More Season 5 Gossip

TV Watch with Kristin got even more inside information about the upcoming season of The Office. Supposedly, Pam will be replaced right away and replaced by someone we like she says (how could we like anyone more than Pam?). Also, Kevin's crush on Holly is supposedly getting more intense. Finally, "Save the Dates" for a wedding are going out and could be from any of four couples (Pam and Jim- hopefully, Andy and Angela, Dwight and Angela, or Jan and Michael).... who knows what will happen... I don't know if i can wait until September 25 (the first episode which will be called Weight Loss)!

USC in the Show!

The University of Southern California will serve as the set of Pam's art school and a hospital in Costa Rica (per TV Watch with Kristin). This means two things... Pam is really leaving and Toby is back (and probably injured).

Office Writers Interview About Season 5

Here is an interview with The Office's writers about season 5. Enjoy!

July 31: OfficeTally interviews The Office writers at Comic-Con
Re: Holiday episodes:
Interviewer: Will you be doing any holiday episodes? A lot of fans miss Christmas, and Halloween …

Greg: We missed it, too. We had such a good Christmas one written, and there is a Halloween episode, or there will be Halloween during an episode, it won’t all be about Halloween, coming up.

Interviewer: For Season 5?

Greg: Yes. (To other writers) What are we doing for Christmas this year? (To Justin) You wrote it, right? (To me) Hang on a second … (Walks over to Justin, and they start whispering out of earshot … gah!)

Interviewer (to Lee): Darn!

Greg: Okay, yeah. It’s the Christmas episode.

Re: Season 5:
Interviewer: I was wondering what, if anything, can you tell me about Season 5? We know that the season premiere is an hour long …

Jen: It is an hour long.

Interviewer: Can you tell me who the writer is?

Jen: Gene [Stupnitsky] and Lee [Eisenberg] wrote it. The Emmy-nominated Gene and Lee now, from ‘Dinner Party.’ And actually, for the first time ever, we’re going to see what happens over the summer. You know how we usually jump forward in terms of the documentary and we skip a gap? We’re going to see the summer. Every act is a different week. So the first episode will be eight weeks long. It’s week 1 of the summer, week 2 of the summer, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8. And it’s weight loss. It’s a group weight loss competition. They’re competing against other branches in a weight loss challenge. And we’re going to check in with them.

Interviewer: Is this episode called “Weight Loss”?

Jen: It’s between being called “Weight Loss” and “Summer.” My guess is it’s going to be called “Weight Loss.”

Interviewer: Will Holly be in the premiere?

Jen: Yup. Holly’s coming back. She’ll definitely be in the premiere. And Jan will have a baby at some point.

Jen: We’re going to have a baby shower. There’s going to be a baby shower for Jan’s baby.

Michael makes the office throw a baby shower for this baby that is not even his.

Jan coming back to work?

Here is a question that a fan asked an Office insider on EW.com:
Question: Is the mystery character returning to Dunder Mifflin someone who had been previously fired? Perhaps a certain pregnant woman looking for a job? -- LizAusiello: Perhaps. Perhaps not. (Translation: You're getting warmer.)


.... Jan? EXCITING!

Great YouTube Video

I really enjoyed watching an entire montage of classic Office "that's what she said" moments. Here is the link.... tell me what you think....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktSEw7izB4

Office Love Triangle- Holly, Michael, and Jan

The love triangle started in the Season 4 finale will continue into Season 5. NBC execs confirmed that both Melora Hardin (Jan) and Amy Ryan (Holly) will be returning for all of Season 5. When we last left them, Holly asked Michael to go out with her for dessert (hubba hubba). Michael, who has a crush on Holly (and it appears that Holly has one on him), suggested that she goes with Kevin for dessert because Kevin knows good places (in the mean time, Kevin thinks Holly is in to him, but she really thinks he is "slow" as Dwight put it). Jan is now very pregnant with a sperm donor's baby and Michael left her message saying that he would go with her to her lamaze classes (but first "what is lamaze?"), so there is a good chance they will get back together (even after their embarassing Dinner Party fight). Could it be more complicated? Melora Hardin (Jan) says in a recent interview that Jan and Holly will have encounters and that Jan realizes she is a threat. She also said that Jan will be determined to break them up. I personally hope that he ends up with Holly in the very end, but I have a feeling that he is going to go for Jan at first. Hopefully, he comes to his senses and goes after Holly (before Kevin), but I will feel bad that Jan is alone (but it is her fault, she is a psycho and she wanted this baby without Michael). I hope Michael gets a chance to have a family with somebody good. I guess we will have to stay tuned to see what happens.

