Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Terry Weinberg and I am the executive producer
Speaker 1: of the Office. Hello everyone, and welcome to you guessed
Speaker 1: it the Office deep Dive. I am your host Brian Baumgartner.
Speaker 1: But I bet you guessed that too, because you are
Speaker 1: all very smart, as is my wonderful guest today, Terry Weinberg.
Speaker 1: That was a transition. Now, Terry was an executive producer
Speaker 1: of the Office and a longtime partner of Ben Silverman,
Speaker 1: which truly makes her a saint, let's be honest, uh,
Speaker 1: But she was definitely there from the very beginning in
Speaker 1: the room where it happened, as they say, the whom,
Speaker 1: where they grew the Office from a tiny seed of
Speaker 1: an idea into the crazy popular show that it is today. Um,
Speaker 1: as you will hear all about momentarily, Terry was involved
Speaker 1: from day one in the casting and and really the
Speaker 1: creation of the show. But what's even more fascinating to
Speaker 1: me is that in the later years of the show,
Speaker 1: Terry jumped over to work on the network side at NBC,
Speaker 1: so she saw things from the inside and then also
Speaker 1: from the network side and how the network was dealing
Speaker 1: with the show. She has a really unique perspective on
Speaker 1: the whole story of the Office, and this conversation kicks
Speaker 1: off another mini series that we're doing, highlighting just some
Speaker 1: of the many talented, hilarious, super smart women who made
Speaker 1: the Office what it is, both in front of the
Speaker 1: camera and behind the scenes. This is a great bunch
Speaker 1: of interviews, if I do say so myself, So I am.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited to share them all with you. So
Speaker 1: let's get started, shall we today with Terry Weinberg Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeak. I love it Bubble and Squeak on Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeaker cooking at every moment, lift over from the
Speaker 1: nut Pole. You know, a lot of the cast I
Speaker 1: will say, like, we do really still, you know, keep
Speaker 1: in touch, Like our fantasy football league is still going
Speaker 1: like fifteen years later. So John and Rain and me
Speaker 1: and some of the crew guys, and good luck with
Speaker 1: that this year exactly. But Oscar and Angela and I
Speaker 1: and you know, Rain and I and John. And that's
Speaker 1: part of the thing too about this COVID business is
Speaker 1: that people are reaching out more. You know, my birthday
Speaker 1: was on Monday, and I spent the entire day and Zooms,
Speaker 1: I mean the entire day, you know, but people you
Speaker 1: you're learning two things. One we're working harder to stay
Speaker 1: connected with people, and then you're also learning who wants
Speaker 1: to stay connected to you? You know. Yea Father's Day
Speaker 1: I heard from people like Father's Day, Like what nobody
Speaker 1: ever reaches that? Why are you? I'm not your father?
Speaker 1: Like everyone's reaching out. I don't know. That's been really great. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you were so omnipresent through all of the beginning.
Speaker 1: So if you go all the way back now is
Speaker 1: nineteen years ago, how did you meet Ben? When did
Speaker 1: you start working for Reveling? What was the transition there?
Speaker 1: I'm at Ben in two thousands. I had two roommates
Speaker 1: at the time. One of my roommates, who Ben had
Speaker 1: known for some time, who I think date he dated
Speaker 1: for one second, introduced him to our other roommate. Now
Speaker 1: Ben was still working at William Morris, I think he
Speaker 1: was still in London, and he would fly out to
Speaker 1: l A and he would be out here every month
Speaker 1: and he would stay for you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks whatever. So she introduced one roommate, introduces him to
Speaker 1: the other. They start dating. In true Ben fashion, he
Speaker 1: used to stay at the Lermitage I think it was
Speaker 1: for three weeks at a time. Either she would stay
Speaker 1: at the Lermitage with him or he would stay and
Speaker 1: our duplex. And so I started to see him a
Speaker 1: lot and got to know him just socially. And at
Speaker 1: that point my roommate that he was dating and me,
Speaker 1: I just left I c M and we started a
Speaker 1: skincare company. I would be up all day, all night
Speaker 1: making all these skincare products in my kitchen and I
Speaker 1: was talking about about, you know what my experience was
Speaker 1: at I c M and whatever. We just got to
Speaker 1: know each other really well. And it was in March
Speaker 1: I think of two thousand one. He pulled an all
Speaker 1: nighter I think at the Oscars, came home. I'm up
Speaker 1: at four or five in the morning making these things.
