The Office' Makes A Wedding The Heavily Promoted Ratings Grab Of Your Dreams

If you're in the mood for a little nostalgia, here's how Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski looked at the 2005 Television Critics Association press tour. Back then, Jim and Pam were still in their yearning phase. (Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)

by Linda Holmes

Tonight's episode of The Office is called "The Promotion," but it's next week's episode -- going by the title "Niagara" -- that will be handling, absent a massive promotional fake-out, Jim and Pam's long-awaited wedding. And the hype machine has, accordingly, been cranked up to a billion.

The cranking, and an only slightly spoiler-y picture, after the jump.

The savvy people who promote The Office know that the sequence that dominates this clip, from the second-season finale "Casino Night," is the most traditionally romantic thing they've ever done. As we've discussed, the maturation of their relationship has arguably been more legitimately romantic, but ... the declaration of love! The rejection! The tear! (Possibly the most famous single tear in modern television, I'm just saying.) The smooch! They know which side their bread is buttered on, and it's the side of the bread that was not used during that episode to wipe away tears.

It's Pam! And a veil!. (Byron Cohen / NBC)

So now, they are promising "the happy ending." Kind of a bold move to propose the ending of the story that has been the show's romantic driver since it was invented, no? But again, this is the kind of sure-footed move they've been making with this couple since the beginning. When you make it clear that people are well-matched and in love, you can't drag out the wedding forever, and you can't avoid the fact that it is indeed the "ending" to one story.

(They've also started releasing the photos, but I wouldn't do that to you. Yes, that's Pam in a dress and a veil, but who knows whether that's even her dress and her veil? I withhold the evidence, because I care.)

Expect that over the next week, you will see approximately one Office promotion for every three minutes of NBC that you watch. They are off to a very difficult start for the fall season, and if they can get you excited about something, they're going to do it. Monetize that wedding! It's the network way.