Office Spinoff Stalled, But Not Forgotten

Rainn Wilson and his now infamous Dwight Schrute character found some of the funniest moments in the entire Office series at Dwight’s family farm. One moment that stands out to me was when Jim Halpert and Pam Beasley decided to stay at Schrute Farms for a mock romantic getaway. As they’re driving up the long dirt driveway, Mose, Dwight’s cousin and occasional character on the show, comes running along the car like an excited child, but he’s an adult and stone-faced. It was one of the funniest visual moments in my opinion in the entire series.

With that in mind, I was actually kind of curious about this potential spinoff tentatively titled “The Farm”. All the crazy hilarity of Dwight in his element, with him in charge of a farm that also served as a bed and breakfast, and with all its odd traditions and quirky family members, it could have been very funny. However, with the lack of success that spinoffs have had in general, but especially on NBC, (See: Joey) they decided to pass on the series. Even though I was a little excited about it, I can certainly understand their angle. Spinoffs are not the built-in audience guarantees they might have been at one time, back when Frasier became one of the most successful spinoffs of all time. However, we still might be able to see the pilot!

It sounds like NBC will air the pilot episode of “The Farm” as an installment of The Office, I assume at some point during their last season. It stars Thomas Middleditch from college humor playing Dwight’s brother Jeb Schrute, and Majandra Delfino would play his younger sister Frannie. Here’s what Rainn Wilson said about the show, according to Hollywood Reporter – “It could be really cool because It would be on his farm, which would be a bed and breakfast, and it would have a crazy menagerie of characters. It would be even more far out and weirder than The Office... it's a good idea.”

If it runs to big success on NBC during The Office season, perhaps there is still hope to see it as a series. Either NBC might decide to grab it again, or another network could snatch it up. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of non-compete clause in the contract as far as the character is concerned, which was developed under NBC contracts. Of course, it’s not unprecedented for an entire.