandalous, more leaning toward interesting little tidbits most audiences wouldn’t notice. That said, fans of The Office tend to be of the obsessive and dedicated variety, so if you watched all 201 episodes, you should probably learn this information. Keep reading to discover 20 secrets the cast of The Office wished no one knew about.
What Happened To Jim’s Classic Haircut?
Throughout the entire run of The Office, Jim Halpert was a portrait of a man who didn’t care about his job in the slightest. During the pilot episode, he tries explaining his place in Dunder Mifflin only to trail off and say it’s too boring to explain, and this attitude is reflected in just about everything Jim does. That even includes minor physical details like his haircut, which was typically shaggy and disheveled, representing how little he cared. That changed near the end of season three when he started rising up the corporate ranks, and his hair began looking just a little more professional.
In addition to symbolism, there was a secondary issue forcing the change — the actor who played Jim, John Krasinski, had recently starred in a movie called Leatherheads, about football in the 1920s.
The role required he shave his head for certain scenes, meaning that when he came back to work at Dunder Mifflin, he had to wear a wig.
Mindy Kaling Regularly Invented Gossip
To some fans, it may be surprising to learn that B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, better known as Ryan and Kelly, actually dated in real life. More than that, it seems like their relationship wasn’t that different from that of their constantly fighting characters, with a caveat that the real arguments tended to end with laughter rather than awkward making out (so far as we’re aware). The ending may have been different, but the beginning of these spats was usually the same as on the show: similar to her character,
Some examples include claiming casting director Allison Jones was the star of Cold Mountain, or that creator Greg Daniels dated and attended college with a much older actress. Novak firmly believed these lies, and while no one was particularly upset when the truth came out, it nonetheless wasn’t very nice for Kaling to make them up.
Is It Jim Or John? Don’t Ask Meredith
Technically speaking, this next secret was barely “behind-the-scenes,” as it was actually filmed and used as part of the show, with the producers apparently not noticing John Krasinski’s major mistake. It’s also a moment from the show just about everyone who watched it surely remembers, or at least it began that way. In the shocking opener to season four, Michael gets distracted talking to the camera and listening to Lady Gaga while driving, causing him to run over Meredith with his car. In the next episode, Meredith returned to work with a cast on her pelvis, and in creepy Meredith fashion, she suggestively asked Jim to sign it.
As eagle-eyed viewers immediately recognized, though, actor John Krasinski apparently forgot what he was doing, signing his real name instead of Jim’s.
The plus side is that the sight gag only lasted a few seconds, so few fans noticed until screenshots starting cropping up online.
Rainn Wilson Really Injured Leslie David Baker
In season three’s “Beach Games,” the employees of Dunder Mifflin hit the sand for a strange tournament of sorts that Michael is using to decide who he’ll recommend as the next regional manager. Knowing how dedicated Dwight K. Schrute is to pleasing his boss, it was obvious this would end in hilarious disaster on the show.
However, no one predicted one of the cast members would also get sent to the hospital for real after a minor stunt gone wrong.
As Rainn Wilson later admitted in his autobiography, there was a scene where Dwight angrily kicked the ground and caused sand to fly into the air. Unfortunately, Leslie David Baker, who plays Stanley, was standing too close to Wilson at the time, causing the sand to get into his eyes and scratch his cornea. Production was shut down for a day while Baker recovered and Wilson obviously felt terrible about the ordeal, but it probably would’ve been worse had it actually happened to Stanley.
Oscar Nuñez Thought It Would Bomb
No matter how good a given entertainment may be, the American public has always been a bit unreliable about recognizing a classic when TV gives them one. For this reason, there’s no blaming anyone on The Office who worried the show might not be that big of a deal in it’s first few seasons. Funny as it was, if people weren’t watching it, the show wasn’t going to succeed. Obviously, it did, but Oscar Nuñez, who plays Oscar Martinez, needed quite some time before getting convinced. Apparently, Nuñez kept his day jobs as a server and babysitter throughout the first season, not truly accepting it was a hit until further seasons were made officials. Eventually, he would do a complete 180 on this position, later claiming he firmly believed in his job security even as the show started to decline in quality during later seasons.
