I've watched The Office since episode 1 and have loved all the episodes. I have kept an open mind to this show loosing Steve Carell, but this episode sucked! For the first time I can honestly say I did not laugh once. Half way through it I turned to my wife and said this show won't last. I will see what happens by the end of the season, but I don't have high hopes anymore.

It's one episode without Carrell. It's far to early to determine whether or not this show can make it without him. No matter how bad you thought this episode was.

My DVR cut off just as Deangelo walked in with a hospital gown. What happened in the last couple minutes?

I thought this was much better than the last few have been. I'm not really thrilled with Will's character, but I thought the writing was strong. Ryan telling Kelly to get back to work had me rolling.

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Not only that, some people might have incorrectly assumed it was the season finale since it had that sort of feel to it.

I really liked the scene where Jim snuck back into the inner circle. It really had the vibe of the original BBC series.

Also watching Daryl sell out was pretty funny, as was the Ryan/Kellie sub plot.

I'm the opposite. I never liked the Michael-focused episodes. I think this show is its best when they focus on the whole office. I think this episode showed how much better the show can be without Michael hogging up all the screen time.

This is one of "Five Not Very Good Ideas in Television"...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bas...d-ideas-186220

Nice to see they're basically calling it after only one episode without Carell

Seriously though, I'll agree there were some rough patches over the last couple of seasons, but I think creatively this season has been consistently great and a real return to form. When it comes to The Office, I think there are some people out there who are determined to dislike it no matter what. I'll admit if there is a bad episode or if jokes fall flat or if plots are weak, but I'm not going to go into the show and expect to be disappointed. It's not always as funny as it used to be, but it's not usually terrible and often time it really is good.

It's just like what has happened with The Simpsons. Yeah, there was a big creative slump, but in recent years they've actually been trending upward; this season has been pretty good overall and I think last season was actually great from top to bottom, but some people are too stubborn to admit that.

Oh, and that article's dig at Scrubs was totally unnecessary. The J.D. episodes were, admittedly, pretty bad, but once they got rid of J.D. I think Scrubs 2.0 showed some real promise, and I know I wasn't alone on the board in thinking that.

I thought the last season of Scrubs was quite good.

Yeah Scrubs 2.0, by the end of their run, I felt was better than than most of the last couple seasons of original Scrubs.

Yeah, calling it after one episode is a bit pre-mature. We need to see the core cast without guest stars for a couple episodes to see how this will be, and we'll hopefully get a glimpse of that this week.

I don't think the guy that wrote the article was basing it on the one episode. I think he was just saying it shouldn't go on without Carell in general.

I think the issue is that even after one episode, the show feels very different. I kept expecting Michael to pop in and then realized he won't do that any more. Even episodes that weren't about Michael still featured him in some way, and arguably the whole show is really about him and the way he runs his office.

To remove him puts the more secondary characters "in charge" and that's just not what we've seen for the past 6 seasons. I'm not writing off the show yet but I didn't think this episode was particularly great. It's going to be interesting to see how they handle it.

didn't care for Carrell's send off, or this episode. Really just waiting to see who the new boss will be to see if they can breathe new life into this dying corpse. I didn't think Jim and Michael's goodbye was that touching at all... and the fact that he would leave that night and sneak out on his "family" like that, sort of really showed to me what an asshole the Michael Scott character really is. As for the following episode, there were a few laughs, but all in all just the same tired crap we've gotten from The Office for the past 3 years.

Clearly you missed the point as to why he left the way he did.

Care to explain it to me in a way that doesn't make Michael Scott come across like a douchebag?

Michael didn't want to leave the office in a manufactured way. If you think about it, how many people in the office respected or even really liked Michael? He knew that them throwing a party for him would be one of those things they did just out of obligation or tradition, not because they really wanted to.

Everything about the way Michael left, to me, was appropriate. It showed maturity, growth, a bit of humor, and an understanding that life goes on.

Take his parting words to Toby, for example. Here is a guy who has never really done anything to Michael but be nice and try to win him over. And yet throughout the years, Michael levied insult after insult at Toby and was just plain awful. Michael's final words to Toby were polite and cordial and even suggested a willingness to meet his brother. This, to me, shows how selfless Michael was in the way he left. That he would overcome his immense hatred for Toby, just to be a nice guy was a big deal to me.

Similarly, he made amends with Kevin for making fun of his weight and appreciated Phyllis's gift of knitting him something; remember his reaction to the first time she knitted him something as a gift?

And yet, he still remained playful and sort of got back at Stanley for disrespecting him all these years by giving him an incomplete gift; where Oscar always thought so little of Michael, Michael embraced it and gave him a joke gift that he knew Oscar would take seriously.

But for the people he really cared about, he gave them a proper goodbye. For Dwight, he gave him sincere praise, something Dwight had wanted for years. It wasn't mushy, they didn't need to hug at the end; an official recommendation was all that was necessary there. For Andy it was showing faith in him and encouraging him to actually be confident; it didn't work initially, but by the end of the episode we see Andy step up to the task. For Erin it was a recognition of his role as a father figure and letting her know she could always call him. Jim and Pam ended up a little differently since Jim caught on and Pam met him at the airport, but they still got proper goodbyes.

He didn't want his last day to be inauthentic, he wanted it to be a normal workday so he could see everyone under normal circumstances without the pretense of it being his last day. It wasn't as though he put no thought into it; he made a list, prepared things, and put a lot of thought into his goodbyes. He cared deeply about these people and gave them each what he thought they deserved in the end; some got more than others, but that's to be expected. To me, his letter of recommendation for Dwight meant more than a face-to-face goodbye ever could have accomplished; same thing with the other characters.

And the party he knew he wouldn't be attending? He made it so everyone else could enjoy it; he encouraged them to get the type of cake that they would all enjoy, not just the alienating kind he likes. I don't think anything about the way he left should be categorized as him being a "douchebag."

Very well said. I agree almost completely.

, kstub

the fact that he made a point to go talk to each personal individually meant that he still saw these people as his family, and he ultimately short changed them with the ability to say goodbye appropriately. douchebag move, IMO. but that's OK, it's just a show... and (now) a lousy one at that.

Toby was video conferencing with his brother within minutes of first mentioning him to Michael. I think there is a chance they will have the opportunity to express their feelings to Michael at some point.

Except all this growth and maturity and awareness happened completely overnight. Not in one single episode before this did he show any signs of it. It would have been much better if Michael had gone out like... MICHAEL.

I dunno, I think over the course of the season we've seen small, subtle changes here and there.

And in the original Office, David Brent experienced a similar, fairly drastic change at the end.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then, because I think you're totally missing the point. Glad to know you think the show is lousy now too; I guess that means you'll stop posting in the future threads too?