NO SUMMER VACATION FOR NBC'S 'THE OFFICE'

Series To Shoot Exclusive Webisodes For NBC.com

BURBANK, Calif. -- March 16, 2006 -- NBC's hit comedy "The Office" (Thursdays, 9:30 - 10:00pm ET) goes digital with ten, original stand-alone webisodes premiering on NBC.com this summer. The serialized arc will star the accounting staff of the Dunder Mifflin paper company in an edge-of-your-ergonomically-designed-seat whodunit.

When the Dunder Mifflin accountants -- Angela (Angela Kinsey), Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) and Oscar (Oscar Nunez) -- discover that $3000 is missing from the Scranton office, no one is above suspicion, as the crack team of numbers crunchers tries to solve the mystery before turning on each other. Rainn Wilson, Melora Hardin, Phyllis Smith, Kate Flannigan, Leslie David Baker and David Denman also star.

Since moving to Thursday nights on January 5, "The Office" has averaged a 4.5 rating, 11 share in adults 18-49 and 8.7 million viewers overall. That represents a 22 percent increase over the show's 18-49 average for Tuesday telecasts earlier this season (3.7/9 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) and an 80 percent increase over "The Office's" average for the 2004-05 season (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall), when it also aired on Tuesday nights.

"The Office" has averaged an 88 percent retention of "Earl" so far on Thursdays, up from its 71 percent average on Tuesdays earlier this season. In the valuable adult 18-34 category, "The Office" is retaining 100 percent of its lead-in from "Earl" and has twice in recent weeks scored as NBC's #1 telecast of the week among adults 18-34.

"The Office" takes a painfully funny look at the interactions of the desk jockeys at Dunder Mifflin paper-supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Golden Globe winner Steve Carell ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- whom E! Online said, "might be the funniest man alive,") stars as unctuous regional manager Michael Scott who hosts the documentary crew on a tour of the workplace. Jenna Fischer ("Miss Match"), John Krasinski ("Jarhead," "Kinsey"), Rainn Wilson ("Six Feet Under"), and B.J. Novak ("Punk'd") star as the employees who tolerate Michael's inappropriate behavior only because he signs their paychecks. Also starring are Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, David Denman as Roy, Leslie David Baker as Stanley Hudson, Brian Baumgartner as Kevin Malone, Kate Flannery as Meredith Palmer, Angela Kinsey as Angela Martin, Oscar Nunez as Oscar Martinez and Phyllis Smith as Phyllis Lapin. "The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American television, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein.