Adam Scott almost stole Pam Beasley from Jim. Well, from the Jim we know and love. Before John Krasinski became the adorable, floppy-haired jokester of The Office, Scott (Parks and Recreation) auditioned for the same role, according to EW, forcing us to wonder what could have been.
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If Scott, the somewhat slighter actor had been wooing Pam Beasley (Jenna Fisher, or in another casting universe Anne Dudek or Mary Lynn Rajskub), would he have been able to pull off all those slick pranks on Dwight (Rainn Wilson in our world, Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Besser in the alternate one)? Or would he, like his Parks and Rec character Ben, be someone what of a klutz, and charm Pam with his unbelievably goofy, sexy elf king stature? Could he have made “Are we having fun yet?” an actual catchphrase? The possibilities are endless. But one thing is for certain: we’d never have learned the romantic wonderment of the Ben Wyatt/Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler… and in alternate universe: Amy Poehler. Because she is a goddess.) on Parks and Rec. So, basically, we should be thanking Krasinski for being really, really ridiculously charming and nabbing the role of Jim.
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And Melissa McCarthy’s husband, Ben Falcone, should be thanking his lucky stars that he (and other Michael Scott potential Alan Tudyk of Firefly) didn’t nab the lead role that eventually went to Steve Carell and made him a superstar. Reason One: Carell is amazing and no one should be deprived of his first five seasons of genius. Two: Now his claim to fame gets to be as the Bridesmaids Air Marshall with a gun where the sun don’t shine and a strange naked-hungry-bear-eating-sandwich fetish.
Of course, despite varying gripes about the later seasons of The Office, we can’t deny how grateful we were for the series in the perfection of its first few seasons. It’s fun to think about what could have been, but I for one, wouldn’t have changed a single thing about the U.S. Office.
Follow Kelsea on Twitter @KelseaStahler
[Photo Credit:]NBC; Wenn(2)
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