Rich Sommer talks about a JAM roadblock averted
Friday, September 18th, 2009 | 44 comments
USA Today’s Pop Candy interviewed ‘Mad Men’ star Rich Sommer, and he talks about how Pam’s relationship with her art school friend Alex (played by Sommer) could have developed last season on The Office:
… my character was supposed to be enamored of Pam. He was supposed to be a potential roadblock for Pam and Jim … The audience response to seeing Pam being even mildly flirtatious or being flirted with by some art-school guy … the Internet exploded.
What do you think? Did they make the right story decision?
Read the whole interview at the link below!
Link: A chat with ‘Mad Men’ star Rich Sommer (scroll down to the bottom of the page)
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Although I think the art school guy having a crush on Pam would have been interesting and given the art school plotline more weight, we’d need to see more development of the art school guy for us to really “care,” or least find it feasible that Pam would even think about going for him. And if the intent was just seeing an unrequited crush on Pam, we already covered that ground with Toby.
I feel that having yet another guy fall for Pam would have been overkill. We had already been through Roy and Toby’s icky crush.
My favorite aspect of this show is Jim/Pam, and I’m thrilled to see them happy together, finally.
These comments are cracking me up! We all have our favorite moments, episodes, storylines…and we all often differ in our opinions wildly. Read the comments for any episode out there, and you will find people who loved it and others who hated it (sometimes for the very same reason!). You know, they just can’t please all of us no matter what they do!
I am not sure how I feel about that, but I hope Pam gets back into art soon this season. Going to be difficult with a baby, but it’s her passion.
33. pranks, inc.: I agree! I still don’t understand why PB&J’s chemistry was all but eliminated in season 5. It was great to see them as comedy partners in ‘Gossip’ and its 2nd deleted scene:)
Regardless of fans’ responses, Pam being tempted by Alex and/or having doubts about her relationship with Jim would have been bad writing. It would have been unrealistic, disingenuous, lazy, and cliche writing. The Office’s writing staff is way too good to have to stoop to those levels for interesting stories.
I guess that Rich Sommer (who’s actually terrific as Harry Crane) might have a fuzzy memory. TV shows have three or four episodes shot in advance before one airs. They can’t change his lines for the next episode because of a strong Internet reaction. They can fine tune one episode in editing but that’s about it.
Rich was hired for three episodes, his big speech for the second one was altered a few days before and his scenes in the third one were deleted. But Alex wasn’t dismissed because audiences felt negatively, he was there to make audiences feel negatively and remind them of the feelings between Pam and Jim, that they are a solid couple. The writers ultimately went with a milder take but the goal still remained.
Jam’s trip to NY was required because she still had the day dream (inherited from the British show) to become a graphic artist while there were many hints she was maybe not so talented. The trip was to show she could take initiatives even if they ultimately fail rather than being Jim’s passive girl. And it paved the way for a more successful initiative, being promoted to saleswoman.
It would have been funny to have a Cheaters-esque episode with Dwight trailing Pam at art school.
Good job, writers. I think playing on Pam’s dream of being an artist was much more powerful. I don’t think Jim would have felt threatened if art-school-guy had professed his love — “I’m gonna make a bigger leap here. He is into you.” was spoken by Jim with amusement, not anxiety. Jim DID feel threatened when ASG touched Pam’s soft spot.
Honestly, I hate the idea that writers make decisions based on internet response. It is thoroughly depressing to think that these brilliant writers feel they have to kowtow to the knee jerk responses of a few hundred fans online. I would hope they trusted their abilities enough to follow their own instincts for the sake of the best story. Jim and Pam in their happy bubble may be deeply satisfying for single minded devotees online, but I think the show suffers from their being set apart as untouchable schmoopies. Every time they have a talking head lately, it’s together and basically agreeing about something in an adorable way, with maybe a few mock conflicts thrown in to underline how very perfect they are for each other and how ridiculous everyone else is. They have no foibles, no Achilles’ heels– they are untouchable and as such have become separate from the otherwise interesting ensemble. In essence, they have become commentators instead of the subjects of the documentary, and it’s not as fun to watch the show now that they’re “in on it”. JMO, YMMV.
