Unlike the perfect couple Phyllis and Bob, Jim and Pam’s relationship had its share of ups and downs over nine seasons of The Office. But it was never tested more than in season eight with the introduction of Cathy. She filled in as the office administrator while Pam was away on maternity leave — and like Pam, she had the hots for Jim. Unlike Pam, however, she had no shot. Not after John Krasinski said no to a make-out scene.
“That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down,” Krasinski writes in the new book, Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office. “I remember saying things that I never thought I’d say before, like, I’m not going to shoot it.”
He continued:
“My feeling is there is a threshold with which you can push our audience. They are so dedicated. We have shown such great respect to them. But there’s a moment where if you push them too far, they’ll never come back. And I think that if you show Jim cheating, they’ll never come back.”
The kiss between Jim and Cathy would have happened while they were on a work trip in Florida, but creator Greg Daniels was convinced by Krasinski’s appeal and cut it. He still defends the idea, however. “I feel like that kind of worry was good in terms of the fans’ engagement. I think they knew what was coming. They were very comfortable with the show they were getting, and I needed to worry them that maybe I was going to give them a bad ending so they were happy when they got a good ending,” he contends.
As for Lindsey Broad, who played Cathy, she would appreciate it if “fans” of The Office stopped harassing her. “If anyone is wondering what it was like to be on The Office, the best comedy of this century: I just posted something on Instagram about how my dog was murdered and a bunch of people were like ‘F*ck you, Cathy, she deserved it!’ So. There ya go!” she tweeted last year. Everyone on social media needs to chill out.
(Via the New York Post)