Movies and TV Steve Carrell leaving 'The Office' after next season. - Page 15

Sure-Oz · 06-28-2010, 05:50 PM

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...e-steve-carell

'The Office': Who can replace Steve Carell?
By sepinwall
Monday, Jun 28, 2010

A couple of months back, Steve Carell briefly blew up the Internet when he told a BBC Radio reporter that he would leave "The Office" after his contract ended next season. Then everyone calmed down once we realized we'd have a year to wait, and that NBC would have a year to back several dump trucks full of money up to the Carell/Walls home to keep him.

But over the weekend, at the red carpet premiere of his new animated movie "Depiscable Me," Carell insisted that it's not about the money, that seven years is a long time to play any character, and that he wants to spend more time with his family. And while in Hollywood the default answer is always "It's about the money," Carell is one of the few actors in the business whom I might even slightly believe when he insists otherwise.

If he's leaving, he's not going to take "The Office" with him. It's NBC's only half-hour comedy that's an actual success on its own, and it's functioned as a life-support system for "30 Rock" for the last four years. During upfront week, NBC president Angela Bromstad suggested the show would continue with or without him.

Those of you who were unhappy with the creative direction of this season, and who therefore assume Carell's departure gives NBC a natural excuse to end the show, are just wasting your time. That's not the way the TV business works, except in rare cases like "Lost" (and there, ABC at least had other continuing hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" to allow them to give Darlton an end date).

So if we figure that Carell's really leaving, and that the show will go on without him, what does that mean for the creative future of the series? I have some thoughts, after the jump...

When the initial BBC interview went viral back in April, I suggested that "The Office" might actually be better off without Carell at this point. He's a great comedian, and he made that show into a hit, but Michael Scott had become such a schizophrenic, all-things-to-all-writers character that he was getting in the way of the comedy at least as much as he was enabling it. The writers created many different flavors of Michael, and while everyone has their favorite, and some people might even like multiple flavors, it's hard to imagine that everyone loved them all.

Beyond that, there's the sense of ennui that crippled the sixth season. Much of last season was spent introducing, and then almost immediately abandoning, promising story ideas: Michael becoming part of the corporate culture at Dunder Mifflin, or Michael and Jim swapping jobs, or the sales staff becoming tyrants under the new Sabre corporate culture. Removing Michael would not only shake up the character dynamics, but I imagine it would force the writers out of their recent complacency and force them to follow ideas through to their logical conclusions.

But while I see advantages to a hypothetical ideal replacement, I'm really struggling to figure out who that might be.

I doubt the show would choose Michael's replacement from within. Not only would it undoubtedly cause strife among the current cast if, say, John Krasinski got promoted above one-time equal Rainn Wilson, but it would deprive NBC of the opportunity to promote the show with a new face at the center of it. Also, we've seen enough of Jim-as-boss to know it's not that funny as a long-term thing, and Dwight is already so far out there that giving him absolute power within the branch might make him (and the show) unwatchable. Andy becoming the new branch manager would at least allow the show to continue as it is, since Andy is just as socially tin-eared as Michael, albeit in subtly different ways.

I hope they don't go that route, either with Andy (with all due respect to Ed Helms) or with an outside person. Someone in a "Party Down" post last week, for instance, suggested that it would be simple to slide Ken Marino into that job without having to change much. I love Marino and agree that he can do many of the things Carell does (and has done them as Ron on "Party Down"), but again we'd run into the problem of the same-old, same-old on a series that badly needs a shakeup. It needs a character who can make Jim and Pam comedically relevant again, who can pull Dwight in from the edge of insanity, who can give the series the sense of direction it hasn't had since the Michael Scott Paper Company went out of business, etc.

Who is that person? Well, I'd like it to be someone not like Michael, but at the same time we saw briefly with Charles Minor (who was useful as a plot device but not a great engine for comedy) that bringing in his exact opposite won't automatically work. The show, as conceived by Gervais and Merchant and then adapted by Daniels, Carell and company, is about people stuck working in a job they hate for a boss they can't stand. If you put someone competent in charge - be it Jim or a new character - I don't know that there's enough juice there, or that it's still "The Office." So you have to find someone who's aggravating and/or weird, but in a way that doesn't just duplicate Michael so the replacement is constantly being compared to Carell. And that's not easy.

