Season 6 of The Office spent $45,000 on the rights to a certain song.
The hit NBC mockumentary covers the ordinary work life of the office employees of the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is based on the BBC series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Regional manager Michael Scott is played by Steve Carrell, alongside salesman Jim Halpert played by John Krasinski, receptionist Pam Beasley played by Jenna Fischer, assistant to the regional manager Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson, and uptight accounting whiz Angela Martin played by Angela Kinsey.
The Office produced plenty of memorable musical moments throughout nine great seasons, starting with Michael languishing in his office to the iTunes preview of James Blunt’s “Goodbye My Lover” when Carol dumped him (Nancy Carell). The office’s choreographed dance during Jim and Pam’s wedding, set to the tune of Chris Brown’s “Forever,” is a much more upbeat moment. The office’s tearful rendition of “Seasons of Love” from Rent to bid farewell to their beloved boss, Michael, is another sad musical moment.
The former co-stars discuss The Office season 6 episode 10, “Murder,” on the latest episode of Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey’s rewatch podcast, Office Ladies (via Mashable). Michael is alone in his office about five minutes into the episode, blasting Shawn Mullins’ 1998 hit “Lullaby” to calm his nerves after Dunder Mifflin declared bankruptcy, even singing the lyrics, “Everything is going to be all right.” Rockabye. Rockabye.” During the podcast discussion, Fischer reveals that line producer Randy Corday told her that the show paid $45,000 for the rights to use that song.
The Office Ladies podcast has provided a wealth of financial information regarding the broadcast. In previous episodes, the duo disclosed that the song “Everybody Dance Now” cost $40,000 to use in the season 5 episode “Cafe Disco.” Michael simply singing the lyrics to “Two Tickets To Paradise” cost the show $60,000 in another musical moment from season 3’s “A Benihana Christmas.” The most costly scene in Office history, on the other hand, did not include any licensing fees, as Jim’s gas station proposal to Pam cost a stunning $250,000 to stage.
While several of these prices may appear high at first, they were all unquestionably worth it in the end, since many of the song choices assist land a certain joke or completing their individual scene. Even though the show ended in 2013, fans’ incessant rewatching has kept it alive, and the popular Office Ladies rewatch podcast has kept it in the public eye. In future episodes, host Fischer and Kinsey should hopefully unveil some more interesting facts about The Office.