According to several media sources and the show’s creator himself, Tuesday marked the announcement that the ninth season of NBC’s highest-rated scripted show, “The Office,” would be its last.
When Steve Carell’s contract expired at the conclusion of the seventh season, producers were faced with the difficult decision of keeping the show afloat after the loss of his beloved character Michael Scott.
After a number of temporary replacements including Will Ferrell as Deangelo Vickers, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) was promoted to regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and “The Office” returned with a rather rough start to its eighth season.
At times, the show struggled to avoid rehashing already-used story lines and scenarios that had played out when Michael was manager, such as Andy Bernard’s constant attempts at getting his employees to like him by taking his employees on a bonding trip.
Even as the introduction of characters Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) and Robert California (James Spader) added a new energy to the office, it was not well-received by most fans.
I too felt the new faces at Dunder Mifflin were not only unnecessary, but distracted from the original characters that fans became invested in watching weekly.
While Tate is contracted to stick around as Nellie for the last season, the return of the show’s creator Greg Daniels will act as a nice restoration of what “The Office” used to be.
Daniels has spoken of plans to bring back past characters and give the cast appropriate and specific story lines to finish off the series.
Though I think the show could have easily been wrapped-up with Scott’s exit, the last thing I wanted to see was for it to get canceled at the end of season eight without closure.
To me, the characters deserve a proper send-off, and I have confidence in Daniels’ ability to make that happen.
Though I will be sad to see it go, I am glad that the producers of the show know the end is near and are able to plan accordingly. My only hope is the ninth and final season of “The Office” is able to end on a high note.
The ninth season is scheduled to premiere on NBC Sept. 20.
