FROM THE DESK OF MR. HARDY: Why I Always Say The Office Should've Ended With Season 7

WARNING: Spoilers for The Office incoming, especially for seasons 7, 8, and 9!

  Pretty much my go-to hot take is that The Office should've ended with season 7, when Michael left. But I thought I'd dedicate this blog to explaining why I constantly say that.
  Seasons 1-7 of The Office are some of the best seasons of any sitcom. I may even say any television show. But, a big thing happens towards the end of season 7. Michael gets married and moves to Colorado with his wife, Holly. 
  That would be a good point to end the show on, right? Dwight or someone else can be the new regional manager, and Dunder Mifflin keeps going on happily while Michael and Holly are off starting a new life. But no. The show goes on for two more seasons. Seasons 8 and 9 exist, two Michael-less seasons (well, Michael comes back for the series finale, so season 9 isn't entirely Michael-less). 
   I'm not saying the show couldn't have been done without Michael. Clearly, it could've. It did for two seasons. There were more than enough good characters to keep it going without Michael. But, it feels to me like the absence of Michael kinda made the writers feel lost, not knowing how to write stories with Michael gone.
  Seasons 8 and 9 feature a lot of unnecessary, weird plot points. Jim and Pam have marriage problems and have to go to couple's counseling for some reason, there's a rocky transition through several different regional managers after Michael leaves until Andy is finally settled on, Andy becomes a huge jerk for some reason, Nelly is there, Frank is there, and for some reason they introduce a cameraman who breaks the rules of not interacting with them and basically tries to get Pam (thankfully unsuccessfully) to cheat on Jim with him. 
   Seasons 8 and 9 aren't unwatchable, nor are they necessarily bad. They're definitely the worst seasons of the show, but it's still good TV. The Office is still The Office. But these last two seasons are just so, so bumpy. And it really did not need to happen. End the show when Michael leaves, have Dwight take over as boss, and you put a nice, clean bow on a brilliant 7-season run. No choppy eighth and ninth seasons that kinda put a stink on an otherwise excellent show. 

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