Jim’s “Low Key” Proposal Was Outrageously Expensive
To fans of the romantic element of The Office, the peak of the show will always be the relationship between Jim and Pam. Beautifully developed over the course of the first five seasons, when it came time for Jim to finally propose, the show knew they needed to make the moment perfect. Have no doubt about it, they truly pulled out all the stops, spending around $250,000 to create the fake rain and employ multiple big rigs to block the camera’s shot and make things more realistic.
The catch is, the whole point of the proposal was that Jim literally couldn’t wait any longer and had no problem popping the question in the least ideal conditions imaginable, some random rainy gas station in Jersey.
With that in mind, it’s kind of ironic creator Greg Daniels would later admit it was actually the most complex and expensive minute of television they ever produced, and knowing the full story could definitely kill the illusion for some fans.
Toby Might Not Be Who We Think He Is
Showing how varied The Office could be, across almost the entire show, there was a murder mystery quietly brewing beneath the surface that has fans talking to this day. It began when the cast made repeat references to an active serial killer named the Scranton Strangler, and it still hasn’t ended despite an assumed culprit being caught (and the show ending). Audiences are still enthralled because the writers left in plenty of hints that the wrong man was put behind bars, and the real killer had been working for Dunder Mifflin all along. Ironically, the theory started to formulate when former Strangler juror Toby Flenderson started talking about how he believed they made a huge mistake. From there, people noticed Toby was absent the entire episode where the Strangler was “caught,” suggesting he may have been far more involved than we previously realized. Granted, it’s all just speculation, but it’s a fun reason to keep talking about the show all these years later.
Scripts Were Almost Always Cut To Pieces
Now that the show has been off the air for some time, just about every fan of The Office has wished for more content in whatever form the producers could possibly deliver. To those dreamers, there’s good news and bad news — almost every single episode of the show had a wealth of deleted scenes, many of which have still never been officially released.
According to writer and producer B.J. Novak, scripts were on average 10 pages too long, which could mean anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes of scenes that never aired on NBC.
These scenes were usually filmed, though, with some released on DVD, and others winding up on the Internet, and all considered official canon by the writers. Chances are, the producers of The Office have no problem with fans seeing these extra scenes, and might even like the idea, but NBC probably doesn’t want audiences knowing how much they caused the general public to miss by cutting it all out.
Parks And Recreation Was Supposed To Be A Spin-Off
Sharing many sensibilities with The Office and airing the same day of the week, usually back-to-back, Parks and Recreation was in many respects a sister program to the goings on at Dunder Mifflin. Despite this, there was no official connection between the two shows aside from the fact both fit the mockumentary format, although that wasn’t always the plan. Originally, Parks was being developed as a spin-off, with many writers from The Office coming up with the major ideas that became Pawnee. Talk initially suggested the connecting point would be Rashida Jones, who played Karen Filippelli and Ann Perkins, two characters that could have been one and the same had things gone a little different.
In more humorous fashion, when it became clear Parks had nothing to do with Dunder Mifflin, the writers still considered a meta-spin-off idea about a broken copier getting shipped from Pennsylvania to Indiana.
Ultimately, it was decided this idea was too weird or unnecessary, so Parks stood entirely on it’s own.
The Producers Were Key Players In The 2007-2008 Writers Strike
The rise of the Internet, social media, and online streaming are three things that changed the face of entertainment forever, and the industry still hasn’t quite figured out how to act. Because it’s harder to track how many people are watching things, studios have trouble deciding what consists fair compensation for actors, directors, and most importantly for this entry, writers. This situation reached a boiling point in 2007, when the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike, shutting down production of countless shows. The Office was one of the many series that momentarily stopped making new episodes while the writers warred with execs, and in fact, they were particularly vocal members of the picket line.
