The Office creator Greg Daniels reveals he was pleasantly surprised to discover the show’s Indian adaptation: ‘It popped up on my IMDb credits’

Greg: Well, there have been a lot of changes since then. A lot of the fans of The Office, at least in the US, have watched it on streaming, whether it’s on Netflix or Peacock. So, they’re used to that format. One of the big changes is that there were ads when The Office was made. But now, it looks like we’re going back to the ads on streaming as well, at least here. I think there’s also an Office spin-off in India, right? It just popped up on my IMDb credits, and I was like, “What?”

Michael: I remember we first had these TiVo machines in which you could fast-forward commercials. I couldn’t believe I could watch so much television in a couple of weeks because of that new invention. In a way, streaming felt less dramatic than that. And now, sometimes you’re streaming and you have commercials like classic television, which you can’t even fast forward. It’s actually more traditional, in a way.

Speaking of tradition, The Office had the characters sell stationary in a world which was warming up to iPads. And now, The Paper, has characters working for a newspaper in the era of digital journalism and social media. What do you have to say about this persistent romance with everything vintage?

Greg: It’s a good question! I think the implication is I’m a little bit of a dinosaur, which I’ll accept. There’s something very poignant about that. For instance, in The Office, we picked Scranton, Pennsylvania as the setting. It’s called the “Electric City” because it was the first city in the US to get electricity. Its heyday was more around that time than now. It’s an interesting emotion to incorporate into a TV show. I always loved the opening credits sequence of Cheers (1982-1993), a TV show about bars in Boston. The main title sequence had people who were long dead, but are seen enjoying a beer. There’s something emotional about that, which is a part of the DNA of this show as well.

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Has The Office cast watched The Paper? What do they think?

Greg: They’re all very excited, at least whoever has talked to me. Some of them have already seen it. Angela (Kinsey, who played Angela Martin) and Jenna (Fischer, who played Pam Beesly) have a podcast, and they’ve interviewed a lot of our cast.

Michael: My wife was on The Office. She (Ellie Kemper) played Erin Hannon. I’d know in a second if she’s lying, but she liked it (laughs).

Greg: Wife-approved (thumbs-up sign)!