NBC'S 'THE OFFICE' WEB EVENT STREAMS ONLY ON NBC.COM
"Producer's Cut" To Be Web-Exclusive Event On NBC.com On November 9th

BURBANK, Calif. November 6, 2006 NBC's Emmy-winning comedy "The Office" (Thursdays, 8:30 9:00pm ET/PT) will offer fans a first-ever, web-exclusive "producer's cut" on November 9th. The episode will include additional scenes and extra footage not shown in the broadcast version. Viewers can log onto NBC.com at 9:00pm (PT) on November 9th to see the web-exclusive event.

The announcement was made today by Vivi Zigler, executive vice president NBC digital entertainment and new media.

"This is a first-of-its-kind and a real bonus for fans of 'The Office,'" said Zigler. "It's also a natural for this show which has continually pushed the envelope in the digital landscape. We're seeing an incredible audience reaction to the evolving digital extensions of our programming and anticipate this being one of their favorites."

In the pivotal November 9th episode, Jan (Melora Hardin) tells Michael (Steve Carell) that the Scranton Branch will be shutting down and Michael strives to keep his staff's spirits up. Meanwhile, everyone privately begins to envision how their lives will change in the aftermath. Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, B.J. Novak, David Denman, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Paul Lieberstein and Mindy Kaling also star, and Ed Helms ("The Daily Show"), Rashida Jones ("Wanted") and Charles Esten ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?") guest-star.

Through October 29, "The Office" has averaged a 4.0 rating, 10 share in adults 18-49 and 8.5 million viewers overall, making it this Fall's #3 half-hour comedy on any network in adults 18-49. "The Office" is also primetime's most upscale comedy, with the highest concentration of homes with $100,000-plus incomes and highest median income for its 18-49 audience among network comedies. "The Office" has improved the Thursday 8:30pm half-hour for NBC by 14 percent versus the network's 18-49 average at this point last season. "The Office" has matched or improved upon its adult 18-49 lead-in from "My Name is Earl" with every first-run telecast this Fall.

"The Office" takes a painfully funny look at the interactions of the desk jockeys at Dunder Mifflin paper-supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Golden Globe winner Steve Carell ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") stars as unctuous regional manager Michael Scott who hosts the documentary crew on a tour of the workplace. Jenna Fischer ("Miss Match"), John Krasinski ("Jarhead," "Kinsey"), Rainn Wilson ("Six Feet Under"), and B.J. Novak ("Punk'd") star as the employees who tolerate Michael's inappropriate behavior only because he signs their paychecks. Also starring are Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, David Denman as Roy, Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson, Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone, Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer, Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin, Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez and Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin. "The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American television, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein.

Interviews & Features: Mindy Kaling (Kelly) Throws a Surprise-filled Office Party
By Matt Webb Mitovich
TVGuide.com
November 2, 2006

Mindy Kaling doesn't just play Ryan-crazy (and sometimes just plain crazy) Kelly on NBC's The Office. She's also a writer-producer, as seemingly are most of the hit comedy's main players. This week's episode (airing tonight at 8:30 pm/ET), penned by Kaling, introduces Michael Scott (Steve Carell), among others, to the holiday of Diwali, as well as diverts some ongoing stories in new directions. TVGuide.com spoke with Kaling about the decision to just Hindu it.

TVGuide.com: First off, I just want to say that "Diwali" is a great episode.

Mindy Kaling: Thank you!

TVGuide.com: When did you first come up with the idea of a Diwali-centered outing?

Kaling: This is something that [executive producer] Greg Daniels and I sort of came up with together. Last year, I threw a Diwali party for the writers and some of my friends, so when we went to do a Halloween episode [for 2006], and we didn't want to just [copy last year's], Greg was like, "When is Diwali?" This year it was around Halloween time, so Greg was like, "Do you want to write it?" And I did. It's bright, colorful, outside of the office, and fun.

TVGuide.com: Plus it's fish-out-of-water territory for Michael, which is always fun to play.

Kaling: Oh, yeah. It's such a fertile area for him in terms of that!

TVGuide.com: Now why cast your real parents as Kelly's parents?

Kaling: Well, there was a whole audition process....

TVGuide.com: Sure there was.

Kaling: [Laughs] Oh, our show is all favoritism and nepotism. I mean, every week it's Greg casting his writers and friends in parts. I think [the Oct. 18] episode had no less than six writer-performers on the show. But yeah, my parents were very good, and of course I felt affectionately towards them.

