‘The Office’: Jenna Fischer ‘Fought Hard’ to Remove 1 Storyline From the Show
The Office fans likely agree that the series finale was perfection but it might have ended very differently if Jenna Fischer hadn’t fought to remove a storyline from the show. Fischer explained how one episode’s script had Erin accidentally ruining Pam’s watercolor painting and the idea didn’t sit well with the actor.
Erin was supposed to ruin Pam’s painting on ‘The Office’
During the Feb. 23 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Fischer and Angela Kinsey discussed The Office Season 6 episode “Mafia.” While Jim and Pam are away on their honeymoon, things unravel a bit in Scranton. Oscar addresses it in a talking head interview. “Pam and Jim are on their honeymoon so there’s not the usual balance between sane and others … it’s a very dangerous time,” he says. “The coalition for reason is extremely weak.”
Fischer and Kinsey discussed how one storyline in the episode was deleted, in part, because Fischer fought for it to be removed. The actor said she “had a reaction” to the storyline during a table read, believing a gag involving Erin accidentally ruining Pam’s watercolor painting shouldn’t play out.
“Erin was supposed to be cleaning Pam’s watercolor, her famous watercolor that Michael bought from her art show. She sprays the glass with this cleaner and then Creed kind of distracts her by chatting her up and the spray seeps under the glass and the watercolor is ruined,” the actor said. “Erin destroys Pam’s watercolor while she’s on her honeymoon, was the storyline.”
Jenna Fischer explained how she ‘fought hard’ to remove the storyline
Fischer said she normally didn’t stay after a table read but felt she needed to address the gag involving the painting.
“I was like, ‘Listen, you cannot destroy Pam’s painting. You can’t do it. It’s the heartbeat of the show. It’s on the wall. It’s her relationship with Michael. It’s hope. It’s so many things, like, you don’t understand. You can’t make this a gag,'” she recalled saying.
Fischer continued, “And [writer] Paul Lieberstein was like, ‘I think it’s funny. What are you talking about?’ And it was a battle … I made my case to anyone who would listen. They shot it anyway. They were like, ‘I’m sorry, it’s staying in. We really like this gag. We think it’s great. We like it.'”
After they shot the scene, Fischer pleaded her case to the editors, the director, and the writer of the episode. “I would not shut up about it. Finally, in the end, they took it out,” she said. “They took it out, and I was so relieved. But you’ll see next week there’s not Pam’s watercolor on the wall because that was the week they were editing and still deciding. So if you look, Pam’s watercolor is missing for a couple of episodes and we just sneakily put it back on the wall without saying anything.”
She explained, “I would not give up. And then, I mean, listen, the whole series ends on Pam’s watercolor.”
Fischer shared the two sticking points that she objected to during the series. “There were two things in the series that I fought hard for. I would consistently fight that there be no infidelity in Jim and Pam’s relationship,” she said. “And this was the other thing. Don’t destroy the painting.”
Kelly helped fix the painting — sort of
Kinsey shared how Erin came to destroy the painting, “There was a scene that led up before she ruined your painting,” she explained.
In the kitchen, Erin mentions that “Jim and Pam have been gone forever” and Stanley and Meredith call her out for trying to stir something up. To show she likes Pam, Erin decides to clean the painting.
At one point, Erin asks Kelly to help fix it. “Kelly is like, ‘Oh yeah, I can do watercolor,'” Fischer said. “But what Kelly does is she adds a rainbow and a sunshine. But the painting is still totally melty. And then, in the end, Erin calls Pam on her honeymoon and says she ruined it.”
