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The Office will have a new behind-the-scenes boss next season as Paul Lieberstein is stepping down as executive producer/showrunner. He is expected to land a hand while he preps the potential spinoff series starring Rainn Wilson, The Farm, which he co-created, but a search is under way for a new showrunner to take the reins of the veteran comedy series next season. Meanwhile, conversations continue with key Office cast members John Krasinski, Ed Helms, Jenna Fischer and B.J. Novak, who have no deals beyond this season, though I hear that they have stalled for the moment. Locking in as many actors of the core quartet as possible is critical for the future of the series in light of the potential departures of Wilson, who would segue onto the spinoff series sometime next season, and Mindy Kaling, who has a pilot in the running at Fox. Additionally, this season’s addition James Spader recently announced he will be leaving in May.
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THE FARM? wow NBC really is shooting itself in the foot. Over and over, and over, and over….
You said it.
They get some good series but can’t sustain them for longevity.
Probably can’t attract or retain good writers.
Heroes went downhill. and The Office this season hasn’t been too entertaining.
…Fox, however, seems to have a fun new series, The New Girl. Probably because Fox doesnt have high expectations or they are more patient. Shoot…how else do you explain Lost and now Alcatraz – by the same guy with a similar formula?
Come on now. The Office lasted for a solid six to seven years and has only recently begun to sink. That’s some pretty strong longevity IMO. Most series lose steam after three or four seasons.
With the departure of Robert California the show has the potential to be good again. As long as they get rid of that dumb red headed british girl. She is the worst character ever to come on the show and is ruining the show!!
I’m almost positive that The Office was created solely as a timeslot holder for a show that was in between seasons. It lasting this long shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I love the show and the Dwight/Jim shenanigans are my favorite but where’s the show gonna be after that?
Just end the series. Please.
Good lord, everybody is jumping ship. Just call it a day and end The Office, NBC. (And if you REALLY want to end on a high note, have Greg Daniels return to do a two-hour TV movie on Michael Scott’s wedding.)
That would be too smart of an idea.
Paul took this show to new lows.
Damn shame this show fell apart and is just ugly to watch now.
That’s a great idea.
Reminds me of Happy Days, a bit.
“…cast members John Krasinski, Ed Helms, Jenna Fischer and B.J. Novak… Locking in as many actors of the core quartet…”
Um, The Office is a comedy. So locking in the more serious actors while Wilson, Kahling and Lieberstein leave does not bode well at all for the show’s future.
This implies that Mindy Kaling is funny. Annoying =/= funny.
Nailed it.
Agreed.
She’s awesome. Glad she got out of there when she did.
Things are not looking good for The Office’s future. I had already figured next season would be its last but if the major players aren’t coming back they shouldn’t even bother?
Its beyond time for the show to end. The only question now is whether or not the last/next season will employ a skeleton crew.
Do a May sweeps Michael wedding and call it a day. Last thing any fan of the series wants is to see it continue to creatively erode and start effecting how we look back on the series 5/10 years from now. I long for the days when the creative folks behind a series like Mary Tyler Moore thought more about legacy than paycheck.
The Office both ended with, and began with, Michael. Finish his storyline and kill him/it off (figuratively or otherwise).
Dunder Mifflin needs to outsource all of its jobs and in the words of Jack Donaghy, SHUT IT DOWN!
The Office should be canceled as soon as possible it’s atrocious this year it’s so terrible and so awful I can no longer watch it. I used to love it and saw every episode until this season now I have to turn it off after five minutes it’s so annoying. My beet farm spinoff will be just as bad but at least I’m the star of it.
Can they just end the shit in May and call it a damn day?
Can they just please end the damn series already in May?
Hope it ends — I think John Krasinski, who is hilarious deserves better. Thursday nights need an overhaul, nbc should move it’s entire thursday lineup to Wed and start anew on thursdays with roseanne and then with matthew perry’s sitcom. The voice should move to Tuesdays where it will just explode instead of being on the most competitive night.
This once funny show is now a very broad, embarrassing idiocy.
Shoot it, as any merciful person would shoot any badly limping horse.
I deleted THE OFFICE from my tivo about a month ago and don’t miss it. When i do miss it, i watch the reruns that air 10 times a day. or the dvds from seas 2-4. END THE SHOW NOW.
i think the office has the opportunity to make next year an er-style rebuilding year. lots of new cast members and really blow it open.
it’s too bad paul is leaving. he wrote some of my favorite episodes and toby is as funny a character as they come.
