'The Office' to End After Season 9

[Dump Gawd]

NBC's The Office will end after the upcoming ninth season, it was announced on a conference call to reporters on Tuesday.

Executive producer Greg Daniels will return as showrunner for the final year, taking over from Paul Lieberstein. Daniels ran the show for the first five seasons of its run.

"As we head into the home stretch, we have a lot of exciting things I've been wanting to do since season two," Daniel told reporters. "The end should be pretty cool."

Daniels, who was on-set during the call, called it the "last chance" for the crew "to go out" the way he had envisioned, noting that "familiar faces [will be] coming back" as well as welcoming new cast members like Jake Lacy and Clark Duke

'The Office' to End After Season 9 - Hollywood Reporter

 

[Roger Sterling]

Should have ended a while ago.

 

[3Rivers]

It's time. I still enjoy it, but it's time. Will Michael Scott make a cameo?

 

[BIGDENNIS10UK]

It's been crap for a while, since Michael left really.

 

[beenz]

The sooner this ends, the sooner we get to off the long awaited Dwight spinoff

 

[3Rivers]

The sooner this ends, the sooner we get to off the long awaited Dwight spinoff

Dwight da gawd is a but i'm not sure how much a spinoff of him would work. I'll give it a shot though

 

[CaughtInTWebb]

Should've ended when Micheal left.....

 

[Blaze007]

Should've ended after Michael left town.

If he comes back for a little bit during this season I might give it a look

 

[Christian3o5]

come back Michael

 

[3Rivers]

I see Greg Daniels is back to oversee the final season(He was the show runner for the 1st 5 seasons I believe)

Breaking: 'The Office' to end this season - The Vote on Variety.com

For his part, Daniels, who ran the show for its first five seasons, praised the past three seasons of "The Office" with Paul Lieberstein as showrunner, but today touted the huge potential of comedy and storytelling with a set end date. Earlier this summer, Daniels had spoken to Variety about the potential for the coming year. Now, as sentimental as he is about the show ending, he seems even more excited about the possibilities.

More from Daniels:

"All questions will be answered this year. We are going to see who’s behind the documentary and we’re going to meet some of them. (Also) a big Jim and Pam year.

"I think it could (go on), and we had debated whether we could reboot it. ... The format is a very strong format. For example, we are introducing two new characters this year who I think are very very funny, and you could see a world where new people keep coming on the show. But ultimately, I think this feeling of family and wanting to wrap up these arcs and do justice to the existing characters in the most creative and explosive way means the show will be changed in such a way that if anything was to continue, it just wouldn't be the same show. We have 15 of the (cast) coming back this season ... but it didn't seem to me we could count on getting many people back for season 10. ... This is going to be a real gangbusters season, so I think people will think it was worth it.

"Certainly, we're not leaving for any reasons other than the ones I've described. The show is very healthy and valued at NBC. I'm actually a little surprised how supportive they've been (on the decision).

"It would be a different show (without John Krasinski and Ed Helms), and it depends how important closure and a feeling of artistry are for you. And we felt it is important. ... Jim and Pam are kind of the heart and soul of the show. Back in the early days, I had an inkling of what to do to end that storyline, and to see the possibility of that never happening was a compelling thing to try to grab. The most loyal fans of the show would like to see that happen.

"Definitely I think there's going to be differences between this year and previous years. For one thing, the last few years I think we didn't do arcs so much, we were pursuing episodic comedy. ... It's all going to be set up in the premiere, but there's just so much to pay off from nine seasons of so many great characters that my biggest concern is just packing in the great ideas that the writing staff has on cards all over their walls and make sure we hit on all them or at least squeeze as many as we can. So pretty much the core cast are going to be there. Mindy (Kaling) and B.J. (Novak) are coming back just briefly, hopefully more later. But the cast we had last year, plus Clark Duke and Jake Lacy, are going to be there. If they do take off for a few episodes to shoot a movie or whatever, it'll make it easier to fit in all the ideas that we have, (including) risky things we wouldn't normally do. But now that we know we have an end date, it's very freeing.

"I'm hoping to have Ken Kwapis direct the ending, which I think would be nice since he directed the pilot. We're going to try to have a big exciting party, and get old folks as well as new folks for whom it's there last chance to be on 'The Office.'"

"We're talking about trying to find out who the Scranton Strangler is — certain things that are going to be fun for long-term viewers ... and sort of the change that is going to happen when we start to find out about the documentary a little bit. ... People always say, 'Why are they still filming? What are they after?' I think we're going to explore that for comedy effect.

"We would certainly wish for (Michael Scott returning). We're not going to put pressure on Steve by writing something that would only work if he returns, but it would be fantastic. I think for him, he really loved how he was exited, and probably was anxious about not messing up such a stylish exit — so that's a perfectly legitimate point. So we'll see. We haven't written — we just have ideas for the ending, but if he were to participate, we'd have good times. ... But he's pretty busy.

"The show has run over twice as long as high school, which I was saying to the crew. It's such a rare and lucky thing. ... It's the best professional experience of my life.

"A good move is that we're in our own little studio in the boonies here, so the spirit of the crew is excellent. It's just a very supportive, loving environment to come to work, and I will miss it terribly. I think ultimately what people are going to feel about this show is what's going to go on the air, and we have some ideas of what to do ... I'll find another place to drive in and.

"(NBC Entertainment chairman) Bob Greenblatt has been a producer and is very creative, and I think he really responded to the ideas that I pitched him at the beginning of the season about revealing the documentary and just the twist and turns that I have planned, that (he) felt it would be better to actually call it the last season of the show. The reason I guess I felt it was surprising is that because it was the highest-rated scripted show on the network, and I know he had a lot of new shows, a lot of people would cling to what was working to help them launch (them). But like I said, I think he was very open to a creative pitch. John and Jenna (Fischer) and Ed and Rainn are producers this year, and this year they're very in on this vision and this pitch, and I think we all had a lot of passion for it and it was persuasive.

"If we didn't let it end this year, I don't know that we would have been able to tell the ending stories for so many characters.

"I would like to get back to a world where the audience is surprised by the story turns they see on air. I would like to keep the most fun moves secret so they are incentivized to watch what's on the air."

 

[Yessir_Araphat]

the whole thing with robert california was just fukkin terrible. i can't even pinpoint when this show fell off, seems like for me it started to before michael left. oh well, who gives a fukk and fukk pam and jim having a "big" year

 

[Tommy Fits]

Good, while the show had it's moments last year, mostly involving interactions between Jim and Dwight. Just about the only relationship on the show that was still fresh and funny. They really should have ended it with Michael's last episode, it was the perfect send off for Michael and the series but they kept going. Hopefully this season will be good, I have hope it will since they can tie everything up. Wonder what they have in store for Jim and Pam, you know they ain't breaking them up so it has to be they're moving and that's how they will end the show.

That said, they have to get Steve Carell back for the season finale, just wouldn't seem right not to have him there.

 

[3Rivers]

‘The Office’ Season 9 Spoilers - TVLine

Looks like Andy will grow a pair. Some spoilers above

 

[AquaCityBoy]

So with The Office gone, and NBC's current slate of fall sitcoms looking , does this mean they'll order the back nine episodes of Community?

 

[dabestkeptsecret]

I think the fall happened when they turned andy from an a$$hole to the biggest p*ssy on the show. That rivalry he had with dwight during season 3 was great. I also think they brought jim and pam together way too soon. Once they got together their relationship became super boring and they wasted a lot of time with their wedding and baby episodes. They should've also made dwight the boss and the outlandish way they did with him bringing a gun to work.