Speaker 1: He comes walking in in his Oswald Botang purple suit, right,
Speaker 1: and um, we just started talking. He said, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start my own production company. I've been bringing
Speaker 1: formats in to the States, and I really just want
Speaker 1: to have more of a creative experience. I want to
Speaker 1: be a producer. And when I do that, I want
Speaker 1: you to go work for me. And I said, okay, well,
Speaker 1: I have no idea what you're talking about. But okay,
Speaker 1: Ben talked to me next year because I didn't take
Speaker 1: him seriously, but he kept bringing up and he always
Speaker 1: said to me, you know, I really appreciate your work ethic.
Speaker 1: I like the experience that you have. I have no
Speaker 1: idea what you'd be doing yet, but I know that
Speaker 1: I need you to be a part of my company.
Speaker 1: So cut to that next year where he made the
Speaker 1: deal with the vend Universal was Barry Diller at the time,
Speaker 1: and he brought Howard Owens, Mark Coops, and Chris Grant
Speaker 1: from New York. They were all still in New York,
Speaker 1: and he said, I'm bringing these three guys. Didn't know them.
Speaker 1: We have a bungalow at Universal. So I want you
Speaker 1: to go and set at the office and I meet
Speaker 1: a house, Go find me a house. This is no
Speaker 1: surprise at all, and we will be there in two
Speaker 1: months or something like that. So what do I do.
Speaker 1: I go on the lot. I get the whole entire
Speaker 1: bungalow up ready to go. All they had to do
Speaker 1: was walk in and pick up a pen and go
Speaker 1: to work phones everything. I'm navigated my way through the
Speaker 1: entire Universal, every department you could possibly imagine anyway they
Speaker 1: come out and we all just learned how to produce,
Speaker 1: just the five of us. You would have thought that
Speaker 1: a hundred people worked at that production company, and it
Speaker 1: was us five and so Ben, Mark and Howard. You know,
Speaker 1: we're focusing mostly on international. You know, we had Nashville
Speaker 1: Star I think was being developed, and Biggest Loser just
Speaker 1: kind of you know, looking at formats and kind of
Speaker 1: touching on what that stuff was going to be, which
Speaker 1: I really didn't have any interest in. And we had
Speaker 1: the Format two Coupling. That was our first show that
Speaker 1: we started to produce in scripted television, and so I
Speaker 1: just kind of cut my teeth in that process. I
Speaker 1: would just sit in the corner, you know, in a
Speaker 1: room and listen to, you know, the conversations, and I
Speaker 1: went to every I did everything with Ben. I went everywhere.
Speaker 1: I was on every phone, call you everything that you
Speaker 1: could possibly imagine. That's really how I learned is listening
Speaker 1: to executives, listening to studios, listening to creative people. I
Speaker 1: certainly had a deep familiarity with script because that's how
Speaker 1: I was raised. A I C. M. And then I
Speaker 1: just each day I just kept immersing myself deeper and
Speaker 1: deeper in that process, and that's really how I built
Speaker 1: the scripted department at REVLI. What did you learn from
Speaker 1: your experience on Coupling that you felt like impacted bringing
Speaker 1: the office over? We learned a couple of things. One,
Speaker 1: you know, there was so much pressure on that show
Speaker 1: because it was being coined the Next Friends, and we
Speaker 1: realized that, oh, ship, that's a big problem because people
Speaker 1: are going to have an expectation that we are trying
Speaker 1: to be the next Friends, which we had no intention
Speaker 1: of being. So learning about how critical marketing is of
Speaker 1: a show, and also we pretty much adhered to every
Speaker 1: script from the British version instead of kind of making
Speaker 1: it our own, and so we also learned that that
Speaker 1: stuff doesn't necessarily translate. So I think we learned that
Speaker 1: going into that process we needed to have a voice.