TVGuide.com: Your dad has one of the night's best lines, to Michael: "So how long have you been dating the cheerleader?" [Carol, thanks to her ignorant beau, shows up in costume.]

Kaling: [Laughs] Yeah, I'm not positive that, if you talked to my dad, he would understand why that was a funny line. But the way he says it with such deadpan delivery.... I was very proud.

TVGuide.com: "Diwali" reminded me of [Season 2 finale] "Casino Night," in that a lot happens.

Kaling: A lot does, doesn't it? When we were breaking the story I was like, wow, there's a lot of stuff that has to happen in the setting of this colorful Indian festival. I felt very lucky.

TVGuide.com: Without naming names, you seem to end one of The Office's relationships....

Kaling: Oh, it's not over, I think I can say. This is just a very roller-coastery episode for them. We have not seen the last of [this pairing].

TVGuide.com: Still, is striking such a blow for a couple something you have to get a green light on before you actually script it?

Kaling: Yes. Certain elements we have to decide on before I go out and write it, obviously. But it was always sort of built in that the peak of "Diwali" would be this incredibly romantic overture [and its uncomfortable aftermath].

TVGuide.com: You also give us the one scene that we hoped never to see on The Office....

Kaling: [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Did you have any hesitation about going "there"?

Kaling: The thing about our show is whenever there's like a sweet moment, we have to counter it with a grotesque moment. Otherwise we become the sort of maudlin sitcom that we as writers hate. We don't ever want to be the show with the "very special moment," or where two characters understand each other finally. It has to be cut with something that's not right, so we can "reset the order of the universe." Greg has this whole thing about how he never wants us at the end of the seventh season to see that Dwight is Jim's best man at his wedding.

TVGuide.com: I like how you fashioned Kelly and Ryan as this Romeo-and-Juliet-type relationship, with her parents being steadfastly against her dating him.

Kaling: It was Romeo and Juliet and healthy parts Pride & Prejudice, as well. Kelly's family has, like, nine daughters, and if only they could marry them off it would be wonderful. But Kelly is the oldest and most idiotic of them all. The girls who played my little sisters were such funny little actresses, because when they were teasing Ryan about being Zach Braff, they added something nice to it that I didn't write: that to be compared to Zach Braff is kind of a pejorative. Why wouldn't Kelly be dating someone that looked like, I dunno, Brad Pitt? [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: What's your take: Are Kelly and Ryan sleeping together?

Kaling: The feeling among the writers is that Kelly is into the romance of it, and Ryan is in it for the physical.

TVGuide.com: What's your role in Office mate John Krasinski's July 2007 comedy, License to Wed?

Kaling: I play the wife of his best friend. We are the "married couple" that he knows, so he compares his new relationship [with Mandy Moore] to ours, which is kind of tumultuous.

TVGuide.com: Are you pro or con Mandy Moore?

Kaling: Oh, my god, I am like so in love with Mandy Moore. She has the most perfect skin I have ever seen. [My character] feels indifferent. She just thinks she's a fine white lady. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Will you be writing another episode of The Office this season?

Kaling: I am. I'm going to start writing during our production break. I don't know what it is about, though.

TVGuide.com: Are there any other fodder-worthy Hindu holidays to mine?

Kaling: If "Diwali" goes well, I'm going to try to make a deal with [NBC Entertainment president] Kevin Reilly that with every change of the moon phase, we're going to tackle a different Hindu holiday.

TVGuide.com: Just as long as the episode doesn't air during NBC's 8 o'clock hour.

Kaling: [Laughs] We don't even understand that [directive announced by NBC on Oct. 19]. We're just going to wait until someone explains it to us, and we have to "pack up" or something.

Hit Comedy 'The Office' Goes Indian on 'Diwali' Episode
By Lisa Tsering - India-West Staff Reporter
Indiawest Online
October 26, 2006

Each week on NBC's hit comedy series "The Office," Michael Scott, a clueless and socially inept middle manager at the headquarters of Dunder Mifflin - a paper supply company in Scranton, Pa. - bores or befuddles his staff with his attempts at business wisdom and wit.

When Michael meets Indian American culture at a Diwali party on an upcoming episode, one can only imagine what deliciously offensive missteps he's going to make.

