The Office star Jenna Fischer has explained her infamous firing from Matt LeBlanc’s CBS sitcom Man With a Plan. Fischer’s most iconic role came in The Office, where she played Pam Beesly, Dunder Mifflin Scranton’s kind and loveable receptionist. The mockumentary-style sitcom ran for nine seasons on NBC before coming to an end in 2013 and is now regarded as one of the greatest TV shows in recent history. One of the highlights was Pam and Jim’s (John Krasinski) love story, which provided countless memorable moments, such as the gas station proposal, and for that reason, the pair have become one of the most beloved small screen couples. Although Fischer will always be known as Pam to a lot of fans around the world, in 2016, she was set to star in another sitcom, Man With a Plan, to play the wife of Friends star Matt LeBlanc.
CBS’ Man With a Plan told the story of Adam Burns (LeBlanc), whose wife Andi (Liza Snyder) decides to return to work, which leaves Adam to lead parenting duties for their three children while also running his construction business. After four seasons and reasonably strong ratings, the show was canceled last year. However, long before it even saw a season 4, Man With a Plan famously starred LeBlanc and Fischer, but after shooting the pilot, the show continued on without The Office star. Much like Fischer, LeBlanc will arguably always be known as the charming yet foolish Joey from Friends, and as it turns out, the combination of Pam and Joey was Fischer’s downfall.
On Fischer’s Office Ladies podcast (via EW), which she co-hosts with fellow Office star Angela Kinsey, the former Pam detailed the reason behind her famous departure from CBS’ Man With a Plan. Fischer explained that she shot the pilot and thought she was “nailing it” as the network wanted more scenes with her. However, after showing it to focus groups, the feedback was: “‘I don’t believe Pam would marry Joey’.” This inability to separate them from their famous shows led to the network recasting Andi.
Fischer: "I got hired, I shot the pilot. While I was there, the network said they wanted more scenes with me. I was like, 'I am nailing it!' More scenes means you're doing a good job. Well, I guess after we finished it, they showed it to focus groups."
Kinsey: "And they didn't like you?"
Fischer: "They said — this is a literal quote, they said, 'I don't believe Pam would marry Joey. The chemistry doesn't work between these two.' That was the feedback they got."
Kinsey: "They could only see you as Pam and Joey?"
Fischer: "Yeah. So it wasn't working for them that we got married and had a family."
It’s quite a memorable story from Fischer, as often the star power one gets from such incredibly popular shows like The Office and Friends will work in their favor. In this case, it proved the opposite for Fischer. Footage from the pilot with The Office and Friends stars as a married couple is out for the world to see, and the two seem to work well together and considering how talented they are, it’s quite possible overtime the visual of Pam and Joey would have turned into Adam and Andi Burns. Interestingly, last year saw another Friends and The Office pairing, as Space Force had Steve Carell paired with Lisa Kudrow, which seemed to go down without any issues for Netflix. So understandably, the phone call of being told the show was being picked up “without you” must have hurt Fischer, but she still had nice words for LeBlanc, who she described as “very nice” on her podcast.
Although the actors did not continue on working together, both Fischer and LeBlanc have, in some form or fashion, returned to the shows the Man With a Plan’s focus groups could not separate them from. LeBlanc, of course, returned for the nostalgia-fuelled Friends Reunion, which recently received four Emmy nominations. Although The Office has not had an official reunion (yet), Fischer started her podcast Office Ladies in 2019, which sees her and Kinsey look back on different episodes of the hit sitcom. However, a Fischer and LeBlanc pairing certainly could have been fun.
Source: Office Ladies (via EW)
https://ift.tt/3wHqSbu
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario