jenna.fischer

The Office Goes for the Gold Again

Tonight's episode of The Office [9:30 pm/ET on NBC] is a rerun of one of my favorites of the season — "The Dundies." I get a lot of letters about the Dundies. It's a big episode for Pam. In this episode, Michael hosts the annual Dunder-Mifflin Awards, affectionately referred to as "the Dundies." Michael makes up awards for each person in the office and then stages a huge presentation at a local Chili's. He serves as the master of ceremonies, which is really an opportunity for him to tell bad jokes and sing songs. Dwight is his DJ and sound-effects specialist. After Pam gets in a huge fight with Roy just before the awards begin, she joins Jim inside and gets drunk. I got to do a lot of physical comedy in this episode. I fall down. I give

Thu, Apr 13, 2006

The Office: Your Questions Answered!

There is no episode of The Office airing this week. NBC is putting an episode of Teachers in our place tonight. I shared a changing room with three of the actresses from Teachers at a press event earlier this year. They were sweethearts, so I do hope their show does well. With no Office episode airing tonight, I thought this might be a good week for some more frequently asked questions. These are all from your e-mails. Here we go! I was wondering: Will you guys ever tape in front of a live studio audience? — Misty, Atlant

Thu, Apr 6, 2006

The Office Celebrates Good Times

The big news is that I will be appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight! OK, maybe that's just big news to me and my parents. But we are flipping out! Last year my family came to visit me in Los Angeles and I got us tickets to see a taping of The Tonight Show. Hilary Duff was the guest, and my mom leaned over to me and said, "One day, you'll be up there on the couch being interviewed by Jay Leno!" I rolled my eyes and grunted or something. Even at my age, I seem to regress into acting like a teenager around my parents. But secretly I was hoping that I would be up there one day. And now I am! I'm excited but I also have knots in my stomach. I borrowed a dress. I'm getting my hair done. I got good pointers from Steve [Carell], Rainn [Wilson] and John [Krasinski], who have all been on before

Thu, Mar 30, 2006

The Office Revisits a "Health" Scare

I'd like to start this week's blog by publicly thanking my husband for letting me hijack his laptop for the past few weeks while I've been on the road. Thanks to him, I've typed many of my recent blogs from planes, hotel rooms and coffee shops. I'm currently en route from Montreal to our hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, where I'm meeting him for a special advanced screening of his new horror movie, Slither (which, if I can do a little wifely bragging, just received an amazing review in Variety). Tonight NBC is reairing my favorite episode from Season 1 — "Health Care" — written by the uber-talented Paul Lieberstein. I've watched this episode more times than any other episode we've made, and I still love seeing it. This week, Michael has to cut employee health benefits. Because he knows this will make him unpopular he makes Dwight do it. Dwight goes way overboard. He surveys people about their private health problems and the

Thu, Mar 23, 2006

The Office "Kids" Around

This week's episode of The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC] is called "Take Your Daughter to Work Day," and it is written by the hot and talented Mindy Kaling (who also plays Kelly on the show). Every few weeks we have a scene that knocks me on the floor laughing while we shoot, and this was one of those weeks. I haven't seen the final product so I'm not sure what made it in and what didn't. And who knows if the comedy translated on screen or if it was just one of those days where we were slaphappy and giggling at everything. But this was a fun episode to shoot. In this episode the Dunder-Mifflin employees bring their daughters to work for the day. Stanley brings his hot teenage daughter who starts crushin' on R

Thu, Mar 16, 2006

The Office Relives a Classic "Day"

It's an oldie but goodie on The Office tonight [9:30 pm/ET on NBC]. We are rerunning an episode from Season 1 called "Diversity Day." Michael is subjected to a day of diversity training after complaints are made to corporate about his behavior. He hijacks the meeting and teaches his own brand of sensitivity. If you are new to The Office, this will be a treat. "Diversity Day" is an often-quoted fan favorite. It is also a favorite of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the creators of the original British version of

Thu, Mar 9, 2006

The Office Presents: "Dwight's Speech"

We're back! And we are back with a bang. Tonight's episode of The Office [9:30 pm/ET on NBC], "Dwight's Speech", written by Paul Lieberstein, is awesome! Dwight is named Dunder-Mifflin Paper Salesman of the Year and has to give an acceptance speech in front of hundreds of people. He's really nervous, so he goes to Michael for advice. In the end, Jim is the one who really helps Dwight — or does he? And I'm sorry to report that the Pam-Roy wedding is very much on. Pam steps up her wedding plans in this episode and sends out "Save the Date" cards. Believe me, as Jenna, it was hard to write out all those cards. I don't want them to end up together any more than you do! (For anyone who is interested, Pam's wedding color is lavender.) The most noteworthy thing abou

Thu, Mar 2, 2006

Hailing The Office's Unsung Heroes!

