And now I’m reading about it, in Andy Green’s anthology “The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s.” It’s over 400 pages of thorough stories, including two from the first season, in which NBC dragged its heels renewing the show after greenlighting only six episodes. First from Kate Flannery, who played Meredith:
I kept my restaurant job through the first season. I was a waitress at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills. Sometimes showrunner Greg Daniels would come in to talk to me. I’d be holding a tray of food and he’d be like, “I’ve got to talk to you about saying the word vagina. We’re going back and forth with the network on that, but really want to keep it.”
And Jason Kessler, production assistant:
My job that season was to drive around town and drop people’s scripts off at their houses. I very specifically remember going to John’s apartment in West Hollywood and he was playing video games with a friend. He invited me in to play. Normally, I would drop a script off at the door or I’d knock on the door and hand it to him, and someone would say, “Oh, thank you very much,” and just go into their house. John’s the only person who ever invited me in.
