'Four major characters in the series had the privilege of using their real names': 20 Surprising Facts You Probably Never Knew About 'The Office'

• 01
  
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  The writers originally wanted Jim and Pam to be an interracial couple. They planned on having Erica Vittina Phillips play Pam and Craig Robinson, who ended up playing Darryl, play Roy. But when Jenna Fischer auditioned for Pam, she was too good to ignore, and the rest is history.

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• 02
  
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  Four major characters in the series had the privilege of using their real names in the roles they played. The actors are Angela Kinsey who played Angela, Oscar Nunez playing Oscar, Phyllis Smith as Phyllis, and Creed Bratton as Creed.

• 03
  
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  Some of the actors were connecting long before they starred on "The Office" together. Not only are John Krasinski, who played Jim, and BJ Novak, who played Ryan, from the same town in Massachusetts, they both graduated from Newton South High School in 1997.

• 04
  
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  Actors are known to take souvenirs from the set throughout a series. But you never would have guessed sweet Pam to be one of those people. Jenna Fischer kept the engagement ring that Jim gave her in the fifth season. Even after the series stopped airing, she's been seen wearing the ring. According to the grapevine, the value of the ring when it was bought for the show was just around $5,000.

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• 05
  
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  Steve Carell, who played Michael Scott, never watched the British version of "The Office." He was worried that he would simply imitate Ricky Gervias's character instead of making the character his own. But Carell was also worried that he would not be able to give justice to the character, having never seen the British series. Fortunately, he did an unbelievable job.

• 06
  
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  Many of the cast members also worked as writers for the series. Paul Lieberstein playing Toby, Mindy Kaling playing Kelly, Steve Carell playing Michael, and BJ Novak playing Ryan all doubled as writers for various episodes. Who knew Toby could be funny in real life?

• 07
  
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  The Dunder Mifflin Paper Company was created specifically for the series with no ties to reality. However, due to the vast popularity of the show, tourism in Scranton, PA skyrocketed. The fictional paper company was named an actual member of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce since it brings in millions of dollars a year in town revenue.

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• 08
  
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  Rainn Wilson almost had his own spin-off show focused around the family beet farm called "The Farm." If NBC had actually bought "The Farm" that's the last "The Office" would have seen of Dwight Schrute and his cousin Mose. Rainn would have left "The Office" midseason. Although a show based solely on Dwight would have been absolutely hilarious, we are eternally grateful that Rainn was able to stay with "The Office."

• 09
  
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  Pam and Angela's relationship was rocky to say the least. Angela judged Pam for her not so conventional ways, while Pam occasionally lashed out as Angela for being too tightly wound. While these two actresses play very convincing enemies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey are actually best friends in real life. Mind blown.

• 10
  
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  Even though Steve Carell admitted to never watching the original British series he did happen to give credit to the Brits. In various shots, Michael Scott has a Union Jack flag on his desk as a symbol of thanks to the inspiration for "The Office."

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• 11
  
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  It took a while before Steve Carell got the role of Michael Scott. When the producers of The Office were still thinking of the best actor to play the role of Michael Scott, Universal Pictures chairman Stay Snider strongly suggested Steve Carell. But the actor almost missed out on being Scott because at that time, he was working on the NBC sitcom Come to Papa. The producers had Bob Odenkrik, David Koechner and Alan Tudyk as their other options, but the auditions ended up in Carell's favor.

• 12
  
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  When Daniels thought of selling his adaptation of "The Office," he really wanted to sell it to FX or HBO and not NBC because he felt that it was not fit for the network. At that time, Will and Grace was the number one show for NBC and he was afraid that "The Office" would not be a hit. But his trusted friends in the industry were confident that the story would sell so he pushed it.

• 13
  
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  As the producers of "The Office" brainstormed about the possible spinoffs of the series, they thought of creating a "mockumentary" version of the Loud Family, where Andy would play the role of dad and Nellie Bertram would play the role of mom. Several other ideas were also considered but were eventually discarded due to some foreseeable loopholes.

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• 14
  
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  Even before Jim moved to Dunder Mifflin Stamford branch, Daniels had already come up with a list of the other offices of the paper company in Northeastern United States. He picked out some cities in the Northeast that had comical names, such as Nashua and Yonkers. These branches were first cited at the beginning of Season 3.

• 15
  
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  "Parks and Recreation" could have been a spinoff of "The Office" if not for the role of Rashida Jones. But even though it did not turn out as Daniels had planned, executive producer Paul Lieberstein had a unique way of somewhat pulling it off. Parks and Rec entered the scene when the copier was loaded into a truck and was dropped off in the Parks and Rec office.

• 16
  
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  Oscar would not have been gay in The Office if not for the pink shirt that was put on him by the wardrobe staff of the series. In the episode where Michael was trying to figure out who among his colleagues was gay, the writers thought it was best to reveal it was Oscar because he was wearing pink at the time.

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• 17
  
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  The rural background of Dwight came from the bunch of pictures of Daniel's family that he once showed to the writers of the series. His being an owner of a beet farm was drawn from the grandparents of Greg who happened to be beet raisers in Poland in real life. The idea of the goofy character Mose was inspired by the reality show Amish in the City.

• 18
  
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  When "The Office" was still airing, several viewers came up to Fischer to tell them how disappointed they were by the assertive and strong-willed character of Pam. This surprised him because he thought the audience would love to know that from being a wallflower, Pam had already found her voice. Fischer admitted the response of the audience ran contrary to what he had expected.

• 19
  
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  Three characters in the hit NBC series "The Office" first had their names known in the news program "The Daily Show." Ed Helms and Steve Carell had their first breaks when they became correspondents in the program, while Larry Milmore had his when he served as one of the writers of the same show.

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• 20
  
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  During its first season, NBC was dangerously close to canceling "The Office." TV shows like "Skating with Celebrities" and "Wife Swap" were getting higher ratings than "The Office," but after the release of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carell help launch "The Office" into stardom in the United States.

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