Posted on by tanster

How NBC could fit extra Office into the schedule

With the petition to supersize The Office series finale in full swing, I’ve been thinking about how NBC could fit extra Office goodness into the schedule.

As of today, March 30, there are currently six episodes that haven’t aired:

And as of today, March 30, there are currently seven Thursdays leading up to the finale on May 16:

  • April 4
  • April 11
  • April 18
  • April 25
  • May 2
  • May 9
  • May 16

Assuming NBC grants Greg Daniels and team extra time for the series finale, one scenario would be to extend the finale to two hours, but air each hour on separate Thursdays:

This way, NBC could keep its schedule of Hannibal intact, which premieres on April 4 at 10pm.

Do you guys have other ideas on how this could go?

13 comments

  1. Isn’t it obvious? With Community and Parks & Rec’s finales each on May 2 and May 9, therefore gone the weeks before May 16 – why can’t The Office finale just have 8-10pm to itself? A 2-hour finale? with Hannibal still airing from 10pm-11pm? unless there are some random shows I don’t know about filling the 9pm hour?

  2. The upcoming Thursday night lineup and finale dates:

    8pm: Community (finale May 9)
    8:30pm: Parks & Rec (finale May 2)
    9pm: The Office (finale May 16)
    9:30pm: Go On (finale April 11)
    10pm: Hannibal

    I didn’t realize that all remaining Thursday night comedies would be done for the season so soon. NBC, it should be a no-brainer to give The Office extra time, then! :)

  3. I bet NBC scheduled the other shows to end earlier just in case they did end up supersizing TO. Not to mention, Office would get better ratings than any of those other shows anyway. Community has been hitting series lows and Go On fails without The Voice.

  4. The only way that the 8-10pm wouldn’t work is if they decide to re-run the 1 hour episode BEFORE the finale right before the finale, but how silly would it be for them to rerun something BEFORE an hour series finale. Unless they’re gonna do an hour special series retrospective, but I think it would make MORE sense for them to make it a 2 hour finale.

  5. It should be a two-hour finale. This is too special. I know I don’t want the show to lose any momentum by chopping up the footage. Having said that, I’lll be happy with any extra footage, wherever it is. Come on, NBC–don’t let us down!

  6. The networks can do whatever they want…and in the case of the series ending Office, the advertisers should be okay with, since they will get better ratings with the Office than with NBC’s other shows.

    May 16th – 8:00-11:00PM aka “A Night at the Office”.

  7. If they moved the finale to 8, I might miss half of the finale since I have class. Although it is my final exam and shouldn’t take as long.

  8. I did really want a series retrospective on finale night, a la Friends, but if the choices are retrospective or extra hour, I’ll choose the hour.

  9. A two hour finale sounds nice, but no one except super fans will watch a half-hour comedy for two whole hours. New series low are possible if they go for the extra hour (8-9).

  12. 9., M*A*S*H’s finale was a 2.5 hour episode and drew in the largest audience in the history of TV until February 2010. Granted, The Office is not M*A*S*H, but I’d be surprised if a 2 hour episode couldn’t keep a decent-sized audience. New series low is unlikely as many fans who have stopped watching will probably tune back in to see how it ends.

  13. @9 and @12:
    I agree that only super-fans will watch a half hour comedy for two hours, but I also think that only super-fans will be watching the last episode, no matter how long it is. I would especially think that people who have watched for this long would be willing to watch for 2 hours, if for nothing else than to see what happens and how it ends.

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