The rise in streaming and proliferation of new media during this period also made the sitcom’s relatively strong viewing figures appear to be on the slide. According to Baumgartner’s podcast, the feeling was that the new broom had little affinity or familiarity with The Office and didn’t realise what a boon it was to have Carell (by this point a major movie star) leading the cast. One thing wrong was that during the 2010 – 2011 season six to seven period, Comcast bought a controlling share in NBCUniversal, and replaced network chairman Jeff Glaspin with Bob Greenblatt. Scanlon describes feeling cross about the way things went, telling the podcast, “I feel like NBC dropped the ball, because I knew the story behind it, which was they just never even bothered, which was just like so dumb. Silverman, who spearheaded the US remake of the British mockumentary series and was co-chairman of NBC Entertainment between 2007 – 2009, told Baumgartner, “When I heard the story of how the network went about its process with him after the fact, it made me so depressed how they had kind of blown something that they could have saved.” ![]() Editor and director Claire Scanlon told the podcast, “Steve said he would have come back, they didn’t even try!” The show’s pilot is famed for being one of lowest-rated ever tested at NBC, early viewing figures weren’t strong, and it wasn’t until 2005 movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin made Carell a comedy star that NBC really sat up and took notice.) As the seven-season deadline approached in 2009-10, everybody but Carell renegotiated for a further two seasons.įor showrunner Greg Daniels, that made it pretty clear Carell was planning to leave, but according to Silverman and Scanlon, it wasn’t so. When The Office started, its cast signed the customary contracts holding them until the end of a potential seven seasons. Speaking on the ‘ An Oral History of The Office’ podcast presented by Brian Baumgartner (who played Kevin Malone on the show) producer Ben Silverman and editor Claire Scanlon explained that Carell was prepared to stay on for more, but the network frustratingly fluffed it. However well-played Carell’s farewell was, it didn’t have to be the end of his time on the show. Michael Scott had grown up and it was time to go. After a long, hard (that’s what she said) journey, his future with Amy Ryan’s adorably dorky character Holly Flax was set. Once a thin-skinned, desperate-for-approval man-child, Michael had been redeemed into somebody who didn’t take himself too seriously and no longer needed the spotlight. They showed branch manager Michael Scott finally getting the love he’d always craved, and crucially, deserving it too. His farewell episode ‘Goodbye, Michael’ and those running up to it, were emotional and satisfying. On screen, Steve Carell’s departure from The Office was pretty perfect. Here's what it was like to film.Warning: contains spoilers for The Office: An American Workplace. ![]() As his character went off to a happy ending in the episode "Goodbye, Michael" in Season 7, it was a difficult moment for many of the cast and crew - as you can imagine - and in effect the emotional finale of the show. A singular TV creation who modified the more clueless and caustic David Brent character that Ricky Gervais played in the original British show, Carell managed to make Michael Scott eminently likable and eternally cringe-inducing at the same time. ![]() That's because the real show ended two seasons and four episodes earlier, when lead actor Steve Carell left the show along with his main character, the inimitable Michael Scott. "The Office" finale, however, only garnered 5.69 million viewers - a season high, certainly, but not "beloved American institution" numbers. Normally when a beloved show wraps up a 9-season run, as "The Office" did on May 16, 2013, it's a television event that receives record-setting ratings, like the "Friends" or "M*A*S*H" finales. Even if you're not a superfan, you likely have some nostalgia for "The Office," especially as we move further and further away from watching the same sitcoms at the same time, and sharing our reactions together the next morning.
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