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No Body Cares. Obvious grammar issue aside, it is astounding how easy it is to come up with what the Peacock’s NBC stands for. I’ve made fun of it before but the network keeps providing fodder ripe for the picking (on). Right now, it seems nobody at the network cares that they are constantly fourth in the ratings. Nobody cares how they are clinging desperately to their big comedies and subsequently driving them into the ground. Nobody cares how many times Alec Baldwin is inexplicably given an Emmy nomination since nobody thinks he should actually win. The newest item to add to the seemingly endless list of things is that nobody cares that producing a spinoff show based on “The Office” about Dwight Schrute’s beet farm bed and breakfast is a really friggin’ bad idea! NBC has also announced that it has ordered eight (!) new sitcom pilots. Perhaps they should stick to those eight (surely they can’t all be bad) and let Dwight’s reign end along with “The Office.”
Deadline has reported that Rainn Wilson, who plays the bespectacled doppelganger of possible Republican Newt Gingrich, and Paul Lieberstein, who executive produces “The Office” and stars as the just there to be there HR rep Toby, have been developing the idea and NBC thinks that it would make a good show. A source told Deadline “Paul and Rainn have been joking for years about Dwight’s life on the farm, his family and how ill-suited he is to run a B&B. A while ago, it started to feel like a show to them. NBC agreed. It’s been further developed to include multiple generations, many cousins and neighbors. At its base it will be about a family farm struggling to survive and a family trying to stay together.” Even after all that, it is still a show about a beet farm bed and breakfast. 
To me, a little red flag pops up at “beet,” klaxons go off at “farm,” and a full on “Abort!!!” sounds at “bed and breakfast.” “Fawlty Towers,” an astoundingly funny British show by Monty Python player John Cleese, sets a rather lofty bar for a bed and breakfast centric show, and while he has talent, Wilson is no John Cleese.
But hold the phone! Late Wednesday, not long after the first story about this new show surfaced, Wilson tweeted “Don’t believe everything you read in the press, ok?” Gee, to what could he possibly be alluding? It’s certainly not his illegitimate love child with Ellen DeGeneres, so one might suppose that lack of an official announcement from NBC suggests that this show may not be as far along as it would appear.
However, word continues to spread that the show, in fact, really is happening. Details suggest that an episode later this season will set up Dwight’s departure. That ball has already started rolling as the assistant to the manager, discontent in getting the shaft after Steve Carell’s Michael Scott left the position of general manager open, has recently traveled to company headquarters in Tallahassee, Fla., in search of a better job. Given Dwight’s vindictive and erratic nature, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that he will forsake the company he loves out of spite in exchange for his other love, his family’s beet farm, which has been featured in several episodes. The reports claim that the idea will be introduced this season and Dwight’s departure will happen sometime in season 9, next season.
Here’s another thing: “The Office” hasn’t actually been picked up for a ninth season yet, and as a result contracts with stars Ed Helms, John Krasinski, and Mindy Kaling have not been developed. Given the rising star status and other projects of these three, it is unsure whether they will be returning to the show should the ninth season happen. It is doubtful that the show would truly be able to continue without three – four if Wilson also departs – of its more popular characters. How that will effect Dwight’s spin-off remains to be unseen, but I’m sure I’m not the only fan who would rather the show simply wrap up and end. Part of what made “The Office” work was the stark differences between characters. Assumedly, Dwight’s family shares several of his eccentricities and weirdness, which would leave a show full of bitter, obnoxious hillbillies. And a beet farm. Come on, NBC. Nobody cares!
Josh Walbert is an entertainment guru with a passion for film and television. He lives south of Orlando, FL, with his dog Nikki and relatively extensive DVD collection. His column appears every Saturday.
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