Editor’s Note: This article contains discussion of suicide and mental health that could be triggering.The Office became one of the funniest sitcoms ever made by delivering different varieties of comedy. Like a traditional sitcom, it found laughs in conflict and physical humor, but what set the series apart from most other sitcoms is the ability to find the most cringeworthy moment it could put a character in and then sit in that moment for as long as possible. With its faux-documentary style and the lack of a laugh track, that realism only made the purposely awkward scenes even more uncomfortable. There’s no character on The Office more cringe than Michael Scott (Steve Carell). The guy means well, but his lack of self-awareness lands him in trouble often. However, in one episode of The Office, Michael went so far over the top that a certain scene was cut from all future airings, partially because of the wife of then-NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker.
That scene’s absence is especially relevant now, with The Office: The Complete Series – Superfan Extended Episodes arriving on Digital and Blu-ray on July 14. The release includes 194 extended episodes and more than 25 hours of previously unaired footage, though it’s unclear whether this controversial cold open will be included, given the sensitive nature of why it was removed.
The Employees of Dunder Mifflin Created Their Own Haunted House
Michael Scott isn’t the brightest man, and there are a lot of insecurities wrapped up in just how little he knows. For example, look at The Office‘s second-ever episode, “Diversity Day”. When he gets in trouble for repeating a Chris Rock routine — not done out of malice, but simply because he likes comedy — the office is made to undergo diversity training. It all goes wrong due to Michael, again, not out of any malice or racism, but because he’s clueless. He’s a good person who loves everyone, so his actions are funny instead of offensive.
Michael’s lack of awareness also gets him in trouble in The Office‘s sixth season episode “Koi Pond.” Debuting on October 29, 2009, the episode is in part about Michael accompanying Jim on a meeting, only to embarrass himself as usual by falling into a koi pond. It’s not a Halloween-themed episode, but with it coming out two days before the holiday, “Koi Pond” featured a Halloween cold open. Down in the warehouse, a haunted house is created to scare the kids of Dunder Mifflin employees. That’s a fun idea, but Michael takes it too far. At the end of the haunted house, Michael, wearing a wrapped present box on his crotch (a nod to the Lonely Island’s viral “Dick in a Box” video that premiered on SNL that year), falls from the ceiling with a noose wrapped around his neck. He writhes around as if he’s actually dying, while the kids scream in horror. He shakes until he’s “dead,” before breaking character and saying, “Kids, just remember, suicide is never the answer.”
Michael Scott’s Pretend Death Made Light of a Sensitive Subject
It’s a hilariously upsetting scene that’s pure Michael Scott at his “best”. You have Michael dressed as one of the guys from “Dick in a Box” (in front of kids, mind you), contrasted with the seriousness of suicide, with him thinking it’s all okay to do because he has a serious message for the children at the end. If someone did this in real life, we’d be upset, but this is Michael Scott. He simply thinks he has a funny Halloween costume and is just scaring kids in a haunted house, while also being a caring adult.
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Too far, Michael. Too far.
Still, it is offensive to make a joke out of suicide, and it wasn’t the only time The Office did it either. In the Season 3 episode “Safety Training,” Michael wants to deliver a message about the seriousness of depression and self-harm, so he goes to the roof to fake his death in front of everyone. The joke, though, is that no one believes he’s really going to jump, and he chickens out of his plan to leap off and land on a trampoline. It’s then up to the Scranton workers to save him from accidentally hurting himself.
The Scene Was Removed Partially Because of the Wife of NBC Universal’s CEO
You can still watch “Safety Training,” but if you watch “Koi Pond” now on Peacock, DVD, or syndication, you won’t find the haunted house cold open. It only aired one time before being removed forever. It’s a shame that it’s gone now, because it has other funny moments, like Creed (Creed Bratton) dressed up as a vampire who wants to sell the kids’ blood, and Jim (John Krasinski), whose costume is nothing more than writing “BOOK” on his face; he’s trying to be clever with Facebook, but Darryl (Craig Robinson) calls him Bookface.
NBC got complaints from viewers who were upset about The Office using suicide as comedy, so the network decided to take out the scene from any future airings. However, it wasn’t just fans who got the scene pulled. According to AV Club, they were told by an anonymous producer on The Office that the scene was pulled because of Caryn Zucker. She was the then-wife of Jeff Zucker, who was the CEO of NBC Universal. Caryn, who worked in suicide prevention, was offended by the scene and asked her husband to remove it. He then called NBC reps and producers from The Office, where they decided “the episode was re-cut and re-delivered, with the original HD-SR delivery masters collected back from NBC and thrown into deep storage.”
It makes sense why the scene was removed, but it’s still a funny example of just how clueless Michael Scott is. Viewers weren’t clueless, though. It’s good that the moment was taken out, but it’s also disappointing that we lost the debut of the iconic Bookface.
The Office is available to watch on Peacock in the U.S.
