A new report in honor of the upcoming 10th anniversary of finale of The Office reveals that thousands of viewers in the United Kingdom continue to wonder if Scranton is a real place. The original version of the sitcom debuted in the UK in 2001, with the “mockumentary” following employees at a fictional paper company led by Ricky Gervais. It inspired 10 remakes around the world, including the American version, which premiered in 2005 and is the longest-running and most successful remake. Every month, an average of 400 people in the UK Google “Is Scranton a real place?” — amounting to nearly 5,000 people each year. Scranton is, in fact, a real city in northeast Pennsylvania known for its robust railroad history.
