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The Office Spinoff Talk…

By fred | June 13, 2008

So we still don’t know anything really about one of the upcoming new NBC series, a spinoff for hit-comedy The Office. Why don’t we know anything ? Simply because at this point no one has any clue still of what it will be like, about, or anything really.

Alright so we don’t know nothing, as lately some rumors as well as actual facts have surfaced, with names like Aziz Ansari (of MTV’s sketch comedy Human Giant) who was officially hired to work on the show, or Rashida Jones (Unhitched, or of course Karen Filippelli from The Office itself), who has a talent deal with Universal Media Studios which could get her in on this as well, although so far this is only a rumor, nothing more.

Now because I like her, I hope she won’t do it. Oh yeah, I hope this show will be a huge failure, Bionic Woman-style or worse.

I know, this might not sound very nice, but here’s the thing…

Working on the project are still executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, and while those guys may have proven themselves and maybe I should have confidence in them, I just can’t see anything good coming out of this one. It’s not them, it’s the project in itself. They didn’t came up with a (brilliant) idea for a spinoff, they didn’t have characters they wanted to use more but couldn’t really do what they were dreaming of in the constraint of The Office, no this was all born because NBC executives saw that The Office was a great show - and by that I mean performed well on the beloved 18-49 demo - and made them lots of money.

They wanted more money, so easy thought : let’s double the money by doubling the show, creating a spinoff. And this is how the “idea” for the show was born, leaving everyone in front of a blank page, with nothing at all, but it’s a guaranteed success because it comes from The Office, right ?

If this project was coming from the brilliant minds behind The Office, I would support it 200% and I would be incredibly excited to find out what they had in store for us, because I love the show and I’m sure it would be just another great little gem. But we are in a completely different situation here, we are in full NBC mode, where it’s more important to promote a show that make sure good scripts are being worked on, where it’s more important to ask advertisers what products they want a show to sell, than it is getting talented people together and allowing them to do their art and have a creative vision for the show.

Yes, it seems like talented people have been put together for this : a writing team including Everybody Loves Raymond alum Tucker Cawley, Late Night With Conan O’Brien vet Dan Goor and South Park scribe Alan Yang has been set up, and Schur said they were “focusing on making the best show we can make as a companion to The Office. We’re trying to come up with the best concept and hire the funniest writers. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be making the final move to one specific idea.”

I’m sure they all mean well, but here’s what I heard in that one : they do not have an idea. The show has already been green-lighted, it’s on NBC schedule and will premiere on the post-Superbowl slot, no less, yet no one knows what the fuck it is going to be about, or like, who it will feature, nothing! What the Hell is going on there ??

We’re so far away from an actual idea, that the latest news is that the show might not actually be a spinoff after all ! Not in the traditional sense of the term, that is. Instead, the show could just be “planted in”, with new characters being first introduced on The Office, before moving on to the new series. Or, it might not even be a spinoff at all, just a complete new and unrelated show, but in the same comedic vein as The Office….

In other words, “no idea”. The only good news of this mess, is that it seems to become more and more likely than there won’t be any character from The Office moving on to that new show (sigh of relief from fans everywhere). Other than that, we’re left with NBC willing to make money, still insisting that making a show that’s actually good has nothing to do with it and doesn’t matter.

And this is why I hate this project and I really want it to fail : because I want NBC to realize that it shouldn’t do that, it shouldn’t focus on what advertisers want to sell, but what we want to see — good television that is. Because I want them to realize that treating a show and their fans the way the did Scrubs for instance, is unacceptable, because I wish they’d realize that you don’t invest so much in nothing while killing Journeyman, because I want them to realize that the failure Bionic Woman was was entirely predictable, when you don’t think quality matters.

Of course I’m a dreamer, I know that. Still, I can’t help myself and I whole heartily hope this crap will premiere in its post-Superbowl slot, highly promoted as “The Office Spinoff“, and be a complete failure, almost making NBC regret Bionic Woman.

Obviously that’s me though, but what about you : do you like being treated like crap and seeing your favorite show canceled despite being the best thing around want this one to be a success ?

Posted in News
Shows: The Office