It seems everyone is forgetting that the monologue from whatsisname in NY happened during the episode with the tiny bluetooth. The whole point of an “I love you” speech, I think, would have been so Jim overheard it, and the subsequent insecurity would have been the roadblock they considered. And that actually might have been nice – Pam reconsidering if only briefly the engagement once she started wondering if Jim really lacked that much trust in her. We saw inklings of this in Crime Aid, I think, with the “we are not that couple” car bit.
[from tanster: 200-word limit.]
I still have neither read nor heard any reasons supporting why Jim & Pam being a couple has hurt their chemistry. The reason their chemistry was lacking in season 5 was that they were hardly ever together, and when they were they were never a team. In the first 3 seasons PB&J’s chemistry came almost entirely from them being together, as a dynamic duo, not from pining or lack of coupleness. They can still conspire, pull pranks, giggle, flirt, and help each other deal with everyone else’s insanity and inanity. The only reason JAM has not had their old magic is that the writers tried, unsuccessfully, to take them in other directions to stir things up. It’s had nothing to do with some sort of inherently dull nature of being a couple.
I think Stephen Merchant pretty much confirmed what RS said on the episode commentary for Customer Survey, except for the internet influence on the decision. I think BJ hinted on the commentary for Dream Team that Pam at art school did not work out creatively as well as they hoped. It does seem like this story line would have been awkward since Pam’s art school time seemed to take a back seat to Holly and Michael.
Yes, because the love triangle thing would be overdone with Jim and Pam. It was just better to see Jim worried that Pam might like this new guy.
Absolutely the right choice to ix-nay the art guy professing love to Pam. It would have undermined when Jim professed his love to Pam at the end of season 2. I mean how many guys are going to go around professing their love to this girl? Pam is great and all, but that would have just been a bit much….
And Jim has definitely paid his dues pining for Pam and doesn’t need any more roadblocks or reasons to feel insecure. Pam seems to wear the pants in their relationship anyway, so I’d like to see the roles reverse a bit for once. Maybe Pam needs to feel a little insecure and lucky to be with Jim. I think that would spice things up a bit and would work well being played into a pregnancy hormonal thing.
Overall I am glad they are together and happy, but I do miss some of the angst and would like to see a little bit of drama!
The JAM drama dragged enough of the first half of last season down.
At least this would have had some substance, unlike teasing an issue only to say “Nah, just kidding.” at the end.
No, they didn’t make the right choice. I don’t think they should have brought Pam back from NY either (gogo Pam the artist), although to be fair the Michael Scott Paper Company storyline was the best of Season 5. But I digress.
I’m horribly sick of Pam and Jim. I find them much more interesting as individuals, apart from each other. The “happiness” of seeing them together can’t even compare to the sadness and longing and hope that prevailed in seasons 1-3. The JAM storyline is only a shadow of what it once was, and unless the writers find some way to make it interesting again, I think it has run its course.
I am SO happy with the writers’ choice. Maybe some people think Jim’s and Pam’s relationship is boring because there’s no drama, but I find it interesting for that very reason- when’s the last time a will-they-won’t-they TV couple got together and were actually just happy? That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing some problems in their future, as long as the problems arise naturally from the character development rather than being thrown in just to shake things up.
Right choice! I love that Jam is a ‘boring’ couple. I actually find it refreshing that the writers aren’t throwing a bunch of roadblocks at them in a desperate attempt to keep them ‘interesting’. I find that tiresome. If I want to watch a soap opera, I would watch General Hospital, not The Office. What makes The Office so unique is that it takes ‘boring’ and makes it entertaining. I enjoy Jim and Pam as much today as I did in Season 1. They are still the reason I watch every week.
They definitely made the right decision. Having art guy profess his love for Pam after the audience got to see so little of him would have been a pale comparison to Jim’s pining for Pam. And to what end? So Pam could shoot the guy down and say she’s with Jim? Maybe it would have made Jim a little insecure and could have acted as a way to draw Jim and Pam even closer after she reassures him, but we’ve already seen Jim suffer because of his love for Pam. No mas! And Pam reciprocating art guy in any way would have been completely unbelievable and I’d have seriously questioned the writer’s sanity.
As it is, art guy gave his New York speech, Jim gave the camera a look of worry and…that was it! An episode or two later Pam was flunking out of design school and back in Jim’s proverbial arms. I guess when the writers quickly realized the art guy crushing on Pam storyline was a deadend, they beelined it to the end of the NYC plot.