If you were to go to a random fan of NBC’s “The Office” and ask them what their favorite episodes of the series are, it wouldn’t take long for them to mention “Niagara.” The Season 6 two-parter is the culmination of a love affair that spanned the entirety of the series, with Jim and Pam finally tying the knot. But according to a recent behind-the-scenes book about the series, “Niagara” could have become one of the more polarizing episodes if not for the foresight of Steve Carell.
As recounted in the new book “The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s” (via Collider), the “Niagra” episode almost included a B-plot that would have completely altered the episode and made Carell think the show would have “jumped the shark.”
In the original script, there was a whole side plot where Pam’s ex, Roy, would have crashed the wedding riding a white horse and making one final stand to get his girlfriend back. After being deflated, finding out that Jim and Pam are truly in love and about to have a baby, Roy is dejected and is confronted by Dwight, who offers to take the horse off of his hands. Through some more shenanigans, the joke would have crescendoed in a scene where Jim and Pam are on a boat at Niagara Falls and the white horse would have been seen plummeting to its apparent death by falling off the waterfall.
The storyline was written into the script and everyone seemed to be on board with the joke. Thankfully, Carell intervened. As described in the book, after a reading of the script before production, the actor spoke to the writers and convinced them to take a different, more realistic route.
“A week in advance of going to Niagara Falls, we had our table read for that episode,” said producer Randy Cordray. “The network is there and the studio is there. The actors all read the parts, the director reads the stage directions out loud, and then afterward, the network and the studio give a few notes, and then you are left with just the writers to discuss the episode.”
He continued, “Steve Carell stays behind because he is a producer on the show and he has some say over the writing of the show. Steve was the first one to speak up. He said, ‘Guys, I love the episode but you can’t throw a horse over Niagara Falls.’ And Greg and Mindy [Kaling] were like, ‘Really? But it’s so funny.’ And he’s like, ‘Yes, it’ is funny. I love your writing. I love all of you, but this is really an animated joke. This is a cartoon joke. This is a joke we might see on ‘The Simpsons.’ I know many people think that ‘The Office’ has already jumped the shark in many different ways, but let me just say, throwing a horse over Niagara Falls is really jumping the shark. I’m not in favor of this.’ And with that, he took his leave and we were left to discuss it.”
This led to a situation where Greg Daniels was convinced to try a different story.
“Everyone just attacked Greg so much that he finally very angrily said, ‘All right, forget it! We’re not going to do it!’” recalled episode director Paul Feig.
Of course, what ended up happening is that the “Niagra” episode became one of the more beloved entries in “The Office” canon, with memorable moments that tended to be more emotional than most of the other installments. And when you see the scene where Jim and Pam are at Niagara, the idea of a falling horse would have completely undercut the emotion of the scene.
Long story short, thank god for Steve Carell. Too bad, he didn’t stop “Space Force” from happening. (Too soon?)
