The creators of "The Office" hid a lot of awesome details that many viewers may never have noticed. For this list, we’ll be looking at the littlest moments and details from “The Office” that boost continuity or are just super fun!
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00:00 It's very nice. I never noticed that before.
00:02 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20
00:07 awesome details in The Office You Never Noticed.
00:09 For this list, we're looking at the littlest moments and details from The Office that boost
00:21 continuity or are just super fun. Which of these are you surprised you never noticed?
00:26 Let us know in the comments.
00:29 Hey Mojoholics, for a chance to win cash prizes, play our live daily trivia challenges every day
00:35 at 3pm and 8pm Eastern only at watchmojo.com/play.
00:39 Steve Carell never won an Emmy for his role as Michael Scott on The Office.
00:56 It sounds crazy saying it, but as many of you probably know,
00:59 it's 100% true and remains one of the most egregious Emmy snubs in TV history.
01:05 You might even say he was robbed. That happens to be exactly how the entire cast and crew felt.
01:24 We know this because they said so on the accounting team's whiteboard on the show.
01:29 In the season 3 episode "Branch Closing" as Michael chats with Pam,
01:32 you may spot a whiteboard in the background. Look closely at Tuesday, June 5th and you'll
01:37 see it reads "Congratulations to all our first of many Emmys. Steve was robbed!"
01:43 Number 19
01:44 Fake Thumb
01:45 The Office superfans would probably be able to answer the question,
02:00 why did Michael Scott once have his corporate credit card taken away?
02:03 For those who don't know, Michael revealed in season 2 that it happened because he once spent
02:08 $80 at a magic shop. However, while the superfans might know that, we're guessing not many notice
02:21 this tiny detail. As Michael revealed that information to the camera, you can see he's
02:26 also wearing a fake thumb on his right hand. We can only assume it was one of the items he
02:31 purchased on said trip to the magic shop. Number 18
02:35 Bait and Switch
02:36 Remember when Michael and Andy picked up waitresses at Benihana and brought them back
02:39 to the office Christmas party? And remember how they couldn't tell them apart, leading Michael
02:43 to actually draw a mark on one of their arms to help him recognize her? Most of you probably
02:56 watched that and thought about how cringey it was. You might have even been flabbergasted at
03:01 Michael's inability to tell the two girls apart. Well, while you probably could differentiate
03:06 between them, did you notice that they weren't even the waitresses the guys met at the restaurant?
03:11 Yep, go back and see for yourself. It's a tiny meta joke seemingly about how the
03:25 show's characters are just like the audience.
03:28 Number 17 Precious Medals
03:54 In the season 8 episode "Trivia," Dwight goes to Florida to pitch himself to Robert California
03:59 in the hopes of getting hired for a manager's position in the company's printers division.
04:03 In a bid to ward off a persistent Dwight, California attempts to give him a medal,
04:07 one that he says was given to his grandfather for "acts of courage."
04:22 Dwight doesn't fall for it, but you know who did? Gabe. Much earlier in the episode,
04:27 when Dwight talks to Gabe at his desk, you may notice a similar-looking medal on the shelf
04:31 behind him. Turns out Gabe not only accepted the worthless medal, he actually had it framed.
04:36 Number 16 Dressing Up
04:49 Pam and Jim are together, Ryan is visiting.
04:51 Only thing that could make this day better is ice cream.
04:56 There's a scene in the "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" episode of season 4 where Michael sits in his
05:00 office eating a salad. If you look on the desk beside him, you'll see a mason jar of salad
05:06 dressing. Zoom in just a bit more and you'll notice that the label on the jar is handmade,
05:10 has a picture of Michael on it, and the product name "Great Scott." Looks like Michael makes his
05:16 own salad dressing. This might seem like a totally random site gag, unless of course you've seen the
05:22 deleted scene from the previous episode in which Michael talks briefly about his rather
05:26 unprofitable salad dressing venture.
05:43 Number 15 They Heart FreeCell
05:45 There's quite a bit of downtime on film and TV sets.
