Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office is bringing us some major nostalgia. And better yet, the tell-all book reveals behind-the-scenes secrets about the hit series that fans had no idea about. Keep scrolling for the details.
The biggest bombshell we've read so far? If executive producer Greg Daniels had his way, the biggest love story on the show would've looked a whole lot differently. John Krasinski revealed a plotline where Jim was supposed to have an affair with temporary receptionist Cathy during a business trip. We know - it sounds heartbreaking. And that's exactly what John told the showrunners. "Greg said, 'We need to come up with a good Pam-Jim storyline.' And I said, 'I think we should get borderline separated, and I think we can do it and then come back,'" Krasinski detailed. "He was so on board with that."
But then things got taken too far. "That's the only time I remember putting my foot down. 'Cause [Greg] was saying, 'You're going to actually make out with her in this scene.' I remember saying things that I never thought I'd say before, like, 'I'm not going to shoot it,'" the actor revealed. "I remember [co-showrunner] Paul Lieberstein was in the room, who I think was very much into it. He was like, 'No, you'll do it.' Not in an aggressive way, but it was like, he saw the benefit of doing it."
But the 42-year-old insisted (and boy, oh, boy, are we relieved he did). "I remember saying to Greg, 'My feeling is there is a threshold with which you can push our audience. They are so dedicated. We have shown such great respect to them. But there's a moment where if you push them too far, they'll never come back. And I think that if you show Jim cheating, they'll never come back.'" Can we get an amen?
As fans might remember, Jim wasn't the only one who faced some possible temptations in the later seasons. During one heartwrenching episode, Pam breaks out crying after having a fight over the phone with Jim. Viewers then see one of the cameramen, Brian Wittle, put his camera down to comfort her. And it looks like Krasinski understood the audience well, as this moment was his idea, too.
"I had this idea that I pitched Greg, and it came from [Office camera operator] Chris Workman. He had put down the camera and left it running. And I was like, 'Let me see the footage.' We went over the footage, and it was just feet, and you could hear people talking," he recalled in the book. "I said to Greg, 'Dude, you should do that.'" The result was pretty golden (Season 9, Episode 12 if you need a quick rewatch).
Check back soon for more secrets on your favorite sitcoms.
