The Office

This show makes me happy.

From Entertainment Weekly.


There is no way you will find The Office's set unless someone tells you where to look, and even then, it ain't easy. Buried deep in a swath of Van Nuys warehouses, the soundstage sits at the rear of a dead-end street where 18-wheelers turn around and the hot sun bakes the concrete blister gray. The first thing that catches your eye is a sign for Vance Refrigeration, and then another for a paper company by the name of Dunder Mifflin. Soon you're idling past that familiar parking lot, the very spot that's been home to both a tear-jerking confession of unrequited love and a ridiculous bouncy castle intended to catch the faux-suicide attempt of an unhinged boss desperate to prove a point.
On this mid-September day, though, the anonymous lot, clogged with trailers and craft services, is almost unrecognizable. Inside, you're ushered into a small room just off the stage, and things become more familiar. Two monitors transmit shaky, nausea-inducing images from the mockumentary cameras: boxes of paper, drab carpeting, venetian blinds, a poster of some very scary babies. You watch an ordinary day in the life of The Office unspool as cast members wander in one by one to talk about how blessed they feel to be a part of this show. But that's where the conversation starts and ends: They're reluctant to spill any details about the series' fourth season, which started Sept. 27. If they do, it seems, executive producer Greg Daniels — described by one actor as ''the most quiet badass you'll ever know'' — will kill them. So here we are in a tiny room on a dead-end street in an industrial section of Van Nuys not being told anything. In a way, it's appropriate: a very awkward story on the awkward genius that is The Office.
Bear in mind, there was a time when this show couldn't give it away, and we're not talking about secrets. The first season, in 2005, averaged but 5.4 million viewers for NBC, thanks to apathy fueled by the critical suspicion that only lunatics would attempt to adapt a beloved British series for American television. (The disaster known as Coupling had just come and gone two years earlier.) Yet there were flashes of unique hilarity, which led to a charitable second-season pickup — and that's when, like employees on soft pretzel day, the fates began to align. In the summer of '05, star Steve Carell wowed crowds with The 40 Year-Old Virgin; season 2 won the Emmy for best comedy; millions of new viewers discovered the show via the magic of iPods (makes a great Secret Santa gift, by the way); and little by little, the emotionally stunted, frequently spastic, and cringe-worthy antics of Michael Scott (Carell) and the Dunder Mifflin crew scrambled from the ratings basement toward something approaching cult success. Last year, in season 3, the show became a demographic power player — ranking 13th for all programs that were watched live or within seven days of broadcast by those ridiculously important 18- to 34-year-olds. Plus, cast members besides Carell started showing up in movies — a Blades of Glory here, a License to Wed there. Two weeks ago, Daniels won another Emmy, this time for writing. And now it appears that The Office, no longer feeling the ax over its head, is in a position to tell a national magazine with a not-inconsiderable circulation that they won't be disclosing all that much information about season 4, and they hope we understand.
We don't, of course. So we push harder until they finally begin to crack.
'We're going to have stories of disease, misery, jealousy, lawsuits, car wrecks, homelessness, betrayal, financial ruin, broken hearts, and kidnapping, but funny,'' relents Daniels at last. ''Oh, and a pencil sharpener goes missing.'' See, that wasn't so hard, was it? But wait, there's more! Jan (Melora Hardin) takes her cohabitual relationship with Michael to the next levelby trying to redecorate his condo; one story line in the first few episodes involves Angela's (Angela Kinsey) sick cat, Dwight's (Rainn Wilson) irritation, and the phrase ''claw marks in the frozen peas.'' A large part of this season's focus will be on Ryan (B.J. Novak), the former temp-turned-corporate suit who is now basically evil. His attempts to force the company into the digital age will mirror a real NBC social-networking website brewing at dundermifflininfinity.com, while his attempts to distance himself from spurned ex-girlfriend Kelly (Mindy Kaling) will prove less than successful. On the day we visited the set, Michael was holding a pizza delivery boy hostage over an unhonored coupon. And in staffing news, kooky crank Creed (Creed Bratton) and Darryl from the warehouse (Craig Robinson) have been upgraded to series regulars.
What about Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer)? Fischer uses the word ''courtship'' in reference to the next phase of their relationship — ''There's something about Jim and Pam that is true love personified in a TV show,'' she says sweetly — while bemoaning how painful it is to stare up at the much taller Krasinski after breaking bones in her back in a fall during the off-season. Daniels, of course, is vague, making reference only to ''a soap opera-y thing that I'm gonna let be a surprise.'' We nod, smile, and think to ourselves: What is this, Lost?
Outside of plot specifics, though, the employees of The Office are more than happy to talk about whatever you want. They'll tell you who's loud in his trailer (Krasinski, who claims it's everyone else who's coming over and making noise) and who's the most likely to lose it in a scene (Kinsey, but she's getting better). They crack on each other, jump on each other, and slow dance with each other between takes. They even haze reporters: Ask Carell or Daniels to define awkwardness, and they'll just sit there and stare at you, as the tape recorder quietly creaks. After an agonizing stretch of silence, you realize, Oh, right. Then they'll smile, and you will, too, because you fell for it. Twice.

As Novak puts it, somewhat more delicately, ''It is a perfect creative environment.'' And a comfortable one: Ask Krasinski — who appears alongside no less than George Clooney in this fall's Leatherheads — if his burgeoning movie career is going to lead him to pull a Caruso. ''You mean like leave this show?'' he asks, familiarly wide-eyed. ''There is not even an inkling. It's given me everything. The fact that I could go do a movie and then 'come home' to this? That's the best of both worlds.'' Carell agrees. ''I'm not taking any of it for granted,'' he says, for clearly the umpteenth time. ''I never want to assume that anything will continue. That way, it's a constant surprise when it does.''
Of course, it helps to have the head of the network in your corner: Ben Silverman, the man who brought The Office Stateside via his production company, Reveille, was named co-chairman of NBC Entertainment this spring. From his perspective, the comedy is no longer struggling to find an audience, but defining what viewers want to watch. ''You look at the motion pictures this summer, and you see things like Superbad and Knocked Up deliver huge box office,'' he notes. ''The audience is growing up now, and alternative styles are becoming mainstream.'' The question is, How much farther into the mainstream can The Office climb, given that the series has to face off against Grey's Anatomy and CSI in its new Thursdays at 9 time slot (which Daniels calls '' the worst around'' )?
The cast seems none too concerned about sexy docs or forensic geeks. ''We just need to do what we do well, and do it weller-er,'' says Wilson. ''The great thing about Greg Daniels is he's always interested in subverting the humor. Twisting it, and going into darker, weirder, more off-kilter places.'' Ten minutes later, the actor is out on the set, sniffing the hand of the guy who wields the slate, and giggling maniacally right up until that slate comes down, the director says, ''Action,'' and — well, something happens. We'd tell you, but they'd kill us. Awkwardly, no doubt.
Want more of The Office? See Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski dish on what to expect as the Pam/Jim love story picks up this season, plus an exclusive Pam performance by Fischer when EW video goes to The Office. Then, read what the actors who play Michael, Dwight, Pam, Jim, and the rest of TV's craziest coworkers say about the Dunder Mifflin crew — and where they see the Office-mates going from here