After five seasons of the adorably awkward courtship, of TV’s cute couple, finally make it official. The new season of “The Office” starts off with the wedding of Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer).
The show starts off in a Niagara Falls banquet hall, and a rehearsal dinner with the groom-to-be ready to give his heart felt, loving toast. “People told me it was crazy to wait that long for a date with a girl I worked with,” he says of his bride to be, “But I think even then, I knew I was waiting for my wife.”
But moments later, a gasp seems to suck the air out of everyone in the room when Jim, in a burst of excessive enthusiasm, commits a major faux pas by blurting out something that leaves his family, especially his uptight grandma, “Meemaw” completely ashamed.
Unfortunately, the man who comes to his rescue is Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Jim and Pam’s exceedingly unself-aware boss, who then tries to smooth things over with a speech of his own. I won’t spoil all the awkward yet awesome dialogue, but suffice it to say that by the time the speech is said most everyone on the set was torn up from crying, laughing, and sometimes both at the same time!
Dearly beloved, we are finally gathered here this night, to witness a wedding, “The Office” style.
Krasinski’s toast could just as easily have been directed at the show’s fans. We have patiently and hysterically waited five seasons for this adorable duo to make it official, and it happens in a special hour-long episode on October 8, 2009 at 9 p.m. (Check local listings)
So why did it take so long for the wedding to finally be?
“It’s about keeping this relationship as real as we can instead of making it a television romance.” explains Krasinski. “When you have two characters who are so perfect for each other, it’s a little weird for them to not the married. So you have to put that step in, whether it’s been done on television successfully before or not.” Adds exec producer Greg Daniels: “We didn’t want to do the soap opera-y thing and cheapen it. Besides, our ratings keep going up, so I don’t think anyone minds them being together.”
The ratings have kept creping up as Jim and Pam have grown closer. It debuted in 2005 as a mini-season with 5.4 million viewers and it has grown to a respectable 9.3 million viewers as of last year. And with this strong season premier it will only get better.
Why Niagara?
“We picked Niagara Falls because we felt it was romantic, just like their relationship.” explains Greg Daniels.
Spoiler Alert!
“Of course the whole Dunder Mifflin gang tags along, and that’s when the fun starts. Michael and crony Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), inspired by “Wedding Crashers”, will be trolling for hook-ups.
Office fussbudget Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) will pursue his budding crush on receptionist Erin (Ellie Kemper) by hosting a hotel-room bash. “He was supposed to be sitting next to her at the wedding, bur Kevin switched seats with her,: Daniels explains. “So Andy’s furious about that.” Tensions will mount between Pam’s parents when her dad (“Leverage’s” Rick Overton) brings a young new girlfriend as his date, while her mom (“Port Charles’- Linda Purl) comes solo. (Jim’s parents, incidentally, are showing up for the very first time on screen, played by Perry Smith and Robert Pine, a veteran TV actor who also happens to be Chris Pine’s dad.)
Naturally, Jim’s rehearsal-dinner gaffe will wreak some pre-ceremony havoc. “When I got married, people told us, You have no idea where it’s going to come from, the thing that will go horrible wrong,” Lieberstein says. “That’s exactly what happens: Jim ruins their wedding.
In typical “Office” fashion, uncomfortable moments will lurk behind every flower arrangement and place card, as when Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) and Oscar (Oscar Nunez) are mistaken for a couple, and Michael ambushes the rehearsal with his stand-up act. Explains Mindy Kaling (a.k.a. office airhead- Kelly Kapoor), who co-wrote the episode with Daniels. “There are a lot of scenes that are just funny alternative comedy,(and) a lot of physical comedy.” Still there’s plenty of sentiment, too: “I think (Michael) feels as if it’s two of his children, and he’s both proud and excited,” Carell said.
The cast got so caught in the moment, in fact, that they ad-libbed some of their own heartfelt lines during the wedding shoot. “We’re all fans of our own show, maybe we shouldn’t be, but we are,” Lieberstein says.
“It felt pretty cool to see, the wedding, after five seasons.” adds Krasinski: “Weddings are a scary prospect in television, but it’s one of my favorite episodes. It’s easier to go to bed at night knowing that the potentially scary episode is a good one.”
Once the festivities are over, Jim and Pam will enjoy a week away from Dunder Mifflin for their honeymoon.
Sorry, no faux-documentary cameras allowed. Daniel said, “We’re giving them their privacy.”
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