Category: Jenna Fischer

From Jenna Fischer’s TV Guide blog, dated February 9, 2006:

The Office Presents: “Valentine’s Day”
by Jenna Fischer, aka “Pam”

I get a lot of letters about my hair. People want to know if it is naturally curly. They want to know how I wear it in real life. When I took it down briefly in the episode “The Secret,” people asked why Pam doesn’t wear it like that more often. Pam’s hair attracts a lot of attention.

You know it well. It’s curly in the back, straight in the front. Or as I like to call it, “the girl mullet.” I created Pam’s look when I went to my first audition for The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC]. I channeled my experience as an awkward teenager in St. Louis trying to figure out how to tame my crazy mop of naturally curly hair. I didn’t know about big round brushes and blow-drying and antifrizz products, like I do today. And I figured that Pam didn’t know about that stuff, either. The best she could come up with was the scrunch-and-dry approach. She throws it in a clip because it’s easy. She doesn’t wear it down because it would attract too much attention, and Pam is shy.

But tonight’s episode, “Valentine’s Day,” marks a first for The Office: Pam changes her hair!

“Valentine’s Day” was written by the gifted Mike Schur, who wrote one of my favorite episodes so far this year, “Christmas.” He must be good with holiday themes, because this episode is awesome, too. It was directed by our very own executive producer, Greg Daniels.

In this episode, it’s Valentine’s Day and Michael has to go to the corporate office in New York City to do a presentation for Jan and the new company CFO. If he does poorly, it might mean the end of our Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin. Back at the office, Phyllis is overwhelmed with gifts from her boyfriend — Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration — while Pam waits patiently for a gift from Roy.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Pam wears a pink sparkly headband! There has been a season-long debate over whether or not we could ever change Pam’s hair. I worked with the amazing Office hairstylist Kim Ferry for weeks on different versions of Pam’s look. We tried ponytails, barrettes, and headbands…. We photographed each choice and consulted the Big Boss, Greg Daniels. In the end, he chose the headband. You’ll have to let me know what you think.

In other news, Dwight gets a Valentine’s Day gift and it is awesome. Everyone is going to want one. I’m very jealous that Rainn [Wilson] will get to keep this when the show is over. Kudos to our props department.

Finally, the poker update: So, we can’t gamble at work. But do you know where we can gamble? My house. That’s right — I’m hosting a game of cards tonight for some cast and crew. Here’s hoping that the house is lucky!

Until next week…

From Jenna Fischer’s TV Guide blog, dated February 2, 2006:

The Office Presents: “Boys and Girls”
by Jenna Fischer, aka “Pam”

When we have downtime on The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC], we do more than just sit and watch the boys play video-game football. Angela [Kinsey, Angela] and I like our girl time, too. We like to scrapbook and look at fashion magazines. Or sometimes we have “picnics” where we gather food and drinks from the snack table, go into Angela’s trailer, light candles, and gossip. It was during one of our “picnics” that Angela and I had the idea for tonight’s episode, “Boys and Girls.” We took our brainchild to Greg Daniels, the executive producer of the show.

“What if Jan came into the office and did a ‘Women in the Workplace’ seminar, and Michael got all jealous?” we said.

“That’s funny. What happens next?”

“No idea. That’s all we got.”

He stared at us blankly. (This is why I am not a writer on the show.)

Still, a seed was planted and from it grew this week’s episode, written by the brilliant and hilarious B.J. Novak (Ryan).

In this episode, Jan gathers all of the ladies into the conference room and does a “Women in the Workplace” seminar. She’s looking for potential. She doesn’t find much. Michael is jealous, so he takes all of the men down to the warehouse for a last-minute “Men in the Workplace” seminar. This will be the first time Jim and Roy (David Denman) have been in close quarters since Jim revealed he “used to” have a crush on Pam. It’s good stuff.

This was an interesting week of shooting. We really were separated and didn’t see the men much at all. And it was great! Don’t get me wrong, we love the boys. But it was fun having the office all to ourselves. We talked about shopping and shoes and our periods and sore breasts. We talked about haircuts and manicures and diet plans and all the things we don’t gab about when the boys are in the room. We talked about which boys we thought were cute. We all agreed that Rainn Wilson (Dwight) is pretty hot in his street clothes. When the guys would come upstairs, we would giggle. We behaved like seventh-graders.

