Steve Carell pitches an idea for a The Office. Carell starred as Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch Regional Manager Michael Scott on NBC’s acclaimed sitcom from seasons 1 to 7 before exiting the show. The Office stayed on the air for two more seasons after Carell’s departure, finally calling it quits in 2013.
But of course, though The Office has been off the air for six years, the show continues to have a strong presence in pop culture thanks to its huge popularity on The Office to return, though now and again reports surface that do give fans a dose of renewed hope.
During an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Carell himself addressed rumors of an Office reboot by pitching his own idea for how the cast of the series could return. Carell’s idea is not to bring back The Office itself, but rather to reboot another classic workplace sitcom with himself and the rest of his Office castmates. Carell said (via Deadline):
You know what I thought would be a great idea for The Office? Not reboot The Office, but take The Office cast and reboot Cheers. So, like I would be Sam. And Jenna would be, you know? Like just take different characters.
Host Degeneres then took off with Carell’s idea, proposing reboots of Ted Danson, Shelley Long, (later) Kirstie Alley and the aforementioned Harrelson, and became one of the top rated shows of the 1980s while helping set the template for later workplace comedies.
Given how well audiences responded to the recent Live In Front of a Studio Audience special, perhaps it's not the craziest idea in the world to bring back the cast of one great sitcom to star in a revival of another sitcom. Of course, if The Office cast did return to star in a new version of Cheers, it would likely only be for such a one-off special and not for an entire series. As far as Office fans' longed-for reboot of that show, Carell said nothing to give any encouragement or hope, and actually seemed rather uninterested in discussing the matter (he's indeed previously indicated that he doesn't want to do it). As of now, there's probably a better chance of Carell's Cheers/The Office cross-over pitch coming to than a full-on Office revival.
Source: The Ellen Degeneres Show (via Deadline)