Jenna Fischer fought hard to cut this storyline from 'The Office' (and won)

The series finale of The Office was a tear jerker, but the show might not have been as sweet had it not been for a controversial storyline.

In the last five minutes of the series finale, there is a farewell video for Dunder Mifflin employees and a recording of their final talking heads with the documentary crew. Pam removed her famous watercolor painting of their office building from the wall. In the Season 3 scene, Michael hangs the painting he bought from the art show, which he bought from Pam. Pam says there is a lot of beauty in ordinary things. The show masterfully transitions from the watercolor painting of the building to an image of the actual building. And then it is over.

OK! Let's find out what deleted Season 6 storyline would have changed the end of the series. On the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, former co-stars of the show, including the one who fought hard to get cut, talked about the episode and called out a deleted scene involving Pam's sentimental watercolor painting.

Michael bought Pam's famous watercolor from her art show, andErin was supposed to clean it. She sprays the glass with this cleaner, and then Creed chats with her, and the spray goes under the watercolor, ruining it.

If you watch the deleted scenes, they will melt. Kinsey said that all the colors slide down to the bottom of the frame. At one point, I forgot it was in the story.

There is a part of the watercolor destruction scene that you can watch.

Via Giphy

In a deleted scene, Kelly was asked to help save a painting. That did not go well, as you can imagine.

There is a deleted scene where Kelly is asked to help fix it, and she says she can do watercolor. The painting is still very melty. In the end, Pam was called on her honeymoon and said she ruined it. There is a line where Pam says "You know what"? When I get back, I will be angry that you ruined my painting. Don't call me. Tell people not to call us.

During the table read for this episode, she felt enraged when she first saw the watercolor scenes. She continued to fight after her concerns were shot down.

I told you that you cannot destroy Pam's painting. You cannot do it. It is the center of the show. It is on the wall. She has a relationship with Michael. It is hope. It is so many things that you do not understand. You cannot make a gag out of it. It was a battle, what are you talking about?

After Greg Daniels shot down her request, she called him.

They were sorry, but it was staying in. We like this gag. We think it is great. She said they like it. She was not ready to give up.

The scene was removed from the edit bay after they shot it.

I appealed to Dave Rogers. I appealed to him. She said that she would not stop talking about it. I was so relieved that they took it out. You will see Pam's watercolor next week because that was the week they were still deciding. If you look, Pam's watercolor is missing for a couple of episodes and we just sneakily put it back on the wall.

The entire series ends on Pam's watercolor painting, and they can't imagine it ending any other way. After the series ended, she brought up her heroic Season 6 efforts. As she should have done.

You better believe that I marched up to Paul Lieberstein when I read that ending of the finale and I was like, "Paul, do you see now why the watercolor wasn't destroyed?" There were two things that I fought hard for in the series. I would always fight to make sure there was no infidelity in Jim and Pam's relationship. This was the other thing. Don't destroy the painting.

You should listen to the full episode for the behind-the-scenes stories about filming and the deleted watercolor scenes. We will leave you with one last intriguing detail before you leave.

The deleted watercolor scene can be seen over Michael's shoulder.

There is a replacement painting on the wall where Pam's watercolor would have been, as he brags about standing up to this mobster. She said that it has stars and faces around it, and that it was put on the wall. That will be replaced with something else in the next episode. We will get to it.

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