(For an example, look at Megan Mullally on "Party Down" this year. They replaced Jane Lynch with another very funny actress, made her ignorant and strange but in a different fashion from Lynch's character, and she only occasionally clicked.)

I'm not sure what kind of character it should be, or what actor or actress. Mainly I've spent a lot of time pondering pre-existing characters. Would it make any sense at all to bring in Amy Ryan full-time if she didn't have Carell to play off of? Probably not. Would transferring Karen back from Utica to take things over be interesting enough, or did her comic usefulness to the show end when both she and Pam had babies?

(Speaking of actors from "Parks and Recreation," Fienberg suggested that Daniels and Mik Schur loan Nick Offerman to their sister show for a four-episode arc in which Ron Effing Swanson briefly goes into the private sector, is hired to clean up Dunder-Mifflin from Michael's usual messes, and then moves back to Pawnee. That would certainly be fun - I can picture Dwight having a man-crush on Ron that would make his previous Michael idolatry seem like complete ambivalence (and I could also see Ryan, and Kelly, and the account department all digging the guy) - but of course what sitcom on television would not be improved by the temporary addition of Ron Effing Swanson? What part of life would not be improved, for that matter?)

Do I think "The Office" should continue on without Carell? Probably not. But unless NBC has such a massive ratings turnaround this year that it can afford to part with "The Office" - and probably not even then - that ship has sailed. Given that, who do you want to see sitting behind Michael's old desk? Someone old? Someone new? What kind of person?

**Tribal Warfare** · 08-31-2012, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcarus

So The Office is ending after this last season. They said they are gonna "unmask the Scranton Strangler" lol. Who do you all think it could be? Gabe? The dude is ****ing weird to say the least. Creed?

Michael ( in a bad Southern Accent) I declare you are suspect in a murder

Then Creed immediately goes back to the parking lot to get to his car then peals out.

**Rain Man** · 08-31-2012, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Michael ( in a bad Southern Accent) I declare you are suspect in a murder

Then Creed immediately goes back to the parking lot to get to his car then peals out.

That made me roll with laughter.

It could be Creed, though that would disappoint me since he's perhaps my favorite character on the show.

It really should be that really nasty guy who's the road salesman.

**BigMeatballDave** · 08-31-2012, 05:50 PM

Yeah, its time to end it. I will certainly miss it.

Another show that needs to wrap up is How I Met Your Mother.

**Rain Man** · 08-31-2012, 06:08 PM

I don't watch it regularly, but I sure don't see a reason to end it. Even if you think it's gone downhill, it's still going to be better than 95 percent of television's offerings.

I really don't think any good show should be ended until the day they introduce a small child into the cast. That is the true and unerring indicator that a show is done.

**Tribal Warfare** · 08-31-2012, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That made me roll with laughter.

It could be Creed, though that would disappoint me since he's perhaps my favorite character on the show.

It really should be that really nasty guy who's the road salesman.

Danny Cordray (Timothy Olyphant's character)

Captain Obvious · 08-31-2012, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Danny Cordray (Timothy Olyphant's character)

I think he's referring to Todd Packer.

**Tribal Warfare** · 08-31-2012, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

I think he's referring to Todd Packer.

I know, but that would be the curveball that if it's Pam's old crush

Sure-Oz · 09-01-2012, 10:12 AM

Def. going to miss the office but it's run its course. Hope they go out with a bang

**DaFace** · 09-02-2012, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Def. going to miss the office but it's run its course. Hope they go out with a bang

I bet they bring back Michael for the finale.

DJay23 · 09-02-2012, 11:15 AM

I read in an article with a producer or writer or some such that Michael Scott will only come back if Steve Carell is comfortable with it. He has said that he was happy with the exit his character made and the writers wouldn't want to ruin that for him.

**DaFace** · 09-02-2012, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJay23

I read in an article with a producer or writer or some such that Michael Scott will only come back if Steve Carell is comfortable with it. He has said that he was happy with the exit his character made and the writers wouldn't want to ruin that for him.

I could see that I guess. Still, you wouldn't think it'd take much to have him in the final shot somehow. Even if it's just him and Holly talking to the team on Skype or something, you'd think it'd be cool to have him in there. But who knows.

Red Brooklyn · 09-02-2012, 10:39 PM

I had a dream that Michael had the entire office rigged on web-cams so that he could watch everything they do. All the time.

lcarus · 09-25-2012, 03:41 PM

Anyone watch the season premiere last week? I thought it was decent. Still...without Steve Carell it just isn't right. I love Dwight but he can't carry the show by himself. The other side characters just aren't that funny anymore. I'm still looking forward to the final season though.

|Zach| · 09-25-2012, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcarus

Anyone watch the season premiere last week? I thought it was decent. Still...without Steve Carell it just isn't right. I love Dwight but he can't carry the show by himself. The other side characters just aren't that funny anymore. I'm still looking forward to the final season though.

See I thought his character was completely played out and the exit was good timing.

**loochy** · 09-25-2012, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Brooklyn

I had a dream that Michael had the entire office rigged on web-cams so that he could watch everything they do. All the time.

I had a dream last night where I was hooking up with Jan but in public she pretended that she didn't like me even though she wanted it bad.

06-28-2010, 05:50 PM
Sure-Oz Stay positive, don't give up Join Date: Dec 2001 Casino cash: $3449383	Steve Carrell leaving 'The Office' after next season. http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...e-steve-carell 'The Office': Who can replace Steve Carell? By sepinwall Monday, Jun 28, 2010 A couple of months back, Steve Carell briefly blew up the Internet when he told a BBC Radio reporter that he would leave "The Office" after his contract ended next season. Then everyone calmed down once we realized we'd have a year to wait, and that NBC would have a year to back several dump trucks full of money up to the Carell/Walls home to keep him. But over the weekend, at the red carpet premiere of his new animated movie "Depiscable Me," Carell insisted that it's not about the money, that seven years is a long time to play any character, and that he wants to spend more time with his family. And while in Hollywood the default answer is always "It's about the money," Carell is one of the few actors in the business whom I might even slightly believe when he insists otherwise. If he's leaving, he's not going to take "The Office" with him. It's NBC's only half-hour comedy that's an actual success on its own, and it's functioned as a life-support system for "30 Rock" for the last four years. During upfront week, NBC president Angela Bromstad suggested the show would continue with or without him. Those of you who were unhappy with the creative direction of this season, and who therefore assume Carell's departure gives NBC a natural excuse to end the show, are just wasting your time. That's not the way the TV business works, except in rare cases like "Lost" (and there, ABC at least had other continuing hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" to allow them to give Darlton an end date). So if we figure that Carell's really leaving, and that the show will go on without him, what does that mean for the creative future of the series? I have some thoughts, after the jump... When the initial BBC interview went viral back in April, I suggested that "The Office" might actually be better off without Carell at this point. He's a great comedian, and he made that show into a hit, but Michael Scott had become such a schizophrenic, all-things-to-all-writers character that he was getting in the way of the comedy at least as much as he was enabling it. The writers created many different flavors of Michael, and while everyone has their favorite, and some people might even like multiple flavors, it's hard to imagine that everyone loved them all. Beyond that, there's the sense of ennui that crippled the sixth season. Much of last season was spent introducing, and then almost immediately abandoning, promising story ideas: Michael becoming part of the corporate culture at Dunder Mifflin, or Michael and Jim swapping jobs, or the sales staff becoming tyrants under the new Sabre corporate culture. Removing Michael would not only shake up the character dynamics, but I imagine it would force the writers out of their recent complacency and force them to follow ideas through to their logical conclusions. But while I see advantages to a hypothetical ideal replacement, I'm really struggling to figure out who that might be. I doubt the show would choose Michael's replacement from within. Not only would it undoubtedly cause strife among the current cast if, say, John Krasinski got promoted above one-time equal Rainn Wilson, but it would deprive NBC of the opportunity to promote the show with a new face at the center of it. Also, we've seen enough of Jim-as-boss to know it's not that funny as a long-term thing, and Dwight is already so far out there that giving him absolute power within the branch might make him (and the show) unwatchable. Andy becoming the new branch manager would at least allow the show to continue as it is, since Andy is just as socially tin-eared as Michael, albeit in subtly different ways. I hope they don't go that route, either with Andy (with all due respect to Ed Helms) or with an outside person. Someone in a "Party Down" post last week, for instance, suggested that it would be simple to slide Ken Marino into that job without having to change much. I love Marino and agree that he can do many of the things Carell does (and has done them as Ron on "Party Down"), but again we'd run into the problem of the same-old, same-old on a series that badly needs a shakeup. It needs a character who can make Jim and Pam comedically relevant again, who can pull Dwight in from the edge of insanity, who can give the series the sense of direction it hasn't had since the Michael Scott Paper Company went out of business, etc. Who is that person? Well, I'd like it to be someone not like Michael, but at the same time we saw briefly with Charles Minor (who was useful as a plot device but not a great engine for comedy) that bringing in his exact opposite won't automatically work. The show, as conceived by Gervais and Merchant and then adapted by Daniels, Carell and company, is about people stuck working in a job they hate for a boss they can't stand. If you put someone competent in charge - be it Jim or a new character - I don't know that there's enough juice there, or that it's still "The Office." So you have to find someone who's aggravating and/or weird, but in a way that doesn't just duplicate Michael so the replacement is constantly being compared to Carell. And that's not easy. (For an example, look at Megan Mullally on "Party Down" this year. They replaced Jane Lynch with another very funny actress, made her ignorant and strange but in a different fashion from Lynch's character, and she only occasionally clicked.) I'm not sure what kind of character it should be, or what actor or actress. Mainly I've spent a lot of time pondering pre-existing characters. Would it make any sense at all to bring in Amy Ryan full-time if she didn't have Carell to play off of? Probably not. Would transferring Karen back from Utica to take things over be interesting enough, or did her comic usefulness to the show end when both she and Pam had babies? (Speaking of actors from "Parks and Recreation," Fienberg suggested that Daniels and Mik Schur loan Nick Offerman to their sister show for a four-episode arc in which Ron Effing Swanson briefly goes into the private sector, is hired to clean up Dunder-Mifflin from Michael's usual messes, and then moves back to Pawnee. That would certainly be fun - I can picture Dwight having a man-crush on Ron that would make his previous Michael idolatry seem like complete ambivalence (and I could also see Ryan, and Kelly, and the account department all digging the guy) - but of course what sitcom on television would not be improved by the temporary addition of Ron Effing Swanson? What part of life would not be improved, for that matter?) Do I think "The Office" should continue on without Carell? Probably not. But unless NBC has such a massive ratings turnaround this year that it can afford to part with "The Office" - and probably not even then - that ship has sailed. Given that, who do you want to see sitting behind Michael's old desk? Someone old? Someone new? What kind of person?
Posts: 46,182

