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Don't get me wrong...I love The Office exactly the way it is and could watch the show happily, for years to come. However, I was wondering if there was any interest in having the show develop an American counterpart to the UK's Neil Godwin.
Those were some of my favorite scenes (between David and Neil). David was just so openly jealous of that guy. I think Neil was originally head of the Swindon branch, but was promoted to being Brent's boss.
I think my favorite moment was when Brent showed up at the office wearing an identical leather coat and an earring.
Would this be something you'd possibly want to see in Season 3 of the show? "Competition" between Michael and the other branch manager, who I assume would be cast as a popular, handsome, TRULY witty person, which would drive Michael insane since he thinks he is all of that and more.
Thoughts?
I'm not sure. Neil was the anti-David. Whereas, Michael is a little bit Neil and a whole lot of David in one package.
Hmmm... I'm not sure a similar character to Neil would work the same way... The tension between Neil and David was largely built on David's incompetence as a manager. While I'm sure Michael isn't the most comptetant manager ever, he's not portrayed as openly useless as David Brent was.
But, having said that, there certainly is room for another character to ruffle Michael's feathers. Maybe a promotion could put someone on the same level as Michael, I'd love to see how he'd handle that!
I agree that Michael seems more "human" at times than David Brent was. I recall watching the entire first season and my husband and I would remark how awful Micheal was. Then when the second season rolled around, we were stunned to suddenly find ourselves feeling a bit sorry for him from time to time (Dundies, Halloween, etc...). Yet another example of how remarkable the writers and producers have made this show. When it first aired I thought I'd never sympathize with anything Michael Scott said or did because he was such a boob. But they've gone and done it! I can't help but like and despise him at the same time!
That being said (sorry, so long-winded) I would personally like to see how Michael would react to someone who was truly competition for him (focusing more in the looks and personality departments since that is what seems to be most important to Michael).
I'd like to see some tension between Michael and the other branch manager. For some reason I am just anxious to see how he would handle being around someone who truly has it together and not someone who only THINKS he does.
I think Steve Carell would do an incredible job of being a huge baby about it. We've seen how he mussed up his hair to look like Jim's in "The Secret." And how he cried when he thought he and Jim would no longer be best buds because he spilled the beans about Jim's feelings for Pam. So, I can see Michael Scott absolutely panicking if his employees strike up a friendship with the branch manager if he comes to visit the Scranton office. If the office gives more attention to and genuinely likes the new guy, I can only imagine what that would do to Michael!
I think it's the mark of an excellent show (and writing) when you can actually envision the established characters in a situation unseen and know how they would react.
Am I the only person who got to see that? I feel like I won the lotto or something.
You are a winner! Just had to monkey with the markdown a bit before making my official post.
That's what I figured. I did it in the contest discussion thread, myself.
We already had a Neil - it was Josh, the manager of the Stamford branch. His branch had better numbers than Scranton, and he was more well-liked than Michael. And Michael was indeed immature about the rivalry. "He made a better paper airplane." ""Is Josh funnier than I am? Does he even have a girlfriend? Because I have two, basically."
I just bumped it so I could practice my markdown for the contest. It was actually the oldest thread on the board.
But given the question here, I'd think that Ryan could now serve as a good foil for Michael, given their history of, respectively, Michael idolizing/demeaning Ryan and Ryan "teasing" Michael.
Yeah I realized that, I just thought those predictions were worth noting.
Has there been a character that has been, sort of, our equivalent of Neil? Maybe Josh?
Oh. I see that What's Second Base already made that assumption. In 2007. June 15. Good to know.