NBC is doing its best to confuse everyone.  First, there was The Office Spin-Off that was planned for mid-season.  Then Amy Poehler was supposedly cast as the lead in the Spin-Off.  Then, we found out that the show Amy Poehler has been cast in isn't The Office Spin-Off at all, but a different comedy series, similar in theme to The Office and still produced by original Office creator Greg Daniels and writer Michael Schur (aka “Mose Schrute” or “Ken Tremendous”).  Now, it looks like The Office Spin-Off might not happen at all.  There's also Amy Poehler's pregnancy, which may throw off NBC's desired scheduling.  What is going on here?  What hath Ben Silverman and company over at NBC wrought? 

Here's what we know:

Amy Poehler has been cast in a non-Office series that will premiere sometime after mid-season.

Amy Poehler will remain on Saturday Night Live in the first half of the season, though her pregnancy will likely impact her screen time. 


That's it.  The word from NBC is that, in addition to heading up the Poehler-centric series, Daniels and Schur are also still developing an Office Spin-Off.  However, I cannot fathom this being true.  Maybe they're still thinking about a spin-off and NBC wants to leave that option out there for the future, but the logistics for getting the Poehler series and the Spin-Off ready for mid-season this year is impossible, especially considering that they still have an important series to run (it's called The Office) in the meantime.  You simply can't expect two people to run three different TV shows at once (unless David E. Kelley and Aaron Sorkin formed a prodigious dream team). 

The odds of seeing an Office Spin-Off next season are therefore very slim.  And that's OK.  Despite all the hype NBC has given that idea in the past few months, you don't want to half-assedly rush into something like that.  In spirit, I wouldn't be surprised if Amy Poehler's show felt like an extension of The Office anyway.  Supposedly, it's going to be a workplace comedy. 

What do you think of this mess?  Would you rather see The Office Spin-Off or an Amy Poehler-led series?


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Entertainment Weekly, NBC
(Image Courtesy of NBC)