Here is a follow up article from the Scranton newspaper about The Office Convention and the very good prospect that there will indeed be another one next year.
Now on a personal note, we may have mentioned that we are from the Utica, NY area. Our claim to fame here is that Thursday night’s episode of The Office (Branch Wars) will feature the fictional Dunder Mifflin Utica Branch. In response to the amazing reception they received in Scranton at this weekend’s conference, Greg Daniels, the show’s executive producer, was quoted saying, “I don’t think we’d have gotten this reception in Utica,” before calling the conventioneers “the best fans in television.”
We hate to say it, but we agree. Being featured on the show is a great opportunity to celebrate upstate NY. Aside from one or two canned stories (from E!) on the local news and a couple articles in the paper, no one seems to care that Utica is going to be in the public spotlight, even if only for one night.
We have not heard of one local viewing party. We have a lovely local theater that just last week celebrated the Utica “film festival” but never thought to screen The Office on Thursday? And what about all of the local bars that seem to have a theme night every week, no one else thought of the “drink every time they say Utica” game? If there is something planned, it has not been publicized very well and we would love to know about it.
There are a couple people involved in this site and we vowed never to make it our own personal soap box, there are enough big-mouth bloggers in the world, but we couldn’t let our disappointment go unnoticed.
We do want to mention that we met Greg Daniels at the convention and showed him we were from “the Utica branch” (we were wearing our DM Utica branch tees) and he replied with a big smile, two thumbs up, and an “awesome”!
Finally, don’t forget to tune in on Thursday (11/1 @ 9) for Branch Wars!
UPDATE 10/31: Ok, so maybe we were a little harsh. After posting this we did have a few people share their enthusiasm for the “Utica branch”. On a related note, we have found this forum specifically for fans of The Office in Utica who also want to share their enthusiasm, please check it out!
One more thing, apparently they are planning a spin off of The Office.
That’s it for The Office for this week! Everyone knows to tune in Thursday for “Branch Wars”, let us know what you thought in the comments below!
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