News: James Spader closing in on The Office boss job

The long and arduous process of deciding who should replace Steve Carell in the hit NBC comedy The Office, and it's firming as James Spader, who appeared as Robert California in the season finale.
More after the jump!

TV News Wrap: Saturday May 21

• There's a bit of "Office" talk floating about after its finale aired on Thursday night in the US. (Minor spoilers for Australian viewers). The response to the barrage of guest stars lining up to be the new boss has received a middling to negative response from most critics. Despite appearances from comedy heavyweights Ray Romano, Jim Carrey, James Spader, Ricky Gervais and Catherine Tate, some critics were scathing in their appraisal. Take Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix

"...I worried that a parade of big name guest stars would not only not fit comfortably into the world of the show but turn the finale into a disjointed mess.

I feel my fears were unfortunately correct with Ferrell's episode, and they sure seemed correct as I sat through last night's bumpy, awkward, great big mess of a finale. "

• In other "Office" news, TVLine's Michael Ausiello has signalled the possibility that Jenna Fischer's real-life pregnancy mights be written into the show... which I guess was kind of necessary? I mean the other choice was to write her out of the show for a block of episodes Tracy Jordan/Morgan-style, which wouldn't be a bad thing for The Office given the increasing staleness of the Jim-Pam dynamic. But nothing is set in stone yet.


• Which stars won't have a job (well in terms of the TV industry) next season? You've got to feel for Lost's Terry O'Quinn, what a great actor he was in Lost.


• Did Ricky Gervais really say that The Office jumped the shark in its finale? The internet has gone nuts over what Gervais said in his blog:

"If you're going to jump a shark, jump a big one."

The only thing is, he's referring to the Chris Martin episode of Extras, in which he makes a guest-appearance on: "I think it's a bit weird, celebrities just popping up in a sitcom", Gervais' character says. And now Warren Buffet has popped up on The Office. I think it's called irony... and "tongue-in-cheek". And anyway, even if Gervais does think the show has gone to sh-t, he wouldn't care all that much. And these days, jumping the shark isn't really used in the same pejorative sense as it first was, and this is just a light-hearted dig anyway...

• Regardless, the finale still rated well (3.8 rating in 18-49, beating Grey's Anatomy).


• Who will play the Ron Swanson's first ex-wife Tammy in Parks and Recreation. TV Fanatic throws up an interesting, logical choice.


• In other non-Office related news, for fans of the British TV show Luther, the trailer for its second season has been released. And even if you're not a fan of the show, or the brilliant Idris Elba, you've got to admit that this is a fantastic trailer. You've also got to love shows that go out and make great non-plot specific trailers like this which show you something about the character/s in the show, especially with a great song in the background. Soak this up:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWcCAQmxrQc]

• In Australian TV News, TV Tonight hints at a raunchy episode of Offspring coming up this Monday. For mine, the latest season has seemed to take this sort of turn- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The premiere kicked off the season well, but let's just hope this raunchier turn doesn't turn more conservative viewers off the show. And I think this tweet by comedian Josh Earl nicely summed up the vibe the promos put out for the show: