It was a long time since I had looked forward to seeing a show on television every week. The last time I felt this way was during the great Seinfeld era in the 90′s. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many wonderful sitcoms since then but none that enticed me like The Office. I would religiously plan out my evening or set my DVR as not to miss the newest episode for that week. After this upcoming season, I fear that may change for me. It has been public knowledge for some time now that Steve Carell was planning to leave the show after his seven-season contract was fulfilled with NBC. I was hoping for more. While The Office has had it’s ups and downs I feel it has been an extremely solid sitcom for the most part, bringing tons of entertainment and inside jokes for millions of people.
But, this post isn’t about what a great show The Office has been over the years. It is more about how I believe Carell is making a huge mistake, one that may be damaging to his career. Now, my hurt feelings aside, I do have some tangible thoughts to back this up on my behalf. The first one being, when I think back about memorable roles in Carell’s film history I seem to be only able to pull a 2 of clubs instead of an ace of spades. In fact, the movies I thought he was at his best in (Little Miss Sunshine, 2006 & Dan In Real Life, 2007) weren’t really comedies at all. He seems to hold his own as a supporting character in many movies that we all know and love such as Anchorman and … oh wait… is that it? Ok, I will give him The Forty Year Old Virgin for his major role as being a mildly entertaining funny movie, but come on… it wasn’t that funny, and if it was, it was more due to the likings of the supporting cast than Carell himself. Carell gives no evidence of being able to single-handedly support a major movie role of any comedic worth as clearly demonstrated in Get Smart (2008), Date Night (2010), or the awful Evan Almighty (2007) which, was a huge failure at the box office.
I feel a necessary comparison would be if Jerry Seinfeld left the show Seinfeld before it was complete. As great of a show as it was, it was nothing without the supporting cast, and the supporting cast would have been nothing without Jerry himself. The show was written around him, like The Office has been mainly written around Michael Scott. In fact, many viewers didn’t care much for Jerry on the show, often being seen as the least favorable character. Likewise, there were a few season of The Office where Carell’s character did nothing for me. I seem to know a handful of people that love the show but have never liked Michael Scott. While maybe being true, this doesn’t change that fact that he is the nucleus of the show in which everything else revolves around him. If Carell does in fact go, the show will go soon after. It simply cannot exist without a nucleus.
Carell has made a wonderful name for himself leading the crazy pack at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and it is for this reason only that he continues to keep scoring these semi-major roles in movies. It seems as though actors feel the need to have this progressive forward-thinking attitude about their careers, even if they do not deserve to move up and on to greater heights. I think a much more positive move for his career would be to continue with The Office for a couple more seasons while he gets a few more major movie roles under his belt. Who knows, maybe he just needs time to find his niche but I do not think he has found it yet. The old saying “Don’t fix what isn’t broken” does not seem to ring true in the ears of Hollywood residents. Why is this? It is possible that Carell is a high-ranking television actor and that’s all? I think so, and he is great at that. Just accept it and stick to it.
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2 Comments so Far
1 By Louis Korom IV on Aug 4, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Jay, I totally agree with your analysis of The Office being essentially done with the departure of Carell.
I see Steve Carell in the same vein as guys like Chevy Chase or Ben Stiller. These guys are actors who do only a couple comedic roles really well, and get moved into whole bunches of roles essentially because they are likeable.
The thing that really would be intriguing, albeit unlikely, is if Carell did something drastically different upon his departure from The Office. My mind wants something like a reprisal of his role as a reporter on The Daily Show.
I think many actors resign themselves at some point to seeing themselves as a brand. Carell is a brand right now, and in order to capitalize on his brand, he can’t do that just doing The Office. This is unfortunate for us as fans because we know that there is still amazing stuff that could come from this cast as an ensemble. However, the Carell brand can go much farther monetarily by doing bad comedic roles as a substitute.
An interesting examination of this phenomenon was the movie Funny People. Did you happen to see it?
2 By Jay Jenison on Aug 4, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I did see Funny People and for the most part was disappointed. It has become a sad reality to me for some time now that Adam Sandler’s days of making a well done comedic film are far, far behind him. I hope I am wrong though.
Great example about Ben Stiller. He seems to play the nervously uptight, hyperactive, people pleaser in almost every one of his roles. He has made me tired.
Oh, and I agree that Carell would do brilliantly as a reporter for something like The Daily Show. It would be extremely refreshing to seem him do something drastic in his move to step above and beyond.
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