re: The Office “Paper Airplane” episode

quote:

---

Seems like everybody hated Spader as California but I thought he was hilarious.

---

Robert California was pretty great. Admittedly, they kept him on for maybe slightly too long, but he was a great character.

Ferrell was awful and I think most everyone would agree with that. I thought Kathy Bates did a good enough job, especially since she wasn't "replacing Michael," but was just a presence around the company as the CEO. I liked that they eventually brought David Wallace back as well.

And I saw Idris Elba mentioned earlier, but he was never in "post-Michael" episodes...and that little story angle was pretty great. I initially hated the "Michael quitting" angle, but they made it great by the end, and his revenge on Charles Minor when he shut him down and made him leave was fantastic.

Agree completely that Andy as a manager sucked dicks, and the whole Andy/Erin thing was awful. I actually liked the Andy/Erin/Gabe triangle thing, but they just fricked around too much with Andy and Erin to the point where not only did nobody care if they were together, but it was very clear that they shouldn't be.

The Office is one of my favorite shows of all time, but they completely wrecked Andy's character. He went from awesome side character to a very overbearing, negative force on the show. I realize that was likely due to Ed Helms shooting movies and whatnot, but still, the show suffered from it. Making him manager was completely out of line (and unearned for the character) and hurt the quality of the show. The writers pushing Helms as a more main character after his movie success was an overall bad decision.

I will defend seasons 8 and 9 though. Of course they aren't as good as earlier season, or as before Michael left. But he was virtually irreplaceable. And while they stumbled initially, the show did rebound nicely after the end of S7 and beginning of S8. It was still good television, and outside of a few side plots (Andy/Erin, Pam almost cheating, etc.) it still had some great moments.