Spoiler warning for Season 1 of Traitors US
Netflix, the original streaming service for chronically online watchers of TV and film rose to heights at the end of 2010s. Beloved sit com, The Office, was almost immediately picked up by the service launching the show to widespread popularity amongst younger millennials and elder generation z. The show became the hit comedy to watch, repeatedly cycling in college dorm rooms and apartments, reruns airing on Comedy Central, and meme’d across social media platforms.
The format of the Office, while developed in the United Kingdom by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, was adapted by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur for American TV audiences. The UK version of the programming aimed to be a “spoof” of documentary style programming that had been airing on the BBC and resembled what we would today call reality television programming. While the first season of the US version of the program aimed to be a shot-for-shot remake of the UK’s first season, creators immediately understood a need to update the format to a more “American” style of storytelling. With the escalation of “highly controversial entertainment” in the early 2000s, the producers of the American version of the programming saw the need to lean into the reality television storytelling once in production. While the first season, highly beloved, did a good job of imitating the format, the second season would bring a much more Americanized version of the “spoof” genre to our screens.
The Office, premiering in 2005, would go on to run for 9 seasons, airing its finale in 2013. Due to its inclusion on Netflix, the show and its popularity remained in the American zeitgeist, reaching its peak of fame in the COVID/Pandemic era of 2020. Just before the world went into “lockdown,” Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer, stars of the program, launched a “recap” podcast on Earwolf titled “Office Ladies.” A collaborative project with other stars of the show as well as producers and writers, “Office Ladies” gave us a peak behind the curtain into how the show was made and developed. We learned incredible new tidbits about the immense amount of work and dedication that went into developing the hit sit com that took over American households and friend groups. I myself often found myself listening to a podcast episode and then rewatching the episode it corresponded to unpacking all the references and methodology Angela and Jenna shared with us. It became a favorite past time and hobby, one I shared with my friends and family alike, constantly talking about the comedic genius that is Steve Carrell, Michael Schur, and Greg Daniels.
However, with the arrival of the podcast and the shows new jump into fame, NBC the original network the show premiered on, launched their own streaming service, Peacock. As any network is wont to do, they reclaimed the rights to the Office as well as Parks and Recreation, the sister show to the Office. Starting in January of 2021, fans of the NBC sitcom genre quickly began to move their streaming subscriptions over to Peacock, enjoying their beloved comedy shows, but also becoming exposed to the additional range of television shows under the NBC umbrella.
Bravo! a network known for its Reality Television programming and under the NBC umbrella, had many of its shows available on Peacock as well as WWE programing. As fans exposed to this “spoof” comedy show began the “exodus” from Netflix to established network streaming many fans began to have interest in the shows that were the blueprint for their beloved sitcom, The Office. Shows like The Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, and new competitive reality series The Traitors, began to rise in popularity and became regular topics of conversation amongst TV enthusiasts. However, in May of 2020, just nine months prior to NBC reclaiming the rights to the Office and two months before NBC launched Peacock, Suzanne Collins published prequel novel to her Hunger Games series The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
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The Hunger Games and Reality TV 