20 Years Later, ‘The Office’ Is Getting Its Story Rewritten
Erin is a Books & Literature Writer for Collider. She received her MA in English at LSU New Orleans, where she specialized in Disability Studies and maximized her Gothic literature obsession. She once aspired to be a ghost hunter, but has now settled into the writer’s life. A Pushcart-nominated poet and proud Piscean, if she’s not feverishly writing, you can find her stress baking, swimming, and adding to her tarot card deck collection.
Beloved mockumentary sitcom, The Office, is getting a fan-focused documentary over 20 years after it first aired on NBC. Directed by Shawn Cauthen, whose previous documentary ventures examined the rise of Netflix and Nickelodeon, Fan Level Midnight: Devoted to The Office revisits the workplace comedy turned cultural phenomenon, using new and archival interviews to explore the show's pop culture legacy. Commentary from director Paul Feig and NBC President Kevin Reilly helps sketch a behind-the-scenes picture of the sitcom's rocky start and how some of the most memorable episodes came to be.
The documentary's title, Fan Level Midnight, is an ode in and of itself, as the name harkens to "Threat Level Midnight," Michael Scott's homemade spy movie. First introduced in Season 2, Episode 13, as a screenplay Pam (Jenna Fischer) finds in Michael's desk that subsequently gets shared with the whole office via live table read, "Threat Level Midnight" quickly became a part of the show's mythology. Eventually, "Threat Level Midnight" was the subject of its own episode in Season 7, when Michael's action movie is screened after a decade of production. Thus, the documentary's title conjures not just a long-running gag, but the creative dedication and against-all-odds belief in a project that kept The Office alive.
'Fan Level Midnight' Is Over Six Years in the Making
Much like Michael Scott's passion project, "Threat Level Midnight," this filmmaking venture had a long road to the screen. Shawn Cauthen began production on the documentary pre-pandemic, with the official trailer arriving in June 2020. Then, the project essentially went into hibernation, incomplete, until 2024, when Cauthen picked it back up, editing the footage he had. In the last two years, Cauthen started looking for a home for Fan Level Midnight, which was aptly acquired by Peacock. Cauthen is already jumping into his next documentary, Texas Forever: The Legacy of Friday Night Lights, continuing his focus on the impact of long-running network television hits.
More than just a highlight reel of the show's most quotable and rewatchable episodes, like "Dinner Party" and "Office Olympics," Fan Level Midnight shines a spotlight on the unexpected and heartfelt ways the show has connected with audiences. The fandom focus provides fresh, feel-good territory, but given the delay in production due to COVID-19, the majority of the footage is six or more years old, which is both a draw and a hindrance. On the former, the documentary certainly offers a nostalgic time capsule. Yet, Fan Level Midnight can't speak to the pandemic-era streaming boom that The Office dominated, cementing its identity as a comfort-watch show for both new and longtime fans. In fact, “more than 57 billion minutes” of The Office were streamed in the United States alone during 2020, significantly outpacing Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds.
The Documentary Series Arrives Ahead of 'The Paper' Season 2
Debuting just two days before The Paper Season 2, the conjoined push between the docuseries and the journalistic spin-off by Peacock is pretty unmistakable. The Paper only brings over one returning character from the flagship show in accountant Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nuñez), and offers a not-unwelcome cameo in Bob Vance (Robert R. Schafer). That said, the series is predominantly working to slip out from beneath The Office’s shadow rather than rest on the original sitcom’s laurels. Of course, its connection to Dunder Mifflin is an obvious draw, but with a more well-honed sophomore season under its belt, The Paper now has an opportunity to better establish its own comedy identity.
The legacy of The Office is, therefore, officially taking two distinct forms in the mockumentary and the documentary. The latter rewrites the story of the sitcom as an underdog tale of mid-2000s television, exploding into a cultural phenomenon in tandem with the rise of social media and meme culture. The former, reviving the mockumentary style in a new location with a new ensemble and premise, doesn't unduly rely on nostalgia bait to succeed, but contains subtle Easter eggs that keep the heart of The Office fandom beating.
Fan Level Midnight: Devoted to The Office and The Paper are streaming now on Peacock.
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