B.J. Novak: The Office Was Almost Canceled | Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2022
- B.J. and Conan compare how their respective NBC shows avoided cancellation over the years. Plus, B.J. shares what made him want to work in TV. link.chtbl.com/conafofficecan...
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One of the most timeless shows ever. The characters are absolutely iconic and you found yourself rooting so hard for them in the tender moments too. Like they were friends in your living room with you
When he says there hadn't been a successful single-camera, no-laughtrack show before them, I immediately thought of Malcolm in the Middle. Which I think started 5 years prior to The Office. And was still on when The Office started. Maybe that was a bit under the radar on Fox at the time.
Youre exactly right. Malcolm was extremely popular(at least the first few seasons) and ran for like 7 seasons. Curb your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development are two other examples. I just think he doesnt know what hes talking about lol.
@@aspaceproductions to be fair Curb was on HBO and Arrested Development wasn't that really big. Malcolm in the Middle though is a big miss though.
he said there was almost none, not that there wasnt any.
RIGHT
we all know the office is the background show of our lives. yes we love watching it but more importantly it can just be on
A big part of it is that show IS our lives. Most of us have worked in an office very similar to that one.
@@christopherweise438 The Office is a just a mocking depiction of capitalism. The waste of resources, the lack of freedom, the possibility that any IDIOT can happen to be in a position that gives him/her the right to manipulate others' lives... It's all there.
Everyone i try to have it on in the background i end up mesmerized by it 😂
I think the office is one of the most rewatch able shows of all time because the episodes are so packed with subtle jokes they you catch something new every time
I repeatedly watch “Seinfeld” and “The Office”. I’m grateful to know that I’m not the only one who can almost remember every scene. I also appreciate being told that they are smart shows, because I think so too. At the same time, they help me relax.
These are my 2 shows as well. Can't get enough of them
“Nathan For You” is sooooo underrated! It deserves so much more praise! I hope everyone can watch it! SO GOOD!
Nathan for You is amazing. I've never laughed harder at a show. The Rehearsal, on the other hand, is like if you removed the comedy from Nathan for You and are just left with the pure discomfort.
What
Hell yeah! Everyone I've ever shown Nathan Fielder to has been fairly entertained. But, I hardly here people talk about his stuff
@@borp6912 The outrageousness of The Rehearsal is absolutely hilarious. I have laughed out loud through every episode so far
From the casting, to the actors, to the writers, to the production, to the director, to EVERYTHING, literally everything was genius and well thought out. Amazing job 👏🏻
I can’t believe ‘Arrested Development’ wasn’t mentioned in this conversation; would have been a perfect example.
Or even Community. Kept getting canceled and later on renewed
Right, right. Another great example indeed!
I think you meant Andy Barker PI.
Yes! I kept waiting for them to say that!
Because then there was that revival….
Arrested Development was a brilliant show that struggled and didn’t make it until later reborn once enough people realized what it was
N his examples contradict him… Seinfeld faced multiple threats of cancellation.
Conan was ‘glaring’ at BJ because he’s wondering why BJ keeps interrupting him.
I've always thought the fact that they deliberately break the 4th wall is another huge reason why the fans love the show.
As a viewer, you feel like you're part of the experience because of the eye contact. It's helpful that the premise is based on everyday situations and scenarios that most people can relate to.
it's a "documentary". The 4th wall not being there is part of the premise.
@@friednoggins Thanks to the department of the redundancy department. I literally said that in my original post.
@@brandonp32 they didn't break the 4th wall, it was never there.
@@frankb5728 It is a television show. All of them have the imaginary 4th wall. This show intentionally broke it.
@@brandonp32 within the show's universe, the office people are just talking to the interview/documentary people, thus it still has a fourth wall. they are not addressing the audience directly.
At this point I really think that that's just how TV works, I mean, they just tell you your show gonna get cancelled so you prove what you are worth of and make the best show you can.