I've talked a lot about the writers, directors and producers behind The Office [returning with new episodes March 2 at 9:30 pm/ET, on NBC]. But there is another, often overlooked, group of people who are just as essential to creating the environment at Dunder-Mifflin. They are the set-dressing, props and art departments. Led by our production designer, Michael Gallenberg, these departments work together to create our authentic office atmosphere. Michael might be our most underappreciated genius. He has an overall vision for our office environment and oversees even the smallest details. If he does his job right, no one notices. He's not supposed to razzle-dazzle you. He makes sure each department works to create the most real-looking sets possible. The set-dressing folks, h

Thu, Feb 23, 2006

The Office: Your Questions Answered!

So... there is no new episode of The Office this week. NBC is airing the Olympics. Have you been watching? They have actually been pretty cool and exciting. Since we don't have an episode airing tonight, I thought it would be a fun to answer some of your questions. Here we go! Quick question: Do you write these blogs personally, or does someone from NBC do it? Come on, be honest! — Scott in Anthem, Ariz.This seemed like a good first question. It kind of makes the rest of them more meaningful. Yes, I (Jenna) do write this blog myself. Not only do I write it myself, I sometimes write it at work from my desk on set. We have real working computers. When I am in the background of a scene (like I am right now), I will sometimes take the opportunity

Thu, Feb 16, 2006

The Office Presents: "Valentine's Day"

I get a lot of letters about my hair. People want to know if it is naturally curly. They want to know how I wear it in real life. When I took it down briefly in the episode "The Secret," people asked why Pam doesn't wear it like that more often. Pam's hair attracts a lot of attention. You know it well. It's curly in the back, straight in the front. Or as I like to call it, "the girl mullet." I created Pam's look when I went to my first audition for The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC]. I channeled my experience as an awkward teenager in St. Louis trying to figure out how to tame my crazy mop of naturally curly hair. I didn't know about big round brushes and blow-drying and antifrizz products, like I do today. And I figured that Pam didn't know about that stuff, eit

Thu, Feb 9, 2006

The Office Presents: "Boys and Girls"

When we have downtime on The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC], we do more than just sit and watch the boys play video-game football. Angela [Kinsey, Angela] and I like our girl time, too. We like to scrapbook and look at fashion magazines. Or sometimes we have "picnics" where we gather food and drinks from the snack table, go into Angela's trailer, light candles, and gossip. It was during one of our "picnics" that Angela and I had the idea for tonight's episode, "Boys and Girls." We took our brainchild to Greg Daniels, the executive producer of the show. "What if Jan came into the office and did a 'Women in the Workplace' seminar, and Michael

Thu, Feb 2, 2006

The Office Presents: "The Carpet"

I have more good news to report this week: The Office [Thursdays at 9:30 pm/ET on NBC] has been picked up for a third season! It is rare in this business to hear news of a pickup so early. Most shows have to wait until May to find out if they will return in the fall. (May is when networks traditionally make their decisions and announce their fall schedules to the press.) It is a huge vote of confidence from NBC to make a decision about our show so early. It is very exciting. Some people were confused by reports this season of The Office "is ending in March." No worries. We will complete our 21-episode order for this year, and all of our current episodes will finish airing at the end of March. Steve [Carell

Thu, Jan 26, 2006

The Office Cheers on Its Golden Boy

In case you didn't know — Steve Carell won the Golden Globe for best actor in a television comedy for The Office [airing 9:30 pm/ET on NBC]! The entire cast dressed in our fanciest duds and headed to the NBC Universal Golden Globes viewing party on Monday night. The party was on the rooftop of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The awards themselves were being presented in a ballroom downstairs. We watched the affair on various big-screen televisions positioned around the room. When it was time for Steve's category, we gathered with our fingers crossed. As they read the nominees, we readied ourselves for polite applause in case they read a name other than "Steve Carell." But th

Thu, Jan 19, 2006

The Office Blog Is Back, and It's Pam-tastic!

Let me start by saying that I am thrilled to be taking over this blog for B.J. Novak. If you read B.J.'s blogs, you might be disappointed when you read mine. B.J. is a professional comedy writer and I am not. B.J. is a handsome, single male who is very plugged in to what is cool-hip-interesting about life. I am a married female who likes to shop at Target and play with my dog. But I will try to give you good behind-the-scenes information and trivia to make up for it. In this week's episode of The Office [airing 9:30 pm/ET on NBC], "The Injury," written by Mindy Kaling [who plays Kelly], Michael burns his foot on his George Foreman Grill. (

Thu, Jan 12, 2006

The Office Blog Is Back, and It's Pam-tastic!