I think the biggest problem with building the entire finale around the mystery of the new boss is the fact that we are going to learn the result of his mystery from the trade papers and not from the show itself. The Simpsons' “Who Shot Mr. Burns,” for example, worked because all of the speculation would lead people to tune in for the premiere to find out the answer, and would allow the mystery to be resolved within the narrative: here, it’ll be old news by the time we hit the premiere, which will do little to sustain real excitement.McNutt posits that Catherine Tate, James Spader and the internal candidates are the only realistic outcomes; I'm not convinced that Spader was given a character that could be sustained long-term. Not a great episode, but the writers have earned the chance to see if this show's general greatness can be sustained no matter what Ricky Gervais says:
I assume most people know I didn't do the US remake for the art. I did my version for the art. That's why I stopped it after a few hours of telly.Added, because I just wrote something on Alan's site and I'm motivated to expand on it: After last night, the most promising prospect to me, dramatically speaking, was that Jim was starting to realize that he was the person who needed to grow up a bit and accept the responsibility of running the branch office himself. It certainly felt like the last fifteen minutes were moving in that direction. To be sure, we've seen Jim try it before (Survivor Man), and it hasn't worked. And if he grows up too much and is too responsible in the role, then it's not as interesting as a comedy.
Don't get me wrong. I'm very proud of the US version. It was not only a very very good network comedy but it was also a massive success story. But you know, I did it for different reasons, ambitions and with slightly different emotional attachments to the project.
But who else? I was rooting for Darryl coming into the episode, but I fear the dumbening went too far -- even for the sake of a great Clippy joke. Which, I guess, leaves Catherine Tate, whom I know y'all like as an actress, but I don't think even the writers have a bead on her character yet.
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly with the disappointment of having already read whom they'd like to take the role and then watching the episode with an eye for, "Well, okay. Where are they going with her?"
ReplyDeleteAnd, in fact, my husband said, "Why doesn't Jim just manage the office?" and I had no real ansewr other than, "Well, I guess he turned it down already." But I don't think the show works with Jim as the boss in a long-term way.
Ray Romano's character killed me. It is tough to be between the wads and the offs.
Which one was Warren Buffett? I read today that he was on it, but I thought the only ones they showed were Spader, Romano, Gervais, Tate, Carrey, and the internals.
ReplyDeleteAgree that they dumbed Dwight down too much (it may make sense that he's never had to write a resume before, but not that he thought the interview wouldn't involve any questions, and if he's learning Chinese at night, he's smart enough to look online and figure out how to write a resume).
And I really want it to be Catherine Tate, but based on her interview, how would they hire her? I guess by Jo insisting. An unpredictable boss could be interesting for the show, but yeah, they'd better figure out her character more.
Whatever happens with the new boss, I'm forever grateful to the show for giving us an episode with Creed in charge. I liked pretty much all of the episode that didn't involve the boss search. Angela and the gay state senator is still funny and I loved Ryan just casually taking money out of Kelly's purse. I'm a bit surprised at the abrupt resolution to the Phyllis/Erin adoption storyline; I expected them to drag that secret out for a good chunk of next season.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the disjointedness, but points to the writers/producers for NOT overplaying the biggest name (Carrey) and giving him just the one scene while having the search committee talk about his character repeatedly was an effective use.
ReplyDeleteThe way I read the finale is that the network thinks the show needs a name (and likes Spader), while the production staff wants Tate, and there's an ongoing struggle on that point. Also complicating matters is that other contracts are also up for the show this year (I think the entire original cast's deals are up, and much has been made of Mindy Kaling being lukewarm to continuing as both a writer and a performer), which may affect things.
Buffett was the old guy early on who was wondering about mileage reimbursements.
ReplyDeleteDarryl in paragraph two; not Dwight.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Tate is the safe choice for Jim at this point. Jo can't blame him if Tate screws up because she(Jo) said to go with her(Tate) if he couldn't find a perfact fit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Creed as boss is great. Probably not sustainable, but it'd be fun to watch him for a while more I think.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was flat-out awful. The only time I laughed, a little, was at Oscar's talking head about Angela's gay fiance.
ReplyDeleteI was really team Darryl, and I guess I still am. But really? He doesn't have a resume? It didn't occur to him he'd need one? I think most of the other internal candidates would be a disaster. I think the one character who wasn't in the running who'd be a potentially interesting choice is Pam, because it would offer up a lot of comedic possibilities to have her be Jim's boss.
I hated ALL of the guest stars and stunt casting. I don't know, maybe I'm just done with this show. I've loved it for so long, but this season's been terrible and the finale hasn't given me any hope that they know what they're doing going forward without Carell.
I would like to see Tate, but I think if she's who the writers want, they've made their job harder with what they wrote last night.
ReplyDeleteOh my. I'd forgotten that guy - but Buffett is that old? Subconsciously, I think I've been picturing him as looking like Warren Beatty. (Maybe that's preferable to Jimmy Buffett.)
ReplyDeleteNot sure about that, given that we established that she's an old friend of Jo's. Obviously, Kathy Bates is otherwise engaged in the fall (though since Harry's Law is also on NBC, may be possible for her to get time to appear in a few episodes, especially since they're allegedly going to tweak Harry's Law so she's not carrying all the load), but that gives them a narrative hook. I actually thought the character had some promise--basically, it's Michael Scott's naivete and cluelessness, except rather than directed toward being the perfect friend/comedian, she wants to be the perfect manager based on her reading (or misreading) of every management book under the sun.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said here except that I come to the opposite conclusion -- I think your reading of the character is exactly right, and I'm just not that interested in that character.
ReplyDeleteDidn't really like any of the candidates (Spader made me laugh the most, but that character would get old in a permanent role) and think that from a Dunder Mifflin business perspective, as opposed to an Office television show perspective, the obvious choice at this point is to press-gang Jim into taking the job, past failures notwithstanding. Jim knows the business and the people (he grudgingly respects Dwight's sales skills and realized that he should hear out the staff about what they wanted but not make them think they have the right to make decisions). He showed both backbone and integrity, owns Jo's trust, and is not completely insane. I like Darryl and Andy, but the show has never told us what Darryl does for the company except sit in his office and scheme, and Andy is a bad salesman with confidence problems and social difficulties who is only a couple of years removed from forced enrollment in anger management therapy.
When Pam had the new assistant connect Creed to her, I thought it miight make sense for her to be the boss. She knows the operational side, she knows the sales side, her role now is sort of undefined, and it might work.
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