That's my theory, because like every good show has been very close to get cancelled (Community, Parks&Recs, The Office, It's always sunny in philadelphia, etc...)
There are so many things that make The Office great. Conan was spot on when he mentioned how good shows back in the 70s, early 80s sometimes didn’t last long, which is a shame. However, the quality shows from that era that did manage to survive longer than a season were legendary.
Nathan For You is 100% one of the greatest comedies ever created. Nathan Fielder's new show, The Rehearsal, picks up where it left off.
The rehearsal may be the best/craziest thing I’ve ever seen
I always though Nathan Fielder was funny but after watching The Rehearsal I think he might be a genius haha
The rehearsal is bonkers. I watch it kind of in disbelief.
One of the Greatest? Absolutely not. Hilarious and complete underrated? Absolutely.
Based on this, and the replies, I will give Nathan another shot. I will try the rehearsal.
No disrespect...I just don't laugh at the execution of the gags on Nathan's show.
...To be fair, I did enjoy the interview with a kid idea. Great concept, but it sort of left me wishing the Impractical Jokers had thought of it first.
I’ve watched the office like 10 times already, and I can watch it another 10 without getting tired of it 😊
gigachad
that's crazy, i've maybe seen 1 episode lol
You should check out the superfan episodes on Peacock. You can thank me later.
I do the whole series at least once a year!!!!!!!!! It's truly great comfort television
We've got it on a loop in our house- literally every single day
Tim Reid's "Frank's Place" was a little gem that disappeared wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay too soon. Comedy is musical with its own rhythm and melody. I can listen to The Mary Tyler Moore Show over and over, through the years, like a favorite song. The Office is so watchable and quotable and still makes me laugh out loud.
there were a few things that made The Office what it is today. The relatability. Most of us have worked in a office, much like this. we all had co-workers that we can point out as Dwight, or Angela, or maybe even Micheal Scott. also the way it was shot. The "Documentary" style was something new to the US viewers. and one of the last things is Netflix. I didn't watch it live on NBC, but binged watched it. I think that made a big difference.
To his point I think successful shows are successful for a reason but there have been plenty of bad shows that got a second or third season while there are some great shows that get cancelled too early. Getting that second or third season seems to be the hardest part though.
I keep going back to watching the Office 10 years after it ended just to enrich my life
come on bj, let conan finish his sentence at least
That’s what raging narcissists do
I was gonna say, I wish he didn't interrupt conan like that
I noticed that too. I like BJ a lot but he seems like an exasperating person to talk to.
I think his friend might have a drug problem...
Yeah it was becoming too much
I’ve watched the entire series of the office maybe 9 or 10 times now and every time I re watch it I still laugh and still have moments that I Don’t recall from the previous viewing
I love how, after all these years, Sona is still semi-shocked when Conan says something like "aroused." He has yet to fully corrupt and desensitize her apparently. 😁
Malcom in the Middle was the best show without a laugh track :)
Extremely underrated show. S02E10 "Bully" is a masterpiece
and shot single cam. The show had to be a huge inspiration to the office. That show was a masterpiece with every single actor doing a fantastic job and top level writing.
Breaking bad was the best show without a laugh track
The best show without a laugh track was The Honeymooners.
Anyone who hasn't seen it, enrich your lives and watch only the "classic 39" episodes. And you will see then, there
For me, it's 30 Rock. Also, Curb Your Enthusiasm has no laugh track.
So glad your still on the go conan 👌👌
You’re*
@@the_ZAMURAI 🤓
What an awesome introspection from Novak about smart shows being number one, first time I think about and feel he’s right
But it's just not true. Seinfeld's ratings were poorest when it was its best. Those later seasons mostly stink. Likewise, the first season of The Simpsons was well rated, but again that was an uneven at best season. The next few seasons, which were much better, had worse ratings.