I hear the men had a lot of fun in the warehouse, too. They did something that involves a potato gun, a forklift and breaking glass.

So, in the end it is both the most masculine and most feminine episode of The Office yet. I’m just glad no one got hurt. Or cried.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I promised to tell you who won the poker match last Thursday: We didn’t play. Turns out you can’t gamble on company property.

Until next week…

From Jenna Fischer’s TV Guide blog, dated January 26, 2006:

The Office Presents: “The Carpet”
by Jenna Fischer, aka “Pam”

I have more good news to report this week: The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC] has been picked up for a third season! It is rare in this business to hear news of a pickup so early. Most shows have to wait until May to find out if they will return in the fall. (May is when networks traditionally make their decisions and announce their fall schedules to the press.) It is a huge vote of confidence from NBC to make a decision about our show so early. It is very exciting.

Some people were confused by reports this season of The Office “is ending in March.” No worries. We will complete our 21-episode order for this year, and all of our current episodes will finish airing at the end of March. Steve [Carell] starts filming Evan Almighty (which, from what he told us, sounds very funny), and then the whole cast will be back in the fall, ready to make 22 new episodes. A big thank-you to all of our fans — you helped make this possible by watching, downloading [at Apple’s iTunes store] and sharing our show. We’ll keep working hard to make great episodes.
Now, in even bigger news, I’d like to announce that Brian Baumgartner (Kevin) won two games of PlayStation 2 football against John Krasinski (Jim) this week! This is seriously a big deal! I am Brian’s official cheerleader because John always wins; he’s really good. But today Brian won! I can only report on the game I witnessed, but it was beautiful! It was the Seahawks (Brian) vs the Cardinals (John). The score was tied. Two minutes left. Brian scores a touchdown — but misses his extra point. We didn’t know what would happen. Would John have time to run the ball back and score a touchdown and an extra point for the win? It was so close. But Brian was a master of defense. He won 27-21. Hats off to Brian!

Now what will happen when we all meet for a poker showdown? Myself, Rainn [Wilson], John, Brian, Oscar [Nunez] and some guys from the crew plan to play before the show tonight. As the only girl in the game, I’m hoping to use some feminine magic and go home a winner myself. I’ll let you know the results next week.

This week we bring you “The Carpet,” written by the brilliant Paul Lieberstein (who also plays Toby). In this episode, someone leaves a “gift” on the carpet in Michael’s office.

It’s soft.

It’s smelly.

It’s brown.

It is the exact same gift you wish you could leave in your boss’ office.

The question is: Whodunit? Everyone is a suspect. Michael is determined to find out. To keep a close eye on the office, he takes over Jim’s desk, forcing Jim to work at an empty desk near Kelly. Jim quickly learns why Kelly works in the back by herself.

But the biggest surprise of this episode might be that you finally see Pam and Roy getting along. They’ve just returned from a romantic vacation in the Poconos. Roy spends the day replacing Michael’s carpet, and I’m happy that the audience will witness some sweet moments between them. He’s not such a bad guy! And, Craig Robinson is back as Darryl. He’s a favorite of mine and I love it whenever he is on the set. I hope you enjoy the episode.

Until next week…

From Jenna Fischer’s TV Guide blog, dated January 19, 2006:

The Office Cheers on Its Golden Boy
by Jenna Fischer, aka “Pam”

In case you didn’t know — Steve Carell won the Golden Globe for best actor in a television comedy for The Office [airing 9:30 pm/ET on NBC]!

The entire cast dressed in our fanciest duds and headed to the NBC Universal Golden Globes viewing party on Monday night. The party was on the rooftop of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The awards themselves were being presented in a ballroom downstairs. We watched the affair on various big-screen televisions positioned around the room. When it was time for Steve’s category, we gathered with our fingers crossed. As they read the nominees, we readied ourselves for polite applause in case they read a name other than “Steve Carell.” But they didn’t.

When they said “Steve Carell,” we exploded! We screamed. We charged at one another. We hugged. We jumped up and down. It was like midfield at the end of the World Series. I was so excited, I took a picture of Steve on the TV. I’m sure that to the other 400 people at the party, we were a little obnoxious, but you have to understand that we couldn’t have been more proud. Not only is Steve our coworker and tireless leader, he is also a true friend. He’s a testament to the fact that, sometimes, good guys do get ahead. We managed to settle down and listen to Steve’s acceptance speech. In case you missed it, it was the funniest and warmest of the night.

