With NBC ready to launch its new streaming platform Peacock, a reunion of the hit show would work in favour of executives and fans alike.
The iconic show about the lives and loves of the employees of a mid-size paper company is finally going to get a new life. Well, kind of. NBC has been considering a very special ‘The Office‘ reunion as part of the launch of its own streaming platform Peacock. The NBC sitcom ended in 2013 after having a smashing nine-season run, and even after all these years, the show has continued to add to its fan base. The show was picked up by Netflix US for reruns on its platform, where it outperformed sitcom classics like ‘Friends’ in terms of most-watched shows.
But its contract with Netflix was cancelled as NBC Universal had plans for Peacock, and it is on this platform that the show will air from next year on, at least in the US.
Highlights —
- How a reunion would help boost ratings
- Could there be a reboot of ‘The Office’ too?
How a reunion would help boost ratings
Luring in the audience to join Peacock with a special reunion of a hit and iconic show such as ‘The Office’ makes complete sense business-wise. Considering the fact that there are so many streaming platforms to choose from now, new audiences need to be hooked to convince them to subscribe to their platform. While a show like ‘The Office’ has a giant legacy of its own, there will, of course, be a need for good quality shows to get the audience really hooked on to the new streaming platform. In that sense, too, a reunion sounds perfect.
Moreover, fans also seem to be quite receptive to the idea of reunions, what with the success of reunions of shows such as ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Parks & Recreations’ in various innovative ways. Two cast members of the show Jenna Fischer (who plays Pam) and Angela Kinsey (who plays Angela) have been running a podcast called “The Office Ladies” in which they sit down and dissect each episode of the show, giving listeners behind-the-scenes information along the way. The podcast has also made quite a buzz, proving there is no dearth of interest from the fans’ end for anything related to ‘The Office’.
Could there be a reboot of ‘The Office’ too?
Another reason the folks at NBC Universal are keen on ‘The Office’ reunion is the success story of HBO Max. When HBO decided to launch HBO Max, it bought ‘Friends’ away from Netflix to exclusively stream on its own platform and eased the transition with plans for a big ‘Friends’ reunion special. This has worked very well for HBO Max. So a reunion is certain to get a new platform like Peacock going.
But could a reboot also do that?
Perhaps it could, but in NBCUniversal’s plans around the launch, a reboot does not figure in. Bill McGoldrick, the President of Original Content at NBC Universal, told “Deadline”,
“Because it does not launch until January, we have not talked specifically about ‘The Office’ reboots for Peacock; we’ve talked about things we can do to support ‘The Office’ once it gets to our service but a reboot has not come up specifically for Peacock”.
Interestingly, Steve Carell, who plays the iconic Michael Scott on the show, actually doesn’t believe it would do well to revisit the series in the present day because of the awareness of what constitutes offensive behaviour. In any case, we’re just glad there is something to look forward to soon in the coming year!
Link to Jon Krasinksi’s The Office reunion
