There’s been a lot of buzz on the ‘net recently about how John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were spotted together in Niagara Falls, filming sequences for Jim and Pam’s wedding on “The Office,” but when I talked to Oscar Nunez earlier today (I’ll post the whole interview in the near future) and the topic of the impending nuptial episode came up, he teased that there’d be a guest star turning up. He wouldn’t give any specific names, damn him, but he let slip that it was someone from the cast of “True Blood.”
So who is it?
After doing some digging and checking in with NBC, I was able to confirm that Anna Camp, who you may remember as Sarah Newlin – you know, Reverend Steve’s hot and sexy wife – will be playing Pam’s sister, Penny.
One of the most high profile job openings in Office history — the role of Pam’s mom — has been filled. And true to their word, producers resisted the urge to cast Meryl Streep. Or Goldie Hawn. Or Bonnie Hunt. Or…… anyone else whose name you’d recognize. Instead, they handed the plum part to Linda Purl, a relatively unknown actress whose biggest claim to fame was playing Andy Griffith’s daughter in the first season of Matlock.
Stop the presses! On second though, don’t.
It’s not like I didn’t see this coming though. Last month, Office producer/star B.J. Novak warned me that Mrs. Beasley probably wouldn’t get an A- (or B- or C-) list portrayer. “That’s the rule we have stuck to on our show — it is supposed to be real average Joes, and casting a famous actor takes away from that,” he said. “We have only cast a famous actor when they can blend right in as was the case with Amy Ryan. Or if it makes sense for the role, like with Jack Black.”
I can respect that. I don’t have to like it, but I can respect it.
Back to whatsherface Purl, she’ll make her Office debut next month at Pam and Jim’s wedding.
Bonus footnote: This is technically a recast. We first caught a glimpse of Pam’s mom in season 2 when she was played by actress Shannon Cochran (The Ring).
Thoughts? Happy the show maintained its creative integrity by hiring Purl? Or are of the “Screw creative integrity, hire Bette Midler!” mindset? Sound off below! (Additional reporting by Jennifer Armstrong and Carrie Bell)
MICHAEL GETS CAUGHT UP IN OFFICE GOSSIP–Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) feels left out as the rest of the office gossips about the summer interns. While Michael searches for the next juicy rumor to share, Andy (Ed Helms) struggles with heterosexuality. Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Brian Baumgartner, Leslie David Baker, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Oscar Nunez, Creed Bratton, Paul Lieberstein, B.J. Novak and Ellie Kemper also star.
When “The Office” returns this Fall, Pam and Jim will finally tie the knot with their future brood inside the bride. Several on-set photos of their weddings, which can be spoilery, are coming out to indicate that the scene has been shot in recent days. Jenna Fischer is seen in the pics with a loose white wedding gown that conceals her growing baby bump.
The new season which starts airing on September 17 will pick up a few months after the May season finale where Pam and Jim discovered that they are going to be parents. “We pick up three weeks before the wedding,” executive producer, actor and writer Paul Lieberstein said in an interview. “She’s not showing yet. She’s hoping to get through the wedding without showing.”
Fischer suggested earlier this month that the wedding will take place in a location far from Scranton. “It’s going to be a destination wedding, probably in Niagara Falls,” the actress said. “By making it a destination wedding, the hope is that nobody from the office will come.”
Pam and Jim becoming parents won’t occur so soon though because Pam will give birth in a February 2010 episode. Responding to the fear that a show will be ruined once a baby is present, Lieberstein said, “… given that we’re an office, people have to come to work and they’re not allowed to bring their babies to work, not yet at least. So I think we’re still a show without a baby, even though two of our main characters have a baby.”
Yes. Jim and Pam are actually going to get married this season on The Office.
That’s finally been established, so the only question is when. The current rumor is sooner rather than later. Episode 4 of the upcoming Season Six, according to TV Guide.
Why the rush? Because Pam doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s expecting: “Hilarity ensues when an unlikely party becomes her accidental confidante. No, not Phyllis.”
The Office is back in production, with Season 6 set to premiere September 17th and I recently had the chance to speak to Mindy Kaling about what’s to come. Kaling does double duty on the show, serving both as a writer and a cast member - playing the role of the eternally bubbly Kelly Kapoor.
Kaling talked about writing a pivotal episode this season, Kelly’s taste in men and more – not to mention her recent deal with NBC, that has Kaling developing her own series.
IGN TV: The Michael Scott Paper Company storyline was a pretty big departure for the series. Going into this year, are things a bit more back to normal for the time being?
Mindy Kaling: Yes. I think the show is going to stay in that classic Office stuff for awhile – for at least six to eight episodes. The wedding episode is the fourth one and that has some kind of crazy stuff in it, but I think because it is the wedding and people have been waiting for so long, we’ve earned it a little bit for that one. Plus, you can’t have a wedding in an office! But everything else will be good old fashioned Office episodes with A stories and B stories inside the office.
IGN: You’re writing the wedding episode, right?
Kaling: Yes, [Office Executive Producer] Greg Daniels and I are co-writing the wedding episode.
IGN: The many rabid Jim & Pam (or “Jam”) fans are going to expect a lot. Does that put the pressure on?
Kaling: I know! Well, the thing about writing with Greg is it’s not like writing with just another writer, because the buck kind of stops with him, because he’s my boss. I’ve been nervous about pissing him off and stuff! But he loves Jim and Pam, or Jam, more than almost anyone. Of all the people on the show, he’s the most committed to the extreme romantic aspect of the show.