Steve joined us at the party later in the evening. We tackled him, perhaps giving him some minor injuries. There was more hugging and screaming. Steve told us that he was really touched that we were all there. He couldn’t wait to come upstairs and share the win with everyone. That is when we crammed the entire cast into the TV Guide photo booth for a picture [seen above] with Steve and his Golden Globe. It was a high point of my year and our whole Office journey so far.

The characters of The Office make another step in their journey in this week’s episode, “The Secret.”

Fun Fact: It was during the filming of this episode that Steve found out he had been nominated for a Golden Globe — how fun that it’s the episode that airs after his win.

In “The Secret,” Jim becomes terrified that Michael is going to slip up and tell people he likes Pam. To keep Michael quiet, Jim becomes his new “best friend” at the office. This episode was written by the amazing Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (who also wrote “The Fight”). In reading B.J. Novak’s blog, I learned that Gene thought I looked cute dressed up as a cat in the Halloween episode. Was it the tight turtleneck? Because in his new episode tonight, there are not one but two references to Pam’s boobs. It might be that Gene and Lee like boobs in general. One of the scenes in this episode takes place at Hooters. It’s hilarious! Michael at Hooters. Need I say more?

And Jim isn’t the only one with a secret around the office. A lot of big things are revealed in this episode — it’s a good one. Enjoy!

Until next week…

From Jenna Fischer’s TV Guide blog, dated January 12, 2006:

The Office Blog Is Back, and It’s Pam-tastic!
by Jenna Fischer, aka “Pam”

Let me start by saying that I am thrilled to be taking over this blog for B.J. Novak. If you read B.J.’s blogs, you might be disappointed when you read mine. B.J. is a professional comedy writer and I am not. B.J. is a handsome, single male who is very plugged in to what is cool-hip-interesting about life. I am a married female who likes to shop at Target and play with my dog. But I will try to give you good behind-the-scenes information and trivia to make up for it.

In this week’s episode of The Office [airing 9:30 pm/ET on NBC], “The Injury,” written by Mindy Kaling [who plays Kelly], Michael burns his foot on his George Foreman Grill. (Steve Carell’s bit at the top of this episode, where Michael explains how he burned his foot on his George Foreman Grill, is the greatest interview of the entire series. I think his performance is brilliant. Seriously, brilliant. I’ve already watched it seven times.) Dwight gets in a car crash on his way to “rescue” Michael and suffers a concussion — which goes unnoticed due to Michael’s dramatic overplay of his foot injury.

I loved shooting this episode because I got to spend a lot of time with Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight. Something you should know about shooting this show is that everyone is really, really funny in real life — especially Rainn Wilson. When you do a scene with Rainn, you have no idea what to expect, both on camera and off. When he plays Dwight he has the most off-putting ways of standing next to you. He breathes heavy. He thrusts his pelvis forward. It is all very gross and very funny. He’d probably also want me to say “sexy,” but, uh…

This episode also marks a first for the show — Jim, Pam, Michael and Dwight all appear in a scene together. We’ve done group scenes before but this is the first time the four of us have been in a scene with just one another. We all laughed harder doing this simple scene of walking Dwight to the elevator than any other time in recent memory.

One of the best things about working on this show is the fact that we are all very close in real life. John [Krasinski, Jim], Brian [Baumgartner, Kevin] and Rainn have PlayStation 2 football tournaments in our downtime. Their ranking from best to worst: 1. John, 2. Brian, and 3. Rainn. Rainn says he’s better at shooting games — that’s yet to be seen. Angela [Kinsey], Phyllis [Smith], Kate [Flannery, Meredith] and I have ladies’ lunches. We’ve run in to the paparazzi twice and both times they completely ignored us — except the one time they offered us money for inside scoops about other, more appealing celebrities. And every week the whole cast gets together in each other’s homes and we watch the show as a group. (This week it’s at Angela’s house!)

In other Officeland news, you might be excited to hear that our supporting cast members Angela, Brian, Oscar [Nunez], Phyllis, Stanley [aka Leslie David Baker] and Meredith were all made regulars starting in 2006. Go, cast!

Until next week…