Amy Poehler on The Office

It was reported earlier this month that Amy Poehler would be leaving SNL to join the new untitled Office spinoff (that would be awesome- Amy Poehler is hilarious!). However, now they are saying that they spinoff will star a current Office character who will remain unnamed at this time and that Amy Poehler will be starring in her own NBC mid-season show that would be produced by many of the same people as the The Office. I will keep you posted!

8 EMMY NOMS!

The Office was nominated for eight Emmys this year. Even though Jim and Pam were snubbed, it is still very exciting. I hope they win, but we will have to wait until September 21 to find out. They were nominated in the following categories:

- Outstanding Comedy Series- The Office (Local Ad Episode)
- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series- Steve Carell (Michael), Goodbye, Toby
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series- Rainn Wilson (Dwight), Money
- Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series- Paul Lieberstein, Money
- Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series- Paul Feig, Goodbye, Toby
- Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series- Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Dinner Party
- Outstanding Picture Editing for a Comedy Series- Dave Rogers and Dean Holland, Goodbye, Toby
- Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama or Comedy Series- Ben Patrick, John W. Cook II, Peter J. Nusbaum, Local Ad

I'm Back!

I am back, so I am going to start trying to update my blog more frequently. There is a lot of new information on its way!

The Office: Emmy Contender

The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences has released some information early. Although, official nominations are not released until July 17th, the academy has released the names of 10 final contenders in the top comedy category which will be narrowed down to 5 nominees by July 17th. The Office was one of the shows in the running along with 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, Pushing Daisies, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty, and Weeds. Of course, we all know who deserves to win....

My New Folder

My first summer activity was making an amazing Office folder. It took me over six hours all together, but it looks amazing. It was definitely worth it. There are scans of the front and back, although they got messed up a little bit. They are still amazing.

FRONT:

BACK:

Dwight: Warrior Princess

Oh my gosh. I was crying this morning. Not because I burnt my foot in a George Foreman grill, but because I watched a video in which Rainn Wilson (Dwight) was dressed as Xena warrior princess. Rainn dressed like several iconic figures in a photoshoot with Entertainment Weekly. The videos from the photoshoots where he is dressed as characters from Xena: Warrior Princess, Star Trek, The Sopranos, and MacGyver can be found at the link below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.ew.com/ew/package/0,,20207076_20207714,00.html

Steve the Skater

Just another fun fact for you: Steve Carell is a huge hockey fan. He even plays on an adult hockey team in L.A. where he lives (and films The Office). He is very good at ice skating and they took advantage of that in Season 2 when they took Michael skating for his birthday.

Movies

Everyone knows that Steve Carell's comedy Get Smart comes out tomorrow, but what other movies are the actors from The Office starring in soon?

Steve Carell (Michael Scott) will star in a movie called High T, which will be released in 2009. According to imdb.com it is about a mad with unusually high testosterone levels who experiences some strange effects because of it.

Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) will star in The Rocker (due out this summer) and the Transformers sequel.

John Krasinski (Jim Halpert) will star in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men later this year and in Farlanders in 2009.

Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) will star in the new Eddy Murphy movie Meet Dave, which comes out July 11.

Creed Bratton (Creed) will star in Labor Pains with Lindsay Lohan. Creed has said that so far during the filming she has been a great young lady.

Steve's Team

Just a fun fact: Steve Carell is a huge fan of the Boston Celtics (the 2008 NBA Champs). He has mentioned it both in interviews with Jon Stewart and Regis and Kelly. He talks about how it was difficult living in L.A. and being a Boston fan (they played each other in the 2008 playoffs in case you did not know). He also said that during the series between the Lakers and Celtics, he would pretend to support the Lakers because his wife is competitive and his support annoyed her.

Steve Carell on Regis & Kelly

So yesterday, I was flipping through channels and to my excitement, I found Steve Carell doing an interview on Live With Regis and Kelly. I was so excited to listen to him talk about his new movie, Get Smart (out June 20th- FRIDAY), of course, THE OFFICE. I seriously got chills listening to him talk about all of the major questions right now (don't judge me). And because I took notes (again... don't judge me), I am going to share some of my favorite parts of the interview:

On the Office Convention: He talked about how crazy and amazing it is that they have received so much support. He said he could attend the 2007 convention, but he is definitely attending in 2008 if they have one.

On why Scranton was chosen as the site of the show: He said the writers wanted to choose a very "honest" town to have the show in. He said that the people in Scranton were nervous at first because they thought the show would be making fun of their town, but now they realize that that was not an intention, they love the show and are very proud of it.

On the spinoff: He says that no one in The Office cast knows anything about it yet, but he said that because the same writers and producers from The Office are working on it, it will be great.

The show: He said that they start filming the show again in July and that it is going to be great.

And one last comment, Kelly Ripa went up a couple of notches in my book when she said that The Office was "the best show on television."

Three More...

Steve Carell said in an interview that there will be at least three more seasons of The Office. He said, "All of the main cast are signed for three more. Beyond that, I have no idea." Hopefully, it is longer than three years (hopefully, it will last forever), but I am just glad for now that I get to enjoy three more years for sure.

Season 4 DVD

The Office Season 4 on DVD has a scheduled release date of September 2. It is a shortened season (because of the Writer's Strike), but in my opinion, it still has some of my favorite moments. Here is the cover art for the new DVD per TVShowsOnDVD.com (and it is AMAZING... if I do say so myself...)

Variety: Spinoff

Speaking of the spinoff

Variety: "Instead, the show could potentially be a "planted spinoff," in which characters are first introduced on "The Office" before moving on to the new series (think "Mork & Mindy," which morphed from one episode of "Happy Days"). It's just as possible that the show won't be a spinoff at all (which could impact who's involved with the show), but a wholly separate series in the same comedic vein as 'The Office.'"

Office Spinoff

Well... this is the first time that I have ever blogged about the spinoff. It will air for the first time in February 2009 right after the Super Bowl and after that it will air every night at 9:30 after The Office.

As much as I look forward to an extra half hour of Office-shenanigans, I worry that it won't be as good as the original and that it will break up the current cast. Why is it that whenever something makes money, they have to expand it and expand it and expand it and try to suck everything they can out of it? Why can't they just leave something that is working the way it is? I mean it would be great if it was as hilarious and entertaining as the current Office is without destroying the original (by removing characters). I just don't understand why. Maybe if the series was ending (god forbid) and they wanted the show to live on, then maybe i would be more enthusiastic, but i don't know yet.

The part that scares me the most is who may be leaving The Office for the spinoff. Even though Steve Carell did say, "As far as I know, nobody is leaving ship. At least at this point, from what I’ve heard, I don’t think it’s based on any of the characters from the existing show. It’s an entirely new setup with new characters," I still worry about what will happen. Rumors originally said it would be Dwight and I almost jumped off of a cliff (THE OFFICE WOULD NOT BE THE SAME AT ALL WITHOUT DWIGHT). Now they are saying that it will be either Andy (not the worst thing ever I guess) or Karen (her short-lived show, Unhitched, on FOX was just cancelled). The way things are going in the show, both of those options make sense. Angela could break Andy's heart and Andy could transfer to another branch. Karen is already in charge of the Utica branch, so maybe the spinoff will be about how she is doing there. Hey... maybe it could be about both of them (Andy could work for Karen at the Utica branch... just like old times when they worked together in Stanford). The only actor confirmed in the spinoff is Aziz Ansari (from Human Giant on MTV). Everything else is just speculation.

I guess all we can do is hope that the spinoff is as good as the original without taking anything away from the original (LEAVE DWIGHT ALONE!)