Mitchell Haaseth/NBCHello, fellow couch potatoes! Two of our fave Office workers, Mindy Kaling and Brian Baumgartner, just talked to reporters about the upcoming Office Games, the "Kevin's Loan" webisodes and yes, the fate of Ryan (B.J. Novak) and Toby (Paul Lieberstein) in season five. Click in to find out who's about to eat a lot of beets...
Season Five, Coming Soon: The conference call focused on the webisodes and the Office Games (coming July 19 to Scranton, Pa.) , but a smidge of information about season five was spilled. When asked about the prevalence of the Toby and Ryan characters in season five, Mindy said, "I think that we'll be satisfied with how much we see Toby and Ryan. Toby disappeared in the finale of last season, and Ryan was seemingly arrested, so tying up those stories will be interesting. We haven't seen the last of Toby is what I can tell fans. Personally, I don't mind seeing less of him. Just kidding, they're my friends."
To Be Continued? As you probably know, the webisodes focus on Kevin's efforts to pay off his gambling debts. So, does he succeed in clearing the ledger and moving on with this life, or will the money-trouble drama continue into season five of The Office? Says Brian B.,"I think the irony of how terrible he is with money—yet he is an accountant at Dunder Mifflin—has played out a few times, or maybe his ineptitude has played out…I sort of assume this is a summer excursion for him."
Also, Huge in Japan: Rest assured, Baumgartner is not letting the webisodic fame go to his head: "Steve Carell may be the star of The Office, but I am huge on the Internet. I am like a complete and total star of two-minute clips online." That's what I like about The Office cast: no egos.
Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica: For the record, Mindy Kaling will throw down with you at the Office Games beet-eating contest. She says, "Look, I know a lot of people think of me and they like, 'Oh, that girl is really sexy, that girl is really put together, she would never do something as unladylike as a beet-eating competition. Well, let me just say that that is not true, I will be eating beets as fast as humanly possible, and I hope to win. Yes, I am emceeing a lot of the events, and yes, I am a castmember on the show, but does that mean I'm not going to force myself to eat thousands upon thousands of beets? No, not at all, and I'll do it looking really sexy."
Good Buzz: Kaling, who both acts and writes for The Office, shared a little of the watercooler talk around the production office about the spinoff. She says, "The spinoff, from what I've heard, sounds amazing. That'll be really fun for those writers." Whoo-hoo!
—Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams