Back in "The Office" with Rainn Wilson and Greg Daniels

Like many shows that were forced into temporary hiatus when the TV writers took to the picket lines a few months ago, The Office had to halt production in mid-stream. Now, with the strike a not-too-distant memory, The Office and cast return to the airwaves for the episode "Dinner Party" on Thursday, April 10 to give fans a new six episode run to close out the strike halted season.

On a recent conference call, The Deadbolt got the chance to shake off the weekly office blues and get the upcoming goods from The Office writer/producer Greg Daniels and actor Rainn Wilson who plays Dwight on the popular American version of the original British hit. On the call, Daniels and Wilson shared their thoughts on what they did during the writers' strike, the British elements within the American version, how people often go mad in office settings, and what Dwight would do if Dunder Mifflin went on strike.

Greg Daniels and Rainn Wilson on the key to making a good sitcom:

GREG DANIELS: Well, there’s the flip answer and the real answer, I guess. But I think it’s a lot about trying to be original and trying to be funny, and not being scared of also having some emotion in it or being real and taking the characters seriously. And developing a hit that was a hit in another country already.

RAINN WILSON: I can’t top that. But I will say that I think the multi-camera sitcom format, as it kind of petered out over the last couple of years, we’re sticking to a tried and true formula. And then the shows became more about the formula than about what the show was trying to say or trying to do. So it was more about a group of characters sitting in a common area. We’ve set up some punch lines and were kind of making fun of each other. And it just got tired and worn out. And it’s the genre right now that needs some reinvention.

Greg Daniels on whether Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant will be appearing on or writing any future episodes:

"I don't know. It’s a really good question. Stephen was going to direct one in December and we’re hoping to get him back next year. And as to cameos, we haven’t written any in. At one point we had written in one for the character that played Gareth a couple of years ago. But we couldn’t get him on because he was doing Pirates of the Caribbean or something. It’s a possibility, but we don’t have any plans right now."

Greg Daniels on finding the American version within the original British version of The Office:

"Well, I think the British version is really, really great and I actually love the British version. And they intentionally - when you look at the scripts for the British version, I think they resemble the scripts for the American version. But they made some decisions to really go very bleak with the production of it and it matched what they were trying to do, which was to be very satiric and paint a very bleak picture of what this world was like. And we had an aim to be more of a character comedy that was less satiric and more about the ups and downs of the characters. And knowing that we were going to be on for a lot longer, we wanted to see positive sides to the characters, too. I don’t think we really got it 100% right until the second season in terms of the mix and the tone, although I really like our first season. I think it’s really funny.

"But once we started to have moments where, for example, Dwight is crushed at leaving his work or stuff like that, it kind of opens the characters up in a way where you feel a little bit more for them and you’re also, I think, uncertain as to what’s going to happen next because he might have a moment where you feel for them. And then, on the other hand, you might have a moment where they’re really just being played for laughs."

Back in "The Office" with Rainn Wilson and Greg Daniels Page 2