Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Here are some little things you might not have known about the office. :)
worth taking a look at
=
'The Office' was originally a British seris and was "americanized". An example: David Brent (michael's british counter part) calls Jenny (Jan) 'Camilla Parker-Bowls' in the pilot. In the American one, Michael calls Jan 'Hillary Rodham Cilnton.
The show was orignally called The Office: An American Workplace.
The scene where Jim tapes pencils to his desk (the pilot) and Dwight says they are a safety violation was originally filmed as the British version was, in which Tim stacks up cardboard boxes in front of Gareth so he can't see him. The scene was later reshot. However, later on in the episode, if you look closely in the background, you can see the boxes stacked up in front of Dwight.
The two women in blue sweaters at the staff meeting scene, in the pilot, were actual accountants that worked on the production.
Michael asks Ryan if he likes The Jamie Kennedy Experiment and Punk'd, and Ryan says that he does. B.J. Novak, who plays Ryan, was a prankster on the second season of Punk'd.
Larry Wilmore, who plays the sensitivity trainer Mr. Brown, (diversity day) is actually a writer for the show.
Wilmore would appear as Mr. Brown once again in the season three episode "Gay Witch Hunt", giving the Stamford branch the Diversity Today sensitivity training; it is implied that the Stamford branch had to sit through it because of events in Scranton.
These are the roles played by the Dunder Miffling employees in Michael's diversity exercise:
Character Race/nationality
Michael Martin - Luther King Jr.
Dwight - Asian (also "Dwight" in a deleted scene)
Stanley - Black
Angela - Jamaican
Kevin - Italian
Meredith - Brazilian
Pam - Jewish
Oscar - Eskimo
Devon - West Nile (deleted scene)
In the 'Health Care' episode, the bogus diseases that the employees give on their forms to frustrate Dwight include Ebola, Hot Dog Fingers, Count Choculitus, Government Created Killer Nanobot Infection, and Spontaneous Dental Hydroplosion.
Dwight's embrace of the law of the jungle as justification for the health plan he chooses is at odds with the political philosophy he expresses in "Drug Testing", where he says "Rules are what separate us from the jungle animals".
The Dundie awards are first mentioned by Dwight in 'The Alliance'.
A sign seen in 'The Alliance' gives Dunder Mifflin's address as 1725 Slough Avenue, a reference to the UK The Office locale in Slough, Berkshire, England.
'The Alliance' marks the first appearance of the staff newsletter. The text of the staff newsletter is the same each time it appears (since it is merely a prop); only the picture and headline change.
Top Salesman Award
Welcome to yet another exciting edition of the Duner Mifflin Employee Newsletter. Thanks to all of the staff and new contributing writers for putting this together for all of you, and also many thanks to the folks at Designtown for printing this up for us. Hopefully you will find alot [sic] of useless information contained herein that will help you do your job faster and quicker and cheaper and happier.
As anybody can easily tell, this newsletter doesn't really have alot to say. It's really just a prop to fill some space and sort of look like a newsletter without really being much of a newsletter at all. By typing alot of words in two columns on the front of this page, we can achieve the look of a newsletter without really reporting much news or provide any real information to the reader at all. In fact, at times we can probably get away with not using real english [sic] words, such as kjgowbiwiwpo, ovcviqvck, or the much beloved dfbiouvsulegphaelk. These words can also be strung together to form a sentence, paragraph or even a whole prop book, magazine or newspaper.
"Basketball" was inspired by a cut interview with Michael from the "Pilot" episode where he brags about playing basketball in the warehouse.
When Roy hits Jim during the game, it was an actual accident: David Denman really elbowed John Krasinski in the lip, so much that he bled and ended up missing a photo shoot the next day due to the swelling.
Although only a few made the final cut, Brian Baumgartner actually made fourteen shots in a row during the filming of Kevin's scene on the court after the game.
'The Dundies' starts the running gag of Michael having a "man-crush" on Ryan. He slaps him on the buttocks in this episode.
The Dundies marks the only time where a song is played without the source (such as a boom box or computer) seen on screen (Tiny Dancer is played in the end). The only exception is in the pilot when the theme is played in the end.
Originally, near the end of 'The Dundies', Pam was going to vomit and Dwight was to respond, "A woman has vomited!" On the first day of shooting, it turned out that Chili's hadn't read the script, and they didn't approve of associating their restaurant with vomiting. Chili's told them they wouldn't allow them to use the set but, after a few hours, a compromise was made: Pam falls off of her bar stool and Dwight responds, "A woman has had a seizure!"
The extras playing the waitstaff at Chili's are all actual Chili's workers.