The "Diwali" episode of "The Office" will air on NBC Nov. 2 at 8:30 p.m.

Michael Scott, played by Golden Globe-winning actor Steve Carell ("Little Miss Sunshine," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Bruce Almighty"), is a masterpiece of fecklessness whose wince-inducing attempts at humor and camaraderie are more inclined to leave you with a knot in your stomach than with the warm fuzzies you'd expect from a typical sitcom. The show is a risky, yet spectacularly successful, spinoff of the hit British series starring comic genius Ricky Gervais.

According to Mindy Kaling, a writer and actress for the show, executive producer Greg Daniels was "thrilled" to do an episode featuring Diwali.

"He realized, as did [NBC president] Kevin Reilly, that Diwali was completely new and untapped - and that's all you want when you are writing a comedy show, freshness," she told India-West in an email Oct. 24.

Kaling, credited as executive story editor on the show, is an Indian American comic actress and writer born in Boston. Her name is shortened from Chokalingam, she explained.

"My dad is from [Chennai] and my mother is from Mumbai. They met in Lagos, Nigeria. My mother speaks Bengali, Hindi, and English, and my father speaks Tamil and English, so English was the only language in common. My older brother and I were born in Boston, and raised speaking only English."

Kaling says it was surprisingly easy to convince the powers-that-be that Diwali was a good idea for a show. "I was never worried with Greg that he would say 'Oh, most white Americans have never heard of Diwali, they won't get it, they'll switch channels.' He just completely embraced it in a boyish, excited way.

"I had thrown a Diwali party last year for the writers and some friends, so people on the show were already familiar with it."

Kaling's parents even appear in this week's episode, as her character Kelly Kapoor's parents.

"My mom and dad were thrilled and adorably nervous to be playing the Kapoors, who are much more traditional Indian parents then they are ... They also play a couple that had an arranged marriage, which was not the case for my parents. So that was a little bit of 'acting' for them."

Nakul Dev Mahajan, founder of NDM Dance Productions, was roped in to choreograph a Bollywood dance for the show, to the song "Lodi" from "Veer-Zaara." You can see Mahajan leading his dancers until Michael Scott decides to jump in and dance himself.

The show's costumers combed the shops of Artesia, Calif.'s Little India neighborhood, looking not for upscale, elegant looks, but preferring simpler designs. "They wanted the Indians in the show to look like local community talent, like you'd find in Scranton, Pa., not like a professional extravaganza," Mahajan told India-West from Artesia.

Mahajan's last big break on American television was exactly that, a gorgeously mounted "professional extravaganza" for an episode of the NBC soap "Passions" in January. So it was a stretch to convince his dancers to look a bit more "homely," in an Indian sense, as he puts it. "It was daunting for us - here we are on a primetime show, and they want us to look like amateurs!" he said.

Mahajan also helped out as a "cultural consultant" of sorts, helping the show's producers get the right look and Indian details.

Observed Kaling, "I was surprised just how many stories surround the holiday, and that how the significance of it can mean something completely different for Hindus depending on which region of India you're from ... I learned so much in the process of researching and shooting the episode. Diwali isn't just 'everyone gets dressed up in kurthas and saris and eats bhajias.'"

Kaling has written at least four full episodes of "The Office," and has won awards for her stage work as a writer and performer in the fringe comedy "Matt & Ben." She can be seen onscreen in "The Forty Year-Old Virgin" and on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and will be seen in this year's feature films "License to Wed" and "Unaccompanied Minors."

Kaling's character, Kelly Kapoor, is more than just "the Indian girl" on "The Office." "I feel very lucky to be able to play a character who is so three-dimensional, and not just a shocked Indian foil to Michael's insensitive remarks," said Kaling. "The great thing about playing Kelly is that her being Indian is maybe the fifth thing you'd say about her. She's such a character; girly, chatty, teenager-y and gossipy, and then you remember, oh yeah, and she's Indian too."

Kaling is looking forward to seeing how America takes to this episode of "The Office."

"The comedy potential of Michael Scott in a Hindu festival, surrounded by Indian Americans and committing faux pas, seemed too delicious to pass up, anyone could see that," she told India-West. "It reminded me of Peter Sellers and 'The Party,' one of my dad's favorite movies."

