It’s no secret that — following last fall’s show-depleting writers’ strike and the recent apparent cancellation of Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy — NBC’s spring prime-time lineup will include nightly infomercials and hour-long stretches of dead air. But what else will they broadcast? According to Rainn Wilson, dastardly network wunderkind (and Vulture hero) Ben Silverman is forcing him and his Office castmates to pick up the slack: “The Office is keeping me pretty busy,†he tells OK! magazine, presumably while doubled over and panting. “We just shot 13 episodes in 17 weeks … Most TV shows make 22 episodes in a year — so we made that in just over three months.â€
“It’s NBC and their lack of programming,†continued an hilariously candid Wilson, who is apparently so stressed out that he didn’t care if word of this interview reached his improbably eyebrowed network overlord. “They’re milking their golden goose, to mix a couple of metaphors.†And if Dunder Mifflin’s top paper salesman is already cracking under the pressure, how are his less formidable co-workers coping? And which Office cast member will succumb to exhaustion first? Can somebody check on Mindy Kaling?