Looking back at the time she was replaced by Selma Blair, the former star of 'The Office' claims that test audiences couldn't believe Pam would marry Joey from 'Friends'.
- Jul 20, 2021
AceShowbiz - Jenna Fischer believes she was axed as Matt LeBlanc's wife on his recent sitcom, because audiences couldn't believe her "The Office" character would marry Joey from "Friends".
The actress shot a pilot for U.S. show "Man with a Plan", but was replaced when the show aired, because test audiences closely associated herself and LeBlanc with their iconic TV characters.
Fischer, who played Pam Beesly on "The Office" for nine seasons, says, "They [test audiences] said, 'I don't believe Pam would marry Joey. The chemistry doesn't work between these two.' That was the feedback they [producers] got. So it wasn't working for them that we got married and had a family."
Fischer was replaced by Selma Blair, and then Liza Snyder, who played LeBlanc's wife when the sitcom finally aired.
"The first thing I said was, 'Is it ['Man with a Plan'] not getting picked up?' " Fischer adds, "and they said, 'It's worse than that, hun... It's getting picked up, but without you.' And I was like, 'Wow, I guess I'll unpack my suitcase.' "
"Man With a Plan" ran for four seasons from 2016 to 2020.
When asked about possibility of "The Office" revival, Fischer candidly says, "I don't think it'll ever happen." She adds, "I would do it if there was some circumstance where everybody got back together, and could be brought back together in some amazing way, I would say yes. But I'm not sure it's realistic."
"The characters, they had arcs. They had growth. Jim and Pam left Dunder-Mifflin. Michael left Dunder-Mifflin," she goes on to say. "And it would be hard to manufacture why all the people were back working together… It would almost have to be a scenario where it's 'the lost tapes of 'The Office',' where you somehow go back in time and there's all of these lost stories where we weirdly look five years older."