08-31-2012, 05:50 PM	#213
BigMeatballDave GBM 8-12-15 Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Dayton, Oh. Casino cash: $10052154	Yeah, its time to end it. I will certainly miss it. Another show that needs to wrap up is How I Met Your Mother.
Posts: 59,997

08-31-2012, 06:08 PM	#214
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	I don't watch it regularly, but I sure don't see a reason to end it. Even if you think it's gone downhill, it's still going to be better than 95 percent of television's offerings. I really don't think any good show should be ended until the day they introduce a small child into the cast. That is the true and unerring indicator that a show is done. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

09-02-2012, 11:15 AM	#220
DJay23 Rock Chalk Jayhawk Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Williamsport, PA Casino cash: $3013317	I read in an article with a producer or writer or some such that Michael Scott will only come back if Steve Carell is comfortable with it. He has said that he was happy with the exit his character made and the writers wouldn't want to ruin that for him. __________________ "True bliss is not something you search for, true bliss is already living inside us all, and sometimes it takes a roomfull of others to lead us to the mirror of your soul." - CosmicPal (10-3-03)
Posts: 8,732

09-02-2012, 10:39 PM	#222
Red Brooklyn Veteran Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY Casino cash: $8151398	I had a dream that Michael had the entire office rigged on web-cams so that he could watch everything they do. All the time.
Posts: 3,833

09-25-2012, 03:41 PM	#223
lcarus Everybody Lies. Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: 22 Acacia Avenue Casino cash: $1909928	Anyone watch the season premiere last week? I thought it was decent. Still...without Steve Carell it just isn't right. I love Dwight but he can't carry the show by himself. The other side characters just aren't that funny anymore. I'm still looking forward to the final season though.
Posts: 17,334