Greg Daniels says his idea for a reboot of The Office is a bit like The Mandalorian
The Office creator wants to explore the world of menial office life with "an extension of the universe"
Aux News The Office
The Marvel Cinematic Universe could have a rival to its world of complex and interconnected storytelling. Enter: The Office Televisual Universe. In an interview with Collider, Greg Daniels, creator of the American version of The Office, discussed what he envisions for a reboot of the beloved NBC series.
His idea involves new characters set in the same universe of the original show. He explains, “I can’t tell whether fans would want more of it, and when I say more of it, I don’t think it would be the same characters. I think it would just be sort of like an extension of the universe, you know what I mean, like the way [The] Mandalorian is like an extension of Star Wars. But I don’t know if that would be something people would want or not, it’s hard to tell.”
This expanded universe reboot concept isn’t new for the NBC comedy. Daniels’ 2009 Parks and Recreation was reportedly intended as a sequel to The Office. A bad copy machine from Dunder Mifflin would have been sent to the local government office in Pawnee, Indiana. However, that idea changed in favor of making the Amy Poehler-led series a spiritual sequel instead.
Although Daniels isn’t sure if The Office fans would be down for this type of reboot, he does know NBC would “certainly be very excited to do it.” NBC content chief Susan Rovner has previously said that they’re ready for a reboot whenever Daniels is.
“Obviously certain parts are just personal,” Daniels adds. “Like I’ve got all these other projects that I’ve been working on. [The Office] was such a wonderful and rare experience that obviously you don’t want to just go back to it and kind of possibly disappoint people when right now, they couldn’t be happier about it.”
Fans’ reaction to a reboot seems a bit more unsure for Daniels, as he does point out that enthusiasts of the original British series weren’t too keen on the U.S. adaption at first. “A lot of people were very down on it because they were like, ‘It’ll never be as good as the English show.’” he said. “And then it took a while, but we sort of turned that boat around.”
With NBC’s streaming service Peacock selling subscription tiers based on varying access to the series, it’s no doubt that the reboot would still have loyal watchers. Years later, lovers of the show even made everyone’s favorite chili connoisseur Brian Baumgartner more than $1 million on Cameo. Perhaps the new series could follow an office of podcasters, hmm?
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When it was announced that Better Call Saul was going to tell the story of Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad, I said out loud to no one in particular “this is going to be dumb”. And now, it’s equal (ok 49/51) to Breaking Bad in my eyes…so I may not be the best person to judge this reboot.But I’m a guessin’, if it doesn’t have Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute or any of the other loveable office cast (minus Jim, Pam or Michael), it’s going to fail on Quibi-type levels. If it’s not The Office, don’t call it The Office or people are going to go apeshit when it’s not The Office.
I could see a version with Dwight in the district manager role popping up a few times a season with an entirely new cast
No, I can definitively say the Office Connected Universe is dumb.
An “expanded universe” that includes none of the original characters and is not a sci-fi or fantasy genre show makes very little sense to me. That’s just…present day Earth?
Like the Mandalorian has to be a Star Wars show because otherwise, it would be distractingly weird to have mandalorians showing up, but bored office workers aren’t copyrightable or that unique a premise. They could retroactively declare that Parks & Rec, Community, 30 Rock, and hell, Law & Order and The Sopranos are all canon in the Office universe and nobody would even have to change any references. This seems like nothing more than a (potentially misleading) branding exercise.
“Fan Theory Proves Almost All TV Shows Exist Within Same Universe“https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tv-show-fake-tommy-westphall-universe_n_55f84ba1e4b00e2cd5e8118a
Wasn’t Frasier just an expanded universe of Cheers?
Frasier followed one of the original characters from Cheers into a new setting, something we typically call a “spinoff.” While technically accurate, nobody was describing it as “a new show set in the Cheers universe,” as that’s usually reserved for sci-fi or fantasy settings with fundamentally different structures than our own universe. Frasier is set in Seattle, not Middle Earth. If it were called “Dave” and they took out the small handful of guest spots from the original Cheers cast, they wouldn’t have to pay anybody royalties.
yeah i immediately recognized my error but was too lazy to correct it.
… unless it’s all about the trials and tribulations of installing cooling systems for Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration.
Actually, that one might work. It seems like sometimes the spinoffs that actually last are the relatively sparsely used characters from the mothership.
OK, so how tenuous does the connection have to be to be considered a spinoff? Like if Parks and Rec had some paper from Dunder Mifflin delivered there, and then never mention it again, is that a spinoff?What if it’s all new people, new city, but it’s still working for Sabre in some capacity? What if it’s Pam’s sister who was never mentioned on The Office? Frasier was technically a spinoff of Cheers but it may as well have been a completely different show. Frasier, Lilith, and their son carried over but they didn’t need Cheers at all as characters. I’m easy. If it works it works, if it doesn’t it doesn’t, call it whatever you want for marketing purposes.
Hot take: First season of Better Call Saul was better than the first season of Breaking Bad, and it kept that trajectory for each subsequent season.
I will not argue with you.
That’s not such a hot take. I think most people thought BB was kinda rough at the beginning and got better and better all the way through the end. One of the very few series that did that.In any case, no question 1st + 2nd season of BCS is better than 1-2 BB.
I’m pretty sure that if “BB” stands for Breaking Bad, it’s generally considered one of the best-written pilots of all time.
I sure as heck don’t agree with that. I almost gave up on BB in Season 1. Thank God I stuck it out. Those early seasons were pretty shaky.Now, Ozymandias is a downright classic of American television that stands up to any episode of any other show that ever aired, but that was wayyy down the road and far, far better written than anything in seasons 1 or 2.
I feel the early seasons did a really great job of encapsulating the ‘oh shit’ of how much trouble they were already in from the get-go, and the terror/comedy of keeping that under wraps. It’s weird to remember that the whole thing got rolling with going from zero to having to conceal a self-defense double murder and dispose of bodies, all in the first three episodes. When I cheated and listed “The Cat’s in the Bag..” and “And the Bag’s in the River” as one episode, it made it into my top ten along with “Grilled” (Tuco standoff) and (maybe) “Four Days Out”, both from S2.Obviously to each their own, and Ozymandias is so good that the list was aside from it, but I like the suburban drudgery/semi-reality of the early ones, too, and for anyone who cares, my #1 was “Dead Freight”. Hands down.
I’m a One Minute guy, myself.
I bet you are! 😉 (Just kidding)
I agree. The 2nd season is my favorite and think as the show progressed, it became less of a character study and more of an action adventure show. Not that the later seasons weren’t great but I feel like the story arc’s in season 2 were much more interesting
Office: The Next Generation
It should be a Battlestar Galactica crossover. Dwight would be in heaven.
Heaven, or the ambiguous place where Kara Thrace went toward the end of the BG reboot?
So… baby Dwight, then?
“Young Dwight” airing on CBS
One of the things that drove me crazy about the show, especially as it kept going, was that Jim and Dwight in particular had different characterizations depending on the joke and it just didn’t work narratively for the long term. In Dwight’s case, he loves “Kickstart My Heart”, drives a Trans Am (something he probably thought was cool when he was in high school), is aware enough of pop culture to like GoT (which I doubt was the first pop culture thing he was into), likes Star Wars… so there appears to be some semblance of a normal childhood inside all that weirdness. But other times, he was raised without electricity and seemed to know nothing about the outside world. Showing him growing up would not work because there are just too many internal inconsistencies that work for one-off jokes no one will remember, but would not work actually seeing him grow up. I don’t watch BBT or Young Sheldon, but I am guessing he is characterized as “nerdy, awkward kid who is very smart and possibly autistic being raised in Texas” which does not offer the same kind of possible contradictions.And with that, I have spent way too much time thinking about The Office and BBT today.
One that was just pointed out to me: In the job fair episode, Pam mentions lying about her period to get out of volleyball in high school gym class. Then the next season, she’s a volleyball ace who played all through HS/college and went to volleyball camp, according to what she says at the company picnic. I mean, I know people in HS who didn’t like playing the sports they played competitively in gym class, just because it was kind of frustrating to them, but those folks are probably few and far between.
Forget the extension nonsense and just do cameos and easter eggs if you must. It works just the same but without the need for actual connectedness. Dude comes in with a Schrute Farms bag full of beets and such. We the audience can still point at the screen and say “hey, that’s a thing I know” and then be the millionth person to tweet out “Am I the only one that got that?#Beets” I suggest a mockumentary involving landscapers. The camera crew follows different crews around to different homes to watch them spread mulch and cut trees and clean gutters. This allows for a whole host of weirdo homeowners, in-car shots to and from jobs, and a building where the crew meets in the morning and end of day. Comedy ensues and it’s a good time for all.
Have you seen “Party Down”
I have not. And to tell ya the truth, I was half-expecting it to be a comedy about landscapers when I looked it up. Got my hopes up.Also, it says it’s on Starz. Wtf is Starz?
lol
its on hulu too. nothing to do with landscapers but a severly underrated show
Yeah, the trailer intrigued me. I was gonna check it out at some point since two of my weekly shows ended Sunday, meaning I have space in my head to keep track of a new show.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts after you definitely binge all of Party Down this weekend (there are only 20 episodes and they are short). It’s a blast.
I don’t have to go to work today or tomorrow. I’ve already made it through 5 episodes so far. It’s a really good show. And Ken Marino will always be the “I wanna dip my balls in it” guy from The State to me.
It kills me when customers and co-workers jokingly ask me “Are we having fun yet?” because all I can think of is a depressed Adam Scott in a van getting a handy from a Stepford wife.
It’s very similar to what you pitched but with caterers instead of landscapers. Each episode takes place at a new venue they’re catering at. There’s this really fun episode where they cater the lobby after a community theatre production.
