Fall season update
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 | 77 comments
This post will be updated as we hear more news during the upfronts this week. If you’ve got a tip, let me know!
The Office
- May 13 9pm PT: ‘”The Office” is expected to get the 9 p.m. tentpole slot, with “My Name Is Earl” at 8, “30 Rock” at 8:30 and “Scrubs” at 9:30. NBC will pick up six one hour eps of “The Office” for a total of 30 segs.’ Source: Variety
- May 10 5:30pm PT: Kristin’s just posted a new report: ” … NBC reached an agreement late this afternoon with The Office for next season: 24 episodes, including 4 hourlong specials.” Source: E! Online
- May 10 1:30pm PT: E!’s Kristin Veitch reports that the possibility of The Office becoming a one-hour show this fall is stronger than ever: “I’ve just heard from multiple insiders that it’s looking very likely that NBC will double the amount of The Office we’ll get next season. I’m told it’s looking like each episode will expand to be an hourlong; however, if that plan falls through for some reason, I’m hearing that, at the very least, NBC wants to pick up something like 37 episodes of the show in its current half-hour format.” Source: E! Online
The Rules for Starting Over (Rashida Jones’ new show)
- May 12: Several sources are reporting that Fox has picked up The Rules for Starting Over, co-starring Rashida Jones. Sources: Hollywood Reporter, Futon Critic
Tipsters: Brooke, JimHalpertIsLife, Ryan, RealityCheck, Luke
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Why is there debate about Karen getting the job? I thought Ryan got the job. I thought the last scene may have been a hook for next season (David and Ryan were actually each speaking to someone else), but if you go to dundermifflinpaper.biz, there’s a PR that Ryan got the job.
Am I missing something?
AW man, I was really hoping for an hourlong. It wouldn’t be hard what with the genius deleted scenes… hopefully she’s wrong.
And YAY about Rashida. Less Karen = good. I don’t want her to go away entirely.
And I was always afraid of JAM happening too soon then running out of steam and it just wouldn’t be interesting… but if Karen gets the job and tries long distance with Jim, Pam and Jim can be all flirtsy and of course, that causes conflict… yay.
But honestly, my biggest concern right now is waiting all summer for season four. I CAN’T DO IT.
I think that Rashida’s show getting picked up clinches the fact that it will be her that gets the job. She and Jim may still be together for a short time during Season 4, trying the long distance thing. But, without Karen around, Jim and Pam will be free to rekindle the friendship that they’ve lost. Eventually, say around this time next year, I think they will be headed towards serious couple-hood.
I am sooo happy right now but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I’m trying to be 100% pessimistic about Thursday’s show, expecting the worst, so when (if) things start heading in the right direction for Jim and Pam, I will be beyond thrilled and not at all disappointed.
I disagree with what some have said about moving outside of the workspace. I think the best episodes are the ones set purely at Dunder Mifflin, which allow for interaction between the main characters and expansion of the smaller ones. If they run out of situations to set in the office then the show should just end on a high note rather thsn going down the ‘zany’ route.
Oh and YES Karen is out of here!
Even if Fox picked up The Rules for Starting Over, Rashida Jones will probably still guest star on The Office. As much as I would revel in chanting “NO MORE KAREN! NO MORE KAREN!” I think the chant is more like “Not as much Karen! Not as much Karen!”
I’ve never been so excited about upfronts before.
but am i wrong? will she still be on the office even if the rules for starting over is picked up?
OMG! YES!
(the rashida jones part. not anything else.)
wait!! Rashidas show got picked up!?!?! does that mean they might use the JAm ending and we’ll finally have a happy ever after show!!??
I would take anything Kristen says with a grain of salt. She’s said many conflicting things in the past week. Don’t believe anything you hear until Monday’s upfronts. Even after that things can change, with what NBC scheduling random supersizeds and such.
even if the office goes against grey’s and loses miserably..NBC won’t even come close to considering cancelling it. They’d probably just move it back to it’s old time slot. There’s not much to worry about unless you dont have DVR or TiVo.
