Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton office is about to lose the world’sbest boss : This is Steve Carell’s final season as bumbling, minority-baiting ,cringe-inducing Michael Scott, who’s been the star of The Office since it debuted in 2005.
However, his departure doesn’t mean that fans will have to bid farewell to awkward,man-child inappropriateness: Yesterday, it was announced that Will Ferrell willguest-star in a four-episode arc to “help create a bridge” over Carell’s departure. Deadline reports that Ferrell reached out to the producers himself, “because he’s a fan andwanted to commemorate Carell’s swan song.” (The two co-starred in 2004’s Anchorman . Is it too much to hope for a reprise of “Afternoon Delight”?)
Most of the Web chatter has been of the excited variety ,with fans wondering which officemate Ferrell’s character will try to ensnare with his “tremendousraw sexuality.” (My vote: Kelly or,failing that, Gabe .)
This may be just what it takes to get me watching The Office again; the last season prettymuch lost me. But I have to say, I’ve been swayed by Linda Holmes of NPR’sMonkey See blog, who argues that this could be as bad an idea as keeping a hot GeorgeForeman grill by your bed :
Carell — Michael, really — deserves thefullest, most carefully developed send-off they can give him. There’s alwaysbeen a mix of clowning and character on this particular show, and they have todo Michael’s departure carefully … It’s an important event, and the core castshould be the focus….I would love to be proved wrong, but this smacks of astunt that’s going to pull focus from what I’m going to be interested in at thetime it’s happening. The last thing I want to do during those episodes is watchWill Ferrell cranked up to eleven.
The A.V. Club, meanwhile, notes that “totally stealing someone’s thunder seems like an odd way to honor them, but who knows what sort of kookydynamics those crazy comedy kids have?”
What do you think — is Ferrell going to help or hurt The Office in Michael Scott’s finaldays?