Speaker 1: We needed to have somebody come in that, you know,
Speaker 1: understood the rhythms and the uniqueness of what that show was,
Speaker 1: but had to bring in their own voice and make
Speaker 1: it their own right. Stephen actually said to me that
Speaker 1: he felt like his greatest contribution was actually and one
Speaker 1: thing he said to Ricky was stepped back, like they
Speaker 1: know culturally about what's happening in America or rhythms or
Speaker 1: specific sensibilities or whatever. So the more we can stay
Speaker 1: out of it, the better. I Mean, the most beautiful
Speaker 1: thing about what Ricky and Stephen did was exactly that
Speaker 1: they came over, met the cast, spent time with Greg
Speaker 1: and just talked about the things that we really cared about.
Speaker 1: How did you create these characters? What made you want
Speaker 1: to be in this world? How did these rhythms, like
Speaker 1: all of the things that we're more important. Instead of
Speaker 1: tell us exactly how you, you know, get this shot
Speaker 1: or whatever, it was really more about all the impetus
Speaker 1: is on creating the show. And then they were the
Speaker 1: most incredible cheerleaders one could ever have. I mean, they
Speaker 1: were absolutely dream partners, and they literally just sat back
Speaker 1: and like fans, fell in love with the show. And
Speaker 1: I'll never forget, and I'm sure you'll remember. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was kind of a blur, but when we won
Speaker 1: the Emmy and we were all up on the stage
Speaker 1: and Greg reached out and said, Ricky and Stephen, I
Speaker 1: know you're out there somewhere, you know, because of you,
Speaker 1: you're brilliantly I can't remember exactly what he said, And
Speaker 1: then I remembered watching the telecast back and Ricky and
Speaker 1: Stephen they were so proud but got so shy and
Speaker 1: didn't want to take any of the credit for it.
Speaker 1: It was beautiful, and they never had egos about it
Speaker 1: to say, this is our thing and we're lending it
Speaker 1: to you. This is our thing, and we're giving this
Speaker 1: to you and we're trusting you to go and do
Speaker 1: your own thing. Yeah. So, at what point in the
Speaker 1: process when you were working with REVELI did you become
Speaker 1: aware of the office, the British Office. I mean it
Speaker 1: had to be in the beginning, because Ben had the rights,
Speaker 1: he had already secured them. And I remembered Ben showing
Speaker 1: it to me and said, look at this and tell
Speaker 1: me what you think. And I remembered watching and said,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I have to we have to do this.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the funk we're doing, but we
Speaker 1: have to do this. I was absolutely obsessed so very
Speaker 1: early on. And then then we put the time into,
Speaker 1: you know, try to find the right voice. And in
Speaker 1: the conversations that Bennett had with Ari, Greg's name obviously
Speaker 1: came up, and I'm sure he probably told you this,
Speaker 1: but he just would not watch it. I mean I
Speaker 1: think he sat on it for three weeks or something
Speaker 1: like that. And then finally Ben was talking to Ari
Speaker 1: and said, is this guy that ever you know watched this?
Speaker 1: And I think already said the same thing to Greg,
Speaker 1: are you gonna watch this? You know, because they're going
Speaker 1: to move on? And then Greg, I think watched it
Speaker 1: over that weekend and came back and said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I hope to god they didn't move on because I
Speaker 1: have to do this. Yeah, that's awesome. What was your
Speaker 1: initial impression of him? Introvert, brilliant, one of the nicest
Speaker 1: people I've ever met, collaborative, open, you know, and welcome,
Speaker 1: didn't bring any ego, respected us and me even I
Speaker 1: don't know if he knew how much I'd ever you know,
Speaker 1: produced in my life, and immediately just treated us like
Speaker 1: his partners. I fell in love with them immediately and thought,
Speaker 1: my god, how do we get so lucky? This man
Speaker 1: is just brilliant, you know, Greg, He's thoughtful, he's tactile,
Speaker 1: and his hands like he thinks before he you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot ruminating in here before he would share
Speaker 1: an idea, but he was incredibly thoughtful and very very
Speaker 1: respectful of the format and of Ricky and Stephen, and
Speaker 1: cautious because we all knew we were stepping in a
Speaker 1: gigantic pile of are you guys kidding me that you're
Speaker 1: actually going to attempt to do this? So yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I only have the most and still the fondest
Speaker 1: memories of Greg. Was there anybody else that you feel
Speaker 1: like you seriously considered or was Greg at Greg? Was it?
