So last Thursday the search began for an official replacement for Steve Carell’s long reigning, brain dead manager Michael Scott. The two episodes before that were standalone episodes featuring different managers to good effect (Will Ferrell’s favorites playing boss Deangelo) and bad effect (after 7 long seasons of coveting the job you can’t have Dwight be manager for more than one episode or have a better episode than that?). But there I was, ready for the new manager and enjoying a star-packed episode that contained more celebrity cameos than real laughs (Ricky Gervais’s original Office manager David Brent was a particular disappointment). So now I’d like to place odds on who the new manager will be, along with my personal preference grade.
10,000,000 to 1: Jim Carrey, obviously, he’s the biggest movie star that cameo’d and the one least likely to want a full time TV gig. Add in the fact he had a silly voice and the show didn’t even really include him–his cameo was two seconds at the end of the episode and he didn’t interact with another cast member–and I think he’s the first to rule out. My preference grade: B+, although he was completely wasted in this episode, with unfunny dialogue and no cast member interaction. The writers really dropped the ball on this one.
100,000 to 1: Will Arnett. Preference grade: C+. Arnett would be a good fit for The Office, but probably too good a fit. They need someone to shake up this 7 years old, sometimes stale show and he’s not it really.
10,000 to 1: Mindy Kaling who stars as the shallow but still likable Kelly. If they’re going to promote in house they already have three better qualified candidates in Andy, Daryl, and Dwight. Personal preference: B+, what can I say, I like Kelly.
1,000 to 1: Ricky Gervais, I don’t think he’ll actually do it (Ricky’s lazy ass is used to 6 episode seasons, let’s remember that the original Office only ran for 12 episodes, TWELVE episodes). But I think the meta-value alone would be worth it. Personal preference grade: A-
700 to 1: Dwight. He’s already messed up the job once, but then again, some of the creators have said they want him for it. It’d be interesting at least and I can’t really say that about Daryl or Andy. Personal preference grade: B
500 to 1: Ray Romano. His dopey manager would actually be the best possible fit as he’s Michael Scott’s polar opposite and would at least be refreshing, but the character blew his interview and the actor already has a show, TNT’s Men of a Certain Age. Personal preference grade: A-
100 to 1: James Spader. Spader is available, his cameo was the longest, and his character is desperately needed to shake up the cutesy attitude of The Office lately (the core characters seem more like Muppets than real people). Personal preference grade: A
7 to 1: Ed Helms’s Andy. Of the people that work at Dunder Mifflin he would seem to be the most Steve Carell like and I think the show doesn’t want to stray too much from its bread winning formula (this is the one of the three biggest hits on NBC after all, a network that desperately needs them). Personal Preference grade: C+, problem is, the show needs an outside hire.
4 to 1: Kate Flannery. I want to go on record as saying I hate this choice. In the one minute we saw of her she seemed like a female Michael Scott, a total, tedious buffoon divorced from everything but caricature and the show doesn’t need that. I actually was so damn tired of Michael Scott by the time he finally left I couldn’t wait for him to get out of there, and Kate would be even more tedious. However, she’s the smallest name that cameo’d–I don’t even know who she is really–and that makes me think the most likely to sign onto a regular series gig. Personal preference: F
3 to 1: Daryl. It’s a coin toss between him or Andy for inside hires but I think Daryl pulls it out. Personal preference: C-, Daryl is even more boring a choice than Andy.