Since Jenna Fischer doesn't drink much in real life, B. J. Novak took her out so she could get drunk while Novak described to her how she was behaving and how it didn't match her own perception. She drew upon this experience for her performance in 'The Dundies'.
Dundies Winners!
Busiest Beaver Award - Phyllis (trophy lettering was misspelled as "Bushiest Beaver")
Hottest in the Office Award - Ryan
Tight Ass Award - Angela (refused to accept award)
Spicy Curry Award - Kelly (award was actually a bowling trophy; Michael explained that they "ran out of businessmen")
Don't Go In There After Me Award - Kevin
Fine Work Award - Stanley (Won the "Great Work" award the year before)
Whitest Sneakers Award - Pam (Previous 3 time "Longest Engagement Award" winner)
Jim Halpert Award - Jim (Not shown in final cut; mentioned in DVD audio commentary)
'Sexual Harassment' aired with a warning that it contained adult content and subject matter, which is rare for a network comedy. Writer B.J. Novak later explained the reason was that he had to fight NBC to get the word "boner" on the air because the replacement - "schwing" - didn't have, according to Novak, "the same redemption for Michael at the end". The network compromised
"Sexual Harassment" didn't air in the state of Kentucky.
Angela ends up being the only employee who doesn't participate in the games in "Office Olympics".
In every episode previous to "Office Olympics", when Steve Carell's name came up in the credits, it showed a clip of him talking in "Diversity Day". This is the first episode in which it changes to a clip of him speaking in "Sexual Harassment".
During the playing of the Star Spangled Banner at the end of "Office Olympics", all of the characters have their right hand over their hearts except for Kevin, who has his left hand over his heart.
In "Pilot", Michael Scott claims that Dunder Mifflin has the entire floor of the building, but in "Office Olympics", we see that Vance Refrigeration has offices on the floor as well. Michael was probably exaggerating in the Pilot episode.
The fire fighters in "The Fire" were real fire fighters.
In "The Fire", when playing "Who would you do?" while outside, Oscar says he would do Pam even though it is later revealed he is a homosexual, although he may have said it to hide his homesexuality.
When Devon is fired, he informs everyone he will be at Poor Richard's and proceeds to list off the names of the employees who are welcome to join him after work. The only people he doesn't mention are Michael, Creed, Dwight and Angela.
Stanley and Ryan were the only office workers that didn't dress up for Halloween.
Reruns of "Halloween" that have been shortened for time include a different edit of the show where Creed is the one fired thus causing continuity errors for viewers who have only seen this version.
"Halloween" costumes:
Michael - Two-Headed Man
Dwight - Sith Lord
Jim - Three-Hole-Punch Jim
Pam - Black Cat
Ryan - No Costume
Kevin - Dunder Mifflin Superhero (a la Mr. Incredible)
Toby - Hugh Hefner
Angela - White Cat
Oscar - Woman
Stanley - No Costume
Phyllis - Cat
Meredith - Person With Bloody Head
Kelly - Dorothy
Creed - Count Dracula
Devon - Hobo
Rainn Wilson (who plays Dwight) is actually a certified yellow belt.
In "The Fight", when Dwight is searching for his desk, the camera goes to B.J. Novak (who plays Ryan) and on his computer he is on his MySpace page.
In "The Fight", Jim's e-mail to pam reads: "Pam, Hey, If that was weird today, I just want toa t". (Spelling Errors Intended)
Pam's e-mail aadress is pam@dundermifflin.com
In "The Client", although Michael says that Chili's is "a couple blocks away" and mocks Jan for not knowing this about Scranton, in reality there is no Chili's in Scranton — the closest one is about 30 minutes away in the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre.
When the workers are table reading Michael's script the parts they play are as followed:
Dwight as Agent Michael Scarn (The protagonist)
Ryan as Samuel L. Chang (The bumbling African-Asian-American sidekick)
Phyllis as Catherine Zeta-Jones (The love interest)
Oscar as Goldenface (The antagonist)
Jim as the actions/descriptions in the movie
The illustrations that accompany the screenplay (Threat Level: Midnight) were drawn by Greg Daniels. The task was first given to a professional artist, but the results were too good to be convincing as something Michael would have drawn
Paul Lieberstein (Toby) said the first idea that anybody came up with for "The Client" was the final shot, where Jim and Michael look at each other and shake their heads, suggesting that they had just been through similar experiences. The episode was written so events would lead to that scene
In "The Client", the story of Oscar's first date is based on an actual date that writer Paul Lieberstein went on.
