Weekend Vid Picks: The Office

I have seen every single episode of The Office (the American version), yet I have not watched a single second of network NBC in years. I took in the first three seasons of the sardonic comedy via Netflix’s “Watch Now” option, caught the beginning of season four on the NBC site, and then watched the most recent episodes on the much more navigable Hulu. I am the reason the writers are striking. While the networks are telling writers that online content serves as “promotions” for their prime-time shows, increasingly these “promotions” are the shows, as more and more viewers watch exclusively online.

The Office is a particularly good example of the what is going on in this strike as so many of the stars are the writers — even headliner Steve Carell is a WGA member. The show also has a large amount of online content, much of it written by the show’s writers. From Dunder Mifflin’s corporate web site, to the comprehensive show site, to the summer webisodes, the show’s online content is covered in ads, but the writers don’t see a penny of that revenue.

All of that aside, what do we Office fans do now? Well, not to worry, we’ve got some Office-related goodies for you. And in addition to the videos below, there are also the many character/actor online properties, such as Pam/Jenna’s MySpace page, Schrute-Space and Creed Thoughts, all of which the actors have maintained throughout the strike. Please feel free to add your own Dunder Mifflin-related comments.

The Office Is Closed


“Whenever I meet somebody who’s a new viewer of The Office they are overwhelmingly watching it on the Internet; they’re watching it on DVD.” I think this pretty much sums up the problem.

Behind the Scenes of The Office

Nalts covers “The Office Convention” which took place in Scranton, Penn., in late October. Nalts is Kevin Nalty, a self-described level 8.5 fan — which means he “represent[s] no imminent danger but [he is] obsessed.”

Super News: The (Oval) Office

Though I was impressed by how well the Bush Administration fit into the roles in HBO’s Entourage, I think that this take on The Oval Office is dead on. It’s terrifying how much Michael Scott’s rambling, non-specific and often self-defeating language sounds like much of the rhetoric coming out of the White House.

The Scantones — Creep

I first read about this on Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” in their dead-tree edition. “The Scrantones,” led by Craig Robinson, The Office’s warehouse manager, cover Radiohead’s song Creep.

It’s Getting Hot In Here: Scranton Style

It’s amazing what a fan with all of the episodes of their favorite show, a copy of iMovie, and lots of free time can do. I’m not sure if that’s more or less impressive than the half a million views this clip has gotten.

The Office Re-Cut

No compendium of fan material would be complete without a genre-bending remix of the source material. Here we have the 80 most murderous seconds of the show. Out of context, how homicidal does your workplace seem?

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