Series creator Greg Daniels explained the issue by saying, “We’re supposed to get 11 cents for every two hundred trillion downloads,” and when it was put that way, it’s no wonder they were upset.
While things eventually settled, NBC probably doesn’t want fans remembering this ugly chapter in TV history.
A Strange Dearth of Awards Undercut The Show’s Success
The fact audiences are still rapturously entertained by The Office all these years later should truly speak for itself in terms of how people view the show. Surprisingly, however, all the mainstream success just barely translated to anything tangible in terms of critical praise. Throughout it’s entire run on the air, The Office somehow only managed to win five Emmys, once for Outstanding Comedy Series, writing, and directing, and twice for editing.
The Golden Globes would snub the show to an even greater degree, only offering a single award to Steve Carell for Best Actor.
It makes no sense that one of the most popular comedies on television would have this little gold to show for it. We’re betting the cast and crew don’t lose any sleep over this one with how much fans have praised them on critic’s behalf, but it’s also not something they bring up at parties. They’d probably rather focus on the positives, like the fact the show did win a Peabody.
It Was Immediately Placed On The Chopping Block
Considering how popular The Office is today, one of the most amazing things about the show is that it very nearly never saw the light of day. Coming only two years after the disaster of Coupling, audiences were weary about the idea of another American adaptation of a British show, and early reviews casting The Office as a pale imitation set a particularly grim tone on set.
According to John Krasinski, NBC executives would regularly stop by during the production of season one to offer superficial praise about how good the show was, only to then claim, “You know this is the last episode, right?”
They weren’t just playing pranks, either, as the bad response genuinely made it possible the show would get canceled immediately. Luckily, the show developing a second life on line coupled with another issue this list will cover later on saved it from cancelation, and any talk went away by season three, at which point the show was clearly a hit.
The British Almost Joined In The Third Season
Until the end of time, fans of The Office will forever debate one question: which is better, the British original or the American adaptation? By and large, the answer lies on which country’s sense of humor one prefers. No matter what side a person picks, just about everyone is in agreement that when Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the British version, popped up for a few quick cameos on the American one, it was pretty darn awesome. The only downside is that there was far more potential for crossover than a chance meeting between David Brent and Michael Scott, and the writers were well aware of this. As early as season three, there was talk of Mackenzie Crook, who played Gareth, showing up in “The Convention” as a fellow paper salesman. Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis, a.k.a. Tim and Dawn, were also rumored for similar referential bit parts. Unfortunately, it all fell apart due to scheduling conflicts, disappointing fans of both series.
Multiple Cast Members Went To High School Together
Given how incredibly well the cast of The Office worked together, no one would ever accuse the producers of having hired any actors for the wrong reasons. That said, it’s a very unique and fortuitous situation that there were not one but two pairs of high school buddies on the show. It started out with just one, in the tandem of B.J. Novak and John Krasinski, a.k.a. Ryan and Jim.
The two were so close, they had actually played Little League baseball together, a stark contrast to the tense feelings their characters would have for one another. By season three, a second high-school friendship rekindled on the show with Ed Helms and Brian Baumgartner, who play Andy and Kevin.
While they weren’t on any athletic teams together, the two did claim to appear in a number of school plays, adding the that fact they were still acting together in adulthood was completely surreal.
Steve Carell Was Nearly Too Busy To Do The Show
For many years, it was almost impossible to picture The Office without Steve Carell at the helm as the worst boss in the world, Michael Scott. Seasons eight and nine would eventually prove exactly why that was, though in an alternate reality, fans may have figured this out a whole lot sooner.
When The Office was originally announced, Steve Carell was busy on another show called Come to Papa, meaning he couldn’t commit to a new series.
Because their preferred star was busy, a number of other major actors auditioned for the role, including Bob Odenkirk, Alan Tudyk, Rainn Wilson, and David Koechner, the latter of whom became Dwight and Todd Packer. Odenkirk, known today as Saul Goodman, was incredibly close to getting the role, until the poorly-received Come to Papa was canceled, confirming Carell would take it. Had things gone differently, it’s very possible The Office never would have gotten past season two, no matter who else the star would have been.