Speaker 1: Ricky and Stephen told me both separately that what sold
Speaker 1: them was that Greg saw it as a love story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a It was a love story. Was about humanity,
Speaker 1: it was about human behavior, It was all about people.
Speaker 1: It was all about heart. The thing that we can
Speaker 1: all relate to is that, in some form or fashion,
Speaker 1: we've been in a work place where you're not necessarily
Speaker 1: happy about the work that you're doing, but you fall
Speaker 1: in love with the people. It's love and hate relationship.
Speaker 1: They become family, they become you know, you see them
Speaker 1: more typically in your life than you do your family members.
Speaker 1: And so it really was about the love that's created,
Speaker 1: you know, in a workplace. For sure, you were in
Speaker 1: the room for the majority of not all of the
Speaker 1: casting sessions. Was there anyone who walked in right away
Speaker 1: that was ultimately cast that you went, that's the person
Speaker 1: John Steve. But Steve is a different story. He didn't
Speaker 1: really audition. Um you know, it was a really interesting
Speaker 1: audition process because I don't think any one of us
Speaker 1: had ever really kind of been through anything like that before.
Speaker 1: Because actors would come in and read a scene and
Speaker 1: then they would improv, you know, and Greg would throw
Speaker 1: ridiculous little lines out and say, go tell me you
Speaker 1: just got into the refrigerator this morning, you know, or
Speaker 1: just these really kind of weird random things. And we
Speaker 1: saw so many actors, you know, Greg, myself, Ken Howard, Ben,
Speaker 1: you know, Allison and um Phillis would be in the
Speaker 1: conference room at REVELI for eight or ten hours a
Speaker 1: day just and it was just a constant. And Alison,
Speaker 1: she had such a deep knowledge of you know, stand
Speaker 1: ups and second cities and groundlings and people that we've
Speaker 1: never seen before. And so there were so many people
Speaker 1: that were so interesting to us. I think is we
Speaker 1: whittled things down and it became all of you. We
Speaker 1: knew it was all of you, because everybody didn't fit
Speaker 1: the mold that we were looking for, but they brought
Speaker 1: something special and beautiful. It was like making a puzzle.
Speaker 1: Everybody just fit in so beautifully for you know, Jim
Speaker 1: and Pam and Dwight, etcetera. Talk to me a little
Speaker 1: bit about doing screen tests, filming them in the office
Speaker 1: as opposed to doing regular studio and network tests. How
Speaker 1: rare was that at that time we were the first,
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, And the reason was very It
Speaker 1: was selfish on our part because a we thought, they
Speaker 1: will never make this show if two actors, you know,
Speaker 1: because at that time, actors used to walk into the
Speaker 1: president's office and there would be twenty people behind the
Speaker 1: president and two people would be asked to perform a
Speaker 1: scene or something with all these eyeballs on them, and
Speaker 1: it was the most unnatural process anybody could ever imagine.
Speaker 1: And then I remember when I went to NBC and
Speaker 1: became a programmer and we were asking people to do that.
