Man with a Plan is one of the finest sitcoms in recent times. It is about Adam Burns, an old-school father equipping to take on more parenting responsibilities while his self-assured wife Andi returns to the work after being a stay home mom for 13 years. However, the dad quickly realizes how tough it is to wrangle three messy kids. Fans can’t get enough of Adam and Andi’s cute and funny relationship. Adam’s character from the CBS series was played by Matt LeBlanc and Liza Synder plays his wife Andi. But do you know that Jenna Fischer has originally starred in Andi’s role in Man with a Plan?
Jenna Fischer has recently shed light on why she was recast after shooting a pilot for the series. To recall, her most iconic role came in The Office, where she played Pam Beesly, a receptionist at Dunder Mifflin Scranton. The sitcom ran for nine years on NBC and is considered the greatest TV show in recent history. Fischer will always be known as Pam to a lot of fans around the world. Taking back the story to CBS’ sitcom, Man with a Plan originally starred LeBlanc and Fischer. But after shooting the pilot, the show continued on without The Office star.
In the latest episode of her Office Ladies podcast, which she co-hosts with fellow Office star Angela Kinsey, Fischer revealed the reason behind her famous departure from Man with a Plan. Pisher thought she was “nailing it” as the network wanted more scenes with her but it ended a different way. She said “I got hired, I shot the pilot. While I was there, the network said they wanted more scenes with me. I was like, ‘I’m nailing it!’ More scenes mean you’re doing a good job. Well, I guess after we finished it, they showed it to focus groups.” However, after showing it to the focus groups “They said — this is a literal quote, they said, ‘I don’t believe Pam would marry Joey. The chemistry doesn’t work between these two.’ That was the feedback they got”
This is obvious. Both LeBlanc and Fischer played Joey and Pam for years. To a lot of fans around the globe, LeBlanc will always be known as the charming yet foolish Joey from Friends, regardless of the character he plays. While Pam will always be known as a kind and loveable receptionist from The Office. And as it turns out, the combination of Joey and Pam was Fischer’s downfall. In her words, “it wasn’t working for them that we got married and had a family.” It is worth noting that, after four seasons and reasonably strong ratings, Man with a Plan was canceled last year.
