This book was assembled from a number of sources, primarily from nearly ninety new interviews I conducted with members of the cast, writers, directors, producers, and crew along with various Hollywood executives, TV critics, and even the good folks at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Since not everyone was available to speak, I also used archival material, including interviews I did with cast and crew over the past decade as part of my job as a staff writer at Rolling Stone, some DVD commentary, and other published interviews about the show and the people who starred in and created it. Brackets are sometimes used for clarity or to change the tense of a statement, and a full list of sources by chapter is in the back.