The opening joke, in "Performance Review", with the fitness orb is actually a blooper. The orb was supposed to deflate slowly, but John Krasinski hit a seam, and it popped. (You can see the other actors in the scene reacting out of character.) The producers like the take so much they kept it.
In "Performance Review", when rehearsing the scene where Michael welcomes Jan to the office, Steve Carell accidentally touched Melora Hardin's breast. She thought it was so funny that she insisted they incorporate it into the scene.
In "Email Surveillance", John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer had a major laughing fit during the lunchroom scene with Michael. Jenna stated she was amazed they were able to cut the scene together.
When in the lunchroom, in "Email Surveillance", Michael mentions that he misses the parties he used to go to at college, even though in an earlier episode, "The Fire", he admitted to Ryan that he never went to college. However the story may have just been made up in an attempt to get invited to Jim's Party, especially since Michael makes a point that the professors (and by analogy, the boss) were invited.
In "Email Surveillance", Angela Kinsey improvised the line (outside with Dwight at the party), "I think that's all right. I mean, Jesus drank wine." She was apparently very surprised it made it in the final cut of the episode.
In "Email Surveillance", Dwight and Angela are actually making out in a small dollhouse in Jim's backyard. There was a scene that was cut that explained that it belonged to the people Jim rents the house from.
In the Evite for Jim's BBQ, the time and date of the party was November 5 at 8pm. The address was 2147 West Silverlake Drive.
At Jim's party,Creed appears in the shirt he later gives him at the Christmas party.
In "Christmas Party", the party part of this episode was filmed over three days. The bowl of egg nog sat out for twelve hours a day, although they would cover it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. However, the cookies and pigs in a blanket became hard and stale, which is why there is very limited eating seen at the party.
"Christmas Party" is the first appearance of Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration (Phyllis' husband) as well as the first mention of Meredith's drinking problem, which has since become a running gag.
According to John Krasinski (Jim), the pencil, in the teapot he got for Pam for Christmas, was a mini-golf pencil that Pam playfully threw at Jim
When the Christmas ornaments did not break, Angela Kinsey (Angela) improvised stomping on them, in "Chirstmas Party."
Lake Wallenpaupack is an actual lake located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. However, it is some distance from Scranton and is surrounded mostly by woodlands, not the brightly lit shores seen in the episode, which was filmed off the coast of California. Also, no boat traffic is permitted on the lake during the winter months.
Rainn Wilson got really sick the second night of shooting "Booze Cruise".
In "The Injury",it appears Dwight either reverted his emergency contact from "the hospital" back to "Michael Scott" or Ryan never changed it.
In "The Injury", Angela Kinsey is actually caught "out of character" in the opening moments of this episode. In the shot with Oscar in the foreground talking about a movie trilogy, Brian Baumgartner and Kinsey can be seen in the background laughing. She admitted in her MySpace blog: "We were just being ourselves goofing around and didn't realize they had already started rolling the camera!"
"The Injury" is the first time documentary material appears, as Michael's microphone is seen
In "The Secret", Michael takes Jim out to lunch at a Hooters Restaurant. However, in reality there is no Hooters in Scranton.
Michael begins to sing a verse from The Go Go's song Our Lips Are Sealed though incorrectly states that it was sung by rival girl group The Bangles in "The Secret".
In "The Carpet", before Michael halts the Sales competition, it appeared that Stanley was in the lead.
In "The Carpet", in the scene where the employees are smelling Michael's office, Steve Carell had actually thrown a stinkbomb in the office, moments before shooting, unaware to the rest of the cast.
During the scene where Kelly begs Jim to help her gauge Ryan's interest in her, a whiteboard with quarterly sales is noticeable above Kelly's desk. Of the 4 salespersons at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton, Dwight had the most sales for the quarter.
Rock 107, the radio station Dwight keeps calling, is an actual radio station in the Scranton area.
"The Capret" is the first episode in which Kelly is a chatterbox. In earlier episodes, she did not exhibit this personality trait.
In "Boys and Girls", Jan's threat to have the warehouse closed if the employees unionize is unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act (however, such threats are commonly made in real life).
In "Boys and Girls", the blow up doll in the warehouse is the same one from the episode Sexual Harassment. The super imposed face of Michael is also a reference to the 2nd episode of the UK Office, where David Brent is offended that someone superimposed his face on a pornographic image.
In "Valentine's Day", Conan O'Brien's cameo in New York marks the first time a celebrity has appeared as himself or herself on the show (if Creed Bratton is not counted). Incidentally, he later dropped in on the Dunder Mifflin offices in the opening segment of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
When "Valentine's Day" was filmed, Angela Kinsey had a tan from attending the Golden Globes which had to be covered with make-up to conceal.