05:54 Actors often find themselves not having much to do between takes and setups.
05:58 In order to fill that time on the set of "The Office," one thing the cast would do
06:10 was play FreeCell. They're all sitting in front of computers anyway. It turns out many of them
06:15 really got into it. So much so that they had competitions amongst each other. You could
06:20 sometimes even catch a glimpse of the game on various computers during scenes.
06:23 And if you're wondering why they didn't just surf the internet, well, the show premiered in 2005
06:35 and they didn't get Wi-Fi on the set until 2006.
06:39 Number 14 Beat It
06:41 What are Dwight's three favorite things?
06:43 Well, based on what he said on the show, as well as Jim's hysterical impression of him,
06:51 they are bears, Beats, and Battlestar Galactica. While he never watched the sci-fi show on the job
06:56 and thankfully never brought a bear into "The Office," Beats did make an appearance at Dunder
07:01 Mifflin.
07:02 "Beats are the worst."
07:03 "People love Beats."
07:04 "Nobody likes Beats."
07:05 "Everyone loves Beats."
07:06 "Nobody likes Beats, Dwight. Why don't you grow something that everybody does like?
07:11 You should grow candy."
07:13 Go back and re-watch the season six episode "St. Patrick's Day" and you'll see it.
07:17 Right there beside Dwight's desk, one solitary Beat is being grown in a glass container with
07:22 a bright light directly above it. Given the spotlight on it, you might be amazed that
07:26 you never noticed it before. But there it is.
07:29 "All I care about is Megadesk. That is all I care about. Getting more Megadesk."
07:36 "When I get frustrated or irritated or angry, I come up here and I just smell all my candles.
07:47 And it just poof, goes away."
07:48 "Just like that?"
07:49 "Just like that."
07:50 One of the standout moments from the season four "Dinner Party" episode has to be Michael
07:54 showing off his little plasma TV to Jim and Pam. A TV that later becomes the recipient
07:59 of Jan's anger when she throws a dundee at the screen and breaks it.
08:03 "That is a $200 plasma screen TV you just killed! Good luck paying me back on your $0
08:11 a year salary plus benefits paid!"
08:13 So what did Michael do with his precious television after that? Well, turns out he
08:17 left it on the wall. We actually see this when Pam goes to his place in season five
08:22 to strategize about the future of the Michael Scott paper company.
08:25 "Dear Mr. Scott, please be advised that it is in violation of your condominium agreement
08:31 to conduct a business headquartered in your residence. The penalty, a forfeiture of residence."
08:36 "No, okay, it's fine, it's fine."
08:38 There on the wall behind Pam is the broken TV with a new,
08:41 bigger TV sitting on the floor below it.
08:43 Number 12. The devil is in the details.
08:47 "My first order of business will be to demote Jim Halpert. So I will need a new number two.
08:53 My ideal choice? Jack Bauer."
08:57 Most of our wildest fantasies do not involve the devil, let alone co-running a bed and
09:02 breakfast with him. And even if it did, we'd probably dream about the venture paying out
09:07 more than $80,000 per year. But then again, we aren't all Dwight Schrute.
09:11 "Can I have a late checkout?"
09:13 "I'll have to talk to the manager."
09:15 "You're not the manager, even in your own fantasy?"
09:17 "I'm the owner. The co-owner with Satan."
09:23 Jim is the master of manipulating Dwight into making statements that don't make him look good.
09:28 And he does it again here. Dwight, in anticipation of becoming regional manager, fantasizes about
09:34 making Jim's life hell. This then leads into the whole bed and breakfast with Lucifer monologue.
09:39 "And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil."
09:44 "Yeah, but I haven't told you my salary yet."
09:45 "Go."
09:47 "Eighty thousand dollars a year."
09:51 But while you were laughing at the scene, you probably missed the awesome detail that an
09:55 $80,000 salary breaks down to about $6,666.66 per month.
10:02 Number 11. Addressing the past.
10:05 "Where are we?"
10:06 "I don't know. Like five kilometers from the office."
10:09 "You couldn't have made it a circle?"
