10 Bad Seasons Of Otherwise Great TV Shows

There is no universe in which Season 8 of The Office needs to exist. After Steve Carell left at the end of Season 7, the absolute only reason the show kept going was because NBC needed it to. There was no creative reason that viewers needed two more seasons after the main character was gone.

Season 9 was able to create a few effective, nostalgic moments and decent character arcs, with a downright excellent finale. But there are very few redeeming qualities to Season 8. James Spader tries his best to rescue the show with his Robert California character, but while he was somewhat funny and interesting when first introduced, the writers run out of ideas for him rather quickly. Is he a quirky genius or a loser drunk? The show can't seem to decide.

Then there's the addition of Nellie, and as funny as Catherine Tate is, this is just one of the worst characters in the whole series. She's downright obnoxious, but not in a funny way. There's also plenty more of Andy, who still has absolutely no chemistry with Erin and who again isn't effective as a new Michael as much as the writers want him to be. 

It's 22 episodes of the writers stumbling trying to figure out what to do without Steve Carell, and they never really find an answer.