this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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Unpopular (somehow) opinion incoming. I watched The Office because people talked about it so much and I loved Parks and Rec which I often heard it compared to. And while I found it nowhere near as good as Parks and Rec, I still enjoyed most of it. My least favorite part of the show, however, was Michael Scott. I love Steve Carell in almost everything I've seen him in, but Michael Scott was just such an annoying cringy asshole. I was super glad when he left. He's easily one of my most disliked characters in all of media.
That really is an unpopular opinion so I respect you for sharing it. I think it might miss the mark a little bit. The point of Michael Scott is that he is the idiot boss, he is supposed to be a cringy asshole, and a way for the rest of the cast to have something in common with the audience (everyone has had a crappy boss). Essentially an American equivalent of the UK's David Brent.
In season 2, they had to rework his character into not quite a lovable idiot but someone who was promoted above their competence level. The show couldn't work with American audiences otherwise. You still aren't supposed to root for him as much as feel bad for him. Then they replaced him with completely irredeemable and unlikable characters. The Office without Michael was like what Parks and Rec would be without Ron.
I liked all the other characters just fine without Michael. I would watch a show entirely about Jim and Dwight and their shenanigans. They were hands down my favorite part. And the secretary girl that came in late in the show. I forget her name, but I loved her as well. If Michael could have been her kind of dumb, more like how he played Brick in Anchorman, just not that dumb, I think it still would have worked. He's just such a bad person in this that I can't get over it.