Yes, Ricky Gervais was partly joking when he told birthday boy David Letterman on The Late Show last night that he would like to see The Office stay on air forever (“Financially, I do”), but with the show’s revolving door of recurring and permanent characters, it does seem as though the series is looking forward to a long life well after star Steve Carell leaves at the end of this season. (CBS has yet to post the full interview on the site, but the awesome folks over at Vulture have posted a few choice moments from the interview here.) After all, the show constantly manages to introduce fresh blood into the sitcom to keep it from getting stale — said Gervais to Letterman: “Andy Warhol said everyone in the future will be in The Office for 15 minutes.” And, as long as guest(?) star Will Ferrell doesn’t prove to be the Cousin Oliver of The Office, an Michael Scott-less Dunder Mifflin could revamp the series into truly must-see television. (Remember how willing we were to give up on this insanely enjoyable season of Idol after Simon Cowell left?)
But then again, like Gervais mentions, “I don’t know how long a documentary would hang around an office. It’s been a long time.” But heading into season 8, how many seasons would be too many seasons for The Office? Would you be willing to stick around long enough to watch The Office: The Golden Years? Or long enough to watch Cece take over Dunder Mifflin in 2040 (if paper even exists then. Or maybe it will hover!).
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Read more:
How ‘The Office’ can make its supersized farewell to Steve Carell great
NBC supersizes Steve Carell’s final ‘Office’ episode
‘The Office’: Will Arnett may be the Scranton Strangler
They should have ended with season 5.
It never should have been on the air at all. The British version was pure genius. One of the best of all time. This version is not even close. Ricky would never run a show into the ground like they are doing. But he is getting very rich so what does he care?
I am a minority, and this is an unpopular opinion, but I honestly enjoy the US version of the Office better.
Shocker, someone has to compare UK Office to US Office when it’s not even the topic of discussion. And double shocker, someone (me) has to bring this up! I think this is getting worse than overusing the expression “Jump the Shark”!
Yes, Mike, but if people don’t tell us how they prefer the British version over the American version, how will we ever know how smart they are?
LOL @ Suntrap. Never thought of it that way!
Roger = Drooling simpleton whiner
That would have been too soon. I think 2 more seasons would be good.
If the next season of The Office proves to be incredibly funny and a ratings winner, it will still have those who say it was better with Steve Carell. It is that Diane/Rebecca Cheers debate. It is all personal taste. Some may say it is time to go for the entire series, others will disagree. You’ll never make everyone happy. As someone who love the entire run of Cheers, but prefers the Rebecca years, I’m curious and will watch The Office next year. Michael Scott is a great character and it will be different, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be funny or worth continuing.
If you don’t want to watch anymore, turn the damn channel. Any whining about it proves you’re an idiot who needs a life.
As long as the characters of Dwight and Andy stay on and Gervais stays far away from the American version, I’ll watch indefinitely.
Honestly, there are worse things on television than the Office. Might as well give it a shot without Carrell.
People thought that Shelley Long leaving Cheers was the nail in the coffin, but it got so much better when Kirstie Alley joined.
@ Joe- Just as your folks should have ended with foreplay.
I’m very curious to see what a new major chracter would offer. I preferred the Kirstie Alley years of Cheers too although those were the only ones I was old enough to remember at the time. I agree that there are way worse things getting on the air so this can’t hurt unless it turns out to be a Scrubs : Med School situation..yuck.
LOL I actually liked Med School. Denise and Cole? LOVED THEM. My husband and I still quote our favorite Cole line to each other. “Yo. BOOTS.” Okay it was way funnier when Dave Franco said it.)
It could go either way. It could be refreshing with a new boss and could breathe some life into the show. In that case, it could probably go a couple more seasons max. But we’ll see.
I’ve mostly watched The Office out of obligation the past few seasons – a show I so loved for it’s first 3 or 4 seasons. I never saw the Michael Scott character as the reason for its decline though – I blamed the deconstruction of Jim’s character, the pointless subplots, the lack of purposeful arching storylines. In fact, I thought Steve Carell’s performance was one of the few constants in the show. I’ll continue to watch it next year, but I hope the new blood will bring out the best in the writers and the rest of the cast.
I haven’t liked what they’ve done to Jim either.
Agreed. They’ve pretty much ruined Jim. It’s been hard to watch, because he used to be my favorite. And of course, the redundant, unfunny storylines we’ve been fed for the past 3 seasons haven’t helped either!
