I can't be the only person that heard about Steve Carell's plan to leave The Office after the 2010 season, and felt mild relief. Not that he isn't a wonderfully talented comedian, and the show isn't one of the best on TV, but honestly, I'm kind of sick of his character.
As shows go, there is no shortage of zany characters with their own unique quirks in The Office, but Michael Scott has become the one whack-job out of all of them that no longer tickles my funny bone. It's abundantly clear that in every single situation he is put in, he will inevitably make the worst possible decision. One that is based on a need for approval instead of common sense. It might have been funny before, but I've come to the conclusion that it is taking away from the development of the other characters.
When the show first came on the air, I was there every Thursday night making sure I wouldn't miss a single second. But over time, I'd forget the show was even on and would miss more and more episodes. Eventually I just gave up and skipped almost all of the last season, apart from brief snippets that I happened to catch if I stumbled on the channel while it was on. Really, my annoyance with The Office made me miss out on one of the best new shows on TV, Community, and pass-by most of the budding Parks & Rec.
This season I'm back on the wagon, mostly for the shows leading up to it, and I'm enjoying it for the most part. Still, knowing that this is Carell's last season might be helping that out. I find myself curious of who they'll find to replace him, if any, and what their particular eccentricities will be. Sure, you might completely disagree with me, but given that out of all of the characters on the show, Michael Scott would probably be my first choice to get the ax, I have confidence that someone new could only be better.
The writers have created a ton of characters for The Office that I have yet to grow tired of. Sure, it might be the fact that Michael is probably the closest thing the show has to a protagonist that is making him seem so bothersome to me at this point, but that only means a complete reinvention of that role is sure to help breath some life into the show. I wasn't sure if I had a case for this opinion before, but after I wrote this article and let my friend read it, he pointed me to a blog post written by Ken Levine, an Emmy Award winning writer that has written for countless sitcoms. I'll just let him finish this article off.
"...just go for something completely different from Michael Scott. When Ricky Gervais originated the character for the British Office I was in awe. We’ve all seen asshole bosses and incompetent bosses and screaming bosses but I had never seen that guy. Who else, what other type haven’t I seen? That’s what they should be striving for. Yes, it’s a Herculean task, but if anyone can handle it it’s Greg Daniels and his terrific staff.
The good news is if they do find this fresh new character it will energize the show, change the chemistry, and probably keep the series on the air two years longer than it would have been." -Ken Levine
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1 comments:
I might be in the minority here, but I would like to see either David Wallace or Jan take over as Michael's replacement. Both have experience as authority figures and have developed enough quirks outside of Dunder Mifflin that they could fulfill the "boss with social problems" role.
Jim being the boss has been done before and I think he's much more successful as part of the Jim/Pam/Dwight equation.
Also, I'd like to see what would happen if Dwight was made boss, even if just for a couple of episodes. The pranks could be epic.
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