There aren’t many things that The Office didn’t take aim at during its nine seasons, nor was it afraid to push the boundaries of comedy (“Scott’s Tots” is far and away one of the greatest cringe comedy moments of all time). What made the series appealing is how the show managed to incorporate so many of the mundane office routines of business and skew them ever so slightly to great comic effect, like holding seemingly pointless meetings regularly or covering phone calls for your boss who is otherwise occupied (“Michael’s trapped in an oil painting” – brilliant). Then there are those ever-dreaded “special days” like monthly birthday parties or Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. One that didn’t make the cut, though, is a “Pet Day” episode that was planned for Season 1, but never came to fruition. And it’s just as well they let that one sit.
“Pet Day” Didn’t Make the Cut for the First Season of ‘The Office’
It goes without saying that when pitching a TV series, one should have plans for further episodes beyond the pilot in the event the series is picked up by a network, and The Office is no different. Writers for the series came up with a number of pitches, some of which were feasible (writer Jen Celotta pitched an idea for an episode that follows the characters during lunch break, just to see what that routine would look like), and some of which were out there (Aaron Shure came up with one where Michael [Steve Carell] is accidentally crucified — sans nails — on his garage door). One idea from Greg Daniels, “Pet Day,” went further than most, with a script completed that would have had the staff bring their pets to the office. Even better, it would have introduced Michael’s pet parrot, Jim Carrey.
The episode was never shot, but writer Justin Spitzer confirms, per Entertainment Weekly, that they kept the script around as a “break the glass episode” in the event they needed one as an emergency fill-in. Spitzer also claims that there were a few seasons where they’d find themselves in trouble and would shout out, “There’s always ‘Pet Day’!” Given the episode was never made, they were clearly never in that much trouble. However, at some point, they had to concede that the episode simply wouldn’t be a viable alternative. “Okay, the characters and their situations have changed so much now that we can never, ever do ‘Pet Day’,” Spitzer adds. Besides, the only character to reference a pet off-screen was Angela (Angela Kinsey), who apparently (understatement alert) has a fondness for cats.
Why ‘The Office’s “Pet Day” Would Have Been Awesome, and Why It Still Wouldn’t Have Worked
It’s a shame we never got to see “Pet Day,” given how it has the makings of a truly memorable episode. In essence, it would share a similar concept with Season 2’s “Take Your Daughter to Work Day,” which allowed viewers to see what the children of staff members are like in relation to the parents (the irony of Michael getting along fabulously with Toby’s [Paul Lieberstein] daughter Sasha (Delaney Ruth Farrell) is particularly amusing). It would have been interesting to see what sort of pets the characters have at home, but there’s no question that Michael would steal the show. Jim Carrey, his parrot, would undoubtedly have uttered many of Michael’s catchphrases and likely divulged secrets that should have been kept quiet. And there is no way that Michael would allow a Pet Day and not make some sort of reference to dogs as “b**ches” (you can picture it now, right?).
Ultimately, it’s for the best, as the episode would have been difficult to pull off. Not only were pets rarely mentioned during the series’ run, but having that many pets in the already-crowded Dunder Mifflin office would have been far too chaotic, taking focus away from scenes between the actors. As the great W.C. Fields once said, “Never work with children or animals,” and they’d already committed to one of those. It doesn’t mean that pets haven’t been on the series otherwise. In addition to Angela’s cats, Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) always had her two Harlequin Great Danes at her side, while Dwight (Rainn Wilson) brought in Garbage the cat as a replacement for Angela’s beloved Sprinkles, the cat Dwight euthanized. “Pet Day” was referenced in The Office once, however. In Season 6’s “New Leads,” during a staff meeting, Michael alludes to an upcoming pet day before being interrupted. Ah, what could have been.
