‘The Office’ finishes its ‘paperwork’: Popular NBC show starts its final season

The ninth and final season of NBC’s hit television show “The Office” is set to premiere Sept. 20 at 8 p.m.

Since its premiere in March 2005, “The Office” has won several prominent TV awards including the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, 2006 Peabody Award, 2006 and 2008 AFI Honors, Producers Guild Award, Writers Guild Award and many others.

“’The Office’ made the way for a lot of the good shows that are on TV today. They brought that style of show to the forefront of American television,” said Matt Sindelar, a senior sports management major of Greenwood. The style Sindelar referred to is a mockumentary, with humor that is not immediately apparent. It has influenced shows like “Parks and Recreation,” “Community” and “Modern Family.”

Near the end of its seventh season, Michael Scott, the boss and main character of the show, quit. “The Office” was centered on Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, and the cast and fans alike were sad to see him go.

In Carell’s last few episodes, viewers could see other members of the cast visibly upset on screen and in interviews.

“It’s going to be a sad time watching one of the best shows on TV come to an end. NBC has done the best they could without Steve Carell being on anymore, but they can only do so much with him gone,” said Patric Howie, a junior sports management major of Crossett.

After Carell’s departure, writers pulled in actor Will Ferrell to temporarily take the place of Carell’s character. The Office also has a large cast of 15 characters to pull humor from. Despite this, its ratings and amount of viewers still dropped more and more each week.

Season seven of the show began with a solid rating of 9.32 out of 10. Although it did not experience a significant drop after Carell’s last episode mid-season, it was on a slow decline, ending the season with a rating of 5.58.

During Carell’s reign as boss of Dunder Mifflin there were sometimes more than 9 million viewers and hardly ever were there fewer than 6 million. After Carell left, “The Office” rarely had more than 5 million viewers.

Amalie Benjamin, a senior nursing major of Cabot, said, “I think it’s a great show, and it had a good run, but it’s time. I think with sitcoms, it’s better to quit while you’re ahead.”

Although its ratings went down, many people continue to watch “The Office” and will be sad to see it end.