The Office Stars Reveal Their Characters' Favorite Post-Michael Bosses
On April 28, 2011, the television landscape was rocked by the irreversible removal of its only denizen with a willingness to stick his foot in a George Foreman grill, the cast of Jackass notwithstanding. Michael Scott had left The Office after 148 episodes, closing out a landmark chapter in sitcom history. Behind the scenes, the show's production team found themselves saddled with the difficult task of replacing not just a performer as talented as Steve Carrell, but one of prime time's most iconic characters.
The results were historically divisive from the standpoint of The Office's fans. Characters like Robert "You Don't Even Know My Real Name" California and professional juggler Deangelo Vickers were undoubtedly memorable, but it just didn't feel like their eventual retirements would ever inspire, say, an office-wide musical number. It takes a lot of affection to convince Angela to sing something from RENT.
Now, in a series of interviews with Collider, a few of the performers behind Dunder-Mifflin's best and brightest employees have chimed in with their thoughts on the usurpers to the throne of the Electric City. The website chatted with Kate Flannery (Meredith), Oscar Nunez (Oscar), and Andy Buckley (David Wallace) to ask who their characters' favorite Scranton branch manager would have been. Astonishingly, nobody chose Creed.
The Office stars had varying views on management
Kate Flannery, who played Meredith Palmer on The Office, was straightforward when asked who her character's favorite boss was. "I'm gonna say Deangelo Vickers, played by Will Ferrell," she stated. An unorthodox choice, but who knows? Maybe he helped her when she was studying to get her Ph.D.
Oscar, meanwhile, took a pragmatic approach to choosing his top-tier boss. According to actor Oscar Nunez, his character's favorite boss was "probably the person who left him alone the most. It's probably Robert California." Viewers may remember the James Spader character better by his official title, the Lizard King. Nunez amended his answer to include Jo Bennett, played by Kathy Bates, because she "stayed in her own space."
Andy Buckley played David Wallace on the series, and frequently seemed to represent the only adult in the room — when he wasn't helping to pen the lyrics to the "Suck It" jingle. With that in mind, it's sort of wild that Buckley thinks Michael Scott was Wallace's favorite branch manager. "Come on, baby," he said when questioned on the subject. "It had to be Michael Scott. I should've said yes to the role in Threat Level Midnight, and I should not have sent Holly away." There's clearly a lot of guilt there. Hopefully, Sabre's insurance plan covers extensive therapy.
Jim Halpert, unfortunately, was unavailable for comment, as making any sound would result in his being eaten by aliens.