Summary
- The Office remains one of the most popular sitcoms of all time and has become a modern pop culture reference.
- The Halloween episode of The Office, titled "Koi Pond," was so controversial that it was banned from television.
- Steve Carell believes that The Office wouldn't be accepted in today's climate due to its portrayal of inappropriate behavior and a flawed boss character.
Although its final episode aired over a decade ago, The Office is still one of the most popular sitcoms ever. In fact, Rolling Stone Magazine considers it one of the 100 greatest television shows of all time. Over the years, this beloved sitcom has become a modern pop culture reference, with many of its lines and scenes becoming memes and widely used phrases.
While The Office has many great and memorable episodes, this popular sitcom also has some rather controversial moments. Episodes such as “Gay Witch Hunt,” “Diversity Day,” and “Sexual Harassment” just didn’t age well. However, none of them were as bad as The Office’s “Halloween” episode. This episode was so controversial that it was banned from television altogether.
The Open To The Office’s Best Halloween Episode Was Banned From TV
The Office’s season 6 episode, “Koi Pond” is better remembered for Michael’s hilarious fall into the pond while on an in-person sales meeting. However, this is also a Halloween episode that generated a lot of controversy.
Originally, this episode had a cold open which showed the haunted house the Dunder Mifflin team had prepared for kids. Darryl is seen pushing a cart of children through the warehouse and coming across the rest of the cast in full costumes. Just when you think nothing exciting is going to happen in this haunted house, there’s a clatter, and the camera cuts to a metal chair crashing on the floor.
The next shot shows Michael writhing as he’s hanging from a noose. The kids scream and everyone else looks horrified, except for Michael, who tries to use this as an opportunity to give an anti-suicide message to the kids.
Aside from its original airing in 2009, this open was banned from syndication altogether. The cold open has even been removed from the episode on DVD releases and streaming platforms such as Prime Video or Peacock. Surprisingly, the open wasn’t banned due to criticism from viewers.
In an interview with AV Club, revisiting the controversial Halloween episode, a former producer said the ban came from Caryn Zucker, who was married to Jeff Zucker, the then-CEO of NBC Universal.
Caryn was an activist for suicide prevention and didn’t think the cold open was funny, so she asked her husband to have the scene removed, which he did. Even after Zucker stepped down from his position, the removal of the Halloween open from The Office’s “Koi Pond” episode still stood.
The Office Made Six Halloween Episodes
Over the course of its nine seasons, The Office made many themed episodes, including six Halloween episodes. The first one is the Season 2 episode "Halloween." This episode had many iconic moments, including Jim (John Krasinski) coming up with the best Halloween costume ever: Three-Hole Punch Jim, and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) parading in a Sith Lord costume, which quickly became a meme.
The next Halloween episode comes in season 5. Titled "Employee Transfer," this episode has one of the best cold opens in the whole series, with Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), Creed (Creed Bratton), and Dwight all dressing up as The Dark Knight's Joker. And, of course, who can forget about Pam (Jenna Fischer) being the only one to dress up (as Charlie Chaplin) at Dunder Mifflin's corporate office?
Seasons 6 and 7 of The Office also featured Halloween episodes. Due to its iconic cold open, most fans forget that the episode "Koi Pond" is actually a Halloween episode in which the Dunder Mifflin team hosts a haunted house for kids in the warehouse. Then, the season 7 episode “Costume Contest” features Angela (Angela Kinsey) as a sexy nurse, Kelly (Mindy Kaling) as Amy Winehouse, and Gabe (Zach Woods) as dressed Lady Gaga.
The last Halloween episodes of The Office are not as good as the rest, probably because Steve Carell is not in them. Season 8 episode "Spooked" mostly focuses on the team’s new boss, Robert California (James Spader), trying to figure out every employee's biggest fear to create an epic ghost story. As for the season 9 episode "Here Comes Treble," fans think this is the worst Halloween episode of The Office. The only memorable thing about this episode is Stephen Colbert’s cameo as Broccoli Rob, one of the members of Andy’s (Ed Helms) college a cappella group.
Steve Carell Thinks The Office Would Be Canceled If It Were Made Today
Although it remains a fan-favorite sitcom, many episodes and scenes from The Office didn’t age too well. Even Steve Carell admits that The Office wouldn’t work in today’s climate, which is why he wouldn’t be open to making a reboot of this popular show. “It might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted 10 years ago," he said during an interview with Esquire magazine.
"The climate's different," he said. "I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior." The actor went on to explain why he thinks his iconic character wouldn’t have a good reception nowadays. "I mean, he's certainly not a model boss. A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That's the point, you know? But I just don't know how that would fly now.”
