Steve Carell reportedly saved The Office from a legal crisis that threatened to derail the show at the start of Season 2, showrunner Greg Daniels revealed at a San Diego Comic-Con panel last weekend. The Season 2 premiere, "The Dundies," was nearly pulled after filming when Chili's lawyers objected to a plotline showing Pam Beesly getting drunk at the restaurant, insisting the chain "doesn't overserve its customers." Daniels feared the episode, and potentially the whole series, was doomed, since scrapping the footage would have been unaffordable and Pam's drunkenness was central to her storyline with Jim.

Carell, drawing on his improv comedy background, suggested turning the legal complaint itself into a joke rather than cutting the scene. The result was a mockumentary-style interview with the fictional Chili's manager insisting the restaurant had banned Pam for sneaking drinks, a solution that satisfied the lawyers while preserving the plot and became one of the episode's most memorable moments. The gag resurfaced in 2017 when Jenna Fischer joked on Twitter about visiting a Chili's, prompting the chain to issue a mock press release lifting Pam's "ban".