Overall, those are exceptions. Highly rated shows are by and large anodyne mediocre garbage or trashy lowest common denominator schlock.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_television_programs_by_season
You must not do much thinking
Arrested Development was very smart. Two and A Half Men did far better and was #1 but also not a very smart show.
Conan's description of "CHiPs", motorcycle cops solving a jewel heist while never leaving the highway, reminds me of a TV show from the Simpsons called "Night Boat: the Crime Solving Boat" (obviously, also a spoof of "Night Rider"). Night Boat was chasing a gang of baddies along the coast and they jump from their boat onto motorcycles and speed off. The lead guy says, "Oh, we'll never catch 'em now," but then the boat, who could talk, obviously, points out a canal that they could use to continue the chase. Bart and Lisa both groan and note how every week it's the same thing: there's always a canal or an inlet or a fjord. Lol
Nathan For You is amazing. So is The Rehearsal.
Had no idea ol' Conan got a podcast! Following on Spotify now.
Y’all remember Conan appearing on The Office ?
Yes but that was for an award show
@@abusivecomments9608 no. Conan made a cameo when Michael Scott went to New York and he thought he saw Tina Fey, but then the cameraman said he just missed Conan O Brien walking past him
@@abusivecomments9608 he was in s2e16 when Michael is in Rockefeller center.
That’s Tina Fey from Saturday Night Live
Was he there , where , seriously f**k !
BJ hasn’t felt the Adderall shortage one bit! Fkn guy interrupted every thought Conan had.
I guess I'll be binge watching 'Nathan for You' this week-end
You won’t regret it.
The office definitely is outstanding.. in other hand.. a show that I really loved at the time and then just disappeared was My name's Earl
My Name is Earl was a great show
BJ’s very glad to interrupt the end of someone’s sentence in order to make his next point. That would drive me nuts.
When he says, “Conan’s glaring at me now”, I thought, “Well you just interrupted him 5 times in a row in the last 4 minutes”.
Seriously. I had to stop listening.
"Lucy The Daughter of the Devil" and season 3 of "Moral Orel" are under the radar gems.
Yes The office is like a song that you learn more every time you see it. That's a great thing to notice
Just a reminder that Ryan started the fire
FIRE(D) GUY
You guys are so intelligent and original 👍🏼
Literally been watching Nathan for you for the last 3 weeks just cuz it comes on my roku channel but I love it. Something I'd never would saw is absolutely hilarious sometimes and I never seen Kroll (also kroll show i love "pubLizly"show but soon as I saw him I was like hol up is that Nathan 🤣🤣
Sona: “You’ve gotta stop before you go on for a very long time.”🤣
The more I watch The Office, the more I get annoyed by Jim and Pam and I appreciate Dwight more.
Same. Especially Jim.
of course. that's how it should be
Jim and Pam's chemistry is the undisputed driving force of the show right up till they get together. After that they become one of the more annoying part of the show.
Exactly. That's how the show was to me from the beginning, thinking Dwight was weird but at least he took the job seriously--whereas Jim hated the place initially, and might've been good at his job but was definitely a bit of a bully. He got better in some ways as the show went on but in retrospect him and Pam are irritating and selfish very, very often. And Dwight isn't perfect, not at all, but he gets weirder as it goes on because he's constantly messed with, etc. There are so many details to this show I must admit.... I feel like it's tough to summarize without defaulting to some easy to describe perspective, even though I think this show is a little more magical than anything like that because look at the effect it had on people....
found Angela's burner account
I could.take unedited full length of this interview. Super interesting
Love these video clips of the podcast, keep up the great work guys, thanks!
They won’t read this
@@kieransoregaard-utt8 I’m just expressing my gratitude 🤷♂️
The Night Stalker!!! Loved it
SCTV was filmed right here in Edmonton! :)
As great as this podcast is...I miss the nightly show. Catching Jordan Schlanzki coming in late. Walking around the office and deciding who was essential and who wasn't...Classic. I miss it co much
I've binged watch the office on Netflix at least 6 times start to end. And I still watch a few hours a week on cc and I still find little funny things that got by me so many times before.
