68 comments

  1. This could be like Frasier…or Joey…it’s leaning towards the latter, but hopefully it will be the former

  3. What on earth does this mean for The Office? They are in contract for next season, right? Is Rainn leaving? I don’t know how I feel about this!

  4. This new just depressed me. In my opinion, The Office cannot continue without Jim, Pam, and Dwight. If any of them leave, they NEED to wrap the series up. And with all three of their contracts expiring this year, either they are going to renew or the show probably will go on without them. At least bring The Office to a close before doing a spin-off.

  5. It’s like it’s 2008 all over again. Which reminds me, I heard the writer’s strike will be over soon!

  6. I had to make sure it’s wasn’t April 1st. Schrute farms isn’t complete without Mose and I doubt Michael Shur has enough time to play a character on a weekly show.

  7. “Don’t believe everything you read in the press, ok?”

    – Tweet from Rainn Wilson 1/25/12 10:36PM(eastern)

  8. To quote Michael. “Please, God, no. No. No. Nooooooooooooooooooo.”

    Dwight is great in small doses and as part of an ensemble but I don’t think he can carry a show. (No slight to Rainn).

  10. I still support the Office crew, but this just sounds like a horrible idea for sooooo many reasons

  11. I love The Office, but I don’t love this idea. Spin offs are rarely any good (Frasier is the exception).

  12. Not crazy about the idea. If John,Jenna or Rainn leave, I agree the show should end. That in itself would feel like a spin-off.

  13. First of all, I think they should focus on bringing everybody together for one last Office season that will send it off strong! Hopefully everyone signs on board out of respect for the show, at least. As for the idea, I highly doubt it’ll be successful but looked how the Office turned out so you never know. I’ll still keep watching though!

  14. I would definitely watch it, no matter what fears I may have about it. I support everything the people behind The Office do, and this is honestly an interesting idea. It’s something new.

    I just hope it doesn’t mean that Dwight has to leave the show. Now that would REALLY make me lose faith in the show.

  15. @8 Danielle: YES! My first thought was “I feel like Michael when he finds out that Toby’s back.”
    Please do not let this be. The Office is perfect. Why change that?

  16. I’d watch it, but I would hate to lose The Office for it. I think the show can go on for another 2-3 seasons easily with the cast we have.

  18. Only if Mike Schur will reprise Mose, & if Jen Celotta gets to fulfill her dream of playing a Schrute.

    [ from tanster: hear, hear! ]

  19. Wow I’m shocked at how much hate is going towards this “rumored” project. Personally, they SHOULDN’T do this. This alone sparks many questions as to the state of the show right now. Just keep it as is, no spin-offs. I hope it gets one more season next year.

  21. If Rainn, John and Jenna do not renew= it’s time to end to show. Don’t make it like That 70’s Show after Ashton and Topher left.

  22. They’ve only just started to regain a bit of momentum and figure out what works post-Michael. I wouldn’t mind this so much if this was a summer season thing and he could come back to the show in the fall. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case, and losing Dwight would probably mean big things for The Office, and I don’t mean good things. Hope that Rainn Wilson tweet is regarding this news.

  23. I wish they would focus more on the cast they have and less on Robert California. I don’t think he adds anything. Dwight is definitely a key element of the show. Not sure how they would handle his departure. I always hoped for a Vance Refrigeration spin off. Cool overlap opportunities without taking away from the original.

  26. i wouldn’t mind something like this but only after the office offically ended. tbh though, i feel like we’ve already ‘exhausted’ dwight’s character so i can’t really say if this would be a legit show or just a crappy spinoff.

  27. @Dinkin Flicka

    That’s the problem! They’ve finally found what works post-Michael, but I think they’ve already figured out that the ratings aren’t jumping either. Plus, we don’t even know if John, Mindy, and Ed will be back next year. They have super busy schedules ahead of them and a return might be slim. I’m so worried right now.

  28. They’ve made me basically not care if the show ends this season or next or whether Dwight gets a spin-off. How about focusing on making this season good b/c it’s been pretty uneven and, dare I say bad, so far.

