Saturday, September 16, 2006

If you are a fan of "The Office"...

...do NOT, under any circumstances, read the article in this Sunday's New York Times about one of the show's producers, Ben Silverman, titled "The Whole World Is Watching, and Ben Silverman Is Watching Back." Midway through the story, Bill Carter just casually spoils where the Jim and Pam story is going, all to illustrate a point about how brilliant Ben Silverman is at getting product placement deals. To quote Adam Bonin:
We have waited and wondered since May 11, 2006 when "Casino Night" first aired, and with just five days to go, boom!, they ruin the suspense. Ruin it. Do not read this article. I cannot stress this enough. I am livid.
Un. Freaking. Believable. And I don't think Bill even realizes what he did, or else he would have made a much bigger deal of that knowledge.

10 comments:

Adam said...

For what it's worth, I emailed their Corrections page (also on the Scott Tenorman thing) and Bill himself, through the resource on the site, though I imagine you've actually got his phone number or email address and can actually reach him.

I'm shocked that it was him, because he is so, so good at what he does. THE LATE SHIFT is mandatory reading. This? Was awful.

Anonymous said...

Alan - I read the article and was pissed as well. Unbelievable. I feel bad for the cast and crew, who kept it a secret for so long. Keep up updated as to what you hear about the fallout of this. Will they try to backpedal? How does Bill feel once he knows what he did? Offhanded comment by a producer, picked up by a print reporter, released online for the Internet world to see. Craziness and mayhem ensues.

dark tyler said...

Well, that's just great. Now all we have to do is avoid the whole internet for five days.

At least I wanna be sure that I can visit this blog, so anyone who has been spoiled by the article please please please be careful not to let anything slip!

Anonymous said...

I, for one, am thrilled about this leak. I hope everyone reads it, gets his or her Pam and Jim fix and allows this show to regain the focus that makes it one of the best comedies on television. Pam and Jim must not become the next Ross and Rachel or Ed and Carol. Like "Friends" and "Ed", "The Office" is often at its best when those relationships are only a minor plot point.

Matt said...

UCF--It'd depend on if the editor were familiar with the show, I'd assume. It's not like it's phrased as "In resolution of a major cliffhanger from last season..." so an initiate might not realize the significance of the statement. The person to be pissed off at more than Bill strikes me as Silverman, whose casual tossing out of the information is at the root of the problem.

Anonymous said...

I emailed Bill Carter yesterday and got a response. He said when Ben Silverman mentioned it, he didn't make it known that it was spoilery information. BC expressed apologies for spoiling, but that he was unaware of it, since the producer BS had not said anything in that regard.

Kind of sucks. A lot.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Per Greg Daniels: "We are looking at lots of possibilities over the next year for different stories, but if you want to get product placement you have to pitch them months in advance."

Obviously, if the Times story gets it right, Greg's not going to confirm it for me, but this does at least give me a glimmer of hope that Ben was discussing a hypothetical and made it sound too much like a definitive story plan.

A glimmer, but it's something.

Anonymous said...

It's so annoying. Why are the media so keen on playing spoiler.

Just Friday in the NY Observer, a reporter wrote this about the Project Runway fashion show:


"SPOILER ALERT: (name redcated) is not gonna win."

http://thedailytransom.observer.com/2006/09/project-runway-some-thoughts.html

I mean, how can you not avoid the spoiler!!

Alan Sepinwall said...

And in that case, the writer obviously knew it was a spoiler, whereas Bill's defense (which I believe, given A)how busy he is as a non-critic, and B)how the spoiler is presented in the story) is that he didn't know he was giving anything away.

Ausiello left a similar non-amount of space between the spoiler warning and the actual spoiler about last year's Gilmore Girls finale. You really need to put at least five or six words, if not a full sentence and a paragraph break, so that people have time to put the breaks on their vision.

Anonymous said...

wow, thanks for the link. always looking for info on the office. spoils or not.

rachael