“The Office” is five seasons old, so this is about the time you’d expect it to fall apart, but it’s as funny as ever. It’s also the time you’d expect the writers to morph Michael Scott, the archetypal Worst Boss Ever, into a good boss. They are doing that, but rather than ruining the show, it has made it easier to embrace.
In this economy, when people are either jobless or scared of being jobless, we don’t want to watch a show about a bad boss. We probably have a bad boss at our job, and while that can be mildly amusing in a robust economy, it’s less funny when the company is failing and people are getting laid off.
Michael has always been more likable than David Brent of the BBC “Office.” David inspires pity, because his attempts at being the office entertainer feed his giant ego. Michael inspires sympathy because his attempts at being the office entertainer are borne from deep loneliness.
While we never see Michael doing anything productive in the office, we have seen him rise to the occasion when he has to. This season, when Michael (who briefly starts up his own paper company) goes head-to-head with Dwight for a client, Michael wins, because he is the better salesman.
The Michael Scott Paper Company arc revealed more positive traits. For one, he is ambitious enough to start a rival company. For another, he accepts Pam and Ryan — both of whom need a chance to prove themselves — as salespeople on this new venture. And when he negotiates his return to Dunder Mifflin, he makes sure to secure jobs for Pam and Ryan.
Of course, Michael mainly just wants the friendship of Pam and Ryan, so you could argue selfish motives, but he’s still a better guy than David Brent, who wouldn’t even consider other people.
After being reinstated at Dunder Mifflin, Michael starts a Café Disco in his old office. It becomes a huge hit with everyone in the building.
Granted, Michael has done some stupid things, like his Golden Ticket idea that backfires when a client wins a year’s worth of free paper. And when he is asked to speak to other branches about Scranton’s bar-setting success, the joke is that he had no idea how his branch is successful.
Probably, Scranton’s success has nothing to do with Michael. However, we all see how his replacement, corporate drone Charles, sucks the life out of the room. Stanley’s stress beeper might raced when Michael comes near him, but Charles doesn’t exactly make his charges relaxed — especially Jim, who gets off on the wrong foot with him.
Maybe a bit of entertainment — or poor attempts at entertainment — really do make for a better company.
The workplace is changing, and the bad economy will accelerate the changes. Time magazine presented a Future of Work series predicting that when Gen X supplants Baby Boomers in most management jobs about 10 years from now, there will be no more 9-to-5 clock punching and no more cubicles. Work environments will be results-based and teamwork will be valued. Michael would fit in with that future environment.
Certainly, it’s a stretch to say Michael is a dream boss. But let me put it this way: If you have to have a bad boss, Michael’s a good one to have.
You can watch the last 14 episodes of the fifth season of “The Office” at Hulu’s “Office” page. The show, now entering summer reruns, airs at 8 p.m. Central Thursdays on NBC.