{"id":2046621,"date":"2025-09-24T15:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2046621"},"modified":"2025-09-24T15:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:29:15","slug":"the-office-star-paul-lieberstein-was-worried-hed-ruin-franchise-with-the-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-office-star-paul-lieberstein-was-worried-hed-ruin-franchise-with-the-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Office’ star Paul Lieberstein was worried he’d ruin franchise with ‘The Paper’"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

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No, God, please, no!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Lieberstein still gets approached by fans daily for his portrayal as\u00a0Toby on the beloved comedy, \u201cThe Office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most common quote they bring to him \u201cis shouting, \u2018No!\u2019 When Michael Scott sees my character come back,\u201d he exclusively told The Post. The scene took place in Season 5 when Steve Carell\u2019s boorish boss, Michael Scott, is dismayed to see Toby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lieberstein, 58, was a showrunner on the NBC series from Seasons 5-8. He recently promoted \u201cThe Office\u201d \u2014\u00a0and its spinoff, \u201cThe Paper\u201d \u2014 at a Paley Museum<\/a> exhibition in Manhattan, which runs until Sunday, November 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul Lieberstein at the Paley Center exhibit for \u201cThe Office\u201d in NYC on Sept. 18, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Brian Baumgartner, Jake Lacy, Paul Lieberstein, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Craig Robinson, Ellie Kemper, Kate Flannery, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker in \u201cThe Office.\u201d \u00a9NBC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Steve Carell as Michael and Paul Lieberstein as Toby in \u201cThe Office.\u201d \u00a9NBC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibit includes props and costumes from the mockumentary, which ran from 2005 to 2013, starring Carell, Lieberstein, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, and Jenna Fischer.<\/p>\n

Features include Michael Scott\u2019s office suit, Meredith Palmer\u2019s \u201cCasual Friday\u201d dress, Dwight Schrute\u2019s wedding suit, and Pam Beesly\u2019s copy of the \u201cThreat Level: Midnight\u201d screenplay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a replica of Michael\u2019s desk for attendees to take photos with.<\/p>\n

Costumes and props from \u201cThe Office\u201d on display at the Paley Museum. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Paley Museum exhibit for \u201cThe Office.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Paper\u201d recently debuted<\/a> on Peacock (and airs on NBC in November). It features a new cast of characters working at a newspaper in Ohio, but one \u201cOffice\u201d cast member \u2014 Oscar (Oscar Nunez) \u2014 has returned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nunez told The Post<\/a> that if \u201cThe Paper\u201d added any more characters from the original show, Toby might make sense. He works in HR, after all, which is a flexible job open to any company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that would be fun,\u201d said Lieberstein, noting they\u2019d have to \u201csee if it fits in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a need for the show to go its own way,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd so, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s moving backwards or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, if he was asked to appear in \u201cThe Paper,\u201d\u00a0he would jump at the chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Office\u201d cast: Leslie David Baker, Ed Helms, Greg Daniels, Robert R Shafer, Kate Flannery, Rainn Wilson, Phyllis Smith, John Krasinski, Brian Baumgartner, Jenna Fischer, Steve Carell, Angela Kinsey, B.J. Novak and Paul Lieberstein. \u00a9NBC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Paul Lieberstein at the Paley Center exhibit for \u201cThe Office\u201d on Sept. 18, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since he\u2019s a consulting producer and part-time writer on \u201cThe Paper,\u201d too, Lieberstein was involved in \u201cThe Paper\u201d from the early days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt a little like when we started up with \u2018The Office.\u2019 That there was this British show that we all love,\u201d he said, referring to the Ricky Gervais BBC version.\u00a0\u201c[At the time, we thought], \u2018Oh, God, what are we doing? We\u2019re going to ruin it and be a laughing stock!\u2019\u201d And there was a little bit of that same apprehension, I think [for \u2018The Paper\u2019].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate Flannery, B.J. Novak, Leslie David Baker, Mindy Kaling, Steve Carell, Phyllis Smith, Paul Lieberstein, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, Rainn Wilson in \u201cThe Office.\u201d \u00a9NBC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Paul Lieberstein, Craig Robinson, Catherine Tate, Ellie Kemper, Oscar Nunez, Brian Baumgartner, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski and Ed Helms in \u201cThe Office.\u201d \u00a9NBC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally, there was also a spinoff to \u201cThe Office\u201d in the works called \u201cThe Farm,\u201d<\/a> which would have focused on Wilson\u2019s weirdo, Dwight Schrute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It had a backdoor pilot in \u201cThe Office,\u201d but\u00a0NBC never moved forward with that series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was timing. I think if we had waited two years for the show to end, they would have understood the need and desire for it,\u201d Lieberstein explained toThe Post. \u201cBut there was new management at NBC, and they didn\u2019t really get what was happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it before the show ended. They tested it,\u201d he continued. \u201cComments came back like, \u2018We want more Jim and Pam!\u2019 Oh, okay. Like, you\u2019re not really seeing it for what it was.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lieberstein thinks if the audience had enough time to \u201cmourn\u201d the end of \u201cThe Office,\u201d then they might have \u201cwelcomed\u201d the Dwight spinoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, God, please, no!\u00a0 Paul Lieberstein still gets approached by fans daily for his portrayal as\u00a0Toby on the beloved comedy, \u201cThe Office.\u201d The most common quote they bring to him \u201cis shouting, \u2018No!\u2019 When Michael Scott sees my character come back,\u201d he exclusively told The Post. The scene took place in Season 5 when Steve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2046622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21741,25404,24075,379420,379421,341864,319616,22205,333080,21913],"class_list":["post-2046621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-entertainment","tag-exclusive","tag-nbc","tag-office","tag-paley-center-for-media","tag-rainn-wilson","tag-steve-carell","tag-television","tag-the-office","tag-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Office-star-Paul-Lieberstein-was-worried-hed-ruin-franchise.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2046622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}