Speaker 1: I said, I don't want to I don't want to
Speaker 1: do that. I want to put people on tape because
Speaker 1: it doesn't you don't get the real person because they're
Speaker 1: so busy performing for a room. And so so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we were the first of its kind, and
Speaker 1: I think because of that, it started to kind of
Speaker 1: shift the way people were auditioning. Do you remember Phillis
Speaker 1: of course, no, I mean reading, and of course anything
Speaker 1: about the discussion around casting her, yes, I mean part
Speaker 1: of the process was either she would run the camera
Speaker 1: or Allison would run the camera, and then if Allison
Speaker 1: didn't feel like reading, Phillis would read. And then Phillis
Speaker 1: started reading more and more. And I don't remember if
Speaker 1: it was Ken that said it first or Greg but said,
Speaker 1: oh my god, she has to be in the show.
Speaker 1: She's so funny, and we all said, oh my hud, yes,
Speaker 1: And I remembered us asking Allison, how do you feel
Speaker 1: about if we steal Phillis? And she said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you know, yes, you know, take her. And I remember
Speaker 1: us telling her and it was it was pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: What do you remember so thinking about the Office and
Speaker 1: what that show was, the style to no laugh track,
Speaker 1: all that, what was the landscape of television that that
Speaker 1: show was born into, Like what was popular what was
Speaker 1: done on broadcast TV at that time? Seinfeld cheers all
Speaker 1: of the seminal comedies that were so smart. But the
Speaker 1: thing about that time, as I remember is that ratings
Speaker 1: were everything. Eighteen to thirty four was everything. You had
Speaker 1: to have, you know, a twenty share or something. So
Speaker 1: having you know, five million people or six million people
Speaker 1: watching your show is just a non starter. You know,
Speaker 1: it had to be twenty million. And our audience was very,
Speaker 1: very concentrated in the eighteen to thirty four and it
Speaker 1: was very K plus, but it was small. And so
Speaker 1: that's the challenge was how do we keep ourselves on
Speaker 1: the air when A the pilot tested worse than I
Speaker 1: think any other pilot had ever tested on NBC. Besides,
Speaker 1: I think Seinfeld didn't test well either, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we only had six episodes to prove ourselves, and we
Speaker 1: were kind of at that time also scheduled in kind
Speaker 1: of the okay, you're dead. It was in March, and
Speaker 1: that's when people said, well, wire shows starting to air
Speaker 1: after the you know, prime time fall in mid season shows,
Speaker 1: and so we kind of felt like they were just
Speaker 1: getting rid of us. So the pilot bombed when it
Speaker 1: was tested. Were you concerned about that, yes, because it
Speaker 1: was you know at that time, if something tests really bad,
Speaker 1: it's d o A, you know, and if it's not
Speaker 1: d O A good luck trying to convince your network
Speaker 1: that it's a pilot that they should bet on. And
Speaker 1: so if not for Kevin Riley, this show would not
Speaker 1: have a life. I really do believe that he put
Speaker 1: his career on the line. So yeah, we're very concerned,
Speaker 1: and I think it's part of the reason why it
Speaker 1: tested so poorly. It's just because it was something that
Speaker 1: people have never seen before. And those groups that come
Speaker 1: in to do the testing, you know, they get paid
Speaker 1: seventy five or fifty dollars or whatever, and then they
Speaker 1: judge your material based on twenty minutes of something and
Speaker 1: tell you if it's good or it's bad. That was
Speaker 1: a real learning experience for me and something that I thought,
Speaker 1: God if I could And I think when Ben and
Speaker 1: I went to NBC, we didn't care so much about testing.
Speaker 1: We cared more about instinct. We cared about the shows
Speaker 1: that we loved and wanted a program So I think
Speaker 1: that came into a full circle as we went from
Speaker 1: producer to programmer. That testing serves a certain purpose, but
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be the be all hand all of the
Speaker 1: success of something. Right. Well, speaking of that, how did
Speaker 1: your relationship to the office change when you moved to NBC.
Speaker 1: The only thing that changed was that I could be
Speaker 1: an even larger advocate for it inside the network. Not
Speaker 1: that I needed to be, because at that point, you know,
Speaker 1: we were we were just a well oiled machine. You know.
Speaker 1: It was interesting because then I became Greg's executive and
Speaker 1: to switch from being partner and fighting for certain things
Speaker 1: over here and now being you know, I had programmer,
Speaker 1: having to fight for certain things that I knew were
Speaker 1: in the best interest of the network without interfering with
Speaker 1: the integrity of the show. And here's a perfect example.
