'Office' heading for 'The Hills'?

By Karen Nicoletti

Like a little more "Hills" in your "Office"? The MTV reality show was joke fodder for much of the "Office" writers panel Saturday afternoon, kicked off by a fan's observation that the NBC comedy has been shifting away from the strict docu style and into "Hills" territory. "For a long time, we've been like, How do we be more like 'The Hills?' " Michael Schur joked. "That's probably what you're sensing. It's actually in the writing." To that, moderator Rainn Wilson quipped, "Lauren is in the spinoff."

Later, when the panel of writers were discussing Jim and Pam's relationship (and, by the way, nothing was spilled about the direction they're headed in), Schur said, "We looked at all the classics: Sam and Diane, Ross and Rachel," then BJ Novak jumped in with "The Hills" again: "Spencer and Heidi." Wilson confirmed: "They're almost a direct copy of Spencer and Heidi."

But lest you think the popular kids were going rule the day, toward the end of the panel, Wilson was confronted with sheer love for his dweeby Dwight when a girl who stepped up to ask a question had a Dwight Schrute stress ball hovering above her head. He stopped her to say, "You have Dwight in your head. You have a Dwight head on your real head. Is that a Dwight tumor?"

And that particular "Office"-head came up with one of those questions that could only be asked at Comic-Con when she wondered what Wilson thought about how Dwight would react to a robot invasion. Schur fielded that one: "He'd cross his arms and stand in the middle of the street as the robots marched down the street, nodding and saying, 'I told you so.' " Another writer offered, "He'd also become assistant to the manager of the robots."

Below, Jennifer Celotta and Wilson react to the girl with Dwight attached to her head.

Comments

[Joe B.]

All well and good, but what is The Office doing at Comic-Con?

And if they're included, why not every other sitcom?

Oh, that's right, every other sitcom WAS included, or at least a number of them, and that's why Comic-Con is so damn crowded.

Who's gonna get it together to put together a pop culture-TV convention in Anaheim at that convention center which is, a) easier to get to than San Diego, and b) closer for the Hollywood community to get to?

[JoieDeMer]

The Office Writers' Panel can be be viewed in its entirety here:
http://www.nbc.com/Comic-Con/video/clips/the-office/279939/

[Folsäure]

I am totally surprised to see office at Comic con. Can anyone please describe me what is he doing in comic con?