"The Office" Spin-Off: That Was Easy

I think I have the perfect pitch for the currently untitled spin-off of NBC's comedy The Office and am happy to share it with Ben Silverman.

Silverman's recent decision to order a number of new series without shooting a single frame of film--and his newfound admiration among members of the advertising community who claim would rather read five or seven shooting scripts than watch a one-hour pilot--made me more than a little concerned about the direction NBC is heading.

After all, as The Hollywood Reporter noted, "NBC plans to have most of the scripts for its new series written before they go into production to give advertisers an opportunity to read them and find better ways for product integrations."

Wait, better ways for production integrations? Before these series have even begun production? Which leads me to my prediction for that untitled Office spin-off, especially as NBC has still not released any information that makes it clear as to whether or not the series even has a concept.

My idea? Let's call it "That Was Easy." We'll set it in a local Staples™ store in, say, Pittsville, Massachusetts. Instead of spending money to build an expensive set for the new series, production will shoot in an actual Staples store.

And, utilizing the Staples setting to full effect, the series will each week feature a dazzling array of new office products in a series of intense product placement that will make even Ben Silverman happy! Remember Kevin's horrifically terrible integrated bit about that Staples paper shredder? Now we can have moments like that each and every week. Imagine the gang's crazy boss going bananas over the latest Swingline™ stapler... or big-ticket items like a new Aero™ chair!

Silverman doesn't know whether cast members from The Office will appear on the new series? Let's make it easy for him. Creepy old guy from the warehouse? He's now a full-time castmember. Those guys that nearly turned up at Michael's party at the convention? They're on as well. Look for a sweeps episode to feature the return of Amy Adams' Katy, now hawking Marc Jacobs™ bags.

Why not bring in that creepy kid from those Dell™ commercials? We can have him can tell the patrons, perhaps made up of actual Staples customers unaware that they are appearing on a mockumentary comedy in a bit of a nifty hidden camera reality show motif, "Dude, you're getting a Dell... at Staples™!" And we can recycle any outtakes into NBC's Most Outrageous Moments, during which we can run more commercials for Staples.

Hmmm, in the end, that was easy.

What are your predictions for The Office spin-off? Discuss.