Speaker 1: We want The Office to to air after the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and um, we needed to make sure that if whoever
Speaker 1: was watching the super Bowl had never seen The Office before,
Speaker 1: that we had to do something completely outrageous to let
Speaker 1: people say, oh my god, I have never seen this show.
Speaker 1: I love this, I'm staying And Greg had pitched a
Speaker 1: cold open, and I remembered saying, you know, this is
Speaker 1: kind of cool, but getting a little pressure from Jeff,
Speaker 1: you know, and Ben to make sure that we have
Speaker 1: some celebrities in there. And you know, we never had
Speaker 1: celebrities on our show. It was always about, you know,
Speaker 1: making sure that it felt like we were dropping into
Speaker 1: a world of just human beings, and in Greg's brilliant fashion,
Speaker 1: found a way to bring in celebrities without having the
Speaker 1: celebrities feel like they were really a part of the office.
Speaker 1: And I challenged him to do the most outrageous cold
Speaker 1: open that he could, you know, if people were only
Speaker 1: going to see the first minute and a half of
Speaker 1: the show. So it was having to you know, maneuver
Speaker 1: a little bit differently as becoming a kind of network
Speaker 1: person as opposed to his partner on the show. That's fascinating. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I never put it within that context that at that moment,
Speaker 1: the people that he was having to do this push
Speaker 1: and pull for that episode was you guys. I was
Speaker 1: the person that would call the network for Greg or
Speaker 1: the studio and say he's not doing that, or we're
Speaker 1: not changing this or you know, because he did not
Speaker 1: like those confrontational moments. And I always said, you want confrontation,
Speaker 1: just bring it over to Mama and I'll take care
Speaker 1: of it. Now I'm the person on the other end
Speaker 1: of the phone getting, you know, well, we want to
Speaker 1: do this, we need to do that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and and giving notes you know, on scripts was crazy,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't it was. You know, my instincts didn't
Speaker 1: change because I always knew that he was way smarter
Speaker 1: than me, and I would, you know, I could only
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing that Greg said to me
Speaker 1: way back in the beginning when we first started this
Speaker 1: relationship and he started developing the show, was what's most
Speaker 1: important to me is that you tell me how you feel.
Speaker 1: How does the episode make you feel? How did the
Speaker 1: relationships of the characters in this episode make you feel?
Speaker 1: You know, do you feel moved enough? Do you feel
Speaker 1: motivated enough? Do you feel And so I would look
Speaker 1: at the scripts and just think about how did it
Speaker 1: make me feel. I didn't look at it and say, well,
Speaker 1: the structure isn't so much blah la lah. It is
Speaker 1: about are we accomplishing this really quiet moment between Jim
Speaker 1: and Pam? Is there something going on with the accountants
Speaker 1: in the in the corner that we're peeking in on,
Speaker 1: you know, with the rest of the offices and seeing
Speaker 1: so those little things. Are you feeling them? Are you
Speaker 1: picking up on them? It was really about how it
Speaker 1: made me feel, and that's how I continued to produce
Speaker 1: from that point on. How do characters make me feel,
Speaker 1: how do the moments make me feel? I love that
Speaker 1: so much. Um Musty TV became a big thing for NBC.
Speaker 1: Where do you feel like the Office fit into that
Speaker 1: legacy of musty TV comedy on NBC? Oh well, maybe
Speaker 1: you know this is um arrogant, but we're integral to
Speaker 1: the NBC Thursday lamp. I mean we are integral to
Speaker 1: the conversation about what a seminal NBC comedy is. I
Speaker 1: absolutely believe that. I believe that we defied all odds
Speaker 1: of becoming a successful comedy. Who would have ever thought
Speaker 1: we were going to do two d and twenty episodes.