Verizon Wireless :: NBC's The Office Games Get Flash Make-Over

NBC's The Office Games Get Flash Make-Over

Graphics for Mobile Games Receive a Major Upgrade with Verizon Wireless' Flash Lite for BREW Application

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. and LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile games are closing the gap to traditional computer games with the launch of a new technology that enables richer mobile experience. NBC's The Office Games has produced a flash-enhanced game for its series of six mini-games, based on Verizon Wireless' new Flash Lite for BREW(TM) technology. The new The Office Games feature cleaner graphics, enhanced sound and quicker relay times and can be played on select Get It Now(R)-enabled phones.

Indiagames developed NBC's The Office Games to be played at the office or at home. With shorter play times, Verizon Wireless customers will find the intuitive array of games easy to navigate and simple to play -- perfect for a break, after a stressful meeting or on an awkward phone call. The games feature the well-loved characters from the Emmy(R) Award winning television series participating in a selection of cubical game-play including Wasteketball, Paper-Football (Hateball), Table-Top Golf, Office Paper War, Chair-Racing and more -- everything Michael Scott would not approve of!

"We're proud to bring the comedy of 'The Office' to Verizon Wireless using the incredible Flash Lite technology. It truly has been a great partnership indeed. These games are so addictive -- and the new graphics make them even more fun!" said Sean Malatesta, vice president of the Americas for Indiagames Ltd. Indiagames is striving to bring high-quality CG games to mobile. With increased mobile phone screen sizes, Indiagames has begun to rollout a series of graphically driven games, similar to desktop games, but made for mobile. The new high-resolution graphics for NBC's The Office Games are closer to those seen in traditional video games -- with clean transitions during score updates and between games. Similarly, the maneuverability has been enhanced to capitalize on player reaction times.

Initially available on two phones from Verizon Wireless, including The V (LG VX9800) and Samsung SCH-a950, the new The Office Games are available for $3.49 monthly access or $6.99 for unlimited use purchase. Download charges for Get It Now applications vary and airtime charges apply when browsing, downloading and using certain applications. Customers need a Get It Now- enabled handset and Verizon Wireless digital service to access the Get It Now virtual store.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to http://www.verizonwireless.com/

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 54.8 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Indiagames Ltd.

Indiagames Ltd. is one of the leading global mobile content publishers. Indiagames is engaged in publishing and developing games across various platforms like Internet, PC, broadband, mobile phones, PDAs, handheld gaming devices and consoles. Indiagames products are published across leading platforms like Java (TM), BREW (TM), I-Mode (TM), Flash Lite (TM) and Symbian (TM). Indiagames has its distribution partnerships across the globe with major mobile operators.

Indiagames' key investors includes TOM Online Inc., which is a leading wireless Internet company in China providing value-added multimedia products and services, Adobe Systems, Inc. and Cisco Systems, Inc.

About The Office

Recently nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, "The Office" takes a painfully funny look at the interactions of the desk jockeys at Dunder Mifflin paper-supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Steve Carell ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- whom E! Online said, "might be the funniest man alive,") stars as unctuous regional manager Michael Scott who hosts the documentary crew on a tour of the workplace. Jenna Fischer ("Slither"), John Krasinski ("Jarhead," "Kinsey"), Rainn Wilson ("Six Feet Under"), and B.J. Novak ("Punk'd") star as the employees who tolerate Michael's inappropriate behavior only because he signs their paychecks. Also starring are Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, David Denman as Roy, Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson, Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone, Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer, Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin, Oscar Nu??ez as Oscar Martinez and Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin. "The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American television, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein.

About Universal Mobile Entertainment

Universal Mobile Entertainment (UME) generates revenues and enhances brand awareness for NBC Universal's motion picture and television properties through licensing agreements with top-tier publishers. UME oversees the creation of high-quality mobile application services that include games, ringtones, wallpapers, MMS, SMS services and audiovisual services, and ensures ubiquitous distribution through mobile operators and portals worldwide. With offices in Los Angeles, London and Tokyo the team has been aggressive in the mobile content market since 2000 and currently has hundreds of mobile products that are available to consumers in every major territory of the world.

About NBC Universal

Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.

Get It Now is a registered trademark of Verizon Wireless. All other names and trademarks are property of their respective companies.

