The Office: How a cancelled sitcom paved the way for Steve Carell’s iconic role as Michael Scott

The mere mention of The Office makes us think of staplers in Jell-O, painfully awkward conference room meetings, and, of course, Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the world's most cringe-worthy boss! But what if any other actor played him?

If the premise of The Office didn’t have Carell's charming ditziness and emotional compass attached to it, it would have been a dead fluff of a show. Oh, the irony of it all — the entire trajectory of the show came down to a NBC sitcom that was cancelled one year prior, and was named 'Come to Papa'.

Come to Papa’s failure gave The Office its star

Before The Office even got a network home, writer/creator Greg Daniels already had Steve Carell in mind. Daniels was convinced that Carell was something special after he saw Carell's side-splittingly awkward performance as a news anchor in Bruce Almighty. It was still early in the process of casting, but Carell committed to another NBC sitcom -- Come to Papa -- before Daniels and his team got rolling.

The show starring comedian Tom Papa aired in 2004, and just after four episodes, NBC decided to pull the plug after it bombed. Ironically, it set Carell free just in time for The Office to swoop in and offer him the role of a lifetime. Had Come to Papa succeeded even mildly, we wouldn't have the OG Michael Scott of The Office that we love and celebrate.

Carell made The Office a classic

Steve Carell made Michael Scott, and not the other way around. The first season of The Office was about as flat as a lift that no longer opens its doors, but when they really dug into the Carell charm and vulnerability, everything changed. Sure, Michael was still this delusional, bumbling boss who said offensive and awful things to people, but was still somehow lovable.

From the "World's Best Boss” mug to his hopeless search for a relationship, Michael became the soul of the series. Carell’s performance struck a rare balance between hilarious and heartbreaking — the kind of nuanced comedy that earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations (and a 2006 win). Without him, The Office probably would've been another adaptation lost in the annals.

Instead, it ended up serving as a genre classic.

The Michael Scott we almost got

Well, Daniels obviously had to prepare for the possibility of Carell not being in a position to accept the role of Michael. When things started getting hazy again for us, another comedy veteran hit close to grab the role: Bob Odenkirk. At that time, Odenkirk was known mostly as Charlie from Mr. Show and had a decent resume in improv (he had worked Shakespeare at SNL at one point).

He would later even appear on The Office (Michael Scott-esque manager from a different branch of their office years later) in a fun callback to what could have been. Odenkirk probably would have been another version of the boss. It could've worked. But it wouldn't have quite been Carell's Michael Scott.

One sitcom’s end became another’s beginning

At the end of the day, the ultimate cancellation of Come to Papa came as a blessing in disguise, both for the fans of The Office and Steve Carell. The Office not only became a global phenomenon but also ended up changing the landscape of American comedy television forever.

As Michael Scott himself might say -

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Who do you think could've been an alternate casting choice? Sound off in the comments section below.

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