The Office Ending with Style

Entering into its ninth season, and often fateful for season for long time running sitcoms, the highest rated TV show on NBC will be calling it quits at the end. Amidst multiple spinoffs, the increasing cost of star actors like John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer, and lower ratings after Steve Carell’s exit, The Office is going to end properly, with a planned cap off of the popular and critically acclaimed series. Show runner Greg Daniels who helmed the show from season one through five plans to take the reins again for one final push to the end of the series. Despite so many changes, less than stellar ratings, and the looming end to an iconic show, Greg Daniels sees this as an opportunity to do things right, and seems to be looking forward to the ninth season from an artistic standpoint.

Daniels described some of the pieces he plans to put into play in the last season of The Office, including some more drama with Pam and Jim, crazy stories involving Dwight, and even revealing more about the documentary crew. If you’re like me, it’s possible you even forgot there was a crew filming a documentary. Despite the looks to the camera, the one on one interviews, and the very, very occasional references to the cameraman, the documentary style became very secondary, if not downright non-existent in the storyline. To be honest, the other stuff Greg Daniels talked excitedly about doing this final season sound fun, but I’m going to tune in to see how in the hell he manages to explain a documentary filmmaker who has been filming an office setting of little significance to the rest of the world for the majority of a decade. Kids have been conceived and born, marriages have been conducted or ended, the company has changed hands, and different managers have come through, but somehow they kept filming. Thank god for the digital age, right?

That being said, I’m confident Greg Daniels and the rest of the writers will be able to come up with some kind of brilliant explanation for the epic, marathon-like film crew. Along the way, I’m sure we’ll enjoy plenty of guest appearances, some old characters coming back, and hopefully many surprise reveals and unpredictable answers. As for the spinoff with Rainn Wilson, may NBC’s Joey be a distant memory – but don’t hold your breath.