A Christmas Episode of 'The Office' Saved the Show From Cancelation

The Office is remembered as a beloved sitcom which ran for nine seasons and over 200 episodes—but that very nearly wasn't the case. In fact, according to two of its stars, the American remake of a British mockumentary was under constant threat of being canceled during its first two seasons, until a Christmas miracle intervened.

Brian Baumgartner and Angela Kinsey, who played Kevin and Angela on the show, recently told Yahoo Entertainment all about the precarious nature of making The Office in those early days, and how the sitcom's first festive-themed episode changed the course of its fate.

"We were struggling week to week," said Kinsey, while Baumgartner claimed that they were "almost canceled two, three, four, 10, 12 times."

The turning point came when "Christmas Party" aired in season two. Revolving around an office holiday party that swiftly spirals out of control thanks to a booze-fueled Secret Santa gone awry, it provided a showcase for the comedic talents of the show's supporting cast as well as leading performers like Steve Carell, John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer.

"I think it's really hilarious," said Baumgartner "And the other thing is while some of the secondary characters had storylines before that, it was an episode that was truly an ensemble. Everybody had something, or some moment, some storyline around the Secret Santa swap."

Kinsey recalled: "After that episode aired, we were the number one streaming show on iTunes and all of a sudden we were like, 'Hold up. We found our audience.' It turned a corner from there and we were set."

She added that the success of "Christmas Party" led to a tradition of holiday episodes, with one included in each subsequent season. "They just became kind of legend episodes," she said. "We were like, 'Oh my God, there’s another one. It's a Christmas time.' We loved dressing up. The set always looked great. We knew there was gonna be some ridiculous drama. Everyone just really loved those episodes."

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