I mean it has nothing to do with landscapers but the idea of visiting “different weirdos homes” is pretty much one of the core concepts of Party Down.The idea is cool but I had the same reaction as that other guy had.
So – same office and business, entirely new people? Just like IRL.Except, maybe Creed, right?
Show: Creed. In prison.You’re welcome, Greg Daniels.
You mean it’s going to suck?
I’d like to see an Office style sitcom done in the tech world. There’s a whole world to mine in a work environment in which employees are called “MetaMates” or “Googlers.”
So Silicon Valley?
there’s even an office castmember in the lead cast.
Boy, the office did poor Zach no favors. If it wasn’t for Andy’s ridiculously bad Season 9, Gabe Newell would have been unquestionably the least favorite character of the show.
Silicon Valley was more of a satire about the tech industry as a business. There’s a lot to say about what it’s like to to work at Google or Facebook and know to be slightly aware that you’re being treated as a juvenile as a sneaky way to keep you chained to your computer for a company destroying democracy for profit
“His idea involves new characters set in the same universe of the original show.”Isn’t that basically the mostly forgettable Season 9?
It goes further than that. There was a planned spinoff of the show developed during season 9 called “The Farm,” which would’ve followed Dwight and his heretofore estranged siblings Fannie and Jeb as they take over Schrute Farms after the passing of Aunt Shirley. A pilot was shot, but it wasn’t taken to series, so the pilot was instead retooled into episode 193, “The Farm,” (S9E17) which is, for my money, far and away the worst episode of The Office. So needless to say I’m pessimistic about a possible reboot.Edit: Lmao, the AVC’s reviewer gave this episode a B and called it a refreshing breather from the season-long arcs the show was known for. That’s hilarious.
I don’t know why backdoor pilots exist any more. The audience didn’t sign on to watch your spinoff. Just do it as a normal show.
“A lot of people were very down on it because they were like, ‘It’ll
never be as good as the English show.’” he said. “And then it took a
while, but we sort of turned that boat around.”
Yeah, when people forgot about the UK version.A reboot of this is pointless. Save for a sweeps episode where Toby and Angela show up for “reasons,” there are already enough “break fourth wall and mug” shows out there.
Mugs! They could have the new characters drinking out of Creed and Meredith “blue star” mugs and we can all point it out to our spouses and then tweet as furiously as Spike Lee tweets out wrong addresses.
So they need the Office branding to generate interest. Probably use the same format, and then set the show in like Minnesota or Texas or something. Maybe have CGI de-aged Dwight drop in for a sales call at some point.
I look forward to watching Ice Cold, a look at the inner workings of Vance Refrigeration.
They can call it “AfterO*F*F*I*C*E” and have it star the three least popular characters from the original series.
I get the bit you’re doing, but I gotta say – Post Office was right there.
Hi, this is HeyItsLiam, and yesterday I said a few comments that offended a few people, and I’d like to extend my apology for those comments. Unfortunately, I didn’t represent myself properly on how I wanted to explain myself. What I was simply trying to do was make a joke over the fact that there was a long-running sitcom with the same spinoff idea as another long-running sitcom. I sincerely apologize over the fact that people were offended. I am not an unimaginative person. Thank you for your time.
Col Potter was in the bottom three? C’mon. Did you watch the way he broke up when Radar gave him the horse? Or the pride he felt when Hawk and Beej sincerely saluted him in the finale? Or when he remembers all of his fallen comrades from WW I with a toast of brandy? I’m not buying bottom three.
“Meredith Palmer, P.I.”
So… Ryan, Robert California, and Nellie decide to open a business?
Counterpoint: Scrubs, Season 9
The Office largely sucked after Mike Schur left. No reason to think a reboot will be any better.
“Brooklyn Office Place” starting in one month on NBC.
One thing the Office did well, especially early on, was highlight that these people are all there to earn a paycheck first and foremost, but then the interactions they have and things to do to make earning that paycheck tolerable. I think that touched a nerve with a majority of US workers, who I am guessing feel the same way (and if you are one of those people that actually loves your job, I am envious of you/I hate you. Mostly JK about the hate part.). The show lost a lot of that as it progressed (it kept getting zanier and the turnover there would have been higher, especially with budget cuts) but I think it would be easy enough to reboot it with that same spirit. Working from home, an increasingly digital workforce, out-of-touch execs, reduced company loyalty, fear of looking for a new job… all that could be explored in a new series.
So a spin off about Dwight as a bounty hunter? Because I think that could work and I think I would watch it.
I still think Parks and Rec has the best options for reboots. Just switch the focus to another department. There could be a “Waste Management” show with the 2 stoner guys or a “Sewage Department” show with Sewage Joe as a surly, disgusting Leslie. The show could run at the same time as the original, and Parks and Rec characters could do cameos whenever it works. Imagine an episode where the Waste Management crew has to capture raccoons for the Harvest Festival.
Just greenlight Young Creed already!!!!