Category Archives: Greg Daniels

Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling To Make A Primetime Cartoon

Deadline.com:

The Office and Parks & Recreation executive producer Greg Daniels is teaming with a writer from each of his two NBC series to develop new animated comedy projects for the network. One of the projects will be written/executive by The Office co-executive producer/co-star Mindy Kaling, who will also voice a character, the other – by Parks & Recreation producer Alan Yang. Daniels and his manager/producing partner Howard Klein will executive produce both comedies. The Mindy Kaling project revolves around a girls high-school volleyball team. Alan Yang’s toon is about a group of 20something guys sharing a house in Los Angeles’ upscale community of Hancock Park. For King Of The Hill co-creator Greg Daniels, returning to his animated roots was important when he closed a new overall production deal with Universal Television this past summer.

Read full story here>>

Greg Daniels Dishes on Steve Carell

Theglobeandmail.com:

So who’s the new boss going to be?

I’m not going to give that up. Sorry.

I figured you wouldn’t, but I had to ask.

It would have been good if I was drunk or something and I just let it slip.

Can you tell me where you’re at with the show?

We’re doing preproduction. We’re writing for the fall. And Paul Liebertstein, who’s the new show runner, is working away. But our goal is to satisfy people’s curiosity on air, rather than in any other way. And it’ll play out hopefully on the show.

How do you keep that sort of secret in this day and age? Journalists are so hungry for the scoop.

I really don’t understand entertainment journalism when it’s all about spoilers. It’s not just journalists; it’s the fans too. People are trying so hard to figure out what happens before it happens. That’s not how you normally watch a movie or read a book, to have someone whisper all the big plot points right before you start. But the way we handle it is we have lots of possibilities. So even if pieces of casting news slip out, you won’t know the combinations or the way it’s going to play out. I wouldn’t even confirm that it’s all about one decision.

There might not be a replacement?

I’m not going to give you any hints. All I’m going to say is even if you think you know, you might not know it.

Was there any consideration to end the show with Steve Carell’s departure?

Yeah, there was definitely some thought about that. But every other aspect of the show was kind of in its prime. All the other actors were doing good work. The writing staff were very enthusiastic and coming up with stories. It’s a very strong format, a very relatable format. And Steve didn’t want it to end; he would have felt terribly guilty, I think. And I think we might end up looking back and saying his leaving was good for the show. It’s hard to imagine because he’s so talented and fantastic, but it led to a very good season last year, with very interesting big episodes and definitely a feeling of renewed interest in the show.

Continue reading go here>>

Greg Daniels On The Departure Of Steve Carell

SPOILER WARNING!

“Goodbye Michael” was written by Office executive producer Greg Daniels, who spoke exclusively to EW about tonight’s landmark episode and bidding farewell to Carell.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What can viewers expect from Michael’s goodbye episode?
GREG DANIELS: It’s basically him settling his affairs and saying his last goodbyes to everybody. And he has gifts for them. It’s about how he deals with his own feelings. There’s lots of little references to the history of the show that the super fans are going to really enjoy. A tiny mystery story — which I’m not sure anyone’s going to catch and will come out a few episodes from now — is being set up here … There’s other stories: Andy [Ed Helms] and Deangelo [Will Ferrell] are trying to hold together Michael’s clients who are starting to bail, and they’re driving around calling on the clients. And the party-planning committee is trying to figure out the best cake and the best way to send him off. All the former chairmen are reuniting to give Michael a good send-off.

Were there more tears or laughs on the set while shooting his final scenes?
I think there were both. But it wasn’t so much tears as it was just this weird sense of “Oh my god, this is his last this thing, this is his last that thing.” I kind of felt like a priest who was sitting with him as he ate his last meal. (Laughs) But the actors were very emotional. You know the concept of breaking? An actor bursts out laughing and drops his character. They kept doing it here because they’d suddenly get really sad that they weren’t going to work with him next week. They were sadder than their characters were supposed to be. They broke, but going to “sad”… I got choked up writing his last moment with Dwight [Rainn Wilson] in a Coffee Bean… [But] by the time I was at the set, I had worked through a lot of it. I was just concerned about keeping it funny.

Continue reading go here>>

‘The Office’s’ Greg Daniels: Grilled

Greg Daniels is one of the most powerful figures in the TV comedy business. The former “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons” writer is behind one of NBC’s most important comedy hopes (Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation”) and its biggest scripted hit (“The Office,” which just launched in five-days-a-week syndication to local stations covering 98 percent of the country).

Daniels talked with TheWrap’s Josef Adalian about how “The Office” went from struggling to smash hit, why he doesn’t like product placement and whether he thinks his show could live on with a totally new cast.

“The Office” is such a hit now, it’s easy to forget how close the show came to dying at birth. Was there a moment during that first season where you thought, “OK, we’re toast.”

I knew we had a lot of unusual features for an NBC comedy at the time, like no laugh track, the concept of the documentary, a pretty flawed main character, etc. — so I had prepared the executives for the reality that we weren’t going to be a hit out of the starting gate. The mid-level NBC and GE executives loved the show, though, and related to the absurdity of corporate life and supported us internally.

Continue reading go here.

At Last, a Convenient Time (and Place) for ‘Office’ Mates

The WashingtonPost.com has a great article with Greg Daniels talking about the JAM proposal…

“The idea was that after Jim’s first romantic plans had been interrupted, he would end up proposing to Pam at a gas station rest stop because he couldn’t wait any longer. I had a mental picture of the rest stops on the Merritt Parkway, and we used the Google maps street view function from our offices in Van Nuys, to find a picture of one of these rest stops that we tried to match.”

Continue reading click here.

‘Office’ Creator Daniels Practicing for Super Bowl

TelevisionWeek: You could have let NBC marketing write the scripts for the ads. Why take the time to do it yourself?

Greg Daniels: If our actors are doing the promos, then I think we as writers should have to pitch in, too. Besides, they were fun and have been seen by many times the audience for our episodes. These Olympic promos are probably the most widely seen pieces of entertainment I have ever been involved with, and I hope will be my legacy.

TVWeek: How much time did you spend on these promos?

Mr. Daniels: The writers room spent an afternoon generating scripts, they were shot as quickly as comparable-length scenes and edited in a hurry.

Click here to read more.

Comic-Con 2008 Blog

Comic-Con 2008 I’ll be posting all articles, blogs and videos about Comic-Con 2008 here. NBC will be posting videos shortly. When they do I’ll post them here too.

Link:
-Photos from NBC at Comic-Con.

SPOILER WARNING! This video contains spoilers for season 5! There’s also info about the spin-off.

Latest Video from NBC

To see more clips from Comic-Con 2008 Click Here.

TV Land Awards

‘The Office’ recieved the Future Classic Award at the TV Land Awards! NBC has posted videos of ‘The Office’ cast getting the award. The show will air on June 15th.

Congrats to the cast and crew of ‘The Office’!

Take a look at photos from the night. Links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16  | 17 | 18

Aziz Ansari Hired for ‘Office’ Spin-Off

Details are finally starting to emerge on NBC’s highly anticipated “The Office” spinoff — including the show’s first cast hire, Aziz Ansari of MTV’s sketch comedy “Human Giant.”
Producers are mum on Ansari’s role, but he’ll be part of a larger ensemble that executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur are putting together.

To read the rest of the details go here.

Emmy Submissions From ‘The Office’

This list has been updated.

Comedy Series
The Office – “Local Ad” and “Branch Wars”

Comedy Lead Actor
Steve Carell – “Branch Wars”

Comedy Supporting Actor
Leslie David Baker
Brian Buamgartner – “Chair Model”
Creed Batton _ Dunder Mifflin Infinity”
Ed Helms – “Launch Party”
John Krasinski – “Branch Wars”
Paul Liebersein - “Branch Wars”
Rainn Wilson – “Money”
B.J. Novak – “Night Out”

Comedy Supporting Actress
Jenna Fischer – “Fun Run”
Mindy Kaling – “The Deposition”
Kate Flannery – “Fun Run”
Angela Kinsey – “Fun Run”
Melora Hardin – “Dinner Party”
Phyllis Smith – “Launch Party”

Comedy Guest Actress
Amy Ryan – “Goodbye, Toby”
Rashida Jones – “Branch Wars”

Comedy Directing
Jeff Blitz – “Chair Model”
Greg Daniels – “Fun Run”
Randall Einhorn – “Did I Stutter?”
Julian Farino – “The Deposition”
Paul Feig – “Goodbye, Toby”
Tucker Gates – “Job Fair”
Paul Lieberstein – “Money”
Jason Reitman – “Local Ad”
Joss Whedon – “Branch Wars”
Keb Whittingham – “Launch Party”
Craig Zisk – “Dunder Mifflin Infinity”

Comedy Writing
Steve Carell – “Survivior Man”
Greg Daniels – “Fun Run”
Brent Forrester,Justin Spitzer – “Did I Stutter?”
Mindy Kaling – “Branch Wars”
Lester Lewis – “The Deposition”
Paul Lieberstein – “Money”
Paul Lieberstein, Jen Celotta – “Goodbye, Toby”
B.J. Novak – “Local Ad”
Michael Shur – “Dunder Mifflin Infinity”
Gene Stupntisky, Lee Eisenberg – “Dinner Party”

Hairstyling
‘The Office’ hairstyling staff – “Fun Run”

Makeup
‘The Office’ makeup staff – “Fun Run”

This has all been reported by The Envelope Forums.

The Office News

Happy Office Thursday! Reminder: The Office is on NBC tonight at  9/8c with an all new episode called “The Chair Model”.

Mindy Kaling spills women’s secrets. Go here.

EXCLUSIVE: SBO interview with Rainn Wilson and Greg Daniels. Go here.

Contemplating The Office spin-off. Go here.