NBC’s The Office is still one of the most-talked about series on television, despite the fact that it ended five years ago. During its nine season run, The Office endured a number of changes, including the departure of its star Steve Carell and a number of tone shifts.
Despite the changes, The Office still managed to hold a decently sized audience, and still does to this day, with millions of people now binging the series on Netflix.
The show has been going strong since it first premiered in 2005, but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the mockumentary series.
In order to keep the series entertaining, and sometimes in an attempt to fix issues with its casting, The Office would have to endure a number of changes.
Typically, if the series executives and writers had decent notice, they would be able to integrate the changes gradually and in a natural manner, such as the departure of Steve Carell, which they knew about at the beginning of season 7.
Unfortunately, the higher-ups of The Office didn’t always get proper notice if someone was leaving, which has led to some rather unnatural departures. Other times, they would decide to add a character or a plot in the spur of the moment, and would come to regret it long term.
However, these last minute changes weren’t always bad. On a number of occasions, the last minute addition of character or a sudden change to a storyline helped the show overall.
With this in mind, here are the 8 Last Minute Changes That Hurt The Office (And 10 That Saved It).
18. Saved: Not Casting Bob Odenkirk As Michael Scott
While it’s hard to see anyone else as Michael Scott other than Steve Carell, he was nearly portrayed by comedian Bob Odenkirk.
Though Carell was NBC’s top choice to play the obnoxious manager, he was unable to commit to the role, as he was working on the series Come to Papa.
In his place, NBC chose Bob Odenkirk to take the lead as Michael Scott.
However, when Come to Papa was abruptly cancelled, the showrunners brought Steve Carell on board last minute and ditched Odenkirk.
For those wondering what it would have been like to have seen Bob Odenkirk as Michael Scott, you actually can see his performance.
During season 9, Odenkirk guest starred in the episode “Moving On”, where he is shown to be the manager of an office in Philadelphia and acts just like Michael Scott.
While his performance was funny, Steve Carell did it better.
17. Hurt: Keeping Deangelo Around For More Than An Episode
Will Ferrell is a phenomenal comedy actor who can pretty much make any scenario funny, so why was his four episode run on The Office so hard to watch? It’s simply because his character wasn’t supposed to appear for more than an episode.
When the writers first created Will Ferrell’s character Deangelo, he was supposed to show up for one episode as a truly bad boss in order to show how great of a boss Michael was.
However, the writers came back to Ferrell and offered him an entire arc, which the actor was totally on board with.
Unfortunately, the decision was made so late in the game that they didn’t really get the chance to develop Deangelo much further than just being a bad boss, which made his extended stay in The Office quite unbearable for a number of fans.
16. Saved: Ditching The Farm
During season 9 of The Office, a good portion of the crew, including former showrunner Paul Lieberstein, had directed their focus to a potential spin-off titled The Farm.
The spin-off series would have starred Dwight Schrute as he takes up the responsibility of tending to the new farm he inherited.
Had the series been green lit by NBC, Dwight would have been absent from the second half of The Office’s final season.
Fortunately, The Farm did not get the green light, which meant that Dwight was able to stick around for the final days of The Office.
While it would have been fun to have seen Dwight in his own series, it would have taken away from how The Office ended. The final episodes of the series wrapped things up perfectly, and it wouldn’t have felt right if Dwight wasn’t there.
15. Hurt: Bringing Steve Carell Back In Secret
Many The Office fans were surprised when Steve Carell returned as Michael Scott in the series finale, but they weren’t the only ones surprised.
Showrunner Greg Daniels was intent on keeping the return of Michael Scott a secret from NBC’s executives as one last surprise, which they pulled off by not including him in any of the dailies, on the call sheet, or in the table read.
As cool of a story as this was, it has ultimately hurt the series finale long term.
The secrecy of Steve Carell’s appearance meant that the writers needed to seriously limit his involvement in the episode, so much so that it became unrealistic.
Michael only appeared during Dwight and Angela’s wedding and was inexplicably absent from the Q&A session the day before and the after party at the office after the wedding.
To those viewing the series finale years later, his surprise appearance doesn’t seem fun anymore.
Had Greg Daniels been more focused on giving every character a realistic amount of focus, rather than just keeping Michael Scott’s return a secret, perhaps the finale would have been a bit more enjoyable all these years later.
14. Saved: Giving Mindy Kaling More Dialogue
Mindy Kaling’s character Kelly became one of the highlights of The Office in later seasons, yet she really didn’t shine in the beginning.
If you rewatch season 1, you will notice that Kelly doesn’t really have any dialogue or interaction with the rest of the cast unless it has to do with her race or religion.
However, Mindy Kaling was also a prominent member of the writers’ room, and when she given a little bit more control of her character, she made her an absolute talk-aholic.
This helped her to stand out more from the rest of the cast.
Case in point, during the first episode of season 2, Michael gave Kelly a Dundie titled “Spicy Curry”. Rather than talking about how happy she was to get the award, or how racist it was, she quietly asked why the award was given to her.
