I’m aware that several people, just by reading the title of the article, are already either yelling at their screens or silently thinking to themselves, “Yes! Obviously!” And I get it. It makes a ton of sense to me, because “The Office” forever has and forever will hold a place in my heart, along with everyone else. The sarcasm, jokes and plot twists are what has fans craving more and more—hence why a reboot would be a great idea.
Ever since a young age, my parents would always have this show on the T.V. about a paper company located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The head of the company, Michael Scott, was a character who, despite my inability to grasp most of the show’s innuendos and jokes due to my age, was able to make me laugh and think “Wow, this guy’s kind of dumb.” Nevertheless, he had a name I had heard once and found difficulty in forgetting, not that I’ve tried.
I was around 12 years old when the show’s finale aired in May 2013, and I remember watching it with my family. It was such a beautiful ending to a phenomenal program that had spanned seven years since its first airing in 2005. During the finale, Pam surprises Jim with the selling of their home so that they can move to Philadelphia and further their future with Jim’s new company, Erin finally meets her birth parents, and Andy regains his confidence after an embarrassing video of him sobbing uncontrollably goes viral. Last but not least, Dwight married Angela, the two of them expressing their love for one another after essentially bottling it up throughout the entirety of the show.
Of course, Michael’s surprise reappearance at Dwight’s wedding was a highlight of the episode and one of my favorite parts.
The show was over, leaving millions of viewers, including myself, eager for more.
Before I get into the idea of a revival for the show, allow me to make it clear that by no means would a revival be a bad thing at all. Unless they do it wrong, of course.
On Nov. 17, Steve Carell, the man who plays the role of Michael Scott, appeared on Saturday Night Live to monologue for the first time since October 2013. Throughout the monologue, the members of the audience stood up and interacted with Carell. These members included fans of “The Office,” and Carell’s former co-stars: Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms and Jenna Fischer. Once the whole crew was on stage, the entire audience was practically begging Carell to consider involvement in a revival of the series that had ended six years ago. He made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t believe it’s a great idea, stating that a better idea would be to “have a party instead, get together, catch up, no cameras, just friends,” to which Helms comedically replied that they already have parties and simply don’t invite Carrell.
Despite Carell’s refusal to partake in a reboot of “The Office,” seeing all these stars in the same room expressing their wishes for one was quite a treat. I knew I’d already be interested in the monologue simply because Carell was the man delivering the lines, but I gained an even greater amount of excitement seeing all the cast members on stage. I remember thinking in my head: “Erin! Andy!” And of course, when I saw Jenna, I immediately thought “Pam!” The overall sight just made me eager.
Regardless of whether or not a revival of “The Office” is in the works, I think it has potential to be one of the biggest episodes of a show to grace television. It’d certainly attract the same, if not far more viewers than before, due to more people appreciating the show now more than ever before. Of course it’d be amazing to see all the characters and what they’re up to five years later, but the show would need to maintain the spark it possessed in its prime. The show was undoubtedly bursting with pop culture references and callbacks, like Michael’s Elvis impression and Jim’s experiment with mints on Dwight while referencing Pavlov’s dog experiment entitled “Classical Conditioning,” developed around 1890. Moments like these could be tricky to top, but I believe it can be done.
A lot has happened since the show ended in terms of the pop-culture world. The idea of Michael fiddling around with an Amazon Echo and making inappropriate jokes into it while Dwight drives for Uber to make some extra money is an idea that would be extremely timely and could lead to an outstanding episode.
Besides the pop-culture moments, the audience could relate to each character in some way. You could empathize with Jim outside the casino in the parking lot after he confesses his love for Pam and she turns him down for her marriage with Roy. You could ponder throughout the series the identity of the “Scranton Strangler.” You could question how Angela lives with herself fooling around with Dwight whilst being engaged to Andy. You could align yourself with the fact of whether or not Hilary Swank is hot. No matter the character, they all have a way of enabling their audience to relate to them, which is what makes “The Office” so special.
It’s these details, big or small, that made the show the unique ride it was. As long as the writers keep these characters’ attributes intact, a revival could end up working out exceptionally. We don’t know if it’s coming or not, but that’s the thing about reboots—they come when you least expect them. 2019 just could be the year for “The Office” to take over television screens once again.