I think part of the reason why NBC didn’t follow through with the hour long shows was because ALL of The Office’s super-sized episodes have been somewhat disappointing considering the ratings.
The super-sized episodes actually brought in lower ratings that it’s usual half-hour episodes. Can’t blame The Office really for that, it’s more of NBC not advertising the new timeslot, etc.
But still, could that have played just a little factor on this decision? Perhaps.
YESSSS! RJ’s new show = more JAM!
As long as they’re on the air, its good news. But I was expecting that the shows would now either be an hour long or there would be over 30 episodes. I guess I got my hopes up a bit…
I can live with 4 hour long episodes of the Office along with 20 half hour epis. I also wouldn’t doubt if there are at least 4 or 5 super sized epis as well. I say bring it on! The only thing that worries me is it going up against Greys Anatomy and CSI at the 9 spot on Thursdays. Hopefully it can hold its own and still survive due to DVR/TIVO and Itunes.
I actually am relieved. I think hour-long episodes would have been a mistake…quality is always better than quantity. :)
Awww…this latest news from Kristin doesn’t leave much room for doubt, does it? I had really hoped they would give hourlong weekly episodes a try, at least for part of the season.
I was wondering whether it might be possible for the producers to have an online producer’s cut of each episode next season, e.g. either on NBC.com or via iTunes. I think this would be a happy marriage of the pros for and cons against having hourlong weekly episodes.
The producer’s cut would have additional scenes that flesh out the storylines more, give characters more screentime, and help with the flow of the narrative. The writers won’t have the pressure of having to write for an hourlong episode each week; they need only write for the quintessial half hour broadcast, while adding however much extra scenes that were cut for time in the broadcast version, into the online producer’s cut version. So we could have, say, a 25-minute, 30-minute, or 45-minute version each week, depending on the amount of material, and the writers’ own judgement on what the “best” cut of the episode is.
This won’t merely be including the deleted scenes that NBC puts out each week per se. I mean, a lot of the deleted scenes are soundbites or standalone laugh-out-loud scenes, but I’m sure there are a lot more scenes that were cut from the broadcast version, and we never get to see. Scenes that improve the “flow” of the episode, or maybe that extra second of pause in conversation, or a cutaway to a character’s reaction…you know, little moments that could not amount to a deleted scene, but when added up, accentuates the episode on the whole so much more.
The possible caveats are that this probably counts as exclusive online content (root of all the evils surrounding the possible writers’ strike), and that the producer’s cut is only available to online viewers and not a wider population. However, I think this might be a good middle-ground route that the show could take, and could increase iTunes downloads (i.e. revenue) for the show. I, for one, don’t mind paying for an extended cut of the episode each week. Just my two cents worth. Sorry for the long post.
On the one hand I think that it might not be a good idea to make every episode an hour long. But then watch a supersized episode or an hour long episode and then when it hits thirty minutes, you realize that it is very easy to make it an hour long without a loss in quality. Just look at all the really good deleted scenes that get left out or the side plots that we don’t find out about until the DVD comes out (or at least I wait to watch them until then). They leave that stuff in, and it serves the same purpose. That’s just my thinking here.
I remember I suggested Office permanently supersize its episodes to an hour months ago and everyone was like ‘nawww that wouldn’t workkk’ well HA!
more Office is just brilliant, i just hope that all cast members remain excited and committed to the show
I like this format better. For the most part it keeps the classic, half-hour office in tact, but still lets us enjoy four hour long episodes throughout the year. I like the half-hour episodes mainly because they leave me wanting more. I don’t want to watch a prolonged episode and in the middle feel like switching the station.
Oh, and…
6. The Office is a sitcom – it’s just not a traditional sitcom. If you can inform me of any other way of defining The Office as something other than a “situation comedy,” I consider changing my opinion…