  29. They knew the ratings would fall some when Michael left. The Andy as boss and RC around isn’t working to keep viewers interested. There is so much talent on this show I 100% think the show has plenty of life. They just need to get back to the basic.

  30. I hate this idea. I like pretty much everything about The Office staff and their ideas. I have a strong feeling this is NBC behind this crappy idea.

    Even if it turns out half as funny as Parks and Rec (the most spin-off-ish series) it will take yet another familiar face away from Dunder Mifflin. Not cool!

  31. Some thoughts:

    1. Must have Mike Schur as Mose. In every episode.
    2. Can it run parallel to the Office (ie, Dwight doesn’t have to quit his job, presuming the Office is still running then)? I’m not sure if that’s possible, but if so, I’d like to see that happen. Just don’t kill the Office for this.
    3. When is “midseason 2013”? Summer? Spring? January? A Winter/Spring debut would align this with the Arrested Development return, which would just awesome.
    4. “Family farm”? Could Angela be carried over to this new show too?
    5. Does Rainn Wilson’s “don’t believe everything you hear in the press” tweet have anything to do with this?
    6. This article reads like Rob Lowe’s twitter account meets some ridiculous fan theory.
    7. When was John Krasinski allegedly “hinting that this could be his final season”? I heard that he was on for the long haul!

  32. I doubt it has anything to do with ratings and it has more to do with they intended on ending the series in season 9.

    The ratings are very slowly climbing up. They got their 3.0 share back and it’s back at 6 million viewers. A steady increase the past few episodes.

  33. No spin-off. Rainn is more than Dwight Schrute. Most great shows go less than 8 seasons, let The Office go out before it gets worse. They’ve all got incredible careers now so they won’t be hurting for work.

  34. I really hope this doesn’t happen.
    There’s no question that Dwight and Mose are awesome characters, but still the writers have to know when to call it quits.
    It’s quality not quantity that’s important!

  36. As far as the Dwight spin-off goes, bad idea jeans. The impending end of The Office, probably after Season 9, is inevitable. Don’t be sorry when it’s over, be glad it happened in the first place.

  37. I am not initially excited by this although others have some great “must-haves” to make it work. Thinking through comments, it seems to make sense. JK & EH have been doing movies; I think JF mentioned at THR round table she would like to take time off so those 3 may not want to do another tv series, at least immediately. RW has not been as successful with movies so he may have more interest. I wonder how likely it is to get all 4 back for S9? From a series standpoint, I have always wondered if Jim&Pam/John&Jenna chemistry S1-4 and occasionally seen after that could be recreated in another venue. It has never made sense to me TO has not capitalized on that more in recent seasons.

  38. I’m all for it. After 8 years, this show needs a shake up. I think the premise of watching Dwight off on his own adventures sounds great, plus I think they need to send the rest of the main characters (Jim, Pam) out behind the barn. This show needs something new and fresh to revitalize it and that won’t happen until the cast gets a few changes.

  39. Like most of you, I am not a fan of this idea. That being said, I am a fan of every single cast member and I will follow and support them in whatever they do. I watched a couple John Krasinski movies that I wasn’t particularly thrilled with but I do it to show my support. All of you are fans too or you wouldn’t be on Jennie’s site. So, I suggest we stop all the negativity and show our support! :)

  40. This could work, IF… 1) Michael Scott returns to Scranton, his marriage to Holly having failed, 2) Dunder Mifflin does NOT re-hire Michael, 3) desperate, Michael turns to Dwight and asks if he can take him in at Schrute Farms, 4) Dwight eagerly agrees and lets him stay rent free, since Michael is his true love (in a non-gay way, as close to it as two men can be without it being romantic/sexual), so much so that he would rather have a chaste relationship with Michael than a sexual one with Angela or Isabel.

  41. I’ll be waiting for the day when B.J. Novak, Rainn Wilson, Paul Lieberstein, Ricky Gervais, and some of the same people that made The Office reunite to make another fantastic show!

