What you need to know
- Greg Daniels and Michael Schur credit the video iPod for the success of The Office.
- The pair said that the device brought a whole new group of viewers to the series.
Who knew that the iPod played a big role in the popularity of The Office.
In a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, two of the writers and executive producers of the comedy series, talked about how the video iPod became a huge form of growth for the series with a younger audience.
"I wrote a Christmas episode where Michael had bought Ryan a video iPod, which had just come out," Schur said. "About four days later, Apple announces that it has made content deals with NBC. The first episode back was the highest-rated episode because everyone had spent weeks doing nothing but watching The Office on their video iPods."
"This was astounding to the people at NBC," Wilson said. "These are high school and college kids watching the show in droves. And they've never set foot in an office."
Daniels also talked about how they realized the show connected with a younger audience and how the dynamic between coworkers is similar to that of being in school.
"Eventually I realized, 'okay well this is because this is their experience in school,'" Daniels said. "They're put at a desk next to another kid who they may or may not like. That must be what they're identifying with."
"I was like, 'I want Michael to be very optimistic. His intentions had to be good even when he was doing terrible things,'" Daniels said. And Wilson later added, "The American show is just less cynical."
The Office is now streaming exclusively on Peacock, NBC's new streaming service. It can also, of course, be purchased from the iTunes store.
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