subject: Steve Carell Leaving ‘The Office' After Next Season [print this page] Steve Carell Leaving The Office' After Next Season
You know why the news that Steve Carell will bow out of The Office comes as no surprise? Well, partially, it's because next season will bethe show's seventh, and when it began, Carell was not amovie star. He had done supporting stuff inAnchorman and Bruce Almighty and The 40-Year-Old Virgin was justabout to come out, but who knew what that would do?
So now it's several years on and Carell has worked almost continuously: Evan Almighty, Get Smart, Dan in Real Life, LittleMiss Sunshine, Date Night, some animated stuff, and this summer, Despicable Me and Dinner for Schmucks. So I think that's the major string being pulled here.
"I think [season] seven will be my last year," Carell told Entertainment Weekly. "I want to fulfill mycontract. I think it's a good time to move on."
Could he be swayed by more money or control overthe show? "No. I just want to spend more time with my family," he answered, and to that point, just look at the six features and three animated films he's made since 2005, on top of a TV show and publicity tours. Why wouldn't he just want to go home?
But I think there's another reason here, related to the quality ofthe show. It has had its moments, yes, but for me, it was all downhill after the remarkably tense Emmy-nominated episode called The Dinner Party. If you've seen it, you know it. After that, it was more Pam and Jim nonsense and whenever two characters on a TV show get married, that's the first crumb leading tothe mousetrap.
Hey, don't get me wrong,The Office had a great run for almost three full seasons, lost something when the writers strike happened, and found its groove again before capitulating to that relationship stuff. It's very hard for a TV show to stop being tired unless it makes a change like this. So Carell is probably thinking he's done all he can do as Michael Scott and he'll leave it up to whomever to takethe showfrom here. Just hope it doesn't becomeScrubs