Yeah. He used to be my favorite as well. He was so grounded in reality and was the one male character on the show I could picture myself wanting to emulate. The show started with such high hopes for Jim – if you would told me in Season 1/2 that someday Jim would strand a girlfriend NYC, push Michael into a fish pond for a promotion at Dunder Mifflin (a company he once said he never wanted a ‘career’ with) and would be happy buying his parents old house in Scranton (a town he always seemed so anxious to leave) – I don’t know that I would have believed you. I guess that’s the price you pay for a run this long.
All these seasons have served to turn The American Office into a quietly darker show than its British counterpart. As time has passed, Jim and Pam have gone from the adorable couple in love, to, well, adults. Two people who’ve resigned themselves to a life in Scranton, PA, making the most of boring jobs with modest pay checks. It’s a life spent knee-deep in diapers, finger paint, peanut-butter and banana sandwiches, muddy boots, puffy snowsuits and runny noses. Not the most glamourous way to live, but it’s the way most Americans live life. I guess it’s not so bad.
They should put it out of its misery. If they had ended it around season 4, it would have been great. Now it’s just awful. I don’t care WHO they have as guest stars. Once you start having celebrity guest stars, it’s over (Cough! Simpsons! Cough!). “The Office” is so far removed from what made it great, it’s like a cartoon now.
Just like “Arrested Development”. Be happy with what you have. If “Arrested Development” had continued I’m sure it would be awful by now, too.
Brian
Cough! The Simpsons had celebrity guest stars since the first season. Cough!
Exactly – Penny Marshall and Albert Brooks were both guest stars in first season of The Simpsons. My cough cleared up.
I completely agree with the “Arrested Development” comment. As much as I miss the Bluths, the thought of a movie makes me cringe because I know it can’t be that good.
Nobody is forcing you to watch, moron!
IT SHOULD’VE ENDED WITH JIM & PAM’S WEDDING, SIMILIAR TO THE BBC’S “JIM & DAWN” KISS.
TIM and Dawn, genius.
probably could have left off the sarcastic “genius” at the end of that and just provided the correction as a courtesy. My my…such manners!
THAT’S AN @$$HOLE FOR YA.
Haha. I wouldn’t worry too much about jess. She’s the type of gal who has an orange-stained keyboard from eating bags of Cheetos while trolling the internet.
That was such a perfect ending to the show. The best part was when David told off his obnoxious friend. Perfect ending!
I’ll keep watching so long as that show is on TV, I love it as much now as I ever have.
Your not alone at all, I know plenty of people (myself included) who enjoy the US version much better. The UK version was neat, for about as long as it stayed on – but it got boring pretty quick. Reflected by how many seasons it was on. But yes, the US version is nearing the end of it’s life now. A couple more season perhaps and it will have run it’s course as well.
It’s tough to compare US vs. UK success in terms of # of seasons it was on. American and UK television schedules work a bit differently, I would imagine. The seasons were shorter and they did fewer seasons in the UK but I believe they were very successful. I know the fact that they’re essentially the same show/concept so it begs for them to be compared, but I really think the US and UK versions can both be put on a pedastal as well executed shows with very unique casts.
Now, the fact that the US version has continued to go on even though the storylines have gotten pretty stale, that’s a different topic all together. But, there has been some renewed energy with ending Michael’s storyline. It probably would have been a good time to call it quits and have a series finale that everyone would care about. But, alas, NBC is lacking in hits so they’re going to keep it on the air and hope for a miracle revival with a new cast. I’ll hope for the best with them and will give it a shot next year. I just hope they don’t keep it on the air as the ratings start to dwindle and then they end the show when no one even cares. The Office deserves a bit better than that.
The UK version stayed on that long by choice of the creators. In England, most great shows don’t get run into the ground like they do here in the US. The first 4 or 5 seasons were great and they should have left it at that. Also, even though they were great, I look back now and see that they really don’t compare to the UK version.
I don’t like to compare the two because they are both very different, but I do think that the UK version had such a cohesive vision and story arch that it’s hard to argue that the US version is better. I do (did?) enjoy it a lot, and think it has done some great things with the concept and characters. It’s just hard to compare the two largely because of the cultural difference in how TV programs are made and viewed in the US vs the UK.
There is an argument that British shows know when to end but no one ever says, maybe they should’ve gone longer. What’s wrong with doing, let’s say a whopping 3 seasons instead of 12 episodes? If something can continue, why not let it?
The Office hasn’t been good since the first three seasons. Only David Brent taking over Michael Scott’s position can save it now.
it needs to end this season. It’s going to plummet if they continue.
What’s wrong with you people? Wanting people to be out of work because of fickled people such as yourselves? Having said that, I hope Ricky Gervais takes over Steve Carell’s starring role. Ricky would be GREAT!
They really need to end this show. It’s not as funny anymore.