NBC RE-MAKES TWO-HOUR COMEDY BLOCK ON THURSDAYS WITH RETURN OF 'SCRUBS' AND MOVE OF '30 ROCK' TO JOIN 'MY NAME IS EARL' AND 'THE OFFICE' BEGINNING NOVEMBER 30

MOVE IS PRECEDED BY SPECIAL 'SUPER-SIZED' NIGHT OF COMEDY FEATURING 40-MINUTE EPISODES OF 'EARL,' 'THE OFFICE' AND '30 ROCK' ON NOVEMBER 16

BURBANK - October 25, 2006 - NBC will return the Emmy Award-nominated "Scrubs" and move freshman comedy "30 Rock" to Thursday nights beginning November 30 to form a new two-hour 8-10 p.m. (ET) comedy block with "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office." The change will follow a special super-sized night of comedy two weeks earlier on Thursday, November 16, with three 40-minute episodes of "My Name Is Earl," "The Office" and "30 Rock."

The announcements were made by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"We are excited about the prospect of two-hours of top-notch comedy on Thursday nights, which includes the return of 'Scrubs,'" said Reilly. "We will stay on-brand with the best comedy block on television, which will position us for the future on the night."

Beginning November 30, NBC's Thursday-night lineup will be "My Name Is Earl" (8-8:30 p.m. ET); "The Office" (8:30-9 p.m. ET); "Scrubs" (9-9:30 p.m. ET); and "30 Rock" (9:30-10 p.m. ET). "ER" will continue at 10-11 p.m. (ET).

Starting November 22, NBC will feature various specials on Wednesdays (8-9 p.m. ET), which will soon be announced.

Winner of a prestigious Humanitas Prize and a People's Choice Award, and nominated for a Producer's Guild and two consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series Awards, "Scrubs" (now entering its sixth season) focuses on the strange experiences of J.D. (Zach Braff, "Last Kiss," "Garden State"), a medical resident, as he continues on his healing career in a surreal hospital, crammed full of unpredictable staffers and patients -- where humor and tragedy can collide at any time.

Joining the rumpled J.D. at Sacred Heart Hospital are fellow residents Chris Turk (Donald Faison, "Remember the Titans," "Felicity") -- J.D.'s college buddy who is part of the elite surgical group -- and the beautiful, but socially awkward, Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke, "Roseanne").

Keeping a watchful eye over these young doctors are the caustic chief of medicine, Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins, "Courage Under Fire"), the abrasive, but caring, Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley, "Wall Street," "Platoon"), and Turk's wife and no-nonsense nurse, Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes, "Oz"). Neil Flynn ("Magnolia"), the hospital janitor, portrays J.D.'s nemesis, who never seems to miss an opportunity to harass his target.

"Scrubs" is produced by Touchstone Television. Bill Lawrence ("Spin City") is the executive producer and creator.

"30 Rock" is told through the comedic voice of Emmy winner Tina Fey (NBC's "Saturday Night Live") as Liz Lemon and features Alec Baldwin as the brash new network executive who has turned her show upside down with his meddling ways. Single Lemon is living every comedy writer's dream - head writer on a demanding, live TV program in New York City. Her life is jolted when executive Donaghy (Baldwin, "The Aviator") interferes with her show, and bullies Lemon into convincing Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan, NBC's "Saturday Night Live," "The Longest Yard"), a wild and unpredictable movie star, to join the cast. Tony winner Jane Krakowski also is featured as the star of "The Girlie Show."

Also rounding out the cast in the half-hour comedy are Scott Adsit, Jack McBrayer and Rachel Dratch ("Saturday Night Live").

"30 Rock" is from Broadway Video and NBC Universal Television Studio. Executive producers are Lorne Michaels ("Saturday Night Live"), Tina Fey ("Saturday Night Live"), JoAnn Alfano ("Sons & Daughters"), Marci Klein ("Saturday Night Live") and David Miner ("The Tracy Morgan Show").

Created and written by Emmy-winning Greg Garcia ("Yes, Dear), "My Name Is Earl" is executive-produced by Garcia and Emmy-winning Marc Buckland ("Medical Investigation," "Ed") and Bobby Bowman ("Yes, Dear"). The series is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television and Amigos de Garcia. Jason Lee stars in the title role.

"The Office" - which earned the Emmy as Outstanding Comedy Series earlier this year -- is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein. Golden Globe winner Steve Carell stars.

