The Office's Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner Dish on Games and Gamblin'
Hello, fellow couch potatoes! Two of our fave Office workers, Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner, just talked to reporters about the upcoming Office Games, the “Kevin’s Loan” webisodes and yes, the fate of Ryan (B.J. Novak) and Toby (Paul Lieberstein) in season five. Click in to find out who’s about to eat a lot of beets…
Season Five, Coming Soon: The conference call focused on the webisodes and the Office Games (coming July 19 to Scranton, Pa.) , but a smidge of information about season five was spilled. When asked about the prevalence of the Toby and Ryan characters in season five, Mindy said, “I think that we’ll be satisfied with how much we see Toby and Ryan. Toby disappeared in the finale of last season, and Ryan was seemingly arrested, so tying up those stories will be interesting. We haven’t seen the last of Toby is what I can tell fans. Personally, I don’t mind seeing less of him. Just kidding, they’re my friends.”
To Be Continued? As you probably know, the webisodes focus on Kevin’s efforts to pay off his gambling debts. So, does he succeed in clearing the ledger and moving on with this life, or will the money-trouble drama continue into season five of The Office? Says Brian B.,”I think the irony of how terrible he is with money—yet he is an accountant at Dunder Mifflin—has played out a few times, or maybe his ineptitude has played out…I sort of assume this is a summer excursion for him.”
Also, Huge in Japan: Rest assured, Baumgartner is not letting the webisodic fame go to his head: “Steve Carell may be the star of The Office, but I am huge on the Internet. I am like a complete and total star of two-minute clips online.” That’s what I like about The Office cast: no egos.
Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica: For the record, Mindy Kaling will throw down with you at the Office Games beet-eating contest. She says, “Look, I know a lot of people think of me and they like, ’Oh, that girl is really sexy, that girl is really put together, she would never do something as unladylike as a beet-eating competition. Well, let me just say that that is not true, I will be eating beets as fast as humanly possible, and I hope to win. Yes, I am emceeing a lot of the events, and yes, I am a castmember on the show, but does that mean I’m not going to force myself to eat thousands upon thousands of beets? No, not at all, and I’ll do it looking really sexy.”
Good Buzz: Kaling, who both acts and writes for The Office, shared a little of the watercooler talk around the production office about the spinoff. She says, “The spinoff, from what I’ve heard, sounds amazing. That’ll be really fun for those writers.” Whoo-hoo!
The Office Is Back! (On Your Computer)
Hurrah! The Office webisodes are almost here, lucky for us all. It’s not quite the same as having a full 22 minutes with J.Kras and Rainn, but beginning next Thursday, July 10, by way of NBC.com, we will have some more quality at Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch. I got an early look at the webisodes this morning, so click in for a little dish and a sneak-peek video…
Really More Like The Tudors Than The Office: Ignore what you’ve heard about the webisodes being about Kevin’s efforts to secure a loan that he can then use to pay off his gambling debts. Oscar Nuñez has the real scoop: “I am playing the visiting count of Spain and in the scenes you’ll be seeing I’m giving the information to Queen Elizabeth that we are thinking of going to war with them. It’s completely different from The Office, and yet it takes place here.”
Highlights: Darryl, Darryl, Darryl. I’m telling you, if you didn’t have a giant crush on Craig Robinson’s Darryl Philbin before these webisodes, you’ll definitely be in love by the time they’re done. Why is he so great? Well, like Holly Flax in the season finale, he helps Kevin with his “challenges.” Other high points from the webisodes include our introduction to Kevin’s bookie (played by Perry Anzilotti) and Oscar’s zero-tolerance policy toward Kevin’s money-grubbing shenanigans.
Boys Will Be Boys: There’s only one female in the webisodes, a loan officer, er, wait, English lady-in-waiting played by Samantha Albert. That’s OK though, because less time with the ladies means we get more quality time with some of our fave guys: Oscar, Stanley, Kevin and Darryl. Brian Baumgartner jokes, “It’s male-centric because at the office we don’t like acting with other women.” (Pfft!)
Digital Get-Down: Writer Anthony Farrell says, “If these turn out well, I think down the line we’ll have some other characters do webisodes.” Word, doggy. Sounds good to me!
Now, press play below for a sneak peek of The Office webisodes and post your reaction in the comments.
Dunder Mifflin Plans a Playdate in Scranton
People of Scranton, make room for beets. The Office is coming to town.
Pressman Toy and NBC Universal will be hosting a day of Office-themed festivities in the real-life version of the Pennsylvania burg where the Dunder Mifflinites push paper for a living to mark the release of a DVD board game and a trivia game revolving around the hit NBC sitcom, which is shot in Los Angeles but has become an important vein of tourism in Scranton.
Writer and executive producer Mindy Kaling, who also plays reliably obnoxious customer-service rep Kelly Kapoor, will preside over The Office Games July 19 (a Saturday, so people won’t have to call in sick to their actual offices) at the Mall at Steamtown.
“Scranton is honored to have been selected as the first city in America whose retailers will stock The Office Trivia Game and DVD Board Game,” Scranton Mayor Christopher Doherty said Monday. “We’ll be rolling out the beet red carpet for Ms. Kaling.”
The event will kick off at 9 a.m. ET with a 2K Fun Run (that promises to actually be fun this time), to be followed by an Office trivia challenge, a Dwight-inspired beet-eating contest and an autograph session for the first 125 fans who purchase one of the two new games.
Part of The Office Games proceeds will go toward United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which provides community-building opportunities and services throughout northeastern Pennsylvania.
“I have been to Scranton before and am really excited to return for this fun event!” Kaling said.
The proud city also hosted The Office Convention in October 2007 and worked with NBC to secure episodes for free public screenings, sold official merchandise and lined up a series of writers, actors and producers to participate in Q&As and other activities.
In other Office news, NBC also confirmed today that Oscar nominee Amy Ryan will be back for at least five episodes next season as Holly, the Scranton branch’s new HR rep who actually finds Michael endearing. For more on what’s happening round the water cooler, check out Watch With Kristin.
Steve Carell Signs For Three More Years of The Office!
Today the angels looking down on Scranton, Pennsylvania are crooning “Beers in Heaven.” Steve Carell has signed on to star as Dunder Mifflin’s quasi-top dog, Michael Scott, on NBC’s The Office for three more years. An understandably elated, Ricky Gervais, broke the news on his blog…
“Steve Carell (now one of the most bankable film stars in the world) has just signed up for another three years with us. He is the hardest working man in Hollywood and the harder he works the better it is for me. I mean… well done Steve you are wonderful. …Steve had to do months of that in Evan Almighty and I heard he didn’t complain once. He is a very nice man and deserves all his success.”
Gervais went on to mention 2009’s The Office spin-off starring Aziz Ansari but kept mum. He also (half-?) jokingly threw his name into the ring for the role of Hannibal in The A-Team remake. John Singleton, give him a call, no joke. That would be choice.
Back to Carell: the news is a welcome surprise given Carell’s consistent box office draw in hit comedies (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine), sleeper dramas (Dan in Real Life) and passable summer fare (Get Smart). That this rare flexibility has worked out so well on both sides was no doubt a contributing factor in the deal. Why not celebrate by picking up some cupcakes on sale at the grocery store during your lunch break to cheer up your office’s fluorescent-lit hangout room? “That’s what she said!” is going nowhere.