IGN: How do you determine who writes a big episode like that?
Kaling: I think Paul Lieberstein, who’s now the showrunner, he just has an idea of whose voice he’d like to see on something. And I think when I did the two-parter last year, “The Lecture Circuit”, that maybe he was thinking, “Okay, well this episode should be funny, but have serious stuff too,” which is what this [wedding] episode hopefully will be.
IGN: Kelly has had a busy love life the past year. How is she doing this season?
Kaling: Somebody said to me, “Kelly’s into black men” and I’m like, “I guess she is!” Kelly loves black men. Obviously there’s going to be some stuff with Ryan again, because they have a… BJ [Novak] and I love acting together, because we’re like best friends. We always think of scenes when we can be together, and unfortunately, they’re almost always romantic. But actually, there’s going to be a lot of music and dance for Kelly this season, because I love music and dance… But in a relatable Office way!
IGN: I really loved the dancing in “Cafe Disco” last season. It seemed like it had to be fun to shoot, because you got to be so goofy and just dance together.
Kaling: Yes, it was completely fun to shoot. And someone like Ed [Helms], who is now like a movie star, basically… To get him to come back to our dingy little office and cut a rug is so fun. I feel like it’s really rare and it’s just great. When he and Steve [Carell] do stuff like that, you’re like, “Oh my god, someone would pay a lot of money to see this, and I work here.”
IGN: We recently went back and reviewed the second episode of The Office, and our writer, Travis Fickett, noted that Kelly was quite different back then.
Kaling: Completely, yeah.
IGN: His theory was that perhaps Michael so damaged Kelly during “Diversity Day” that she reverted to her high school persona.
Kaling: That is a great rationalization! The actual thing that happened was I said, “I am not wearing that outfit for another four years! I am 25 years old!”, because that’s when we started the show… No, I was 24 then. My god. I’m 30 now, because I’ve been doing the show for so long! But I was like, “I can’t!” Everyone changed though. Nobody really looks the way that we used to.
IGN: Congratulations on your development deal.
Kaling: Thank you!
IGN: I know it’s still early, but any ideas you’re mulling over?
Kaling: Yeah, I do. I would love to do an office-set comedy. It’s not going to be a mockumentary I think, because Mike and Greg, I think they do it well enough that I don’t want to try. I just want to do a straight up theatrical show with scoring. Maybe it’s dated to do a straight comedy now, but 30 Rock does it!
IGN: Are you on any sort of timetable with that? Are you aiming to have a show for next fall, or two years from now?
Kaling: Next fall would be amazing. I’ve wanted a show since I was a little kid, so I’ve had lots of pre-production time on this! I would love to finish the script sometime soon and maybe get a cool producer attached and do it. It seems like NBC is the no-brainer network if you’re a woman in comedy right now, so I feel like if they want to take a risk in me now, they’re crazy, but I might as well strike while the iron is hot!
IGN: If your own show began while The Office is still going, have you thought about what would cause Kelly to leave Dunder Mifflin?
Kaling: I feel like there’s not enough murders and deaths in half-hour comedies. So if we can think of a really creative way to kill her, that would be it.
IGN: [Laughs] It could be a mystery thing.
Kaling: Like a Simpsons, “Who shot Mr. Burns?”
IGN: Yeah. “Who killed Kelly?”
Kaling: God, I can already see Greg rolling in his grave when I propose that Kelly gets murdered. He’s like, “What show do you think we are?!”
A wedding bell will soon ring for Pam and Jim on “The Office“. A complicated relationship, an engagement and a baby on the way after, the on-screen couple is confirmed to tie the knot in season 6. Yet, Michael Scott is still clueless about everything including Pam’s growing baby bump.
The news of the wedding was first sparked by actress Mindy Kaling who confirmed that she was writing an episode for the scene. She revealed that the wedding will occur as soon as the fourth episode, reasoning “Wouldn’t people kind of get annoyed if we kept it (engagement) going for years and years?”
Jenna Fischer who plays Pam gave more details to TV Guide magazine, revealing that she had been doing some fittings for wedding gowns. “It’s going to be a destination wedding, probably in Niagara Falls,” Fischer elaborated. “By making it a destination wedding, the hope is that nobody from the office will come.”
Regarding Michael’s absence of knowledge about Pam’s pregnancy, Fischer said they would like to keep it that way. “We’re keeping it a secret from Michael for a couple reasons,” explained the actress. “First, Jim and Pam aren’t married yet, and also, just, you know, it’s Michael Scott we’re dealing with.”
The sixth season begins September 17 at 9/8c on NBC.
Here’s the spoiler part: We are back to work at The Office. We are currently shooting episode 2. The best part about working on this show is getting to know the answers to all of the cliffhangers 2 months early. It’s good stuff!
The show will pick up in real time. Pam is just out of her first trimester but isn’t really showing yet.
It’s like NBC was reading our minds when it posted this classic clip from The Office today. You probably know it. In one of his infamous pranks on Dwight, Jim … became Dwight.
We’re not sure what’s funnier:
That Dwight refers to this as “identity theft.”
That Jim’s asks him what type of bear is best.
That Rainn Wilson’s character is so believable and John Krasinski’s impression so spot on that you swear you’re watching real people.