Interviews & Features - Angela Kinsey Has The Office's Uptight Accountant's Number
By Sabrina Rojas Weiss
TVGuide.com
October 19, 2006

For the record, we understand that NBC's The Office (Thursdays at 8:30 pm/ET) is a fictional show, and that its characters are portrayed by actors. Still, that doesn't make it any less surprising to learn that Angela Kinsey, the woman behind Dunder-Mifflin's stern, judgmental stick-in-the-mud accountant Angela Martin, is very nearly the sweetest actress ever to grace our phone lines. She called us this week to chat about her prim-and-proper alter ego, whose romance with assistant regional manager Dwight (Rainn Wilson) has been heating up. (Well, as much as any romance involving the ice queen can "heat up.")

TVGuide.com: Hi, how are you?

Angela Kinsey: I'm good, lady!

TVGuide.com: You sound so nice and friendly.

Kinsey: So unlike the sourpuss I play?

TVGuide.com: Exactly. What's it like to play that other Angela?

Kinsey: Oh, my gosh, it is so much fun! My friends always say my name is "Angela Sorry," because I'm always like, "I'm sorry!" I'm Southern, so to play someone who's not sorry ever is a lot of fun. People ask my husband all the time, "Does she give you those glares?" Of course, he loves to say that I practice it at home.

TVGuide.com: How did you convince the Office producers that you could play Angela?

Kinsey: I am acting, lady! I think we've all worked with that person at the office who takes themselves and their job so seriously. I sort of compiled all those people together to form this lady.

TVGuide.com: Did you do anything especially severe for your audition?

Kinsey: I first went in for the role of Pam, which I know is very hard for people to believe. Obviously, Jenna Fischer is so perfect, and I cannot even imagine Pam as anyone but Jenna. But they did bring me back for this role of a judgmental lady in accounting. I pretty much wore no makeup, pulled my hair back in a really low ponytail, and wore a gray turtleneck and gray pants. I sort of channeled the uptight librarian.

TVGuide.com: Do you have some input with the styling of your character?

Kinsey: The gal who does my hair, Kimberly, is awesome. She and I sit there and say, "We haven't seen a bun in a while," or "We haven't tried a French braid," "Oh, let's go crazy and do a ponytail!" This season Angela's in a relationship, so she's stepped it up a little bit — as much as Angela Martin can step it up, which is maybe not a slicked-back bun, but a soft, low bun!

TVGuide.com: Is it weird that she has your name?

Kinsey: Oh, my gosh, yes! Just last weekend I went out with my husband for sushi at this restaurant where you had to go through this rowdy karaoke bar to get to the bathroom. So I'm walking through and this guy goes "Angela!" in such a way that I was like, "Oh, I know him." I walked up and he goes, "When are you and Dwight gonna make it official?!" People call out my name and every time it happens, it throws me.

TVGuide.com: Are there any backstories you've invented for Angela?

Kinsey: I've given myself little fun things. Like in the pilot episode, I gave myself the backstory that she had probably adopted a cat that she had found in the parking lot and named it Sprinkles and was going to have a birthday party for it. I think that she is probably really serious about her Tupperware — like, she probably puts her initials on all of her Tupperware, and if you borrow it, she writes it down. And I think she probably really likes to mall walk, because she doesn't have to go out in the cold or get a suntan.

TVGuide.com: How did she and Dwight get together in the first place?

Kinsey: I remember when we were at the table read for the "Jim's Party" episode [when their relationship was revealed], Rainn and I just started cracking up. He said to me, "It just makes such perfect sense." They have this dance they do with each other. They both crave power and authority, they take life and their jobs really seriously, and they're really militant and like to follow lots of rules.

TVGuide.com: Are they going to come out as a couple anytime soon?

Kinsey: I will say that there will be some really fun Dwight-and-Angela moments in Season 3 that won't disappoint. That's about as much as I can say.

TVGuide.com: I understand we're going to meet Dwight's cousin, Mose, sometime soon?

Kinsey: I just spoke to B.J. Novak (Ryan), who wrote this week's episode, and he said we will get to see Mose.... We're going to get to see a little of the beet farm [in this week's episode]. I have been pitching the writers that we need to see Dwight, Mose and Angela together, because I feel that Mose would be like their child in some weird way.

TVGuide.com: Does the cast get to suggest things about their characters?

