The Office: Why the Spin-Offs Failed 

I remember seeing the proposed Dwight spin off episode when I was about 14, and being confused, since it seemed like an entirely different show, with a different tone and characters. This was before I learned about Obvious Backdoor Pilots. It felt too late in the game to be introducing Dwight's wacky family members, plus the character of Dwight worked better in the office setting.

I still wish we had an episode of "A Day in the Life of David Wallace", where it would focus mainly on David Wallace's point of view of dealing with Michael. Maybe some HR hijinks where we get to see David dealing with the corporate HR person that he hates (mirroring Michael's rivalry with Toby). And we can see that maybe the David Wallace that we view as being a completely level-headed, responsible, normal person, is actually far from that. I mean, we did get a glimpse of that when he was unemployed.

Not everything's a lesson, Ryan. Sometimes you just fail.

I can't believe they almost Scrubs Season 9'ed The Office.

“Wuphf” would’ve been a great spin-off. The series could see Wuphf fail over and over as Ryan continuously pivots the company into more and more ludicrous start-up ideas in a “The Office meets Silicon Valley”-esque show.

The way Kevin stares at the cupcake and the gang tries to distract him is one of my top favorite scenes in the entire show.

I love how the most judgy character on the office got to go to Dwight's aunt's funeral. also, mom went down hill once roscoe and his dad left the show.

so i said for long time, it be same reason why office wasnt good after michael left, was that he was the connection between everyone, his relationship with everyone why it was so funny... noone else had those relations... (he hated toby, had long history with people, dwight was his right hand man/friend, etc .. , so without him its just employees ! but im honest surprise they didnt try spinoff to an andy singing show.. cause they were so up his rearend and gave him so many singing opps on the show lol

They really overestimated the star quality of Dwight, and also the guy who played him. Wasn’t his “school of rock” rip off movie like the biggest bomb in theater history?

I’m pretty sure The Farm would’ve worked in today’s age of streaming, either as an exclusive whole spin-off or some sort of short special series.

That wacky uncle idea reminds me of the classic show ‘Heil honey I’m home!”

The in-episode ads for other episodes aren't really working. It'll kill your retention mate, I'd drop them.

I enjoy this channel if you're in I watched a few videos and then it got lost in my recommended. I'm glad to have found it again. I'm going to watch a few episodes to get caught up. Cheers channel person!

It's absolutely HILARIOUS to me how this one exec was so mad and bitter that one "untitled Office Spinoff" that ultimately became Parks and Rec.

A spin-off is Dwight running Shrute farm, Dwight running the office is just The Office.

I liked and commented when you got to the part about the soundalike. Great move, much appreciated in how much that improves the production value

That’s two Breaking Bad alums in that pilot.

The original spinoff that turned into Parks and Rec was by far the best idea going forward they had for a spinoff, but it's great that it became it's own series, because when all is said and done, I think I honestly like Parks and Rec more than The Office, at least overall. Parks never had the lows that The Office did (especially in that last season (excluding the finale of course)).

The UK Office had a theatrical movie a few years later, where David Brent becomes a band manager.

It's pretty incredible how many interviewers had to have the phrase "backdoor pilot" explained to them. I bet Larry King just wanted the explanation for the audience he was in television for so long.

At least most television series end gracefully. I honestly think Fox/Disney has a legion of bots watching the Simpsons

The part about the aunt having a video will is a lot like *Filthy Rich,* the show Dixie Carter and Delta Burke did before *Designing Women* for the same creator. It’s a long-shot if anybody who worked on this remembered that unless they came across it on RU-vid and counted on nobody remembering it.

13:10 the A story and B story in this “backdoor pilot” was awkwardly tossed together like Kevin’s salad. I see what you did there 😉

Never heard about this Farm spin-off before hah. But I have fond memories from this episode. Except that I didn't like how insane Dwight is in the intro, throwing dirt at people. Now that's Flanderization

I really enjoy Paul's line of giving the farm a chance. It truly is a gamble with most shows and many times we dont know if it will take off. But look at what the office did, it almost didnt continue after season 1. All the way to launching an idea down the road of making a new show that casted a character they almost didnt keep who turned into Mario and Star Lord. Butterfly effect...

Seems like NBC might as well release the full original pilot, it would be fun to watch.

