Is Karen Fated to Lose Jim?

TVGuide.com interviews Rashida Jones about her TVG “Sexy” shoot, her surprise appearance on SNL, and of course, her role as Karen:

NBC.com has outtakes from The Office’s “Business School” episode, where Karen ponders tearing down Pam’s art-show notice. It’s got some Jim-Pam fans calling you not-so-nice names.

[The writers] are very good about keeping it a fair, light competition, so I talked about that scene a little bit with Joss Whedon, who directed that episode, because I was hesitant about that moment. He was like, “Look, you just got all this new information and you have an impulsive moment, but you don’t do it.”

Link: Rashida Jones, The Office: Is Karen Fated to Lose Jim?

Tipster: Fatima

28 comments

  1. Small Spoiler…It seems like Roy might be sticking around. Sigh. The love quadrangle just won’t die. When Michael Scott says “never ever ever give up” it doesn’t apply to all of you. Just Jim and Pam.

  2. Thanks for posting this, tanster. I saw it a while ago and I was trying to figure out how to let you know :)

    I thought some of her “phrasing” was interesting, specifically:

    “I don’t know if she (Karen) knows that she’s “doomed.”

    (like it’s already a foregone conclusion)

    AND

    “But I have to say, it will be hard for me [to leave The Office] because I really love this show and I love this part.”

    All I have to say is…Goodbye, Karen!! It was (sorta) nice knowing you :)

  3. It seems like the Roy/Jim tension might still be there.

    Bye Karen, don’t let the door hit you on your way out!

    Again, love RJ, hope her new show is picked up, happy to watch it.

  4. Glad about the bit with the art show flyer. “Impulsive” being the key word. Anti-Karen people act like they’d never even think of doing that sort of thing. And in the end, she didn’t follow through.

  5. the interviewer asked good questions and i agree with comment#4 it is great that Rashida talked about the objective behind the deleted scene (art show flyer) since it had led “some Jim-Pam fans calling you not-so-nice names.”

  6. One thing’s sure about The Office: they sure keep a tight lid on future developments. We don’t really even know if Karen or Roy will be back next season. That’s pretty amazing to me.

    Speaking of Office secrecy: I still wonder what the story is behind the third “negotiation” clip being pulled. I tend to think that someone released it and then others invloved with the show saw it and thought it gave away too much. Or perhaps they read comments, like those here, saying that it did.

    Just over 7 hours to go here on the West Coast….

  7. I would l-o-v-e to see Rashida Jones as Dr. Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror. I couldn’t find it on Youtube, as she had suggested in the interview. Has anyone seen it?

  8. These are a great set of questions! It was very informative and Im glad more was asked about The Office and not just the reg. life stuff. I knew she liked Phyllis from her excitment at Carson’s show, but its nice to know how great they all get along with contextual info.
    I would have LOVED to seen the people during the day of her makeover

  9. I’m sorry, I can’t really picture Rashida as Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Magenta or Columbia, definitely. But not the role that Tim Curry so perfectly realized. Frank-N-Furter has to be played by some tall guy with a slight baritone to make the character funnier.

    Oddly enough, there is a ROCKY HORROR/OFFICE connection. One of John’s earliest roles was in the great biopic KINSEY that had Tim Curry in it. John was the guy who with his fiancee goes to talk to Dr. Kinsey about sex. He’s the trailer in the part when the girl says “There’s more than one?” when Kinsey asks about positions.

  10. #7, Yes, I’ve been wondering too about that pulled preview scene, the story behind it. I hope we won’t have to wait 10 years for The Office expose book to come out to find out!

  11. Can we get a link to that deleted scene from Business School where Karen and the art show sign? I can’t find it on nbc.com

  12. for all you team Pam playas –
    Rashida gets the last laugh! She gets to make out with Jim in real life

  13. I can’t find the clip under “Deleted Scenes” on the NBC site or on YouTube…

  14. Aw, I like her. It would be sad if she left. Although it would make the quadrangle a triangle, which would be slightly less stressful.