Kinsey: The writers are very open to the actors and to our interpretation of what we think our character would do in that moment. Jenna and I have both worked in corporate America — Jenna was a secretary, and I was an operator at 1-800-DENTIST — and we were talking about some of the silly seminars we had to go to. We were saying, "Wouldn't it be fun if there was a 'Women in the Workplace' seminar, where Jan would come in and work with the female members of the show?" The writers took that idea and did an amazing script with it.

TVGuide.com: What was it like filming the accountants' webisodes?

Kinsey: We had so much fun! Brian Baumgartner, Oscar Nunez and I were cracking up. [During regular filming] we sort of cruise through our scenes, and then we can enjoy being the "audience" on the set. So when we did the webisodes, all of a sudden we were in every scene! We filmed them all in two days. By the end of the day, I couldn't hold a thought in my head. I could not stop laughing. I hope they do more things like that. I think it's a fun way to show the other people in the office, 'cause who knows what's going on in human resources back there with Kelly and Toby?

TVGuide.com: When you're strapped to your desk on the set, what do you do?

Kinsey: I play solitaire. And we have [Instant Messenger] set up, so I IM Jenna and Brian and B.J. And Jenna, Brian, Kate, B.J. and I are all on MySpace, so I update my MySpace page.

TVGuide.com: It's nice that they give you real computers, so you don't have to be fake-typing all day. Kinsey: It is! In Season 1, we didn't have them, so Brian and Oscar and I passed notes all day. We were like a bunch of third-graders.

TVGuide.com: Is there anything else we can see you in soon?

Kinsey: This summer I did a movie with John Krasinski, Mandy Moore and Robin Williams, called License to Wed. If you're an Office fan, you should definitely check it out. Brian Baumgartner has a role in it, and so does Mindy Kaling. And if I didn't get cut out, you'll see me as well. The director of the movie, Ken Kwapis, directed a lot of Office episodes. It'll be out in July.

TVGuide.com: Are you in line to do a blog for us here at TVGuide.com?

Kinsey: Oh, yeah. I know Kate [Flannery, Meredith] is doing one now. And I really enjoyed Brian's and Jenna's. After I read Jenna's, she had talked to me about it, and I said, "Jenna, everything you talked about is exactly what I'd talk about." So I've got to wait and get some distance.

Interviews & Features - Melora Hardin Surveys Jan and Michael's Office Romance
By Matt Webb Mitovich
TVGuide.com
October 12, 2006

Sure, the second-season finale of NBC's The Office (Thursdays at 8:30 pm/ET) gave us the Pam-Jim kiss and an "I love you," but just as significant on the romantic front, boss-man Michael (Steve Carell) found himself sandwiched between two women: his own supervisor, Jan, and real-estate agent Carol. Since poor Jan wound up the odd woman out, TVGuide.com tried to console her portrayer, Melora Hardin, with a festive Q&A.

TVGuide.com: As you approach this role as an actress, in your mind, why does Jan put up with Michael? I mean, why doesn’t she just fire this guy already?

Melora Hardin: Right, exactly! [Laughs] I think that Jan is a pretty complex character in the sense that she has all these defense mechanisms that she has put up; she is very corporate, and she's really learned how to survive in a man's world, so she's got this very tough exterior. But inside, I describe her as having a "soft caramel center." [Laughs] Ultimately, I think that Michael is one of the very few people in her life who sees all those walls and doesn’t get scared and intimated and backs off. Instead, he comes barreling in like a bull in a china shop. And there's something for Jan that’s compelling about that. Who doesn’t want to be wanted? Even though he's inappropriate and rude and obnoxious and not at all at her level and not right for her in any way, there's something [there] that’s kind of unbearably, chemically attractive to her. She gives him a lot of slack because of that, even though she seems like she's not giving him a lot of slack.

TVGuide.com: I think she sees herself in him a little bit.

Hardin: Yeah, I think there is some kind of kindred spirit there — waaay deep down. [Laughs] Jan is a very flawed character, as are all the characters on The Office. That’s why they're so appealing, because people can really see themselves in each character in different ways. You get to see that Jan carries this perfect executive facade around with her, but she's really not perfect. You get glimmers of that woundedness.

TVGuide.com: Since Steve Carell's real-life wife (Nancy Walls) plays Carol, do you ever feel like the deck is stacked against Jan?