I used to LOVE "The Office," I was totally in on it. But.....following the 2007-2008 TV writer's strike, I just BURNED on it. Some shows that started out good had a "burn factor" to me. "That 70's Show" and "The Drew Carey Show" were both like that, in my book. "Office" should have ended at least two seasons before it did. Your video paints a more rosy picture of the end, seen through nostalgic sun glasses. Nothing wrong with that...ask me how I feel about "Still Standing." Anywho, Steve Carrell's drama, diva routine, leaving the show was a bit much. What was amusing turned to puke pretty fast. Of course a Dwight spin-off wasn't going to work..."The Office" WAS his spin off after the 2007-2008 writer's strike. That spin-off failed because of THE OFFICE CURSE. Look at the cast. Brilliant! All of them!! But, in spite of the show's success, most of them became glorified has-been's once the show was completed. All lot of them went on to doing voice-overs, a movie role or two, non Office television roles, bit parts, podcasts. Believe me, as of now, there isn't much "new" coming down the pike for "Office" fans.

I guess it is good that The Farm didn't become a series. Zeke is good playing Douglass on Bob Hearts Abishola

Maybe the spinoffs didn't work because the cliche of an off-camera documentary was just played out. And by the time the series finished, it was inconsistent not even well-executed.

The reason why Dwight is a different person when he's at the farm was because he's not at the office and he can chill at home.

Have you done Highlander: The Series? The last season is 80% backdoor pilots! And they're all the same pilot. The producers wanted to do a spinoff with a strong independent female immortal, so they made a dozen episodes focusing on a different lady immortal and her new cast of friends to see which one clicked. In the end, none of them did and they made an Amanda spin-off instead.

I liked "The Farm." And I mean, Frasier did really well even though we were introduced to his brother that was never mentioned before and his dad that he said was dead.

If The Farm had make it to air it would have been profitable . They absolutely had a solid fan base and the office was turning good Nielsen ratings. I don’t know what replaced what would’ve been the farm or the office but I think new management usually mucks things up

They should do a Creed spin off where he moves to Seattle to live with his cantankerous dad and does a call in radio show.

The show is Michael and everyone else is there for support. I love Dwight and he’s my favorite character, however, Dwight’s role is funny because he takes himself seriously in a company run by a boss who doesn’t. Dwight being in a farm in his own element would not have equaled funny.

Oh my gosh I didn't realize that was Majandra Delfino, but she did look familiar. I used to like Roswell, I was disappointed when that ended.

I remember people on facebook asking the Facebook page to not have any more of these episodes

I swear Dwight mentioned siblings at some point. Though mind you most people don't announce how many if any siblings they have. we are lucky this episode did not euin the finale. I don’t see why they could not include Angela and Phillip.

They would have had to pay Gervais and Merchant money. Its whg they made sure Parks and Rec was not connected.

first 6 seasons of office, 9 seasons of Simpsons, 15 minutes of Lost....America does not know when to quit

Interesting you mention Miami Vice. One of the episodes of the final season was a backdoor pilot for a 21 Jump Street-knockoff. Look up "Leap of Faith."

I had no idea there were office spin offs

I was hoping they would put together a show with the Shrutes vs Mcpoyles from IASIP, something like the 2 families were pennsylvainian enemies for generations but have a romeo and juliet like story line.

People like the office because people see there own life. Lots of office workers and even regular everyday Americans can see someone in the office in there work place . Nobody can see anything relatable in the farm. It was dumb.

I would have liked this spin off.

A Dwight Spinoff would’ve been great

17:40 sure she says that but let’s be real, the later seasons we’re on a decline and most people remember the office more for Michael Scott Please don’t bring it back

The Farm episode sucked but now that I know the potential I feel like they should now spin off the farm with Mose, Zeke, Angela trying to do a bed and breakfast after sunset Mifflin is finally run to the ground due to the change to mostly digital during covid. That would be kind of hilarious...especially because we could see Phillip grown up and Angela trying to be the true boss of the bed and breakfast while Dwight and the guys being just insane. I would watch it

I have an idea for an Office Spinoff...... The documentary crew originally wanted to use a financial center and loan officers as their subjects during 2004. It would be 1 or 2 seasons and based on my brothers experience working under a crazed coke head during the early 2000s (post 9/11). It would be WAY less politically correct (more in tune with original office). The boss character is based on a real guy and I don't think anyone will believe how much of this script is based on true stories told by all his employees. He fought women. He fist faught guys over loans. He fist fought his boss. Slept in the office because he didn't know how to get home from partying.... The idea would be the crew cancels the entire project after two seasons because they knew eventually anything they film wouldn't be able to be released to a large audience so they leave state. And eventually hook up with Dunder

Would you please do a review of _Labor Pains_ (2009)? It's an overlooked romcom film starring Lindsay Lohan that premiered on ABC Family in the US but screened in theaters overseas. It was the last romcom Lindsay did before her recent romcom _Falling for Christmas_ (2022) exactly 13 years later.

