Though James Spader did join the cast of NBC’s “The Office” in his Robert California role, he, as had been reported for months, is not technically the replacement for Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.
NBC had been keeping the identity of the new regional manager under wraps until the season eight premiere.
That event finally came Thursday, and within only a minute or so of action, it was revealed that Ed Helms’ Andy Bernard had been selected as the new regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Sabre Scranton. No justification was given for Bernard’s selection–he simply got the gig after California, unwilling to perform in that role, talked his way into the larger role of CEO.
Spader fans need not fear, however. It was established that the quirky Robert California spends much of his time working out of the Scranton office’s conference room, so he will have a significant presence on the show.
But Thursday’s episode was really about building Andy up as a suitable substitute for Michael Scott.
The episode revolved around Robert California’s mysterious “list,” that categorized the workers into two columns. He eventually revealed the chart to be indicative of who he feels are winners and losers, with names like Jim, Dwight, Darryl and Kevin (?) on the “winners” side and Pam, Ryan, Meredith and Gabe in the “losers” group. After grilling Robert on the list, Andy found himself transferred to the loser column.
Though California assured the staff that there was plenty of time for his opinion to change, Andy, in typical Michael Scott fashion, refused to have his friends demeaned. He protested California’s categorization, arguing why every “loser” but Gabe (who is serving as his version of Toby) is actually a winner. He has yet to accomplish much (he “won” the right to work a half day on the Friday before Columbus Day, a privilege they already had), but his “fight” established him as an acceptable manager.
The episode functioned well enough without the brilliant Carell, although it also had a cute storyline keeping things interesting. Going forward, it remains to be seen if any cast member will match Carell’s ability to let his character do all the work–his ability to turn low-key, goofy, “barely anything” storylines into compelling TV.