I absolutely love listening to serious conversations about shows like The Office.
What a good conversation.
if there were one...
NATHAN FOR YOU IS SO GREAT!!! the rehearsal as well!!
I totally forgot about Nathan for you. Need to find that again. Love the SCTV reference. Great comedy skits! I actually like CHiPs. Despite it being a police shows guns were only ever used a couple times.
upload long-form FULL video please!
His new film Vengeance is great! Everyone should go see it
Got burnt out on The Office (US) after 3 seasons.
Personal favorite TV shows; MASH, Barnie Miller, Scrubs, Community, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The office and seinfeld I can watch anytime it never gets old
Community would be a great example
The best use of BJ Novak was by Quentin Tarrontino, he didnt let him speak for most of the movie.
Nightstalker is such a random reference but was a really fun show
Kolchak: The Night Stalker?
I wish the podcast had video on Spotify
“Vengeance”, the movie BJ wrote, directed and starred in last year was unbelievable. Ashton Kutcher’s performance was outstanding.
3:55 😂 GLARING
As someone who just saw the show for the first time recently, BJ Novak looks so much older😂😂
My World And Welcome To It, was a brilliant short lived show based upon James Thurber.
Chips was so popular everywhere. My mom, who grew up in Pakistan, loooooved it
A few examples of mentioning the year popped to mind. One was Jan talking to Michael about a fundraiser that lost money, and he said it was 5-5-05 ("only happened once in a lifetime!"). And in the first episode, I think, Michael was doing "WASAAAAAP" and Jim says, "Oh, really, after seven years."
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is the funniest talk show OF ALL TIME.
100% agreed. From around '97 to' 08 Late Night was the funniest late night/talk show of all time. Even more amazing to be so funny 5 shows a week.
the only think i'd say that i dont like about this is that bj novak talking like his version of the office was the first to do it, the faith in the US version of the office was solely cuz of the success of the UK office and ricky gervais, it was already heralded in the comedy world, so they we were working off a concept that was already on a pedastal really different from a brand new show that has to work from the ground up
My thoughts exactly. I actually couldn't watch the US version of The Office as I'm such a big fan of the original.
“Solving jewel heists on the highway,” I love Conan!!!
After 15-20 watch-throughs, if I had to pick a favourite moment off the top of my head:
"I hit myself in the head with my phone. I suspect Jim."
When Things Were Rotten, that's my 'Why did you cancel this' one!
what a coincidence the guy that didnt intern for conan interrupts him constantly lol
Narcissists gonna narcissist
I've ever only heard the saying "the devil's in the details" am I crazy?
HOPEFULLY he's not a religious nut.
god is in the details came first, mean's the success of something is in the details or small things can have huge effects; devil in details is about how something can fail because of small details; mean's similar things but from different perspectives.
I wish i heard SCTV raved about more. Thank you Conan!
The Larry Sanders Show - a top 5 comedy of all time - predated The Office. Single camera. No laugh track. Garry Shandling basically invented it, and no one's done it better yet. Freaks and Geeks & Firefly - just two examples of many shows cancelled way too early.
I love the office and his comedy on the show, but yikes this interview… Maybe my real problem is I just much prefer to hear what Conan has to say haha
For sure, BJ here tries to give advise on how to have a succesfull show, meanwhile Connan gives the full spectrum on how sitcoms can work or not independently if they have a great team of writers behind it. Most of the times the executives make all the desicions, making it impossible for a show to be succesfull.
I like the Office, the Simpsons and then there are some that are nearly unknown including, 30Rock, Police Squad and Taxi.
All of those are well known.
Police Sqaud is the name of a comedy?
Lol 30 rock is unknown??
I think "Taxi" was a movie in the late 90s. There were a couple more that followed.