  42. Did this show get picked up at the upfronts

    [ from tanster: i don’t think this show was mentioned during the upfronts presentation. ]

  43. Why wouln’t they call it Schrute Farm? I think Dwight as a farmer in a “city” job made the character hilarious and ever developing. I can’t see where having him on the farm would promote the humour the other scenario had.

  44. I have always loved the Office, even though it’s faltered with Michael Scott’s absence. I will watch any and all spin offs because anything these guys do beats the heck out of all the reality shows we are being saturated with!

  46. When they say “Dwight Schrute spinoff” they actually mean “Dwangela spinoff,” right?

  49. Cheers and Frasier did it (personally liked Frasier more). All in the Family and the Jeffersons did it. Diffrent Strokes and the Facts of Life did it. The Cosby Show and A Different World did it.

    It’s possible for a spin-off to be successful AND good.

  50. @Trevor

    Right. Because all potential spinoffs should be judged by that singular example. Never mind the wildly successful NBC shows like Law & Order SVU, Frasier, A Different World, The Facts of Life, Adam 12, etc… all spin-offs.

    All networks have a low success rate when it comes to spin-offs, but that doesn’t mean you should stop trying when given an opportunity. For every ten “Baywatch Nights,” There’s a “Laverne and Shirley” waiting to happen.

  52. Dwight works on two levels – he’s one of the best characters on TV ever, thanks to Rainn’s talent, but the character works because a wildly overzealous beet farmer in an office setting is hilarious.

    So we keep the former and lose the latter with this move. You’ve still got genius Rainn, but you lose the appeal of context.

    Mose, same thing. Hilarious character because of the small doses of him.

    Could work, can predict lots of guest appearances.

  53. I have no problems with a spin off, as long as Dwight appears in all 22 episodes of the last season! Do you imagine the last ep of season 9 without him??? I want him to stay with the rest of the office workers until the end!!

  54. What about Mannheim and other Dwight’s relatives from Argentina? can we expect to see them in the ‘FARM’?

  55. Season 9 will be the last seaon for The Office from what I’ve read in a few articles but I thought it would be neat if maybe some episodes from “The Farm” could have something to do with “The Office” after all doesn’t Schrute Farms need paper as well? Plus I hope that we get a heavy dose of cameos from the cast of The Office seeing how Dwight’s farm is so near to Dunder Mifflin….anyways thanks for all the laughs guys it was a nice run!

  57. Somebody start a petition for The Farm!! It can’t end. They should at least do one season and give it a shot.

  58. I feel bad for Rainn and Paul that The Farm isn’t going to happen now, but selfishly, I’m so happy that Dwight will now stay in the show until the end – as he should be! I wonder if this now means there’s hope for Dwangela…

  59. Aw that’s too bad and somewhat surprising. Has NBC already forgotten Frasier? I thought we would be having Dwight Schrute for another 9 years!

  60. Very disappointed to hear this news. Rainn Wilson is not only a superb actor, but he’s incredibly intelligent and I feel in co-creating The Farm, he got it right. I believe it would have been a hit, carrying over Office fans, and creating a whole new fan base.

  62. Not to sound mean, but I’m glad. Because I want Dwight to be manager just like how it ended in the UK series!

  63. The way this was handled was harsh even for NBC. Rainn Wilson deserves so much better. With his talent, and popularity, he’s on to new things (at ABC? FOX? HBO?). Good luck to Rainn!

  66. Er, I’m not the only one who is kind-of relieved, right?

    I feel like this would have been a complete disaster. No real logic behind that notion other than I think people are tired of The Office (including some fans, it looks like) and, though Rainn would be the only common denominator, this would have felt like an extension of the original rather than its own show.

    Spin-offs of long-standing shows also have a hit-or-miss record, too — and why ‘Frasier’ worked but ‘Joey’ didn’t is forever a mystery to the networks (though not to fans). I love Rainn’s silliness, but I don’t see him as enough to carry a whole program unless he had amazing chemistry with the people cast as his family.

  67. After sifting through articles online it appears that they will still air this episode of dwight on the farm.

    Yet surprisingly I have not seen anyone talk about what this means for Dwight Schrute remaining on the show through to the end of Season 9. Is this not something people are interested in? What do people think?

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