The Office premiered 18 years ago and ended nearly a decade ago. A lot has changed since then. A certain TV celebrity became president, helping kickstart a massive pushback against reactionary mores and “edgy” racist jokes. Not everything that was once considered ripe for yuks remains so today. Could one of the most beloved and still watched shows of the aughts and early teens still fly today? One of its ensemble cast members doesn’t think so.
On a recent appearance on Good Morning America, Mindy Kaling — who both played Kelly Kapoor and served as one of the writers — came down hard on the program that made her name.
“That show is so inappropriate now,” Kaling said. “The writers who I’m still in touch with now, we always talk about how so much of that show we probably couldn’t make now.”
She continued: “Tastes have changed and, honestly, what offends people has changed so much now…I think that actually is one of the reasons the show is popular, because people feel like there’s something kind of fearless about it or taboo that it talks about on the show.”
Kaling was asked if she would ever show the show to her kids, to which she replied, “I kind of think maybe never.”
Kaling was also asked what Kelly would be up to now. “I think she would have quit Dunder Mifflin to become an influencer. And then probably be cancelled, almost immediately,” she said, adding, “Actually most of the characters on that show would be cancelled by now.”
Not every Office alum feels the same way. John Krasinski recently spoke about letting his young kids watch the show. It was a mixed bag, not because they were offended, but because one of them couldn’t buy that their dad could have ever played Jim Halpert.