10:13 Although it takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the office was mostly filmed in California.
10:18 The setting may be fictional, but the town of Scranton is a real place,
10:21 with many real-life locations popping up on the show.
10:24 This, however, does not include the street where the Dunder Mifflin building is situated.
10:28 "Andy and Dwight are rocking the sales team. I feel very blessed."
10:34 The building, as you'd see on a flyer in the Blood Drive episode, is located on Slough Avenue.
10:42 But the real-life Scranton doesn't have a Slough Avenue.
10:45 So why'd they call it that?
10:46 Well, they did so as a little nod to the UK version of the office on which the series is based.
10:52 The Wornham Hog Paper Company on that show is located in the town of Slough.
10:57 "What is the single most important thing for a company?
11:00 Is it the building? Is it the stock? Is it the turnover?
11:05 It's the people."
11:09 Number 10. Back to Creed's grassroots.
11:12 "Whoa, give me the time. I might come back down."
11:17 Saying Creed Bratton is an enigma is a bit of an understatement.
11:24 And this can be said about both the character and actor.
11:26 In show and in real life, Bratton was a member of the Grassroots,
11:30 a popular band many baby boomers will know and love.
11:34 Even after he left the band, he continued honoring his musical background.
11:38 One of his albums contains a song called "Spinnin' and Reelin'".
11:41 "Well, everybody knows I'm crazy about you. Just can't stop thinkin' about your love."
11:48 If you listen carefully in the episode, you'll hear him sing his own catchy tune.
11:53 This is a fun Easter egg everybody knows we're crazy about.
11:56 "Well, everybody knows I'm crazy about you. Just can't stop thinkin' about your love."
12:01 "Monkey, this is Possum. Do you copy?"
12:03 "Copy, Possum. What's your 20?"
12:05 Number 9. Extra, Extra.
12:08 "Pulled off an amazing 80s party last year."
12:10 "Awful."
12:11 If you're quick, you may catch a glimpse of a newsletter from time to time.
12:15 Its first appearance is in season one's "The Alliance".
12:18 As this is clearly meant to be a bit of stage dressing,
12:21 of course we don't expect it to be full of genuine text.
12:24 However, what we do find is even better than standard filler.
12:28 When you zoom in and read the article, it's basically a hilarious letter to Design Town,
12:33 the company that printed the prop.
12:35 It has several fake words, a couple of jokes,
12:37 and is essentially just there to, as the newsletter says,
12:41 "sort of look like a newsletter without really being much of a newsletter at all."
12:45 "So I was thinking, if you haven't already gotten a cake,
12:48 maybe go in for one of those ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins. They're very good."
12:52 Number 8. Cut Trees Award.
12:55 "So we all agree to get new chairs then, good?"
12:58 Some restaurants have a certificate for best food.
13:01 Some supermarkets celebrate their number of sales.
13:03 Dunder Mifflin is on a whole different level.
13:06 If you look closely in the office, there's a little certificate from the
13:09 Rainforest Harvesters Association awarding them for the achievement of 1 million cut trees.
13:15 It makes all environmentally conscious viewers cringe a little bit just looking at it.
13:19 Hey, what else can you expect from the People Persons Paper People?
13:22 It's a funny little detail that is easily missed unless you know what to look for.
13:31 And be sure to look around for other funny certificates in the office.
13:35 Number 7. Tea Party.
13:37 "We are going to turn Secret Santa into Yankee Swap."
13:43 "What is Yankee Swap?"
13:44 Gift time!
13:45 Jim got Pam a teapot full of secrets, and we waited with bated breath as it was traded from
13:51 employee to employee. Luckily, it ended up in Pam's hands by the end, and not Dwight,
13:56 who wanted it for other reasons.
13:59 "You don't even drink tea."
14:00 "True, but I get sinus infections, and sinus infections can be cured by making
14:04 a tea from green tea leaf stems and pouring it directly into your nose, like so."
14:08 By the looks of it, she never let it out of her sight again. Two seasons later,
14:12 you can see the teapot being used as a fancy addition to the Finer Things Club meeting.