I would watch a Creed spinoff.

No wonder the spinoff failed. Toby was in charge

Please make a video about the various Mister Ed spinoffs.

You should do a back door pilot episode on the supernatural one. With the Boston boy, I would like to see that and I see you have not done that yet on this channel

Finding it very hard to just scan past the idea that the like biggest sitcom since Friends almost had an incest subplot with Dwight and Esther??? Like at least they put it out to like third cousins which is like basically just a random person but introducing her in the context of "One of his relatives coming to their aunt's funeral" still marks it as an incest theme and like WHAT

Rainn Wilson grew up just outside of Seattle and in a wealthy suburb just outside of Chicago. I'm not sure what his rural upbringing would have been.

Spinoffs are needed less often than they're not.

How did they get the red Mustang out of the grave?

@stefferhatz 0 seconds ago You should do an episode about all the back door spin-offs that “The Facts of Life” attempted. There were a bunch!

After Michael, Dwight was the character people came for. His spin-off would have worked if they gave it a few episodes. I think it was just jarring to people at first. Frasier was a totally different show than Cheers, and you're not going to get it after just one episode!

That farm show sounds funny as fuck

Atomic Abe: _Remember Dakota Johnson's character?_ Everyone: _Nope! Sure don't_

Aw man, I would have loved NBC to have valued The Office more

Vee Infuso said it best in his video about this

Oh hey new video neat.

What still confuses me is if this spin-off was made would Angela be in it or would Dwight and Angela not have got together in the end?

I want an office spinoff where their kids go to the same school called “the schoolyard”

Terrible idea all the way around. Office has the distinction of being one of the last successes of the traditional network tv framework, and one of the first successes of the streaming model.

got to wonder how different the final seasonn would have been if dwight left

The documentary crew filmed a backdoor pilot and 9yrs of a documentary about a paper company. How much do you think they made?

How is “Scott’s Tots” not the worst episode ever?

Have done the back door pilot of The Jefferson’s?

Greg Daniel’s didn’t create The Office, he adapted it for the US audience 😬

I wouldn’t call parks and rec a complete failure

has there ever been a backdoor pilot that has been picked up

❤

Stanley would've been a good'n!

The Office was good cause it was grounded in reality (on some level). A Dwight farm that is bonkers would lose that. While Dwight was funny due to the folks he interacted with. A show of Dwights would just be too much.

Behind the backdoor pilot sounds like the title of a porn film.

Parks and Rec was a spin-off they got the old copier from the office

i still need to buy office monopoly game

One of the worst backdoor episodes ever was from The Goldbergs, with almost ZERO relation to the original show.

As an Office fan, I would NOT like to see Uncle Stan. It felt like a weird sketchy knockoff that I feel would have ruined the character.

I sincerely loved the American version of the office. Loved it. But, I can’t see a show about Dwight truly being successful. Even the office got bad in the last season….

It's probably because of the fact that spin offs very rarely are as good as the original. Not a safe bet generally speaking. Just do something new folks, stop trying to ride on people's coattails.

Silicon Valley was a much better series than the Farm ever would have been.

Mann.... I'm glad this didnt go through! I HATE DWIGHT AND ANGELA!!!! Soooo much! This would've been 😬😳🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤯

John Krasinski is the biggest and best con man in Hollywood. He's convinced people he has talent even though he has the range of a beet.

The most informative and joyless AI analysis ever.

Young Dwight might have worked similarly to Young Sheldon

Why is this an 18 minute video

Is Drew Barrymore's whole schtick now just sucking up to people!? It just seems insincere/over-acted. It was the most overacted looking thing in the whole video. That being said, what's WRONG with TV networks? They're idiots. Florida Stanley would have been worth a shot by far. Good thing there's the interwebs. Maybe Florida Stanley can still be made. Do it!

Hjjjiii

Parks and rec was an aborted spinoff that was allowed to be its own thing.

Mispronouncing “woof”? C’mon 😂

Thing. Very week.

the office was bad after season 4.... to me

That spin off does not look good.

the people that played the family members were not funny at all, other than mose

The Farm was awful. The only episode i skip on re-watch.