By the end of season 2, however, you couldn’t stop Kelly from talking.
13. Hurt: The Departure Of Ryan & Kelly
One of the biggest problems that many fans had with season 9 of The Office was that two of the most popular characters - Ryan and Kelly - were absent.
Their actors, B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, had eventually decided to move on from the series, and did not feel like waiting until the end of the last season to leave.
The Office may have been able to slide past their departure had the two actors given proper notice that they would be leaving. However, as showrunner Greg Daniels revealed, Novak and Kaling didn’t notify anyone that they were planning to depart until shortly before the season began.
“If we had known in advance, we probably would have made more of an arc out of where they were,” Daniels said in the middle of season 9. “I mean they’re coming back in the finale but the premiere had to kind of exit them very quickly.”
The end of season 8 did not do a great job of writing the characters out, as the writers did not know they were leaving.
In fact, the last few episodes of the eighth season had actually started a love triangle between Ryan, Kelly, and Kelly’s new boyfriend, which would have been entertaining to have seen more of.
12. Saved: Bringing Greg Daniels Back
Many long term The Office fans were relieved when the original showrunner Greg Daniels returned to helm the show for the final season.
While Paul Lieberstein, the showrunner who took over for Daniels after season 4, certainly did a good job, the show arguably worked a lot better when Daniels was at the writing table as well.
Daniels originally did not want to return for the final season, but he was convinced when he realized how high the stakes were. Apparently, B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling weren’t the only cast members threatening to leave for the final season.
“The alternative would have been to have maybe a third or a half of the original cast and then restock it with a lot of new people,” Daniels said, explaining what would’ve happened if he hadn’t come back.
“The downside to that would be that there wouldn’t be endings to the stories. A number of very important cast members’ stories would have been just sort of cut off in the middle and then you’d have to start others,” he stated.
11. Hurt: Taking A Hiatus For The Writers Strike
The writers strike was an important part of Hollywood that temporarily hurt every show on the air. However, in the long-term, it helped the industry.
During the 2007 strike, The Office had to go on a complete hiatus when the show’s writing team refused to show up for work, leading to season 4 being 9 episodes shorter than it should have been.
Surprisingly, the writers weren’t the only ones not showing up for work. Even Steve Carell, being a writer himself, refused to show up to set, which meant that even the episodes that the writers had already written could not be shot.
According to some rumors, when Carell called in and said he couldn’t make it to work, he blamed it on a case of “enlarged balls.”
For those who now binge the series today, this shortened season is off-putting. It is the first season in which Pam and Jim are dating, so the shortened season make’s the first year of their relationship go by a lot faster than it should.
10. Saved: Introducing Dwight’s Beet Farm
One of the most unique aspects of Dwight Schrute is his beet farm. While this became an integral part of his character throughout the series, the decision to have Dwight own a beet farm didn’t come up until part way through the second season.
The writing team behind The Office didn’t even come up with the idea of giving Dwight a farm until Dwight’s actor Rainn Wilson showed them the farm that he grew up on.
“I brought to the writers a bunch of pictures of my family, a very eclectic and trailer park-y bunch,” Wilson explained.
“That gave them the idea that Dwight’s background might be more rural or white trash. It was introduced in season 2 that Dwight owned a beet farm. That was based on Greg’s grandparents, who used to raise beets back in Poland before the war,” he said.
9. Saved: John Krasinski Being Cast As Jim, Not Dwight
Surprisingly, John Krasinski wasn’t always being considered for the role of Jim.
In fact, when he was first brought in to audition, the casting directors wanted him to play Dwight.
However, after reading the script, Krasinski insisted that he should audition for the role of Jim instead, and turned down the opportunity to read for Dwight.
After the show cast Rainn Wilson as Dwight, they decided to call Krasinski back to audition for Jim, even though they were already quite a ways into the casting process.
All things considered, it’s a miracle that they gave Krasinski the chance to audition for Jim.
While Krasinski could have pulled off a decent Dwight, we are glad they went with casting him as Jim instead, as he did a phenomenal job in the role.
8. Hurt: Making Robert California A Regular
When James Spader first appeared as Robert California at the end of season 7, he was only supposed to appear as a cameo, just like Jim Carrey, Ray Romano, and the other A-list actors who played someone applying for Dunder Mifflin’s regional manager position.
However, the writers of The Office seriously enjoyed writing his creepy, yet wise dialogue, and Spader enjoyed playing the role.
They decided to give Spader a starring role in the eighth season of the show, which ultimately was quite a mistake.
While Robert California could have worked well as a recurring character, similarly to Todd Packer, it became overwhelming when California’s creepy mannerisms showed up in nearly every episode of the season.
Many fans of The Office complain about how much California creeped them out, making the show’s eighth season incredibly hard to watch.
7. Saved: Michael And Oscar Kissing
Season 3 of The Office opened with a bang, or more so a kiss. During the episode “Gay Witch Hunt”, after the office learned that Oscar Martinez was secretly gay, Michael showed his acceptance of Oscar by embracing him in front of the rest of the office, and then kissing him.
