- [Amy] How The Office almost ruined
Pam and Jim's wedding.
Despite The Office being off the air
for over half a decade,
a fervent fanbase still exists for the workplace comedy
with new theories and memes constantly cropping up
all over the internet.
And we're not knocking this by the way, we're part of this.
And this week marked the 10th anniversary
of one of the biggest moments of the show,
the wedding between Pam Beesly and Jim Halpert.
- Everyone, this is a day that will live in infamy.
- [Amy] However, while the two part episode Niagra,
saw it's typical share of sitcom disasters
in the form of torn scrotums, Kleenex box shoes
and botched wedding toasts,
it turns out a real life disaster
involving horses and waterfalls
was brewing behind the scenes
that almost destroyed the special occasion.
- [Steve Carell] They have hilarious material
and they are going to totally deliver it wrong.
- So, what happened?
We'll, buckled up and put on some sunglasses
because we're going on a ride.
- Oh, god.
Wow.
Oh, I was asleep.
- What?
With it being the 10th anniversary of the wedding episode,
the folks over at Entertainment Weekly
sat down with the cast and crew of the show,
including the show's creator, Greg Daniels,
producer and star, Mindy Kaling,
as well as the episode's director, Paul Feig,
and got the behind the scene details on this installment.
In case you're one of the fans who doesn't binge the show
until you fall asleep at night,
here's the too long, didn't watch.
The two parter was the culmination of the six year subplot
involving Pam and Jim's romance
that had been growing since the first episode
finally resulting in their marriage.
We saw the entire office staff
head up to Niagara Falls to attend the wedding
and the usual shenanigans ensued.
Partying, drinking and hooking up.
However, the magical day finally comes
and on top of the typical family drama of a wedding day,
Pam ends up tearing her veil
which leads to Jim enacting one of his wedding backup plans
where he and Pam get married at sea,
minus friends and family.
They then head back for the official wedding
where their friends and family recreate
the JK wedding entrance dance video
that had blown up on the internet at that time.
And great tv was made.
- My heart soars...
with the eagle's nest.
- But, turns out this almost never happened.
According to the episode director Paul Feig,
That's awkward and in line with
the cringe factor of the show,
so not too bad, right?
Wrong.
Because wait, there's more.
Feig adds,
Wait, what?
(screams)
- It turns out that the show's creator, Greg Daniels,
was obsessed with making this happen.
Apparently, Dwight would have seen a display in the hotel
that showed how a cow survived going over the falls
but people who did it in barrels perished.
He comes up with the idea he can survive
by riding a horse over the falls,
however he chickens out at the last second
and ditches the horse, resulting in it going over the falls
in the background of the wedding.
Greg Daniels apparently went so far as to begin scouting
water tanks on the Universal lot to prep for the shoot.
However, he finally relented saying,
With a new climax needed,
the producers decided to recreate
the famous wedding dance video which had just come out.
- Did you see this? It was one YouTube.
- And history was made,
or rather remade.
As for the recreation,
Mindy Kaling had this to say,
True, true, Mindy.
- You guys, I'm really smart now.
You don't even know.
- But not as horrible as a horse falling down a waterfall
in the background of their wedding would have been.
But, what do you folks think?
Did you like that the ending was changed
or would you rather have been Dwight attempt to ride a horse
off a waterfall?
Don't answer that one.
And do you fall asleep watching The Office
or is it just us and our former producer, Producer Aaron?
- I was asleep.
- What?
No way.
- Those glasses are super dark.
- Let's discuss.
Thanks for watching.
If you like what you saw,
why not give us a like and subscribe?
If you want to get notified
every time we go live at the show or drop a new video,
feel free to mash that little bell
so you can be up to date on all the latest theories,
news and rumors in the pop culture world.
(beeping tones)
(pencil scratching and clicking)