  15. in that interview – it seems like Rashida is trying to down play the poster incident, cause she only thought about taking it down and didn’t actually take it down. but I thought the only reason she didn’t go through with ripping the poster down, was because Oscar happened to be coming out of the bathroom at the same time…

    I think she would have thrown the flyer away if Oscar hadn’t been there

  16. anyone know if it aired anywhere? (rocky horror?) maybe theres a dvd? or if it was on cable – if they get emails, might re-air it?

  17. Re #14: I think you’re confusing real life with reel life. The last laugh for Team-Pammers would be a happy ending for Jim and Pam. If John and Rashida are going out in real-life, I’m happy for them, just as I am happy that Jenna and James are such a happy couple.

  18. >

    Apparently they took it down. It was a really short scene though. Basically Karen is in the kitchen fixing herself a cup of coffee, she casually opens a cupboard and when she closes it, she notices Pam’s flier posted. Just as she grabs at it to rip it off, Stanley walks into the kitchen. She lets go of the flier, playing it off as though it was nothing and leaves to go back to her desk. Stanley never notices what she was doing.

    Back to the article…. All I have to say is that I love Rashida Jones, but I’ve had enough of Karen.

  19. The scariest thing is that I was thinking that it said “is Pam fated to lose Jim” and then I thought, oh I guess I’m done with The Office then. I really do love the show but there has been so much competition lately and such a long time since a new episode that I’ve been more interested in Dirt and Friday Night Lights these days.

  20. I see them leaving room for Karen to return in guest spots, especially if she were to move to Corporate. Which could be good tension-wise.

  21. Karen was going to take down the flyer and didn’t because of Oscar. Why would anyone say that she “decided” not to take it down? She stopped herself when Oscar walked into the room. Her character is boring and annoying and there’s nothing sadder than a girl hanging onto a man who doesn’t want her. What’s to like about Karen?

    As for Rashida, she seems nice enough, but I find her boring too. She’s the daughter of a rich and famous family. I’m sure it was hard for her to break into show business…

  22. I completely agree with Christine. She wanted badly to rip it to shreds, but Oscar (not Stanley) walked in on her. She pretended she was just adjusting it. Also, in the extra footage from Traveling Salesman, Karen rudely interrupts Jim celebrating Pam winning an art contest. During ‘Cocktails’, she jokes around so much about dating people that its very hard to impossible to tell what she meant or not. You could tell from Jim’s face one his back is turned from Karen that he doesn’t appreciate all of the relationship jokes. Karen doesn’t know Jim well enough to tell what kind of jokes he likes from the kind he hates. He walks away from the joke before she can make any more. I’ll be really happy when Karen learns about the BIG, not small, kiss from Casino Night (not the Dundies, she was drunk, it was a long time ago, it wasn’t his idea) and makes a scene. What I’ll like even more is when Rashida Jones’ name disappears from the credits. :)
    I do like Karen as a character. But she’s not entirely right for Jim. The show has been hinting at it for a while ago. I think she would make a great best friend. Not a wife.

  23. I really hope the Karen storyline is resolved and she is gone from the show by the end of the season. I find all this talk of the situation being “nebulous” or Rashida doing double duty on two shows misleading.
    And Karen and/or Rashida fans, please don’t blast me because I’m trying to be totally honest here – the fact that John and Rashida were/are involved colors my opinion of her character on the show. There are plenty of actresses out there who could have played Karen just as well and I just don’t think I can give Karen (as a character) or Rashida (as an actress) fair assessment because of her history with her on-screen love interest. Her acting doesn’t transcend or make me believe that she’s not Rashida (good friend of JK). Sorry, it’s just the way I feel.

  24. I can’t stand Karen either. It’s way more than her messing up Jim and Pam. I think it’s good for the show that Jim is dating someone. I just can’t stand her character. She barely has any funny lines. In fact, she stopped being even slightly amusing since the move from Stamford. Her role in the show is to stir up trouble for the resident star crossed lovers. She’s barely in any scene that doesn’t involve her relationship with Jim and/or sticking it to Pam. What would she do without that situation? She will be off the show once her and Jim break up which looks like it will be near or during the season finale. Good Riddance!

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