The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History by Andy Greene

The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene
Published by Dutton ISBN 9781524744977
Hardcover, $28, 464 pages

With everyone stuck inside all day and night, people turn to binge-watching great television shows. One of Netflix's most watched shows is The Office, which ran for nine years on NBC, and introduced the world to many talented writers and actors.

It is great timing that Andy Greene's book, The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History published last month. If you are watching The Office, whether for the first time or rewatching on Netflix or Comedy Central, this book is one that will enhance your enjoyment of the show.

Greene is a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and he wrote a article for the magazine about the show when it was on NBC. Over the years, he has written other articles about the show, and even became good friends with Creed Bratton, who began as an extra, and worked his way into one of the most interesting roles on the show.

The book begins with the start of the The Office on the BBC in Great Britain, the brainchild of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. If you are not familiar with that show, you get a great peek into the mindset of the origins that led to many international versions of The Office.  It works so well because many people all over the world work in an office with characters like the people we see on the TV show.

Greene goes season by season, giving an overview of the season, and doing a deep dive on one specific episode, like "Diversity Day", and "The Dinner Party", generally thought of as the best episode of the show.

He interviewed writers and producers of the show, which really adds to the inside baseball aspect of the show. I found this the most interesting parts of the book, getting a perspective we haven't yet heard about.

While most of the quotes from the lead actors (Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fisher, Rainn Wilson) came from previous sources (which Green annotates at the end), his new interviews with the actors in secondary roles (Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, etc.) are fascinating.

We learn which actors auditioned for the roles (Bob Odenkirk from Better Call Saul came very close to playing Michael Scott), and why Steve Carrell was generally thought of as the nicest guy in show business. Everyone loved him, and for good reason. His goodbye almost had me teary-eyed and I don't even know him personally.

The show had up and down years, and when Carrell left after season seven, the show lost its way. The writers, producers and actors were pretty honest about what happened. Imagine what would have happened if James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) actually took them up on their offer to join the cast as the new boss!

So many great talents came from The Office- Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, producers Michael Schur and show runner Greg Daniels are among the many people who have left their mark in the entertainment industry.

If you are a fan of The Office, this is a must-read. If you know a fan of The Office, give this as a gift. Who knows, you might get a World's Greatest Gift Giver mug in return.

Friday 5ive- April 10, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. We're going on four weeks since we have been sheltering-in-place, and we seem to have settled into a routine. I get up, make my husband breakfast, catch the first part of CBS This Morning, do laundry twice a week, take a Peleton spin class, eat my breakfast and then get to work on whatever project I have going. I check in with family and friends, and then read for awhile before starting dinner. I have cooked (or reheated leftovers) every night since March 14th. It's exhausting, am I right? On to the 5ive-

1) We live near four hospitals and every night at 7pm, people go out on their balconies and cheer for first responders, healthcare workers, and all essential workers (grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, transit workers, etc.) I video it and post it on my Facebook page every night. It's really great to see people coming together to do this, and here is one from this week.

2) Speaking of videos, my birthday was this week and since my kids couldn't be with me, they sent me birthday greetings from Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin on The Office. I love that show, and just finished a book The Office-The Unofficial Best Comedy of the 2000s by Andy Greene, so this was extremely appropriate and made me laugh so much. What a thoughtful gift! You can get one too at Cameo.com

3) Recipes have been on my mind this week, and not only the ones I have cooked. My cousin and her friends shared a Quarantine Recipe Exchange, where people swapped easy recipes made with things you probably have in your home right now. I shared Spanish Rice, which my husband loves, and the link to the recipe from Robyn Stone on Add A Pinch is here.
Our nephew's girlfriend has been making her grandmother's recipes and posting the results on Facebook and Instagram for all of us to drool over. What a great idea! We're trying to convince her to put together a cookbook as all the women in the family enjoy cooking.


4) I've been watching two shows about people "breaking bad"- Better Call Saul's fifth season is on now on AMC on Monday nights, and for those of you who loved Breaking Bad, you know the character Saul Goodman, a lawyer for the drug dealers. The show gives us his journey from struggling lawyer to cartel lawyer, and this season is a key one for Saul.

Good Girls is back on NBC on Sunday nights, and this one is about three suburban Detroit women who in desperation rob a grocery store and end up stealing a drug dealer's money by mistake. Every decision they make just brings them into deeper trouble. I watch it and marvel at where they take the storyline. If you haven't watched this one, binge it on Netflix.

5) I finished Louise Erdrich's The Night Watchman and it is fantastic. It's based on the life of the author's grandfather, who worked to keep Washington DC from taking away his tribe's land in North Dakota in 1953. The characters are so vivid, and the reader is immersed in the culture. I highly recommend this one.