Two of the last three shows you named are from about 40 years ago and none of them ever achieved what I will call the "I Love Lucy, Seinfeld" status. They did not even reach the "Beverly Hillbillies, Friends" status.
Bj: There has been no single camera shows without a laugh track that were successful.
Malcom in the Middle: ...dude?
Seinfeld’s pilot hadn’t been picked up, but back then the networks would show rejected pilots in the summer time, and the critic for TV Guide liked it, so the network gave it an order of 5 episodes, the smallest a network show had ever gotten
it really has such great actors /characters.. i loved the show , it just needed a few tweeks to be masterpiece
Nathan for you is a masterpiece.
I actually liked the British Office so much more and took me a long time to warm up to US Office. It always seemed like they just wanted to copy what the British Office already created. Now, I do appreciate the US office and its characters.
Where can I see the whole episode?
I can see Conan doing cameos on love Boat or CHiPs
he really puts out a Gopher's sidekick vibe
Three's company is one of my favorites of all time!! Yes some things did NOT age well. But the jokes, the comedic timing and the element of physical comedy made three's company incredible! I laugh so hard at episodes I have seen many times 😁
I agree something about it is so timeless
Its very true the thing about dont mention years, I am rewatching the office and enjoying it until in a new year episode they mentioned 2011 and it throw me out of the illusion of watching something happening "now"
1:35, I always heard that saying as "The Devil is in the details". It's interesting Conan knows it as "God is in the details". I'm not sure if there's some conclusion to draw here...
Both sayings exist. "God is in the details" actually came first, and the meaning is different.
@@lymandecoconut4832 Interesting, I always heard it as “the devil is in the details” as a cautionary saying to pay attention to things. Figured religious people substituted God so as to not reference satan. Similar to people “tipping” a penny if their bill is like $6.66 or something.
@@lymandecoconut4832 nope
Satanists are both right
@@TastefulGent there's a book called the god of small things
🤣 😂 🤣 3:50.... Conan says "aroused" and Sona had to push the mic away.... 😭
BJ has that "I just woke up" look.
Columbo is still one of my favorite shows
"Chips is a War Crime" is going to be the name of my band
What your looking for is at 7:08, way to bury the title
There is always junk but All in the family was number 1 and is one of the best shows ever, Cheers, - sometimes popularity and greatness go together
The pure genius of The Office is that it's just a bunch of people in one room and they made that work, somehow
So many people seem to hate it after Steve left but I loved having more of the series.
@KungFu Nerd Rebellion That's just a matter of opinion though. I enjoyed a bunch of the side characters and character arcs. And even when I thought Andy's character got played out, other characters kept it afloat enough for me to still enjoy the series.
I've watched it all through about 7 or 8 times over the years and never skip the seasons after Steve left.
It was awful. Erin’s character sucked. Super annoying. Honestly loved gabe he was hilarious. But Erin and that British woman who I forgot her name ruined that show. Even Dwight started to suck.
@@user-ch1jg7mq6v Again, I have no issue with an opinion that sees those seasons negatively, I just don't share in it and I don't hold mine as some form of absolute truth regarding the show (omg I didn't like it so it MUST suck and everyone that enjoyed it is basic or stupid).
Kevin's intelligence was sold for many great jokes in the moment...
I’m glad they didn’t add the corny automated laughs .
Gervais was an executive producer, there is no way he would allow it.
American’s for a long time were behind the Brits in terms of “clever” comedy, but in recent years that has changed. Shows like Nathan for you is so so good.
B.J. Novak was brilliant on the office! His character was my favorite!
Television has always been a drasticly better medium than film. Simpsons and Seinfeld examples are spot on and The Office joined them.
I just realized when Novac mentioned it, there was never a laugh track on the show. It was naturally funny.
Nathan For You is the greatest thing created
They do a pretty good job of making it so you don't really know what year it is, but the celebrity name drops give it away.