The Office Puts In Online Overtime

The Office is toying with us.  No, not hecklerspray’s office, aside from the occasional mass layoffs and bone-dry water coolers we don’t mess with anybody. We mean the US version of the office, the Guinness Book record smashing NBC sitcom starring Steve Carrell and a host of other so average they’re funny actors.

How are they toying with us you ask? First there was the threat of them not filming a full seasons worth of 22 Office episodes to make room for Carrell to film his movie Evan Almighty - a Bruce Almighty sequel. Then all of the sudden they got hoppin’ on the set, and managed to squeeze in the full 22 anyway. Now not only are they giving us a full season - they’re giving us 10 brand new short online-only episodes over the summer. 

It’s an emotional teeter-totter, but we don’t mind when it tips our way.

This summer the hit show The Office (DVDs) is putting in overtime. They are going to make ten mini episodes that are two minutes long each, a welcome occurrence in a world that’s still reeling from the
major network dismissal of Arrested Development. The plot is said to be based around the accountants (Kevin, Angela, and Oscar) trying to track down a missing $3,000. Other characters will make appearances too, such as Dwight, Jan, Meredith, Stanley and Roy. 

The mini Office episodes won’t be available on iTunes - oh no. They’ve
nothing left to prove there. On iTunes they’ve already become the
biggest selling podcast of all time. These episodes will only be
available on NBC.com. 

NBC is the first major network to ever offer online-only episodes -
a move that’s been predicted by many as a wave of the future. The Office episodes will be streamed as opposed to downloaded so far as we understand
it. It may have some commercials attached, but that just means you
won’t have slap down your credit card info before watching each
episode. 

hecklerspray can’t wait. Our anticipation is a tad bit ironic though, as the happenings in NBC’s The Office
run so parallel to the happenings in our own. It’s not exactly the
same, though, you see - whereas the TV boss is generally a bumbling
dunderhead, our boss is good and doles out raises so freely. Whereas The Office’s boss considers himself the ultimate entertainer, our
boss is gracious and gives out raises so freely. Whereas the workers
on the show slack off on a fairly regular basis, hecklerspray’s workers
are tired of being this hungry.

Other than that, our offices are pretty much identical - allowing us
insight into the show before the their script is even written.  Don’t
worry though, we won’t spoil it for you.

PS. Jim gets Pam but loses a bunch of fingers along the way. It’s so sweet.

Read more:

Extra US Office episodes for web - BBC

[story by Shawn Lindseth]