Michael’s Comeback Was A Major Secret
Despite The Office offering gradually diminishing returns over the past few years, most fans are in agreement the crew nonetheless knocked it out of the park with the epic finale. There were countless incredible moments in the hour long send off, and without a doubt the most talked-about was the return of Michael Scott. The only downside was that a serious amount of subterfuge was required to pull it off. For whatever reason, Steve Carell and the producers didn’t want fans to know Michael would be returning until it happened, and to achieve the element of surprise, they straight up spread fake news.
In Carell’s own words, “I lied for months to the press, to almost everyone, really. And I felt terrible for the cast and for Greg Daniels, because they all lied, too.”
While Michael’s return was great, it would have been amazing even if audiences knew about it long in advance, so all the deceit feels unnecessary.
Jim And Pam Were Going To Be An Interracial Couple
Up until season nine, many fans long considered the relationship between Jim and Pam one of the most beautiful romances ever written for television. It’s hard to picture a more poetic trajectory for their love than what audiences were given (except, again, one that cuts out season nine), but the writer’s originally had a very bold idea that in the very least would have made the storyline extremely different. When looking for ways to “Americanize” the British love story between Tim and Dawn, series creator Greg Daniels had the idea to make the couple interracial.
This would have added an extra social element to the show’s love triangle. Ultimately, however, the writers decided this was an unnecessary hurdle, and cut out any racial undertones to their story (notwithstanding a great prank when Jim pretends to be Asian).
The Slow Decay Of Dwight’s Farm
With all due respect, The Office’s eighth and ninth seasons could get pretty weird, regularly taking audiences well beyond the confines of Dunder Mifflin. The strangest episode of all was “The Farm,” a foray into Dwight’s home life and extended family.
Featuring a whole new band of wacky characters, this episode was actually intended as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series all about Schrute Farms, although negative reception quickly silenced this talk.
Despite this, the producers were still tempted to try and keep the magic going with one spin-off or another, with ideas for shows starring Jim and Pam, Darryl, the odd tandem of Andy and Nellie, or even taking a page out of Saved by the Bell’s book and simply re-filling Dunder Mifflin with an all new class. Ultimately, all of these ideas were left on the drawing room floor, and chances are if the writers were willing to toss them away, they don’t want fans hearing the weak ideas attached to them.
Alternate Casting Choices That Could Have Been
Steve Carell is far from the only actor who nearly missed out on TV history. As is always the case with a hotly anticipated series, every rising star in Hollywood was desperate for a chance to be part of the show, including dozens of stars who would later become seriously famous in their own right. One can only imagine how different Dwight Schrute would have been if instead of Rainn Wilson, everyone’s favorite stoner Seth Rogen had been playing the role. All of television history could have changed if Brian Baumgartner lost the role of Kevin to future Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet. There was also talk of Adam Scott and John Cho for Jim, and they could have been playing off Mary Lynn Rajskub or Kathryn Hahn’s versions of Pam. Perhaps the most surprising of all relates to a regular guest character who nonetheless plays a major role, as Amy Poehler could have been the woman playing Michael’s boss turned lover Jan.
Saved By The 40-Year-Old Virgin
As several entries on this list made clear, the long term prospects of The Office weren’t always all that positive. Especially during the first season, NBC executives were very open about the fact they considered canceling the show, and it didn’t help that critical reception wasn’t especially favorable. So, what suddenly changed everyone’s minds and kept The Office on the air? A little movie called The 40-Year-Old Virgin released between season one and two and also starring Steve Carell, which ultimately grossed $177 million.
Even before the movie was released, talk was so immensely positive about Carell and his performance that NBC decided to roll the dice and give The Office another year to adapt to his newfound star power.
In addition to bringing the actor a bunch of new fans and putting all eyes on his show, The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a perfect vehicle for Carell’s talents, with The Office writers later claiming his performance helped define some characteristics that would bleed into Michael Scott.