A new docuseries focused on The Office is in the works, and it’s taking a unique angle. The new show, “Fan Level Midnight: Devoted to The Office,” will center on the fans of the show and speak to why the program remains so enduringly popular. As evidence of the gigantic appeal of the show, years after it went off the air, NBC reportedly paid $500 million to take The Office away from Netflix.
Fan Level Midnight, which is a reference to the in-universe Michael Scott super-spy movie Threat Level Midnight, will focus on stories and people who fell in love with the show. One of the subjects is an auto mechanic from Arizona who saved someone’s life using CPR lessons from the show. Another is Sarah McKenzie Baron, who plays Michael Scott on the musical parody of The Office.
Some of the talent from the show, including Leslie David Baker (Stanley Hudson), Andy Buckley (David Wallace), Robert Shafer (Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration), and Calvin Tenner (Glenn) will appear in the docuseries, along with director/producer Paul Feig. Additionally, former NBC executive Kevin Reilly–who championed The Office when others did not–will show up as well.
Reilly had a particularly juicy quote to share in the announcement trailer regarding the lack of faith that some people inside NBC had about The Office in its early days.
“We kind of eked our way into a second season pickup which was really a bloody battle for me,” he says. “I remember one executive literally pounding on the table saying, ‘Hasn’t America voted on this thing? What do you possibly see?’ I wanted to put a knife in his back.”
Fan Level Midnight is directed by Shawn Cauthen, who previously made Netflix vs. The World. A release date for the show hasn’t been announced yet.
GameSpot’s summer gaming show, Play For All, started on June 1 and will run the weeks to come. The show was built on bringing the gaming community together and leveraging our passion and solidarity to benefit those in need. It feels right that we should extend our fundraising efforts to include those fighting against the systemic injustices faced by black people in America, along with supporting Direct Relief’s COVID-19 efforts aiding front-line medical workers.
We’ll be using our platform to raise money for both Direct Relief and Black Lives Matter. We want to be clear: Black Lives Matter; Black Culture Matters; Black Communities Matter.
