Remember "The Office" (1995)?

[OOliver]

"The Office" is an inexplicable (to me, at least ) hit on NBC this season, which reminds me...does anyone remember the short-lived series "The Office" from 1995?

It starred Valerie Harper as secretary 'Rita Stone', and had a cast that included Gary Dourdan ("CSI") and Debra Jo Rupp ("That 70s Show"). The show was a very weak, predictable sitcom - wisecracking secretaries who get stepped on each week by the big bosses. The writing was bad, the jokes were uninspired, the cast was wasted. (Though Rupp showed what a comic actress she could be with what little she had been given.)

The show ran for six episodes in the Spring of 1995, before being canned for good.

[Marvo301]

Yes! I do remember this show. I was one of those few people who actually watched it!

[factsoflife]

OMG, YES! I do recall this show. I actually liked it very much. Then again, in 1995 I was only, 14 years old.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by OOliver

"The Office" is an inexplicable (to me, at least ) hit on NBC this season, which reminds me...does anyone remember the short-lived series "The Office" from 1995?

It starred Valerie Harper as secretary 'Rita Stone', and had a cast that included Gary Dourdan ("CSI") and Debra Jo Rupp ("That 70s Show"). The show was a very weak, predictable sitcom - wisecracking secretaries who get stepped on each week by the big bosses. The writing was bad, the jokes were uninspired, the cast was wasted. (Though Rupp showed what a comic actress she could be with what little she had been given.)

The show ran for six episodes in the Spring of 1995, before being canned for good.

The late Kevin Conroy (AKA the voice of Batman) was also a cast member on this version of The Office. This was apparently, the very last live-action acting project that he would do until the year 2015.



There's Kevin on the far, far right of the photo.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Yes! I do remember this show. I was one of those few people who actually watched it!

Short-Lived Sitcom Potpourri (XVI)

Thoughts: A great cast with well-defined characters makes for the strongest new ensemble workplace comedy of spring 1995 (NBC’s NewsRadio aside). The four secretaries — including star Valerie Harper and a pre*-That ‘70s Show Debra Jo Rupp — are contrasted well against each other: the sarcastic pro, the frazzled mother, the ditz, and the siren. Meanwhile, the bosses also have unique and easily understood personas — with Dakin Matthews leading the bunch and instilling a lot of humanity in his relationship with Harper’s character especially: the emotional core (like Mary and Lou).

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Short-Lived Sitcom Potpourri (XVI)

ONE SEASON WONDERS: The Office

Brief Pilot Review:

No, it's not THAT The Office. A decade before NBC's iconic workplace sitcom, there was a much less iconic sitcom of the same name on CBS. The series deliberately was going for an Upstairs, Downstairs approach with the attention focused on the secretaries serving their richer and more powerful bosses while really keeping the whole operation afloat. I think that is a good angle for a sitcom that is a little bit different from a typical office comedy with a very clear divide between the two groups. The pilot plays to those themes with a plot centered on the secretarial staff no longer being paid overtime and an on-going debate between the "upstairs" and the "downstairs" where the two factions retreated to their corners. It was a really nice way to introduce the characters and the dynamics between individual characters and the two groups.

Besides the interesting premise, this pilot also works thanks to its cast, particularly Valerie Harper and Debra Jo Rupp, two actresses who had much longer runs on other sitcoms. Harper just had pitch perfect timing in both her line deliveries and her reactions to other characters. As proven during the uneven run of Rhoda, she always made so-so writing work and while I like the premise, the writing was only so-so in this pilot. Debra Jo Rupp also brought her trademark manic qualities to the series with some very funny moments. The rest of the ensemble was solid too. All in all, this is one of the better pilots I have watched while doing my One Season Wonder posts. I have to wonder how it might have done in a better situation.

What Went Wrong:

The Office wasn't a high priority for CBS even though it marked the return of Valerie Harper to TV. Although Harper had dominance in the 70s as Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, she had a highly publicized exit from Valerie in the 80s and then a failed sitcom (City) in 1990. By 1995, she was a bigger name for Nick at Nite than CBS. Reviews were mixed for the show with Variety saying "the format's traditional, the observations generally thin." Entertainment Weekly was a little more harsh saying Harper "manages to maintain her dignity despite The Office's flimsy scripts."

CBS was trying a comedy block on Saturday nights in between successful dramas Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Walker, Texas Ranger. First they tried The Five Mrs. Buchanans and Hearts Afire then they brought The Boys are Back over to the night and finally by March they tried The Office. In the 1990s, a show with a six episode order that premiered in March really had the deck stacked against it. Occasionally there would be a surprise but they were mostly afterthoughts by the network and The Office was no exception. It was cancelled after five episodes with one unaired. It would prove to be Harper's final role as a TV regular though she continued to do lots of guest roles and stage work before her death in 2019. And of course NBC had a much more successful called The Office a decade later.

The series was in fact, billed as an office comedy version of the British series Upstairs, Downstairs, here centering on the camaraderie of executives and their secretaries of a busy corporate office at a design-packaging company. It however, just came across as '9 to 5 Lite' with Valerie Harper taking over Lily Tomlin's role of 'Violet' and replacing her with 'Rhoda'. CBS yanked it after five episodes in the Spring of 1995.