Paul Rudd Told Steve Carell The Office Was A Bad Idea. Here's Why
Can you imagine a world without "The Office?" Well, at one point that was a very real possibility. The hit NBC mockumentary, which served as the U.S. adaptation to its U.K. counterpart, premiered in 2005 to fledgling ratings and minimal network support. In fact, at a time when ordering 22 episodes for a show's first season was the norm (per Vulture), NBC ordered a meager six episodes for "The Office." Not a good first impression, to say the least.
Needless to say, it was initially a massive uphill battle for the now-immensely popular program. In a 2019 interview with producer and writer (and also Dwight Schrute's cousin, Mose) Michael Schur, he noted the three things that ultimately made the show succeed against all odds: the show being spearheaded by creator Greg Daniels, NBC head Kevin Reilly going to bat for the show, and Steve Carell becoming a box office star with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (via Vox).
"[I]t's talented people and a talented group of people who have a sort of mind-meld, and then it's just really good luck," Schur said about the show's success. "A lot of it is stuff you have no control over that you have to just hope happens to you," he further added. And although the series would go on to become a cultural phenomenon, series lead Carell was once advised it would fail from the jump — from a "40-Year-Old Virgin" co-star nonetheless.
Paul Rudd thought 'The Office' wouldn't live up to its U.K. counterpart
"The Office" followed the scrappy workers of Scranton-based paper company Dunder Mifflin on a daily basis. On paper, it sounds like a glum concept, but it was the hard-working and perseverant nature of the Dunder Mifflin employees that allowed the show to run for eight years. On a show meant to be axed after six episodes, character Michael Scott and crew eventually managed to turn "The Office" into a cultural staple — but Steve Carell (who played Scott) was actually advised to jump ship before it sank.
In fact, the "advice" came from none other than Carell's "40-Year-Old Virgin" co-star Paul Rudd. According to Brian Baumgartner's (who played Kevin Malone) new book, "Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of 'The Office,'" Rudd told Carell, "Ugh, don't do it. Bad, bad move. I mean, it's never going to be as good [as the British version]" (via the New York Post).
We can't really blame Rudd for thinking so, however. With an initial cast of no-names and NBC barely supporting the endeavor, all signs pointed to failure for "The Office." However, the stars eventually aligned backstage, and the advent of social media helped expedite the process."Some of us created MySpace pages for our characters and we interacted with our fans from our desks. And because Dwight [Schrute] would be above all of that, Rainn [Wilson] created Schrute-Space." Baumgartner stated on "An Oral History of The Office" (via CheatSheet). And the rest, of course, is television history!