So, last night, The Office aired its seventh-season finale, titled "Search Committee." I talked early last week about how concerned I was that the previous Will Ferrell-lead arc was just a way of killing time, a way for the producers of the show to essentially let someone else shoulder the burden of not having a lead actor anymore. The finale didn't, in the end, provide us with a clear shot for who will be the next branch manager, which...I mean, I know that this has never been a densely plotted show, but give me a break.
There are so many ways to start this off, but let's aim straight at the supposed frontrunner. Hell, before I get there, let's get this "supposed" business out of the way. I honestly think it's quaint and kind of cute that anyone in the world thinks that any of the guest stars from last night's episode ever were going to be the show's lead (or the Scranton branch's manager). There's a story that's circulated on the Internet over the last 24 hours that Catherine Tate (who played Nellie, Jo's friend who is essentially a female version of David Brent, based on her short time onscreen) is the producers' top choice for the new boss.
There's some love online for Tate, whose work I'm unfamiliar with. (Though if I'm able to work through the five seasons of the new Doctor Who on Netflix over the summer, I'll get acquainted with her time on that show.) I've got no beef with her performance, even if it felt too reminiscent of Ricky Gervais, who showed up in a cameo that he has rightly dubbed pointless. But does anyone think there's more logic in hiring someone who American audiences are largely unfamiliar with, as opposed to putting Ed Helms or Craig Robinson at the head of the show? Granted, Helms is more recognizable thanks to his starring turn in The Hangover, but Robinson has been on the show longer.
I'm not automatically against the producers bringing in someone new, I'm just against them bringing in someone from last night's show. And honestly, it pretty much extends to the old characters, as Darryl became, for no good reason, a schmuck who figures that even in a job interview with colleagues, he shouldn't have a resume (and he apparently has no resume at hand). Andy did well in his interview (the back-and-forth with the ripping-apart-at-the-seams Gabe was funny), but he seems to think of himself as Dunder Mifflin Sabre's version of Jeff Zucker: always, inexplicably failing upwards. Dwight, while determined, will clearly not get the job, even if the penultimate episode was the absolute funniest episode of the season, reminding us of how great this show used to be; don't forget, Steve Carell wasn't on the episode, nor was Will Ferrell. No guest stars were required for humor then.
Did NBC make a mistake in so heavily marketing this episode's cameo appearances? On the one hand, I say yes, but on the other, it's hard to blame them. Why wouldn't a network want to promote, in big letters, cameo appearances from people like Ray Romano, James Spader, and Jim Carrey? It doesn't help, though, that the marketing department pretty much gave away entire jokes; why have Jim Carrey appear on your show to only give him two or three lines, at most? None of the cameos were terrible; at worst, they were pointless, because we all know that Will Arnett--soon to be on another NBC sitcom--and Ray Romano aren't getting the job.
So we have a summer to speculate, until NBC announces who they've hired or who hasn't been hired. I'm not too terribly excited; in the past two years, The Office has been quickly supplanted as one of the freshest and funniest network sitcoms by two fellow NBC programs, Community and Parks and Recreation. Salon's Matt Zoller Seitz brought up an interesting point today: do we criticize older shows simply because they're not new anymore? I can see the argument, but then, which shows remained consistently good, if not great, past its first few seasons? I don't know if Community or Parks and Recreation will last as long as The Office, which will have at least eight seasons, will. Hell, who knows if the creative teams behind those shows even want them to run for eight seasons? I don't have a problem with shows running long, unless they're just running out the clock for syndication purposes. The problem is simple: these days, what long-running show isn't just on to make money in syndication? Now that I can watch episodes of The Office on local channels and on TBS, the answer there is clear.
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