Speaker 1: I mean, think about it. We got a five episode
Speaker 1: pick up and then we got at episode pickup. Really
Speaker 1: we didn't get a full season, so not only define
Speaker 1: all of those odds, but also kind of redefining what
Speaker 1: a comedy was, you know, on television and introducing people
Speaker 1: into a world that might have felt different, but they
Speaker 1: also felt like it was so familiar to them and
Speaker 1: that you could really you know, because people come to
Speaker 1: comedies for two reasons, really to laugh their faces off
Speaker 1: and to fall in love with a cast, a family,
Speaker 1: a workplace, you know, buddy comedy, whatever, it is. And
Speaker 1: I think having the extensive cast that we had, I mean,
Speaker 1: what did we have towards the end of the run? Characters?
Speaker 1: Fifteen characters? Who does that? And every single one of
Speaker 1: you had people who just loved you. Everybody had their fans.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got our TV Land Future comedy classic
Speaker 1: in season three or four or something. It's right here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so what year is that? Oh my god, there's not
Speaker 1: a date on it. Hold on, now there's a date.
Speaker 1: It's probably on the other side. Oh, it is tight.
Speaker 1: So we were a classic already in season three or four. Yeah, four,
Speaker 1: And the fact that we were considered that and look
Speaker 1: at it, you know now, I mean, I have young kids.
Speaker 1: I went to a kid's of our Mitzvah last year.
Speaker 1: They're all thirteen fourteen. I was accosted. It was like
Speaker 1: I was a celebrity at this bar Mitzvah because these
Speaker 1: kids were obsessed with the show. And we always said
Speaker 1: we had a hidden demographic from the beginning that was
Speaker 1: under eighteen. But now we have This show has had
Speaker 1: a life and then another life and another life. And
Speaker 1: I really do believe that we are are a part
Speaker 1: of that conversation. What do you remember about the decision
Speaker 1: to end the show pain. I hated it. It was
Speaker 1: one of the worst memories that I have of our
Speaker 1: beautiful love story. It's always hard when you're making decisions
Speaker 1: about when you move forward on a show and when
Speaker 1: you don't from a business standpoint, which I can't respond
Speaker 1: to because I wasn't on that side of the business
Speaker 1: at that point, but it was really fucking hard. It
Speaker 1: was hard all the conversations we had, you know, from
Speaker 1: from being an executive producer, sitting with our cast, talking
Speaker 1: to you know, the studio, the network, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of a blurn out because I've tried to push it
Speaker 1: out of my consciousness, but it was. It was excruciatingly painful,
Speaker 1: and um, I think it hurt a lot of us.
Speaker 1: I don't know if people really talked about it, but
Speaker 1: when we shot the last episode, I was so emotionally
Speaker 1: and physically exhausted. I think I cried for the last month,
Speaker 1: you know, but when we were all taking that very
Speaker 1: last shot. I have a book that NBC made for us.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've looked at it, and my face is
Speaker 1: this big, and I'm bright red, and I am crying,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't believe that it was over. I felt
Speaker 1: like we had so much more to do and it
Speaker 1: was over and took a long time to I have
Speaker 1: a lot of my own kind of internal things about
Speaker 1: the show that you know, I'll you deal with as
Speaker 1: a profession and all. It was excruciating, the hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what are you most proud of about the show? What?
Speaker 1: My god, how do I put that in one thing? Dude,
Speaker 1: I'm most proud that every single one of us that
Speaker 1: were involved in the first season of our show, we
Speaker 1: came to work every day and said, if we're only
Speaker 1: making six total episodes, let's make the best episodes that
Speaker 1: we know how to make, and let's come in here
Speaker 1: and do the work and do it with love, and
Speaker 1: do it with everything that we have, and do it
Speaker 1: for ourselves, you know. And we all showed up on
Speaker 1: that lot every single day and made I'm getting emotional
Speaker 1: about this, and made an incredibly beautiful show. And it
Speaker 1: was for all of us. Whether you were in the cast,
Speaker 1: whether you were in the crew, whether you were in accounting,
Speaker 1: that you were in props, catering, whatever, everybody came and
Speaker 1: just it was like we were on our own island.
