Friday, September 17, 2021
Fri-Yay: NBC Reportedly Wants to Reboot The Office; Remembering Norm Macdonald of The Norm Show/Norm

by Vincent
A few weeks ago, reports came out that NBC wants to reboot The Office. Whether the reboot would feature the original cast or if it would be a refresh (like The Wonder Years or One Day at a Time) is obviously not clear. Still, it's hard for me to see a situation where this Office reboot is a good idea. Simply put, while The Office is a modern classic, the show is both too outdated and too modern to work as a reboot this time.
First off, simply not enough time has passed since The Office ended for it to warrant a reboot. The Office hasn't even been off the air for ten years - it ended 8 years ago, in 2013. It also still remains incredibly popular, so any Office reboot would simply have too many comparisons to the original series, and fans would inevitably be unhappy at any changes made. At the same time, The Office was also very much a show of its time, and many of the inappropriate boss reactions that made the show work so well might play differently in today's cultural environment. Let's enjoy the original Office and if its creators want to make new content, come up with new, original series instead.
Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Norm Macdonald, who starred as Norm Henderson on The Norm Show (aka Norm), has died. He died on September 14 from acute leukemia at a hospital in Pasadena, California. He had been diagnosed nine years prior, though he disclosed his diagnosis to only a few close friends and family members. Mr. Macdonald was 61.
Macdonald's early television appearances included a 1990 episode of Star Search as a stand-up comedy competitor and a 1991 episode of the HBO stand-up series One Night Stand. He worked as a writer for The Dennis Miller Show in 1992. He worked as a story editor on four episodes and wrote two episodes of Roseanne in 1992 and 1993. In 1993, he guest starred on an episode of The Jackie Thomas Show.
He was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1993. He spent a total of five seasons on the show until 1998. He was the anchor of the Weekend Update segment starting in 1994 for three and a half seasons. Some of his impressions included Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole. He returned to host the October 23, 1999, show. He reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy! on the May 16, 2009, show.
Macdonald starred as Norm Henderson on the 1999-2001 ABC sitcom The Norm Show (later shortened to Norm). Norm Henderson is a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. He avoided jail time by agreeing to five years of community service as a full-time social worker. The first season aired as The Norm Show before they shortened the title to Norm in season two to avoid a legal conflict with Michael Jantze's comic strip The Norm. Macdonald also worked as a producer for the series, which aired for 3 seasons and 54 episodes. The cast included Laurie Metcalf, Ian Gomez, Amy Wilson (season 1), Bruce Jarchow (season 1), Max Wright, Faith Ford (seasons 2-3), Artie Lange (seasons 2-3) and Nikki Cox (recurring).
He next starred as Stan Hooper on the short-lived 2003 Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper. Stan Hooper is a famous newspaper columnist turned television commentator. He moves his family from their New York home to a small Wisconsin town, Waterford Falls, where he hopes to better get in touch with Middle America in an attempt to make his weekly minute-long television commentaries more appealing to a larger audience. Macdonald also worked as an executive producer for the series. They produced 13 episodes, although only 6 episodes were aired. The cast included Penelope Ann Miller, Brian Howe, Eric Lively, Reagan Dale Neis, Garret Dillahunt, Daniel Roebuck and Fred Willard.
Macdonald had a recurring role as Orville "Rusty" Heck, Mike's (Neil Flynn) irresponsible, dim-witted but well meaning brother, on ten episodes of the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010 to 2018. Some of his other sitcom guest appearances included The Larry Sanders Show, The Drew Carey Show (2 episodes), NewsRadio, Oliver Beene, My Name Is Earl (2 episodes), Real Rob and Girlboss (3 episodes). He worked as a consultin producer on Roseanne in 2018.
He was also known for his voice work. He voiced the character of Lucky the Dog in Dr. Dolittle (1998), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006), Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008) and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009). He provided the voice of Pigeon on Mike Tyson Mysteries from 2014 to 2020. He voiced Glumshanks on Skylanders Academy from 2016 to 2018. Macdonald was the voice of Lieutenant Yaphit, an amorphous, gelatinous, shapeshifting engineer on The Orville from 2017 to 2019. His other voice credits included Family Guy (2 episodes) and The Fairly OddParents (2 episodes).
He hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central in 2011. He co-hosted the podcast Norm Macdonald Live with Adam Eget for three seasons from 2013 to 2017. They worked again on Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.
Macdonald co-wrote and starred as Mitch Weaver in the 1998 film Dirty Work. Some of his other film credits included Billy Madison (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999) and Screwed (2000). He made cameos in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Animal (2001), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), Funny People (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Jack & Jill (2011) and The Ridiculous Six (2015).
Mr. Macdonald was a true comedy genius. He was a master with his quick wit and deadpan delivery. His late night talk show appearances were always funny. He was very good on The Norm Show/Norm. The underrated sitcom should be re-released on DVD. We thank him for the many laughs and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be greatly missed.
Share your memories on our The Norm Show/Norm message board. View photos in our galleries.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Saturday, June 10
Act Your Age - "Bahama Drama" (Bounce TV, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Angela and Keisha's differences come to a head as a storm threatens their tranquil Bahamian vacation; back at the penthouse, Olivia's alone time with Jacob is interrupted by an invited guest.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 5)
Friday, June 9
- Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) - Watch Marc on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Martin Short (Mulaney/The Martin Short Show) - Martin is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) - Demi is a musical guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Sandra Bullock (Working Girl) - Sandra appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
- Zach Braff (Scrubs/Alex, Inc.) - Zach is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris guest co-hosts a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Jay Ellis (Insecure/The Game) - Jay discusses the motivation behind their new true-crime podcast Freeway Phantom on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Tig Notaro (One Mississippi) - Tig is telling Drew about working with Reese Witherspoon on their new film and the latest season of The Morning Show on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Alfonso Ribeiro (In the House/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Silver Spoons) - Alfonso will be on a repeat of The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
- Daniel Wu (American Born Chinese) - Daniel talks about his role on the Disney+ series American Born Chinese on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Jason Alexander (Listen Up!/Bob Patterson/Seinfeld/Everything's Relative/ E/R) - Eric and Jason talk about The Cottage on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Reba McEntire (Reba/Malibu Country) - Reba will be on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
- Geena Davis (The Geena Davis Show/Sara/Buffalo Bill) - NBC's Today catches up with Geena in the 9am hour.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (January-June)
01/03 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series (2023 Release)
01/27 - Master of None - Season Three / The Complete Series
02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
02/28 - Growing Pains - The Complete Series
03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/04 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/18 - Blondie - The Complete 1957 Television Series (Blu-ray)
04/25 - Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
05/23 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (Universal)
05/29 - Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/29 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/30 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
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