Michael's movie (faces of scranton) is credited a Michael Scott Joint, a spoof of the way Spike Lee credits his movies.
In "Valentine's Day", in the background of Jim's talking head at the beginning of the episode, Pam delivers Phyllis yet another gift.
In the "Faces of Scranton" video, Michael repeatedly dips his tea bag into an empty cup.
In "Dwight's Speech", a framed magazine cover is visible in Michael's cabinet when he shows his Salesman of the Year awards. It appears to be a Dunder Mifflin in-house magazine, with Michael's love interest, Jan Levinson, on the cover.
Dwight's award ("Dwight's Speech") probably came at the expense of Jim. In the "Diversity Day" episode, Jim loses a sale that normally makes up 25% of his yearly commission to Dwight. More than likely this had a significant impact on making Dwight the number one salesperson and Jim number nine
In "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Michael asks Ryan if he could go to "my mother's house in Dickson City" to get the Fundle Bundle tape. Dickson City is an actual town in the suburbs of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the show is set
In "Michael's Birthday", Michael states he shares the same birthday as Eva Longoria, which means it lands on March 15. Some consider this to be a continuity error in the series, since he stated in "Sexual Harassment" that he had a "late birthday." However, he could've been lying in the context of the scene in that episode.
Toby's suggestion to Kevin in "Michael's Birthday", that he find out whether he can get on Stacy's health plan since Dunder-Mifflin's coverage "sucks" is a reference to the first-season episode "Health Care" in which Michael's indecision on which plan to choose leads to the employees being stuck with a very bad one.
According to Jenna Fischer, the writers had been looking for a reason to use Carell's ice-skating skills in an episode. Reportedly, she used to play hockey. (Fischer learned to skate in preparation for the movie Blades of Glory but decided that her character Pam can't.)
In "Drug Testing", Jim's impression of Stanley in this episode was inspired by John Krasinski's actual talent of doing impressions on the set.
Michael has a bandage around his finger in this episode because Steve Carell hurt his finger during the week and was unable to remove his wedding ring due to the swelling. Instead of cutting off his ring, the crew simply wrapped a bandage around it in "Drug Testing".
In "Drug Testing", when Michael is asking Dwight for his urine, you can see a picture in the background of the entire office. This picture is the one taken in the Conflict Resolution episode, which aired after this one did. It's the photograph that Michael edits using his Mac and is shown for about 3 seconds (with all of their faces superimposed on it.)
In a deleted scene in "Drug Testing", Dwight takes notes on some of the workers during the conference: "Creed- Shifty eyes. Ryan- Dilated pupils. Kelly- Hyperactive."
In "Conflict Resolution", the poster Oscar complains about was given to Angela by Toby in the Secret Santa swap in "Christmas Party".
Roy's last name is finally revealed on the "Save the Date" card that Angela holds up to the camera: Anderson. This means that if Pam decided to take his last name in their marriage, her name would be Pamela Anderson.
In "Casino Night", at the beginning of the episode, Michael refers to himself as a "philanderer" instead of a "philanthropist". A philanderer is defined as, a man who likes many women and has short sexual relationships with them; an ironic description of Michael.
"Gay Witch Hunt" marks the second time an expletive has been censored.
Jim has been promoted at Stamford in "Gay Witch Hunt", though in "Health Care", he noted that moving up in the company would make paper sales his career, a move which would cause him to "jump in front of a train."
During Jim's first shown meeting in the Stamford office, the unnamed older woman seated to his right has a hair-do and outfit similar to Pam's usual style.
In "The Coup", Andy's Call of Duty screen name is "Here Comes Treble" after his a capella group mentioned in the season premiere.
Karen's screen name is "KarentheJimSlayer", a spoof of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"The Coup" appears to be the first episode of the Office known to be set on a Monday.
Jim seems to have never heard of Call of Duty, though a copy of the Mac-compatible version of Call of Duty: United Offensive is clearly visible on the desk in Jim's room in the season two episode "E-mail Surveillance". It is best visible when Pam is looking at Jim's yearbook.
In "Grief Counseling", when Karen is at the vending machine, a bag of the chips she desired — Herr's Salt and Vinegar — can be seen along the left hand side of the vending machine.
It is revealed that Michael, Phyllis, and Creed have worked in the office the longest, the "Grief Counseling".
Jokingly in his family member death story, Kevin says the plot of Weekend at Bernie's. In a deleted scene for The Fire, he states that it is one of his top five favorite movies (along with Weekend at Bernie's II).
In "Initiation", while "testing" Ryan, one of the questions that Dwight asks him is what the DHARMA Initiative, from Lost, is.
According to Dwight's trivia answer, in "Initiation", Dunder-Mifflin co-founder Robert Mifflin killed himself, not because of depression, but because "he hated himself."
The figurine Mose whittled as a part of his gift basket is actually a rendition of the Venus of Willendorf.
When Pam tells Jim that she can type 90 words per minute, he replies by saying that not even Mavis Beacon, the logotype persona for the typing program Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, could type that fast. Coincidently, Jenna Fischer worked several years as a receptionist and types at 85 words per minute. Before Pam's typing speed was established, Fischer imagined Pam as not being able to type that fast and intentionally slowed down.
In "Diwali"Kelly's parents were played by Mindy Kaling's real parents. Kaling is Hindu in real life.
There is only one Sal's Pizza in Scranton and their order menu is posted in the office kitchen, which would indicate the office is (somewhat) close to 505 Linden St.
In "Ther Merger", Michael misattributes the question "Can't we all just get along?" to "the Reverend King" when it was actually stated by Rodney King.
In "The Merger", Andy inhabits Oscar's desk, as the character is purportedly taking a three-month company-sponsored vacation with his roommate, Gil.
An unknown character is present in "The Merger" in the conference room during the "Night at the Roxbury" scene, and is later on seen sitting next to Andy when Dwight tells Michael to fire Andy.
In "The Convict", during the scene where Michael Scott is "Prison Mike" and talks about the dementors, it is clear that John Krasinski (Jim) is caught laughing for real at Steve Carrell's antics as he looks into camera all red faced and can hardly control himself.
Ed Helms showcases his real ability to play the banjo, in "The Convict".
In "A Benihana Christmas", the two Asian waitresses at Benihana are not the same two waitresses Michael and Andy bring back to the office
In real life, the closest Benihana location to Scranton, Pennsylvania is over ninety minutes driving away. Therefore, it would have been unlikely for the characters to leave the office, eat at Benihana, and return to the Scranton branch in three hours, as suggested by the episode's dialogue.
Dwight adding drum noise with his mouth during Angela's karaoke version of "Little Drummer Boy" is a reference to a scene of the Pilot episode, in which he annoys Jim with the same song, in "A Benihana Christmas".
In "The Alliance", Angela claimed that green is whorish. In "A Benihana Christmas", she now believes that orange is whorish. (In both cases, Angela's choice of color matches the color of Phyllis's outfit.)
When Angela discusses her estranged sister, she says "so, yeah... I'm pretty good." This is what Kevin says when talking about his success at the World Series of Poker in the Season 2 finale Casino Night.
In "A Benihana Christmas", Creed is seen in the first scene with Toby, Dwight and Phyllis. Yet after the opening credits, he is seen entering The Office, presumably for the first time, then stealing a gift, which Jim criticizes him about.
In "BacK From Vacation", during a breakroom chat between Pam and Jim, Pam says she endured listening to Michael play a conch shell, though he only is shown playing a steeldrum.
In "Traveling Salesmen",the executive Jim and Dwight are selling to tells them he caught he fish he's pictured with on Lake Wallenpaupack, the real northeastern Pennsylvania lake that was the site of the "Booze Cruise" episode.
When Angela is talking to Pam while getting coffee she refers to a hypothetical situation involving Noelle and Kurt. In "Conflict Resolution" and "The Injury", it is revealed that Dwight's middle name is Kurt. It is therefore a reasonable assumption that Angela's middle name is Noelle.
In "Traveling Salesmen", Phyllis states she's glad Karen has entered Jim's life to help him get over Pam; however, in "Branch Closing", she tells Pam excitedly of overhearing Jim was to return from the Stamford branch.
In "The Return", the shirt that Dwight wears upon return to the office has the Battlestar Galactica logo on it, the second reference to the 2004 reimagining of Galactica during the series.
Jim says he misses Dwight the episode when Oscar returned, and Dwight sarcastically said he missed Jim in episode when Oscar left in Gay Witch Hunt.
Oscar does not appear in "Ben Franklin", despite returning in the previous episode, "The Return". Andy also does not appear, as he is in anger management training (stated in the online producer's cut of "The Return"). Toby also does not appear due to the fact that he was "sent home by Michael" so he wouldn't know of the strippers. This was shown in the deleted scenes for the show.
The blouse worn by the stripper during the party, in "Ben Franklin", is a previous "Pam shirt" according to Jenna Fischer's MySpace blog.
