Wednesday, July 6, 2011

THAT'S WHAT DENNY CRANE SAID: NBC has now officially confirmed that James Spader will be joining the cast of The Office on a full-time basis next season, though he will not be serving as Scranton branch manager for long. The press release also indicates two other pieces of good news--even though her contract is up, Mindy Kaling has apparently agreed to terms to return (at least as a performer), and Craig Robinson may be being elevated to a regular. (In less good news, Zach Woods remains listed as a cast member.)

ETA: Alan has thoughts about how this is going to work, and what he think it means about who should become regional manager as a result.

15 comments:

  1. Benner1:55 PM

    Zack Woods was brilliant in "In the Loop," which is the greatest movie of all time.

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  2. Andrew2:00 PM

    I'm not sure that Zach Woods remaining on the show is a bad thing, because he can be hilarious, even if the character of Gabe hasn't been used well by the writers. 

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  3. I have no doubt he can be funny, but it seemed like his arc was done based on how the finale ended.

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  4. isaac_spaceman2:31 PM

    Having Spader's weird Jedi mind trickery at CEO can also explain why Jim would change his mind about being manager.  They set it up nicely at the end of last season so that Jim could take over (by getting him to realize what a disaster everybody else would be), but Spader obviously could also just manipulate him into taking the job. 

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  5. I really felt like the finale was setting us up for Jim realizing he was the best suited for this and it was time to grow up, so that would work well for me.

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  6. Meghan3:00 PM

    I can see this working really well and I love the idea of Woods' character continuing to influence The Office.

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  7. Matt B3:34 PM

    Which makes his role on The Office all the more depressing

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  8. Aimee5:48 PM

    I might be in the minority here, but this is a deal-breaker for me.  I *really* don't like James Spader.  I mean, REALLY.  It's totally a visceral, illogical thing, but the dude makes my skin crawl.  So long Office, it was nice while it lasted.

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  9. In this case, Aimee, you're REALLY not going to like FOX's "Less Than Zero Weeknights: All "Less Than Zero," All Night, All Summer" campaign.

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  10. isaac_spaceman7:32 PM

    If that's a nightly hour of Jamie Gertz sticking her tongue in random peoples' mouths and then RDJ blowing some dude for drugs, I imagine it will have its share of viewers.

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  11. Agreed.  Woods' character isn't the funniest on The Office, but he doesn't detract from it.  I feel like I should defend him -- he's a comedy wunderkind -- he's been an exceptional performer since his teens -- and has always seemed to me to be super-smart, given that.  

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  12. Adam C.1:00 AM

    Well, not to say I told you so, but....(scroll to the 7th comment).

    So Aimee, you can blame my sister for failing to intervene.

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  13. Isaac, don't you just need a documentary camera for that?

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  14. Meghan1:43 PM

    Ha, Spader.  Not Woods.  What was I thinking?

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  15. Aimee1:51 PM

    Well, I think I'll keep the blame on the people who run the show.  Sorry, Paul Lieberstein, but I will never forgive you for this!

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