Jenna Fischer Rightfully Defends ‘The Office’ Post-Steve Carell

I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Steve Carell’s performance in The Office isn’t one of the best comedic performances of the decade. It even goes beyond humor; Carell shines when he’s being funny and when he hits emotional truths in a way that feels relatable, despite his character being a ridiculous man-child. They initially modeled Michael Scott after his British counterpart, David Brent, but pivoted to create a more rounded and less mean character. You can feel Scott’s absence when Carell leaves the show, but dammit, there’s still good stuff when he goes.

The last two years, as a whole, aren’t as strong as some of the earlier ones. They are plagued by confusion, particularly regarding Ed Helms’ character, Andy Bernard, who becomes the manager of the titular office. They spend most of season 8 trying to turn him into the lead of the show and make you forget that he’s a stuck-up rich kid with anger issues. Then, presumably because Helms had other stuff going on, he’s absent for much of the last season as they turn him back into a rich kid with anger issues, and he hits his most unlikeable. Then there’s Jim and Pam.

Much of the show was built around Jim and Pam’s courtship. We were so happy when they got together and started a family. So, why not spend the last season testing the limits of their marriage? That’s what happens, and, depending on who you ask, it’s one of the best or worst things to come out of the show. The two characters go through very realistic bumps in their relationship, and seeing that is uncomfortable. Both Jim and Pam make mistakes, and when I rewatch it, it feels like they may not make it, even though I know they will. I think people just didn’t want that, even if it was done well.

And it was done well. Some characters get their crazy quotient ratcheted up to compensate for a lack of Scott, but a lot of the great writing and performances are still there, baked into the show’s DNA. Jenna Fischer, who played Pam, recently opened up on the Fly on the Wall podcast about rewatching the show for her own podcast. While she may not have thought so at the time, she also thinks seasons eight and nine of the show deserve more love. “My biggest takeaway from having rewatched it was that it’s really good the whole time,” she correctly explained.

“I think there was this lore, especially among the cast and the creatives, that maybe we hit our peak in season 3 or season 4,” Fischer noted. “And also this belief that the two seasons after Steve left, we were just treading water, and maybe they weren’t as good. But when I watched everything, some of my favorite episodes were in seasons 8 and 9 after Steve had left. There were still these amazing storylines.” Hell, yeah, Jenna! There’s gold in them thar hills! She’s going to stand up for a show she worked on, but she even criticizes her performance later in the interview. She isn’t above being honest.

It sounds like the lack of award recognition later on made the cast and crew second-guess what they were doing. “But yeah, I think some of the award nominations stopped after season 3,” she recalled. “So I think maybe we got in our heads and thought, ‘Oh, I guess we’re not creating as great.’” Luckily, Fischer now knows that couldn’t be further from the truth (though I’m sure someone will disagree). The work on The Office remains good throughout, and I can say that without even bringing up Robert California yet (though I guess she may not have mentioned him for a reason)!