# Casting for The Office \[ed. title, take 2\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861 "2011-06-25T22:55:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/1 "2011-06-25T22:55:54Z")
Woohoo! I LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED Spader’s character, “Robert California”. If you missed it,[scroll down](http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/24/james-spader-the-office/). Brilliant. _Scathingly_ brilliant. (And impossible to imagine anyone else pulling it off.) I’m thrilled. I’ll never miss an episode again. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/2 "2011-06-25T23:00:26Z")
So that’ll be spoiling it for some people, then. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/3 "2011-06-25T23:36:52Z")
Since when is an actor joining the cast of a show something which must be treated with spoiler tags? If someone wants that kind of information to be a surprise, they need to avoid all entertainment news sources completely, forget Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/4 "2011-06-25T23:45:48Z")
Note that he’s not the replacement for Steve Carell, but instead for Kathy Bates’ character. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/5 "2011-06-25T23:46:04Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Since when is an actor joining the cast of a show something which must be treated with spoiler tags? > > If someone wants that kind of information to be a surprise, they need to avoid all entertainment news sources completely, forget Cafe Society. Because the season finale was a cliffhanger about who would be hired. Announcing that Spader is joining the cast spoils that cliffhanger. Of course, we already had this entire discussion about Will Ferrel joining the cast, and that didn’t change anything. So lets just do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/6 "2011-06-26T00:01:09Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Because the season finale was a cliffhanger about who would be hired. Announcing that Spader is joining the cast spoils that cliffhanger. Well then I’m not the spoiler, the entertainment news media is, the producers are. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/7 "2011-06-26T00:09:36Z")
BTW, [here](http://www.slate.com/id/2297500/)’s a [Slate.com](http://Slate.com) interview with Phyllis Smith (who plays Phyllis on the show). Earlier in her career, she was a NFL cheerleader and later a burlesque dancer and then a casting director for nineteen years. Interestingly, she said that the computers on the desks on the show actually work, and that in some of the episodes she was working on her taxes while the show was being filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/8 "2011-06-26T00:41:13Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Because the season finale was a cliffhanger about who would be hired. Announcing that Spader is joining the cast spoils that cliffhanger. Spader isn’t being hired as Carrel’s replacement. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/9 "2011-06-26T02:45:07Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Well then I’m not the spoiler, the entertainment news media is, the producers are. Well that’s a silly excuse. Entertainment news spoils plenty of stuff. Now personally, I don’t care. I’m pumped at the news. But there are people here who do try to avoid all that sort of news. (And yes, that fact that he’s replacing Bates is a spoiler too). We don’t have to be a source of spoilers, especially when it’s just as easy to title the topic something like “Big casting news for The Office _spoilers_” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/10 "2011-06-26T03:00:03Z")
[Moderating]I’ve changed the title of this thread to something a little less spoilerific.[/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/11 "2011-06-26T03:16:19Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > [Moderating]I’ve changed the title of this thread to something a little less spoilerific.[/Moderating] Err..except its like an anti-spoiler now, cause its wrong. We still don’t know who, if anyone, is replacing Carrell. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/12 "2011-06-26T03:35:00Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Err..except its like an anti-spoiler now, cause its wrong. We still don’t know who, if anyone, is replacing Carrell. Okay, how’s that? [Re: Second edit of title] ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/13 "2011-06-26T03:40:01Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Okay, how’s that? According to the article, Spader replacing Kathy Bates as the CEO of Dunder Mifflin. Who will replace Carrell as manager (or if they’ll just promote an already existing cast member) is still unknown. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/14 "2011-06-26T03:51:08Z")
Which is why the thread title doesn’t specify roles, just the general category of “casting.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/15 "2011-06-26T03:54:35Z")
Maybe a “Spoilers” tag should be added to the title? It’s not clear, now, that it refers to something new about the show. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/16 "2011-06-26T04:05:08Z")
Is this thread winning the “most times re-titled” award yet? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/17 "2011-06-26T05:18:03Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > If someone wants that kind of information to be a surprise, they need to avoid all entertainment news sources completely, forget Cafe Society. I heard the news first in this thread. I don’t follow entertainment news shows, but I do frequent Cafe Society. I doubt I’m alone in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/18 "2011-06-26T05:46:09Z")
This is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/19 "2011-06-26T11:11:05Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I heard the news first in this thread. I don’t follow entertainment news shows, but I do frequent Cafe Society. I doubt I’m alone in that regard. Indeed. For me it as an issue on two levels: 1. I don’t follow the entertainment media. 2. I don’t live in the US, so the US idea of “it is everywhere” may not apply to me, where I am. (\*) What it comes down to is politeness. It really isn’t very difficult to write a subject line that doesn’t contain a spoiler. “Exciting new cast change in ‘The Office’!”. See? Piss easy. Writing the exact information is not required and frankly extremely inconsiderate. Just for a second try thinking about the people that are noting the same situation as you. (\*) And not, that by fair means or foul, this does not mean that we will always be waiting months to see the episode. The UK, for example, often manages to show US shows within days (hell, in the case of the Lost finale, hours) of the US. Think of it like the way BBC America shows ‘Dr Who’, but in reverse. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861/20 "2011-06-26T13:43:39Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > This is ridiculous. Agreed. Sometimes I think people pop into these threads just to piss and moan about their little sitcom world being just completely ruined by some thoughtless goon not using spoilers for the _one thing_ they wanted to be a surprise. This, in a social media saturated world. If you don’t want your day spoiled, then - wait for it - don’t read threads that look like they may spoil it for you! I managed to completely avoid threads about _The Wire_ for five years because I didn’t get around to watching it until recently. See? Easy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-for-the-office-ed-title-take-2/586861.md?page=2)