Why The Office lives on as a cult hit, another fan reunion planned for 2023

Eight years after its finale, The Office is still winning new viewers and plaudits, and there’s talk of another reunion for fans.

Twenty minutes out of New York City, through the Holland Tunnel into New Jersey, you could walk into an exhibition hall and magically transport yourself into a mid-sized paper company circa 2007.

After enormous demand, and many years in the making, organisers created an exhibition completely dedicated to the US series The Office; the televisual juggernaut still gaining fans eight years after its finale, and bagging millions of dollars for its creators.

Fans turned up in their thousands to relive the everyday exploits of the famous Scranton office-dwellers at DunderCon, visiting inflatable recreations of their workplace and local pub, Dwight Schrute’s iconic Trans-Am and a PT Cruiser like the one in which Michael Scott mowed down Meredith Palmer.

DunderCon, a fan convention just for The Office, was held in New Jersey Picture: Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson

In a credit to the show’s now cult following, major cast members agreed to appear at the event, signing autographs and hamming it up for photos over two days, including Meredith (Kate Flannery), Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), Oscar (Oscar Nunez), David Wallace (Andy Buckley), and Creed Bratton.

Fans queued the length of the Meadowlands Convention Center, waiting hours to interact with their favourite stars.

Linda Purl, who played Pam Beesly’s mum and Michael Scott’s one-time girlfriend, tells SmartDaily she is constantly shocked by fans’ reactions to her role.

“To see this kind of turnout and the people who come is really extraordinary. Every show has a unique following but this one is the most spirited, it’s the most fun, it’s very moving, especially coming out of the pandemic,” she says.

“I just spent seven or eight months working in England and I thought people would know me more for Happy Days or Matlock because The Office originated in Britain but people were there (for me) because of The Office.”

A Trans-Am as driven by Dwight Schrute was on show at DunderCon, a fan convention just for The Office, in New Jersey in August 2022. Picture: Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson

The US series raised eyebrows in 2020 when it was crowned Netflix’s most watched show by a huge margin — with Americans streaming 57 billion minutes of it.

And the milestone came after NBCUniversal revealed it would pay $US500 million over five years to take the show back from Netflix.

The awards put The Office in a rare category of TV shows, along with Friends and Seinfeld, of growing in popularity after its original airing.

Recent Office spin-offs have included the Office Ladies podcast from former cast members Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, who recently launched a book, and The Office Deep Dive from Baumgartner.

DunderCon organiser Arnold Cuervo says this unyielding popularity is what led him and partner Jesse Cohen to organise the convention — and he can barely get through an interview without being stopped by fans keen to shake his hand.

“In my mind, this is the reunion we all wanted,” he says. “Maybe one day.

“We’re looking at the next convention in spring 2023 and it looks like it will be in Los Angeles. I am hoping it only gets better from here. We have 23 cast members and I’m hoping for the next one more because Los Angeles is where most of the cast members live.”

FOUR OTHER SHOWS MAKING IT BIG IN RE-RUNS

1. Friends: Second only to The Office in streaming re-runs, Friends continues to be one of the world’s most watched TV series, 18 years after ended.

2. Seinfeld: Many viewers now watching Seinfeld’s nine seasons weren’t even born when it was being made, with streaming services giving the show a second life.

3. Criminal Minds: With The Office out of Netflix hands, the 12 seasons of Criminal Minds won the title most-viewed licenced TV show on its US platform in 2021.

4. Schitt’s Creek: The Canadian TV series won a much bigger audience in Netflix re-runs than it did on its first airing, and will join Hulu in 2022 in a multimillion-dollar deal.

10 FACTS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE OFFICE

– In 2020, fans of The Office spent the equivalent of 1000 years streaming the show on Netflix, making it the most popular TV series that year.

– NBCUniversal agreed to pay $US100 million every year for five years to win the rights to play Office re-runs in 2019, outbidding Netflix.

– Cameos on The Office included Jim Carrey, Christian Slater, Jessica Alba, Jack Black, Warren Buffett, Will Arnett, Ray Romano, Ricky Gervais, Ken Jeong, Josh Groban, Joan Cusack and Ed Begley Jr.

The Office has become a cult TV show. Picture: NBC Photo/Chris Haston

– Writer, actor and producer Mindy Kaling wrote the highest number of Office episodes, including The Injury and Niagara.

– The role of Michael Scott could have been played by Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) who auditioned for the role and was presented to network executives before Steve Carell was ultimately cast.

– Despite huge ongoing appeal, The Office only claimed three Emmy Awards during its nine seasons, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006.

– Several Office cast members share names with their characters, including Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez), and Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith).

– Creed Bratton plays a character named Creed Bratton but, in one episode, says he transfers his debts to William Charles Schneider, which is the actor’s original name.

– Phyllis Smith was a casting associate on The Office until executive producers wrote a part for her in the show.

– Three Office cast members have been nominated for Oscars: Amy Adams who played Katy, Amy Ryan who played Holly Flax, and Steve Carell.

Originally published as Why The Office lives on as a cult hit, another fan reunion planned for 2023