As it turns out, this kiss was not scripted, and was a spur of the moment decision made by actor Steve Carell.
Actor Oscar Nunez apparently had no idea that they would be kissing, and kind of just went with it when Carell puckered his lips, making it one of the funniest moments in the series.
“We were just supposed to hug, and he kept hugging me," Nunez explained. “And that particular take he came in really close, and I’m like, ‘Where is he going with this?’ Oh, dear, yes here we go.”
6. Hurt: Making Andy Manager (Instead of Darryl)
For better or for worse, a number of fans were completely shocked at the beginning of season 8 when they learned that Andy Bernard had been selected as the new regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton.
While many people loved Andy as a character, he did not live up to Michael Scott, making his time as manager hard to watch for a number of fans.
One of the issues with selecting a new manager was that the writers treated it like a surprise in order to keep viewers tuning in rather than developing a natural promotion for one of the regular members of the office.
Because of this, the decision of who the new manager would be wasn’t even locked down until the time between season 7 and season 8 when the writers settled on Andy.
Their original plan was to make Darryl the manager, but the writers ditched the idea when they decided that he was “too rational and smart to be the manager.”
5. Saved: Making Toby A Regular
Toby Flenderson, the HR representative who is constantly despised by Michael Scott, was never supposed to be a regular character in the series.
His actor, Paul Lieberstein, who was a writer at the time and went on to become the showrunner, agreed to only appear in the second episode of the show, and was supposed to never be seen again.
Unfortunately for Lieberstein, the President of NBC Kevin Reilly watched the episode with Toby, and reportedly proclaimed, “that red-haired guy is terrific, we should see more of him!”
Even though Lieberstein hated acting, he was essentially forced to appear in the rest of the series in order to keep the network president happy.
Lieberstein did try to find ways out of it, however. When he took over as showrunner, he briefly wrote himself out of the series entirely.
Also, in every episode that Lieberstein directed, Toby would rarely appear, and if he did, he had little dialogue or involvement with the episode’s main plot.
4. Hurt: Making Nellie A Regular
When Catherine Tate first appeared at the end of season 7, she, like many of the other celebrities who appeared, was only supposed to cameo.
However, much like James Spader, the writers decided to bring her back.
Tate returned at the end of season 8 in an incredibly entertaining plot featuring her taking the manager position from Andy. The mistake here wasn’t bringing Tate back for this arc, but keeping her around afterwards.
The executives of The Office didn’t want to put Tate’s talents to waste, and made Nellie a regular character for the final season.
Her development felt rather forced at times, as her place in the office didn’t make sense considering that the job she took up was an imaginary position.
The main reason why NBC wanted to keep Nellie around was for her to replace Dwight when he left for his spin-off.
When The Farm didn’t get the green light, however, Dwight stuck around, so there was no longer a need for Nellie to be around, making her inclusion even more pointless.
3. Saved: Bringing Dwight & Angela Back Together
There was a bit of a rough transition after NBC turned down The Farm, as Dwight’s character arc was going in the direction of him permanently leaving Dunder Mifflin and courting a new love interest named Esther.
While the first few episodes after the episode “The Farm” tried to get the Dwight-Esther romance to work, the writers quickly ditched the idea and instead abruptly put Dwight and Angela back together during the last three episodes of the season.
Though the reunion of Dwight and Angela felt a bit forced, and even brought up a bit of a plot hole regarding Angela’s son, it still ended the series on a good note.
It wouldn’t have made sense to have seen Dwight and Angela end up with anyone else except each other.
2. Hurt: Ed Helms’ Season 9 Absence
After season 8 ruined Andy Bernard for a number of The Office fans by changing his character quite a bit, showrunner Greg Daniels returned for season 9 and intended to save Andy.
Daniels originally helped carve Andy Bernard during his first couple seasons and made him into the lovable, yet dislikable character that made him stand out so much.
When Daniels came back, he hoped to bring this essence back to his character yet again.
Unfortunately, Helms had to leave midway through season 9 in order to shoot The Hangover Part III, which effectively put a huge hole in Daniels’ plan for his character.
Rather than Andy shining in season 9 like Daniels had hoped, he ended up just looking like a jerk who was barely even there.
1. Saved: Not Naming It “An American Workplace”
After NBC greenlit the pilot episode of The Office, the network wanted to rename the series “An American Workplace” in order to make it stand out from the UK version of the show.
The idea was inspired by the PBS documentary series An American Family.
Fortunately, NBC ditched this idea shortly before the series aired, agreeing that The Office was a much simpler title, despite it being the same as the previous version of the show.
“An American Workplace” just isn’t nearly as appealing.
The final season of The Office paid a bit of homage to this decision. When the documentary finally aired, it aired on PBS and was titled “The Office: An American Workplace,” effectively combining both titles.
Can you think of any other last minute changes that would’ve helped or hurt The Office? Sound off in the comments!
