‘The Office’ Star Angela Kinsey Reveals Details On Scrapped Spin-Off

The Office star Angela Kinsey revealed some details about the scrapped spin-off The Farm. It sounds like it would have given Dwight Shrute a clean start.

The Farm was supposed to be the first spin-off to The Office right as it was coming to an end. It was going to follow Dwight as he left Dunder Mifflin to take care of his family's farm. However, your favorite characters from The Office weren't going to be involved--including Angela.

During a recent episode of her Office Ladies podcast with Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey revealed that her character Angela would have been the Lilith to Dwight's Frasier and would not have been included or seen in the spin-off series. She really opened up about how the 17th episode of the final season was supposed to be the pilot episode of The Farm, per People.

"The Farm" episode was originally intended to be a pilot for the spin-off centered on Dwight Schrute, played by Rainn Wilson. During the conversation, she said that the episode was filmed in August 2012 prior to the show's final season. According to People, the plan was for the spin-off series to debut in January of 2013, airing alongside the final episodes of The Office. Essentially, Dwight wasn't supposed to be a major part of the final season. He was supposed to have his own thing going on in a separate show. However, NBC eventually decided not to move on with the project, meaning they had to pivot.

So, they went back and re-cut the would-be pilot episode to add characters from The Office because they weren't going to be seen in the other show. Instead, they added a B-Plot about Todd Packer set in the Dunder Mifflin office. However, the show was canceled after the staff had some rough conversations. Angela opened up about what Wilson told her about The Farm and the plan not to have her involved saying, "He said, 'Angela, I'd love to talk to you about The Farm.' And I went to his trailer on my lunch break, and he said, 'Listen,' he said, 'Ang, I'm gonna do this show.' And he said, 'You know, I sort of saw your character like Lilith for the Frasier spin-off, you know, where Lilith is the mother of Frasier's child, and she pops in every once in a while. But, really, the show is about this new journey that Frasier's on.' And that's how Rainn told me he envisioned the show."

She went on to describe how writers wanted to give Dwight a clean break, so Angela wasn't included in the pilot episode. However, this presented a problem because that episode featured the funeral of Dwight's aunt who Angela became close with on the show. So, once it became a regular episode of The Office Angela's absence from the funeral came off a bit strange and out of character. It sounds like the pair are not happy about that.

Co-host Jenna Fischer, who played Pam, agreed saying, "I think that if this episode and this story of Aunt Shirley's funeral was just an Office episode from the beginning, I think Pam and Angela would have been invited to this funeral. You would have seen more Office people at this funeral." She continued, "There was actually a lot of the first half of Season 9, particularly with the character of Dwight, that was written with the idea that his character would be leaving in the middle of the season. All of that had to be changed when The Farm didn't move forward."

Sounds a bit messy! I was familiar with The Farm possibly being its own spin-off but wasn't aware that the episode was the pilot just modified a bit afterwards. Very interesting to hear and read about their perspective on it all.

Now, there's reportedly a new spin-off of The Office that's moving forward and has even started casting! You can read more about that here.

What would you say are the best episodes of The Office? Everyone has their own opinion and list, but are there some we can all agree on?

The Office is without a doubt one of the greatest sitcoms of all-time. It was such a strong cast of characters. Of course, nobody could do it quite like Steve Carell's Michael Scott. There are so many iconic episodes and scenes to consider, but are these the five best episodes of The Office?

While everybody has their favorite episodes of the show, that doesn't mean they're necessarily the "best." There's an important difference there. For example, my favorite episode of South Park is "AWESOM-O" but I wouldn't say it's the best or greatest episode of the show (that would probably belong to "Scott Tenorman Must Die"). So, we must understand the difference between our personal favorites and what's the best. Personal biases must be put aside.

That was a challenge for me. Some of my favorite episodes and what I think are the best episodes of The Office aren't going to make the list. I have to put my bias aside and consider what the majority would deem to be the best of the best. Unfortunately, that meant my favorite episode "Gossip" (Season 6 Episode 1) won't be making the list. It kills me every time Michael calls Stanley's wife. Every single time. Likewise, "Gay Witch Hunt" (Season 3 Episode 1) didn't make the final five and will instead be an honorable mention. You really get a sense of Michael's ignorance in that episode and it's a great character builder that also has a ton of laughs at Michael's expense.

Despite a few of my favorite episodes not being included on the list, I stand by the final five. I think the majority of fans would agree that these episodes deserve to be in the Top 10 and then where they fall within there is up for debate. I did do something kind of controversial, though. I'm counting the double episodes as one episode. They're the same thing, just broken up in two halves for the sake of time. To me, and this list, they are considered one singular episode. Don't like that? Create your own list! See what made the final five best episodes of The Office below! Do you agree?

I had to start the list with "Dinner Party." You can't talk about the best episodes of The Office without mentioning it. There are so many hilarious moments it feels like it's just one after the other. Who could forget Michael's infamous "Snip/Snap/Snip/Snap" and him totally botching the way he describes the wine. We learn a lot about Jan in the episode and get to see her true crazy side. There's also Michael's TV, his table, and more. It just might be the best episode of The Office.

https://youtu.be/x0N2ZxQJYTw?si=M0hlv51Dzp_pEqjc If you love cringe comedy, then you probably enjoyed the "Scott's Tots" episode of The Office. Personally, I love it. However, some of my friends and family say it's too cringeworthy to watch! They feel too bad for Michael. While I understand that, you can't feel bad for Michael! He brought it on himself. It's so funny watching him realize what's about to happen and how he tries to get out of it. It's one of those cool moments where we the audience know what's about to happen but the characters in the scene don't and they build it up so well. It's pure Michael.

There are so many great moments in this episode that live on today. Dwight putting the dummy's face on his like Hannibal Lector remains a popular meme online. Michael singing the wrong part of "Stayin' Alive." Even the way they treat Stanley and botch his recovery is hilarious. Yes, it's a two-parter but it's worthy of being named one of the best episodes. It just doesn't get old.

The Office was still finding its groove and developing the characters during Season 1. Michael was a bit more annoying, had a different haircut, and the rest of the crew wasn't fully formed yet. Did Kevin even have a different voice? It sounds like it. However, there were still some gems in Season 1 that let us know this show was going to be funny. The best example of that comes with "Diversity Day" in Episode 2. It really shows Michael's ignorance and how he places trying to be funny over being politically correct or appropriate in the workplace. Even once a professional comes in to train them, he still doesn't understand what he did wrong and continues doing so. We really got a look at Michael Scott here.

Was Jim and Pam's wedding the best TV wedding ever? I think so! There was Michael and Pam's mom, Kevin's feet in the ice machine, and Andy's unfortunate injury. So much happened in these episodes and it still lives on today. In a way, it's different than a lot of other episodes because there's a lot of emotion to go along with the humor. We're finally seeing the greatest will they/won't they of all-time get married! The show really delivered on the wedding episode(s) for TV's greatest couple.