14:17 It's so sweet that a thing like that was remembered. If we only knew what the letter said.
14:22 Number 6. Certificate of Authenticity.
14:26 "Sweet grandmother sends me a check on my birthday for $50,
14:30 and lately she has been sending me like 9 or 10 checks a year."
14:36 Most people have a diploma hanging in their office. Then again,
14:39 Michael Scott is far from most people. In the regional manager's office, he has a
14:44 certificate of authenticity mounted on his wall. Well, at least we know he's got an authentic
14:48 Seiko timepiece. Even better, it doesn't even seem to be genuine. Seiko is misspelled.
14:56 Also, notice he gives the watch to Toby as a farewell gift. This further reinforces our
15:00 view of Scott as a bit of a lovable fool. Hey, at least it looks official.
15:05 Number 5. Creed the Criminal.
15:12 Stolen identities? Weed? Pirate code? This quality assurance employee has done so much
15:24 we don't know about. And that's probably for the better. Look at Creed's cubicle.
15:28 If you squint, you'll catch a glimpse of what looks like a mugshot. Honestly,
15:32 we're not really surprised that he'd be proud of the escapade that got him that picture.
15:36 You can also catch a hint of Creed's criminal history previously in the series.
15:40 When he poses for a photo ID, he immediately turns to the side afterwards,
15:44 just like for a standard mugshot. Just following his odd statements from
15:48 throughout the series makes for a fun rewatch of the show.
15:51 Number 4. Sign My Cast.
15:55 Um, Andy and Dwight are rocking the sales team. I feel very blessed.
15:59 This one isn't on purpose, but that somehow makes it even better.
16:06 When Meredith comes back from her leave after being hit by Michael's car,
16:09 she has a huge cast covering her pelvis. She pertly asks Jim to sign her cast,
16:15 but actor John Krasinski accidentally signs his own name on Meredith's cast
16:19 instead of his character's name. It's easy to miss as the J is the same in both.
16:23 But if you know when to look, you will not miss it.
16:26 We wonder how this managed to slip past the editors.
16:28 Maybe they were swept up in how perfect Jim is. Do you blame them?
16:33 Number 3. Resolution Board.
16:52 Looking at this board, you'll find normal, character-consistent goals,
16:56 like Jim wanting to bike to work and Erin wanting to learn a new word every day.
17:00 However, if you look a bit closer, you'll see a couple of funny additions.
17:04 True to her personality, Kelly's resolution is to, quote,
17:07 "get more attention by any means necessary."
17:10 Stanley's is to be a better husband and boyfriend.
17:13 Remember, this is a whole season after Stanley promises to break off his affair with Cynthia.
17:18 In fact, they don't officially break it off until the garden party in season 8.
17:23 Poor Terry.
17:24 Right around when The Office premiered,
17:40 we were graced with the weird, wonderful comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
17:44 There doesn't seem to be too much in common between Judd Apatow's film and the show,
17:48 aside from the lead actor, of course.
17:50 Yet there are far more similarities than you may think.
17:53 Not only is there a similar, absurdist sense of humor,
17:56 there's also an iconic dinner scene with a familiar backdrop.
17:59 That's right.
18:06 It's the same restaurant that Michael, Andy, Dwight and Jim visit for their Christmas party.
18:11 Here's a bonus for you.
18:12 Jenna Fischer and Mindy Kaling both make cameos in the movie.
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18:38 Our top pick is a clever and complex prop.
18:49 Though it only appears in one episode, it is unforgettable.
18:53 Dwight makes a chart of the chain of command in the workplace,
18:55 and it's chock-full of information he's collected over the years.
18:59 Icons indicate defining traits, according to him,
19:02 such as Oscar being gay and Andy's education.
19:05 Moons under the women's names are a double joke,
19:07 as not only do they indicate each woman's time of the month,
19:10 but those who went through menopause have a large X over their icon.
19:14 Finally, you can see that Dwight has astutely put the name Creed Bratton in quotation marks.
19:20 Good eye.
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19:29 [MUSIC]