Greg Daniels is one of the most powerful figures in the TV comedy business. The former "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" writer is behind one of NBC's most important comedy hopes (Amy Poehler's "Parks and Recreation") and its biggest scripted hit ("The Office," which just launched in five-days-a-week syndication to local stations covering 98 percent of the country).

Daniels talked with TheWrap's Josef Adalian about how "The Office" went from struggling to smash hit, why he doesn't like product placement and whether he thinks his show could live on with a totally new cast.

"The Office" is such a hit now, it's easy to forget how close the show came to dying at birth. Was there a moment during that first season where you thought, "OK, we're toast."
I knew we had a lot of unusual features for an NBC comedy at the time, like no laugh track, the concept of the documentary, a pretty flawed main character, etc. -- so I had prepared the executives for the reality that we weren't going to be a hit out of the starting gate. The mid-level NBC and GE executives loved the show, though, and related to the absurdity of corporate life and supported us internally. 
 
When did the tide turn? Was it iTunes? "The 40 Year Old Virgin"? Or just NBC being patient and letting viewers find the show?
The tide turned a little bit each week of season two it felt like. The success of "40 Year Old Virgin" made everyone at NBC aware that having Steve Carell under contract was a big asset.  We made changes in his character and the tone of the show, which started with our premiere, "The Dundies."

People loved the "Office Olympics" episode, and the Halloween episode, and the Christmas episode, and the Internet fan groups started to pop. iTunes was great and then the "Booze Cruise" episode heated up the romance between Pam and Jim, and that grew all the way to the season finale, "Casino Night," with highlights like "The Injury" getting big ratings along the way.

So it was thanks to NBC being patient, but it felt like a bunch of things all happening one after the other.
Creatively, it took a little time to figure out this new format, right? Was there a "eureka" episode for you -- one where you thought, "OK, now I know what this show is"?

"The Dundies," probably. Even though all the scripts after the pilot were original, we were still writing the show like an American version of the English show in season one.  In between season one and two we made the changes that gave it its own voice.

Given Steve's success, it would have been easy for "The Office" to become "The Michael Scott Show." How did you avoid the star trap so many shows fall into?
We avoided the star trap because Steve avoided the star trap. He set the tone from the top and has always acted with incredible generosity, modesty and professionalism.