Speaker 1: I think that we all loved it so much, and
Speaker 1: everybody came and did their job and did it really
Speaker 1: well and for each other. I could tell you a
Speaker 1: million other things, but I think I'm most proud of
Speaker 1: that being given that opportunity and making our family. Thenk
Speaker 1: you cry. I hope I bought it here. I was
Speaker 1: trying to not say anything. I wanted to get your
Speaker 1: audio there. No, it was. Yeah, everybody that came in,
Speaker 1: I played them a clip and we don't have that
Speaker 1: ability here, goddamn it. No, but you'll know it's the
Speaker 1: last line of the show. It's Jenna, It's sorry, it's Pam,
Speaker 1: and there's beauty and ordinary things. Isn't that kind of
Speaker 1: the point. I feel like Greg wrote that episode, He
Speaker 1: wrote that last line. That's what he thought it was about.
Speaker 1: What did you think it was about? I thought it
Speaker 1: was I thought it was too I thought it was
Speaker 1: taking something that could have been the most simple and
Speaker 1: uninteresting idea about a group of people, you know, going
Speaker 1: to work in a dying business, and turning it into
Speaker 1: something that was so much bigger than that. It was
Speaker 1: bigger than them, it was bigger than us, all of us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was finding joy and using opportunities to just make
Speaker 1: people laugh, you know, and be able to escape the
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the dull drums of their own life
Speaker 1: and go be with their friends. All of those little
Speaker 1: beautiful gems that all of you guys were able to
Speaker 1: create every episode. I mean, we can still probably go
Speaker 1: back through and I'll see things I never saw before.
Speaker 1: And I've seen those things a million times, and that
Speaker 1: was the whole idea. You know, everything was calculated to
Speaker 1: where Homer Simpson was sitting in the you know, bullpen.
Speaker 1: You know, all those everything was perfectly calculated, just two
Speaker 1: for fun of people being able to find the little
Speaker 1: Easter eggs. That's another thing about Greg. He's like a
Speaker 1: grown child. It was juicy, and when he spoke, he
Speaker 1: did these things with his hands because it was so fun.
Speaker 1: You know. He always just wanted people to have fun
Speaker 1: and joy, even if you're an adult, that you could
Speaker 1: still just be a kid. Yeah. Is that answer your
Speaker 1: question totally? Terry, thank you so much for talking to me.
Speaker 1: I really so good to see you. You're so smart.
Speaker 1: I hope you stay healthy, and I just appreciate your
Speaker 1: time and talking to me about this. First of all,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you about anything, because I love you,
Speaker 1: and it's such a joy to be able to kind
Speaker 1: of walk back down certain parts of our super long
Speaker 1: you know, memory lane. I'm really excited to hear what
Speaker 1: everybody else has to say to I know, I know
Speaker 1: it's gonna be really cool because I think I get
Speaker 1: these questions asked all the time, and so it's nice
Speaker 1: that we'd be able. We're able to you know, share it.
Speaker 1: So I love that you're doing this and I'm absolutely
Speaker 1: thrilled to be a part of it. It's my pleasure. Well,
Speaker 1: there you have it, Terry Weinberg. Folks, I truly love
Speaker 1: talking about the business side of things, but I have
Speaker 1: to say it is always so special to talk to
Speaker 1: a producer who feels so passionately about the creative side
Speaker 1: of the show as well as Terry clearly does. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much for stopping by. Terry, I love you,
Speaker 1: um and thanks to all of you for stopping by
Speaker 1: as well. I look forward to seeing you next week
Speaker 1: for more of our series on the Women of the Office.
Speaker 1: We've got some terrific stuff coming your way, So until then,
Speaker 1: I hope you have a great week. The Office Deep
Speaker 1: Dive is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Tessa Kramer.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Emily Carr and Diego Tapio, and our
Speaker 1: intern is Hannah Harris. My main man in the booth
Speaker 1: is Alec Moore. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed
Speaker 1: by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode was
Speaker 1: mixed by Seth Olandsky