To be honest-The office should have ended during Steve’s last year. It stopped being as funny before he left,&,only got more lame after that. They shouldn’t even try to bring it back this fall-end it this year. I do like James Spader-he is good,but,he needed better writing. And with even him leaving-it’s time to end this show. Thank you.
Jenna Fischer and B.J. Novak should take anything that is thrown at them. Can you really imagine them having much of a career beyond the show?
Yes. I can imagine Jenna Fischer having a huge career. She’s beautiful AND talented and Hollywood loves her. Don’t be such an ass.
Agreed NBC should cut their loses and end the series. Rotating stars is not good for the show. Call it a day and close The Office.
I wish they would have just left the English version alone. This just doesn’t compare.
the English series was 12 episodes. the American version may be long in the tooth now, but it eclipsed the English version years ago by virtue of the fact that they had the episodes to really develop the characters and do some amazing stories. does it suck now? absolutely. is it superior overall to the English version? absolutely and there’s no contesting that. sorry.
More doesn’t mean better. Yes, the US one lasted longer and they had more storylines but overall, it was not a better show. The UK one was better in every single way except that they had less episodes. But it didn’t need more episodes. When you stretch out a show, you get what we have now, an awful show that should have died years ago when it was still decent.
Jim and Pam should have never gotten married. Bad, bad, bad choice.
Ricky Gervais was the only funny thing about the UK version in my opinion(I’m a huge Gervais fan in all honesty). The over-exaggeration of the US version works far better for the overall concept of the show than the subtlety of the UK version. We are 2 entirely different cultures who see the world in vastly different perspectives. So it stands to reason most people will be drawn to the version of the show from their country of origin. We’re all about over the top humor. That’s not to say I conform to that specific line of reasoning. Nonetheless, it’s how most people will choose to view things.
I happen to think that the mockumentary style often works better when you exaggerate the stereotypes associated with certain personalities instead of trying to emphasize the mundane bits that come with working in such an environment. The funniest part is, as over the top as the characters are, I’ve worked with personalities that are eerily close to that which they portray on the show.
It’s all a matter of taste though. 1 is not definitively better than the other. When you move out of the mediocre range and into good or better, the gap in deviation of quality is less prominent and in the end becomes subjective to the viewer.
Why was it a bad choice for them to marry? Because it didn’t fit the mold of the typical get-them-together-break-them-up blandness of every other show?
I feel like this show will get renewed for a “final season” wherein everything ties in and the show ends on a positive end with, hopefully, the return of Michael for a “wedding sweepstakes” and an appearance from him in the finale episode. The show deserves a decent ending. NBC it’s time.
People are bashing Paul without knowing the full story. Paul has written some great episodes and the reason why the office isn’t as good is not his fault for a couple of reasons.
1) A lot of the good writers that made the office so great have moved on.
2) How can you continue without Steve Carell? He made the office so great!
3) It seems like TV comedy is now going in the direction of playing it safe. Not being too cynical, not being too offensive and trying to be more feel good.
I’m not sure a show like Married with Children or Arrested Development would make it on network TV these days.
So how about everybody cut Paul some slack. He’s obviously a good guy and provided a lot of laughs in this show.
I wish him nothing but the best in the future.
I don’t know ……TwoBrokeGirls is as broad and raunchy as Married was ( and funny and predictable and sweet like Married) and 30 Rock certainly offers the absurdist – 4 Eps later will tie in a setup- like Development.
They’re not going to have to worry about losing the “core four” because NBC is going to decide to mercifully end the series. Please!
I’d hardly call BJ Novak one of the “core quartet” since he’s only still on the show because he is a writer. I’d call Ellie Kemper or even Craig Robinson more of a key player cast-wise than the temp.
I’ve really come to hate TO. Every character has become nothing but annoying. Wouldn’t you love to see Spader close the Scranton office and lay everybody off as he leaves in May? THAT I would watch.
Spader should torch the Scranton office. would be sick
nbc won’t call it “the farm”. all new nbc shows have one word titles. so i look forward to “farm” along with smash, whitney et al. should simply call all of them “garbage”, tonight on Garbage whitney cummings breaks up with her boyfriend and then realizes she loves him.