The Office’s season 2 finale left fans in a four-month void of speculation and paralyzing analysis.

But unlike most fans, Melody Raidy of Kentucky, Kimberly Denz of Mississippi and Sarah Hatter of Michigan did something about it. Despite their geographic divide, the trio took their passion and combined it with a cheap Internet phone connection and have been breaking down episodes for the Office Alliance podcast ever since.

Raidy, a 24-year-old college grad who works in fundraising for a nonprofit land trust, gave Remote Access the inside scoop on podcasting and her take on taking fandom to a new level.

“I don’t think any of us anticipated the response that it’s gotten,� Raidy said by phone. “Every week we find ourselves surprised and unable to believe our download numbers and how many people have listened.�

Those downloads top 1,300 a week and growing at their site and at iTunes. Despite the current hiatus, they continue to record new episodes, earning gratitude from an eager following.

“In all honesty we started it just because we thought it would be fun, and we wanted to have fun doing this,� says Raidy. “I’m not exactly sure we knew whether or not it would take it off. But I think we all knew The Office fandom is so enthusiastic we had a feeling there might be an audience for it.�

That following is probably uncommon for a half-hour comedy compared to hour-long dramas, she thinks. But the show’s level of plot and character development sets it apart, in her view, and gives people more to think about and respond to.

Add to that a fan-friendly cast and a network that has shown a willingness to give the people what they want, i.e. responding to a fan petition with a supersized season 2 finale and several supersized episodes since. She also cites cast appearances in fan chatrooms, a joint NBC-YouTube promo contest and cast mentions of fan sites on the season 2 DVD commentaries.

“It’s really a two-way relationship, and I think that’s really uncommon for a television show and its audience,� Raidy said. “And I think people really respond to it.�

Plus, she added, each episode is rich in meaning, “and I think people just enjoy looking for that meaning.�

“I think the show gives people so much to think about that people who are really interested in the show and who really respond to the show can’t help but analyze it and break it down,� she said. “What does this mean? Why is Pam doing this? What is up with Dwight and his cousin? There’s so much there that people can’t help but take it apart.�

She and her podcast partners met online when they all volunteered on a Harry Potter fansite’s weekly podcast. They noticed their common interest in The Office and spent last summer eagerly awaiting the third season premiere. A few episodes in they decided to combine their skills with their passion.

“It has been a lot of fun, it really has been,� Raidy said. “There is a decent amount of work that goes into it, but I think we all really enjoy it. Discussing the show was something we were doing anyway so it seemed like sort of a natural extension to just give ourselves a bit of an outline and just record ourselves doing it.�

They have a companion Web site that supports the podcast (www.theofficealliance.com) and where people can download new episodes. Even a blog they made to share news between themselves has drawn an avid following of Office-ianados.

Raidy thinks she and her cohorts bring a female perspective to their analysis of the show.

“I think that as women we’re maybe inclined to be interested in those relationships and how they develop,� she said.

Still, they’ve been surprised by the number of men they hear from.

“I think we’ve gotten more response from men than from women, and that was something we were not expecting,� she said.

She attributes that to the fact that both men and women can find things in the show to identify with. For her part, she identifies a little with Pam (Jenna Fischer) but moreso with Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and his obsession with structure and hierarchy and Andy (Ed Helms), who annoys people with his constant singing.

“That’s totally me. I’m always singing songs,� Raidy admits. “It’s funny because at least once in every single podcast I will break out in just some song and they will edit it out.�

It happened during a recent discussion about Michael and Jan (Steve Carell and Melora Hardin) fighting against all odds to be together. That prompted her to sing Phil Collins’s Against All Odds.

“Kimberly and Sarah will go OK, just let her go, let her get it out,� she said.

The three of them put five to 10 hours into the podcast each week. Raidy says her mother was baffled at first by her obsession, but knew that was how she often gets, “whether it was Sesame Street as a 2-year-old or The Office as a 24-year old or horses or figure skating.�

The podcast has come up at work, too.

“I just a couple of weeks ago sort of outed myself to a couple of coworkers,� Raidy admits. “They asked me something, and I didn’t know how to respond except, ‘Well, OK, so I have this podcast.’�

They teased her a little about it, but now one of them who’d never seen the show listened to the podcast and now has the season DVDs in his NetFlix queue, and he comes into work talking about episodes. Chalk up another Office conversion.

Raidy has heard other fans complain about the direction of the show this season (translation: Jim and Pam are still apart). But she blames that on rising expectations. Season 2 was strong, she said. It was when the show came into its own, and it was exciting to watch.

That was followed by a long summer of anticipation. Now people are looking for that initial excitement, but the show is evolving in a new direction. She says she laughs more now than she did a year ago because she has a better grasp of the characters.

That said, she’s as curious as anyone what the future holds for Jim and Pam.

“I’m really unsure,� she said. “I think that the way they’re poised now I feel that they either need to get together in season three or it’s not going to happen until the end of the show. And I don’t know, but I feel like in terms of building the plot and maintaining intensity levels of the plot, I don’t feel they can draw it out much longer and have them get together mid-show.�

That said, she’s confident the writers are committed to keeping things real.

“I don’t think that they’ll be bound by the convention that says the unresolved sexual tension can’t be resolved until the end of the show,� she said. “I think they’ll do what they want to do, but it’s hard to say what they want to do.�

Bonus round, 11 questions, multiple-choice, no thinking allowed:

1. Jim or Dwight: Jim


2. Jam or Karim: Jam


3. Dwangela or Jachael: Dwangela


4. Poor Richard’s or Chili’s: Chili’s


5. Pink the color or Pink the person: Basically anything that is awesome (bonus credit for the quote!)


6. Stamford or Scranton: Scranton


7. The Conference Room or the Parking Lot of Doom: Parking Lot of Doom


8. Season 2 or Season 3: can’t decide


9. Beet farmers or volunteer sheriff’s deputies: volunteer sheriff’s deputies


10. David Brent or Michael Scott: Michael Scott


11. Jazz Babies posters in the office or JamaicanJanSunPrincess posters in the warehouse: Jazz Babies posters in the office