Book Love: The Office by Andy Greene

Back when I wrote about Generation Friends in my November Quick Lit, I said I wanted that book, written behind the scenes of Friends about The Office.  And guess what I learned about 4 months later?  A behind the scenes book of The Office.  Did I dream that into being?  Yes. (No, it likely was written months before I wished for it).  Was I immediately excited to read it? Yes.

I had this book on hold with our library before they closed, before the book was released.  I thought I'd be able to get it when they opened 4 weeks later.  Then that opening date keeps getting pushed back and I wanted to support The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia, a store I've never visited but have been listening to their podcast for 3.5 years (I "things I liked" the podcast WAY back here and on my podcast recap here) so I ordered the book.  I don't buy a lot of books brand new but I knew I was going to like this one.

Almost 6 months married here!

Let's start with me and The Office.  I've also "things I liked" the show TWICE (the only thing I've knowingly done twice), in May 2013 and November 2017.  My husband and I dressed up as a "progressive" Jim & Pam for Halloween 2006 (back when season 3 was airing and Jim was still in Stanford, after his Casino Night love confession), progressive in that we were married but they weren't on the show.  (We put a calculator in Jello-O for that same Halloween.  We still have the calculator and I'm pretty sure it still works, at least it did semi-recently.)  I said last week that my love of The Office runs deep and I wasn't kidding.  Even when they made it difficult to love (season 8, I'm looking at you, hands down the worst season of the show).

I've probably only watched the whole series straight through, including when it aired, four times but I've picked up so many random episodes here and there over the years (including these holiday episodes I watch every year at the appropriate holiday).  And I've recently been working on rewatching the whole thing, very slowly, when I am working to keep up with where The Office Ladies podcast is (another Office thing that has become a part of my weekly life).  Even with very sporadic viewing; I know this series pretty well.

At the NBC Experience Store in NYC, the day we found out we were picked to be Luke's parents.

Our personal finale viewing party a month later, with a baby 2 weeks home from the hospital.

The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene was RIGHT. UP. MY. ALLEY. 

I very excitedly picked up the book about 2 weeks ago, more than 2 weeks after I had received it in the mail (something to do with all that nagging from Libby to get to the digital books I had put on hold since others were waiting.  That nagging and low level anxiety is not something I'll miss when I am able to get paper copies from the library again!).  It was a FANTASTIC escape from this weird quarantine life we are all living (or should be living, I'm side-eyeing you if you aren't quarantining to the full recommended amounts!).

The author relied on previous interviews he had done as a writer for Rolling Stone as well as new interviews he did for this book.  It's an oral history, a format I had never read a full book in before Daisy Jones and the Six last summer.  I was impressed with how he was able to make SO MANY voices mesh into one readable narrative.  It seems like it would be a feat to go through so many interviews and get it all in an order where it almost reads like all these people are around a table talking about their experience with the show.  And he did get quotes from everyone associated with the show although I was disappointed that all of his interviews with the main cast were not done for the book but for previous work.  I hope that wasn't because they didn't want to cooperate because they all come across as pretty nice and reasonable people.

It starts with how the series came to be translated from the British version (which I have still never seen), how it was cast.  Potential actors who were close to being cast.  A lot of these stories I had heard before in my various reading of articles and watching cast on talk shows but it was so nice to read it all in one place.  There was a lot I didn't know though.  It talks about how it was almost canceled so many times in the early seasons - how many of the cast kept their side jobs through the filming of season 1 since everyone was convinced nothing big would come of it.

The book goes through the show chronologically - starting with season 1.  Big episodes get their own chapter.  A lot of things sound like a logistical nightmare (like building a gas station set and having it rain for Jim & Pam's proposal scene).  Some characters get their own chapter going through their on-screen evolution. Obviously many pages about Steve Carell leaving after season 7 (various finger pointing as to who dropped the ball on him actually leaving).  There is a lot behinds the scenes - talking about hair and wardrobe choices and such.  It's incredible how much work can go into making a network sitcom, something I was aware of but incredible to read about it, especially because The Office mostly did seasons longer than the 13ish episode standard now.

Less about the show's legacy than I expected.  It finished with talking about a reunion/reboot which has been rumored for YEARS and, really, I don't think needs to happen.  At least a reboot.  I'd definitely be up for a reunion episode at some point but don't know that we are far enough from the finale in 2013 to really be as meaningful as it could be in a few more years.

If you are a person who knows this show at least fairly well and has watched it on Netflix with any regularity over the last couple years, and even occasionally read books.  I'd recommend this.  It made me appreciate the show even better, want to binge watch it all over again, and remember how much fun I had watching it in the first place.  It was a treat to read.

That's right, I do have a DVD signed by Jenna Fischer (Pam).  Via the mail, I've never met her.

Goodreads | Amazon (aff link)

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