Story at a glance
- A scrapped storyline from the beloved television series “The Office” could have radically altered the relationship between one of the small screen’s classic couples.
- The scene reportedly would have featured Jim, played by John Krasinski, and Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) replacement kissing in a hotel room at a conference while Pam was on maternity leave.
- “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,” Krasinski said. “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.”
A scrapped storyline from the beloved television series “The Office” could have radically altered the relationship between one of the small screen’s classic couples, a new book reveals.
“Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office,” compiled by Brian Baumgartner — A.K.A. Kevin Malone — explains how show writers considered a scene that might have irretrievably exacerbated a growing rift between characters Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, according to The New York Post.
The scene reportedly would have featured Jim, played by John Krasinski, and Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) replacement kissing in a hotel room at a conference while Pam was on maternity leave. Krasinski refused to shoot the scene.
“That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down … I remember saying things that I never thought I’d say before, like, ‘I’m not going to shoot it,’” Krasinski said, per The Post.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
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The show’s creator Gregg Daniels, however, reportedly defended the overall conflict between the couple, which was featured over a series of episodes.
“I feel like that kind of worry was good in terms of the fans’ engagement. I think they knew what was coming,” Daniels said.
“They were very comfortable with the show they were getting, and I needed to worry them that maybe I was going to give them a bad ending so they were happy when they got a good ending.”
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