Hardin: No, I don't. [Laughs] I think Jan is really not at all pleased that he chose Carol over her, but Jan is a valuable character because she drives the machine of The Office in a different way than any other character does. She's a necessary piece of that puzzle.

TVGuide.com: If you were in the corporate world and not acting, would you be a boss, like Jan?

Hardin: Yeah, probably.... I've always been the boss. When I was a little kid, I used to put on shows in my neighborhood, and I would boss the kids around. I even tried once to get the boys to wear tights because I was playing ballerina. That didn’t work out very well.

TVGuide.com: I was going to say, you may be responsible for thousands of dollars' worth of therapy bills.

Hardin: [Laughs] I did get them to lift me, though!

TVGuide.com: I spoke to John Krasinski about this and he, too, noticed that weird moment in the last season finale between Jim and Jan. Did you sense it also?

Hardin: Yeah, I did. We had lots of people saying to us, "Oh, my god, are Jim and Jan going to hook up? What's happening?!"

TVGuide.com: It would have been a neat twist, and really thrown everybody for a loop.

Hardin: Absolutely. I haven’t ever talked to Greg Daniels, our creator, about whether that was an intentional thing, or whether that was something that John and I just brought to it. I'm not really sure.

TVGuide.com: It could have just been because you were looking all edgy, in a leather coat, dragging hard on a cigarette....

Hardin: Yeah, and Jim was kind of looking at me like, "Oh my god, what am I doing...." John and I like each other a lot, so probably some of the warmth came through. Sometimes that exudes on the screen.

TVGuide.com: How much of you do we see in the next two episodes, "Grief Counseling" (in which Michael's predecessor kicks the bucket), and "The Initiation" (Dwight takes B.J. out on a sales call)?

Hardin: Let's see.... I definitely am in "Grief Counseling" to let Michael know what's happened, and he takes it very hard. So first I relay the news to him, and then I check in on him. And "The Initiation," that’s a funny episode.... In that one, I am micromanaging Michael's life kind of out of the jealousy and hurt of him choosing Carol over Jan.

TVGuide.com: I can't believe Jan is so hurt!

Hardin: I know! But she doesn't seem hurt. You wouldn’t know that unless I said that. She's all no-nonsense, business as usual as she tells him, "Now you have to give me an hourly log of everything you're doing. You're not going to mess around anymore." She wants a minute-by-minute scroll-down of his day.

TVGuide.com: Oh, my goodness. Now, those are some interesting pics of you at Melora.com.

Hardin: Oh, thank you very much! That’s for my music — I'm a singer-songwriter and my music is very much like those pictures....

TVGuide.com: Retro?

Hardin: Yeah, retro, all original stuff I've written with a little Doris Day/Julie London kind of vibe. It's cheeky and fun and romantic.

TVGuide.com: I didn’t know this interesting bit of trivia: You were the original girlfriend in Back to the Future?

Hardin: Yes, I was, I was.... But I was too tall to play opposite Michael J. Fox [after Eric Stoltz was replaced as the lead].

TVGuide.com: That’s OK. She got replaced in the sequel anyway.

Hardin: Yeah, with Elisabeth Shue. But when I did it, it was a two-picture deal, so....

TVGuide.com: Who on the set of The Office makes you laugh the most?

Hardin: Kate Flannery, who plays Meredith, is really funny. I love how she plays Meredith as so disgusted all the time with herself and with life.... It's hilarious, the faces she makes bowl me over. But I would have to say that the person who makes me laugh the most is Steve [Carell]. I'm a pretty intense straight man and sometimes I just can't hold it together. There are some good bloopers on the Season 2 DVD.

TVGuide.com: Having seen you and Jenna Fischer and the other ladies glammed up for the Emmys and such, I wonder: Do you ever lobby for an episode where your characters can get dolled up as well?

Hardin: I think "Casino Night" was pretty much the dolled-up version of Scranton. [Laughs] I don’t think that would be appropriate for the show. It's important, as the show gets more and more successful, that we all remain just a little bit wrong. In the first season, I wore my hair stick straight, and then we decided to do this little bit of a bad curl, where it’s just a little too curled. Otherwise we turn into Desperate Housewives, and that is so not our gig. We're trying to make this mockumentary, so it needs to feel real.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of that documentary being shot at Dunder-Mifflin... when it airs on PBS or wherever, just how long is it going to be?!

Hardin: [Laughs] I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's a five-to seven-year-long documentary!