Now Hiring: Michael Scott's Replacement

With this week's episode, The Office brought the 'Michael Scott Farewell Tour' in full swing with the meta-retrospective premiere of Threat Level Midnight!. The big question on every fan's mind this season has been about Michael's replacement. WordsFinest writers Butler and Aaron are throwing their top picks into the ring for your humbled enjoyment. These candidates aren't who we think will be picked; they're who we think should be picked.

Butler's Candidate: Ricky Gervais

OK, just hear me out here, because this isn't the ranting of some kind of Anglophile stubbornly insisting that the British version of the office is infinitely superior.  It isn't.  It is simply a different animal.  Qualifications out of the way, let's start justifying.

We all remember Gervais' cameo back in January, and while some felt that it was simply a hackneyed bit of fanservice, thrown in to appease Brit-backing naysayers, I thought the chemistry between the two of them was hilarious (and certainly more believable than the chemistry Scott has with Holly, who I consider functionally retarded).  Granted, I know that they wouldn't be interacting, but it did demonstrate to me an ability to integrate his character with relative ease.  And we can't forget that the bit concludes with David Brent asking Michael if they're hiring, with Michael promising to "keep him posted".  Foreshadowing, or potential red herring?

The obvious issue with replacing somebody as integral to the show as Michael Scott is the upset it would cause in the group dynamic.  Some hail this as a long awaited change in a show running stagnant with incessant "Jim and Pam are still happy" plot lines, but with a show like The Office's longevity, an abrupt change to the status quo may not quite be the way to go, as it risks the strength of the relationships of the established cast.  Enter David Brent.

While possessing the awkward qualities and self-perceived hilarity of Michael Scott, I've always noticed a more malicious edge to David Brent's management style.  While Michael's goal has always been to be the most popular guy in the office, Brent is much more focused on the strength of his perceived authority.  Jokes are used to denigrate, rather than as awkward bonding attempts, and he can never resist letting people know how unimportant he feels whatever they are working on is.  Bringing in a character akin to Michael Scott, with a few noteworthy motivational differences (the desire to be powerful, as opposed to simply liked), could be precisely what the show needs to push it gently towards a new cast dynamic, rather than throwing them in to the deep end and assuring them that whatever asshole the studio pulls out will have sufficient life preservers.

Aaron's Candidate: Will Arnett

As usual, my colleague Butler is incredibly thoughtful and sexilicious. But sometimes, he gets it wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I would shove a flaming bag of popcorn kernels down his throat were it not for 'physics' depriving me of the obvious desired result.

For the record, I love the British version of The Office, and I completely agree that one show isn't superior to the other - they're too different to fairly compare. I think Ricky Gervais is hilarious, and I even saw Ghost Town (that's not an endorsement, it sucked). But if Gervais took over the lead role for the American Office - our Office - it would be a total disaster.

Make no mistake, the American Office found its stride when it stopped trying to emulate the British series. It became more colorful, more slapstick, more absurd, and most importantly - more endearing. Unlike David Brent, we don't love Michael Scott because he's a jerk. We love Michael because he's a moron with a heart of gold. In breaking from the UK Office by becoming less dry (and for some UK fans, less witty), the American Office won an audience with lovable underdog characters and a willingness to walk the edge of 'reality' more liberally than its British counterpart. Granted, I think that it's gone overboard in the last few years, resulting in an increasingly stale show where the characters are starting to take on the personalities and spur-of-the-moment whims of the show's writers - I can't tell you how how much I hated this year's Halloween episode and its unnecessarily topical costumes. But you simply can't transplant David Brent into this show. We already had David Brent in the American Office - it was Season One's Michael Scott, and it didn't resonate.

I'm proposing Will Arnett because if the Office is going to succeed without Steve Carell, it needs a lead who brings a different brand of comedy to the show while preserving the qualities of the American Office that worked: you need someone who can be stupid, insensitive, slapstick, but still redeemable - just like the show feels as a whole. Carell's replacement needs to be someone you can root for in the same way that you root for every other misfit on our Office. With Arrested Development, Running Wilde, and his excellent recurring role on 30 Rock, Will Arnett has show that he can play all of these things without showing Office fans something they've already seen before. Yes, the show might change, but the show is going to change no matter who they pick. With Arnett, we get someone who can change the show without changing the reasons we love the show.

Butler's Rebuttal: I shall make this short (like my cohort's sexual endurance) and sweet (like the tender yet firm loving I bestow upon the ladyfolk): I think that Will Arnett is goddamned hilarious and easily made Arrested Development what it was.  That having been said, his brand of humor is something that is almost entirely rooted in the premises of the shows being patently absurd (30 Rock appearances in no way breaking the Gob mold).  There is a tinge of realism to the show that is its most endearing quality, and I foresee that were Brent to be made the new boss, we could see some surprising new alliances formed in our existing and increasingly beloved side crew as a result of this subtle change to the status quo.  With a change as drastic as what I foresee Arnett bringing to the table, I simply don't see the characters realistically adapting to the sudden upheaval.

But what are your thoughts?  Who do you think would make a worthy replacement for Michael Scott?