I also started and finished Abby Greaves' debut novel The Silent Treatment. (My review is here.) It's about a long married couple whose husband stopped speaking to his wife for six months. When she becomes comatose after an intentional overdose, her narrates their love story and tries to explain why he was silent. It's heartbreaking and devastating.

I hope you all stay safe and well and home.

Friday 5ive- Living in a COVID World

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. Everyone in NYC seems to be settling in to a new reality. More businesses are closing (our dry cleaner closed, many restaurants who were doing takeout and delivery have closed), and the only people you see on the streets are walking their dogs or going to the grocery stores, which seem to be better stocked now.

1)  The weather has been so dreary and cold, the sight of these tulips blooming in front of our apartment building brought me joy.

2)  I'm trying to keep busy by doing one small project per day. Last week I reorganized my bookshelves (which was a BIG, all-day project), on Wednesday I reorganized my greeting card box, which only took about 30 minutes, but I feel better.  (And I have a lot of Halloween cards, I'm not sure why). Yesterday I cleaned out a big pantry bin and kitchen cart. Our apartment will be so well organized when this is done. Now all I need is a label gun.

Now I can find any card I need!

3)  My sister-in-law thoughtfully sent us a two-pound box of chocolates from Krause's Chocolates, the best chocolates around, in Saugerties, NY. It's a nice thing to support local businesses that are online and can deliver if you can do it. I've ordered books to send to family members from local independent bookstores in our area, and they are so grateful for the help.

Krause's Chocolates

4)  Staying connected with family and friends is important too, and we have been What's App-ing and FaceTiming with family, and I did a Zoom Happy Hour with two good friends, Kelly and Trish from back home, that was so wonderful, it made me very happy. (But we did miss Barbara.) I also participated in a Zoom mass celebrated by our priest from our hometown. That was an oasis of peace in the midst of the craziness on NYC.

5)  I haven't been able to read too much this week, but I finished Andy Greene's The Office- The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s which I really enjoyed. This is a must-read for fans of the show. 

 I did start Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Night Watchman, a novel based in part on her grandfather, who was a nightwatchman and worked to prevent the federal government from taking land from Native Americans in North Dakota in the 1950s. There is a book populated with many characters, and each one is more interesting than the next. You get a real sense of community, and you get immersed in their culture. I can't wait to get back to it.

I hope you are staying safe and healthy and home. We will get through this together. Peace my friends!

Friday 5ive- March 27, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. Well, it's been another week that seemed to last about a year. Everyone in NYC has been staying inside, and grocery stores now have taped lines on the floor at checkout to keep people socially distanced. Some checkouts have plexiglass between the cashiers and customers as well. Some stores have been limiting the number of people they let in the store at one time. Everyday, a new procedure has been put in place.


1) Our doggie picture of the week is of my son and his girlfriend's dog Otto. While his humans have been staying inside working from home, Otto's dog walker took him and his friends to the nearby ocean for a nice run. Otto is living his best life, as you can see from this Instagram post by his dog walker. Otto is in first place in the race.

2) My husband's family had a Virtual Happy Hour last week on the Zoom app. We had 13 homes, and it was alot of fun, if somewhat chaotic at times with everyone talking at once. It was just like Thanksgiving. It was really good to see everyone's smiling faces and catch up on how everyone is coping working from home.

3) Today I spent 4 hours reorganizing my extensive book collection. My husband had beautiful  custom built bookshelves put in for my Christmas present a few years back, and today I finally got around to reorganizing them- I have my Favorites Shelf, Autographed Books Shelf, and several fiction sub-categories. I have a Memoir Shelf, plus sub-categories there as well. The photo below is just 1/3 of the bookshelf. The apartment isn't big enough for me to empty all the books on the floor. Hi, my name is Diane and I am a biblioholic.

4) Since I'm home, I have been cooking dinner every night. We have had Spanish Rice, Pork Roast with Stuffing and Mashed Potatoes, and with the leftover pork we had pulled pork barbeque with John Legend Macaroni and Cheese and ambrosia salad. I also tried a new recipe, Pizza Pot Pie, that was very tasty and I will be making it again. The link to it is here, it's from TasteMade.

Photo from TasteMade

5) I'm about a quarter of the way through a new book, The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene. If you are a fan of the show, as most people I know are, this is a fantastic book. He interviews actors, writers, producers, casting director, pretty much anyone who had anything to do with the show. I'll post a full review soon. And if you like The Office, Jenna Fisher (Pam Beesley Halpert) and Angela Kinsley (Angela), host a podcast,  Office Ladies, about the show, that is good too.

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Stay safe and healthy everyone and stay home.

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.