After nine seasons, NBC will be airing the final episode of THE OFFICE in 2013. Based on the Ricky Gervais BBC hit (which only lasted 14 episodes), the US version of the show will complete its run with just about 200 episodes. No word on whether Steve Carell will return for the finale, but showrunner Greg Daniels did reveal some details about the final season.
Final season plot points: “David Wallace sent Andy to Outward Bound training over the summer to make him more decisive and confident, and he decides while eating bugs on solo to aggressively go after Nellie and hound her out of the office … Jake Lacy and Clark Duke will play two guys in their twenties, Pete and Clark, who are hired to go through the back log of over 4,000 unanswered customer complaints that Kelly leaves behind when she leaves … We’re going to find out who the Scranton Strangler is … We are tabling a Halloween episode this week, and breaking the Christmas episode now.”
Focus of the final season: “For one thing, the last few years we didn’t do arcs so much. We were pursuing episodic comedy. But the real heart of the show is these arcs that let characters have continuing stories. There’s so much to pay off from nine seasons. My biggest concern is packing (all the stories) in.”
Personally I think the show has been weak for the last three or four seasons, even before Carell left. As much as I like Ed Helms, he is no Michael Scott. With the Rainn Wilson spin-off THE FARM in the works, NBC is already looking at the future after losing THE OFFICE as well as 30 ROCK and COMMUNITY. That plan will include a new sitcom starring Michael J. Fox.
NBC won a bidding war with several networks to air the new Fox sitcom, which will feature the BACK TO THE FUTURE star as a husband and father of three from New York City dealing with family, career, and challenges including the degenerative nervous system disorder, Parkinson’s disease.
Fox got his start at NBC on the sitcom FAMILY TIES. He left his hit show SPIN CITY when he revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Since then, he was won an Emmy and appeared in edgy, funny parts across the spectrum of television, including the shows THE GOOD WIFE, RESCUE ME, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. The fact that NBC gave the show a 22 episode order shows they have some confidence that Fox can bring in the viewers like he used to.
What do you think about losing THE OFFICE and getting back Michael J Fox?