“The Office” is one bad hire away from cancellation

By Tom Comi

With most offices around the country downsizing due to the economy, why on earth did NBC think it was a wise idea to stretch the season finale of The Office to an hour last night?

The network has been scrambling to try to make the world forget about Steve Carell since he left the show last month, but everything it has done to this point reeks of desperation. Not only did that involve expanding last night’s episode by 30 minutes, but it also included what has to be a new record for cameo appearances in one sitcom.

Will Arnett, James Spader, Ray Romano, Ricky Gervais and Jim Carrey all popped up as potential candidates to replace Carell’s character Michael Scott as the manager of a Pennsylvania paper supply company (Dundler Mifflin). And while all of these actors are very talented, none of them, with the exception of Spader, was given material that was worthy of their talents. It came across as nothing more than the publicity stunt that it was.

Making matters worse, there weren’t enough funny moments to fill the show’s regular 30-minute slot, let along trying to double it. So the writers tried to fill the void by having current employees Andy (Ed Helms), Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Kelly (Mindy Kaling) and Darryl (Craig Robinson) apply for the position as well.

There was also a lot of time wasted on interim manager Creed (Creed Bratton) trying to sabotage the company, and Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) attempts to stop him. If Creed’s character is as unstable as they make him out to be, it makes it extremely unbelievable — and not humorous — that he would ever be hired let alone promoted.

And therein lies my major issue with what was at one time my favorite comedy. The supporting cast has always been instrumental in making The Office funny, but the show really struggles when the peripheral members become the focus (especially in an expanded episode). The plotline with Angela (Angela Kinsey) getting engaged to a politician everybody but her knows is gay took up a lot of time but provided very few laughs.

The challenge moving forward is finding an actor/actress like Carell who can carry the show while also bringing the entire cast together. Jerry Seinfeld was great on Seinfeld in knowing how to strike this balance. He knew when to take the reins and when to step back and let Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards shine.

NBC certainly has its hands full with this decision, because a bad hire could be the final nail in this show’s coffin. And that really would be a shame for what really was one of the funniest shows on TV.

_______________

Credit: Chris Haston/NBC