Watching The Office

It doesn’t seem NBC has an idea about what it wants to happen to The Office spin-off or Amy Poehler for that matter. No, wait…let me correct that. It seems like they have TONS of ideas in mind and can’t decide on what to deal with first.

Initially, news came out that Amy Poehler was going to leave SNL and head to the spin-off. Then immediately after that news went to press it turns out that the real story is — she’s heading to an entirely different show managed by the same people running The Office (headed by Greg Daniels); and it won’t be a spin-off after all. And the other day we find out, NBC wants to do both:

NBC co-chair Ben Silverman says the network is not only doing a Greg Daniels comedy starring Amy Poehler, but is also still pursuing a separate “Office” spinoff.

“They came up with two ideas,” Silverman says. “One that is totally a spinoff and planted in ‘The Office’ and may involved characters from ‘The Office.’ The other is a new concept that’s set stylistically similar to ‘The Office.’ We decided to put all our energy into getting Amy. We literally pursued her the entire year and it is incredible we were able to land her. Amy will never appear in the world of ‘The Office.’ The show is not a spinoff. It does not come directly from the world of ‘The Office.’”

That said, “We are also going to be continue to pursue the spinoff as well,” Silverman says.

Is your head already spinning?

Let me sum it up for you:

• Amy Poehler = Leaving SNL. For new primetime show on NBC. Thought to be the The Office spin-off. Not anymore. It will, however, have the “sensibilities” of The Office.
• Office Writers (Greg Daniels and Michael Schur) = Still with The Office. Going to work on the new Amy Poehler show. Will still work on The Office spin-off.

With the writers from The Office dividing their time between the main show, Amy Poehler’s comedy and the still-in-the-plans spin-off…hmmm, it doesn’t seem like a grand idea. One show is definitely going to suffer in quality. Everyone knows how good the writers and the show runner for The Office are, but does NBC realize they are not super human?

Also, with the spin-off talks, no one has made mention of this guy again. Is he still in the plans?