"Office" Scores Touchdown On NBC's Mid-Season Lineup

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – NBC's hit comedy "The Office" will get the coveted post-Super Bowl spot next year, while the new drama "Kings" will take over for "ER" on Thursday nights after the long-running medical drama airs its series finale.

The post-Bowl position is considered the most valuable piece of programing real estate on television, exposing a series to tens of millions of viewers. NBC will air a special one-hour episode of its Emmy-winning comedy after the game concludes February 1.

"'The Office' is a perfect fit for after the Super Bowl," NBC scheduling chief Mitch Metcalf said. "It's going to be a hilariously funny hour, and I think people will be in the mood to laugh after the big game."

With NBC's ratings severely depressed this fall, the Super Bowl telecast presents a valuable opportunity to bring viewers back to the network. NBC had the choice of several options for the post-Bowl spot, including launching "Kings," relaunching the new volume of "Heroes" or premiering the new edition of "Celebrity Apprentice."

"You just don't want something that's too heavy, and some of the best performances after the Super Bowl have been comedies," Metcalf said. "This could bring a whole new audience to the show."

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8. The Office (U.S.), “Stress Relief” (Super Bowl XLIII, 2009, 22.9 million viewers)

The state of Pennsylvania secured a pair of victories on February 1, 2009: The Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl, which the Scranton-set American version of The Office followed up with a daring cold open. When corporate second-banana Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) tries to teach his coworkers a lesson in fire safety, he instead induces a herd-mentality panic that leads to several pieces of damaged office equipment, three busted ceiling tiles (two broken by a human, one broken by a contraband cat), and a heart attack. The double-sized “Stress Relief” isn’t immune to the stretched-thin quality of most hour-long Offices—excerpts from a movie-within-the-show pad the runtime—but the episode is redeemed by Dwight’s folly and the two “roasts” that Michael Scott (Steve Carell) stages to help his employees blow off steam. (Fittingly, an episode that begins with a controlled burn ends with an enduring Office refrain: “Boom! Roasted.”) One of the least-watched Super Bowl lead-outs of the ’00s—only Alias’ “Phase One” held on to a smaller chunk of the game’s audience—“Stress Relief” nonetheless established a ratings foothold for The Office, which returned the following year as the anchor for an all-star Thursday-night lineup: Community at 8, followed by Parks And Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock.

MVP: Thematically named director Jeffrey Blitz. The shaky-cam urgency and impressive traffic management of “Stress Relief”’s opening scene would net Blitz a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series. [Erik Adams]