The office was cold opened, which was very annoying, and was never broadcast again

There is a long, some might say proud, tradition of popular shows that have managed to offend viewers. in case For example, “The Simpsons” has successfully had its episodes completely banned in several countries Because of its supposedly insensitive treatment of some cultures (although as creator Matt Groening once said in a BBC documentary “It’s just a TV show, it’s a nice little cartoon”). Other times, pulling rings out of the air may be more justified. In the wake of the Columbine killings in 1999, for example, the World Bank made a controversial choice Pin multiple “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” episodes. Which included a school shooting story (which turned out not to actually be a school shooting story). While the choice to pull those episodes was heavily criticized at the time, you can at least understand the network’s mentality.

Recently CBS had to pull a scene from “The Big Bang Theory” en masse because it has aged badly. Likewise, a certain scene from “The Office” was cut from future broadcasts and releases of the episode due to what some saw as highly inappropriate actions of Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.

“But Michael Scott is notoriously inappropriate,” I hear you say. True, but it looks like NBC has put an end to the suicide simulation. This means that the network has put an end to a particular suicide simulation. In Season 3, Michael had actually pretended to jump from the roof of his office building to teach employees about safety. But in Season 6, he clearly took things too far by pulling a similar stunt in front of the kids.

Opens cold to “The Office” has some of the funniest moments on the show, and has become almost as beloved as the series itself. From Michael, Dwight and Andy’s foray into parkour to the fire drill sequences It opened with one of the best and most chaotic episodes of “The Office.” The pre-title sequences have been responsible for some legendary moments across the series’ nine seasons. However, it was never allowed to build such a legacy that it would become utterly legendary, having been pulled from the show after its first broadcast. Why? Because Michael pretended to end his life in front of a group of children.

The season six episode, titled “Koi Pond,” originally began with the Dunder Mifflin team organizing a haunted house event at their warehouse for local Scranton kids. The sequence begins with Michael welcoming the children wearing a costume modeled after those worn by Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake in the classic Saturday Night Live digital movie “D**k in a Box.” You would think that wearing a costume designed to tempt someone into opening a gift box placed over their genital area in front of children would be enough to attract some viewers, but Michael saved the real controversy for the last moments.

After promising to “scare the hell out of these kids,” the Dunder Mifflin boss disappears while Darryl (Craig Robinson) leads the kids through the warehouse. Eventually, just as the children were promised candy, Michael reappeared, this time hanging from the beams of the warehouse with his neck in a noose. The image of a man writhing in a noose while wearing a gift box over his penis while children screamed at the sight, was somewhat controversial. In fact, it was so controversial that NBC deleted the entire cold open from its “The Office” history books.

Once The Haunted House Cold Open aired back in 2009, it never saw an official release again — unless you count the official “The Office” YouTube channel that briefly uploaded and then removed the sequence after the initial broadcast. Not only did NBC pull the plug cold from subsequent broadcasts and DVD releases in 2021 Peacock began releasing “Superfan” episodes of “The Office”, Complete with missing and deleted scenes. But when it’s time to Episodes of the sixth season “Distinguished Fan” of the series “The Office” To strike a note, the haunted house was nowhere to be seen cold open. It can still be found connectedHowever, it has appeared sporadically on various websites since its first broadcast.

So, what’s the problem? There seems to have been no official explanation at all, however AV Club He claims to have spoken to a “former producer” who requested to remain anonymous. According to the mystery producer, the decision to pull the cold show in question was not merely a result of insulting viewers. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker’s wife, Karen Zucker, apparently objected to the sequence because of her work in suicide prevention. The producer claims that Zucker pressured her husband to pull the cold open, causing the episode to be “recut and re-delivered, with the original HD-SR delivery masters from NBC rounding up and dumping them in deep storage.”

Since then, some “Office” fans have called for this missing scene to be officially re-released. Editors She wondered why there was little cold open in the NBC vaults when the show featured “crazier stuff and more cutting-edge jokes.” Others were grateful just to be reminded of the whole thing, with one user writing: “I knew I remembered this but I thought I was making it up in my head!” Elsewhere, several users claimed that the scene was strangely present in the VUDU version of the episode, but no one will see that, so NBC can rest easy.