Even when a series is nearly perfect, such as The Office, one misguided decision by a character can ruin the whole thing. The Office, the character who almost ended up ruining the entire show could have been Nellie Bertram.
She was played in the role of British comedy actor Catherine Tate (known internationally for her role as Donna who was among David Tennant’s characters in Doctor Who), Nellie was one of Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) numerous replacements. Tate began her career as a regular on The Office during its eighth season, which wasalso one of the seasons that was least liked by viewers. In the beginning, Tate was supposed to succeed Carell following his departure from season 7. However, issues with scheduling made it impossible for her to fully step into the shoes of Michael. In spite of that, Nellie ends up running Dunder Mifflin.
In her time and half of The Office, Nellie proved to be one of the show’s most undesirable characters. She displayed the traits of narcissism and narcissism. poor ideas, and bad judgement, while also suffering from a serious shopping habit. (Remember the time she mysteriously bought 13 pianos after being denied the role of Regional Manager?) It’s also clear that she wasn’t worthy of the role of Regional Manager when she was offered it, revealing the same in a talkative head in which she claims she’s not a professional and regularly was late for work without a reason (unless you consider the insults to Scranton as well as Scranton and the Irish for the definition of an “excuse”). The bottom line is that Nellie is only able to get the position as Regional Manager due to her close relationship with Jo and, as Michael’s replacements, she is inevitably poor in the job.
The Office provided Nellie too many screen hours
Nellie could be a bad enough character as a minor character however, as The Office floundered in the aftermath of the departure of Carell, one of the most frustrating aspects about her was how prominently and often she appeared in the show. Then, Nellie became one of the biggest characters of the showshe spent a surprisingly large amount of time on the screen until the point that fans demanded that she be removed from the show completely.
Tate’s fault isn’t for her character being so severely underwritten and unwritten, but it is apparent to be that the director Greg Daniels and his team were unaware of how much everyone disliked Nellie. While Michael was certainly unpopular during his time in the role of Regional Manager, he also had some redeeming characteristics. Nellie however, on contrary, had practically none of them, which made it nearly impossible viewers to support her in any meaningful way.
The way the Season 9 of The Office turned things around
Read More: https://www.looper.com/162276/how-nellie-bertram-almost-ruined-the-office/?utm_campaign=clip
Fortunately, following the disaster of the eighteenth season The Office began to take off again in the lead-up to the 9th and last season. As Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) returned to his office in Season 9 after Helms absence for a brief period to make three episodes of the Hangover film, the role of Nellie was a little less prominent … although she was still quite unpleasant to watch. At the time that the final episode was released, viewers were much more than sated by the improved quality and the positive endings for every character. However, as is the norm, Nellie ends the series with a kidnapping and fleeing to Poland. In fairness, however she did kidnap the baby from Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) possibly the most un-parenting parent you could ever have.
The Office was sturdy enough to stand up to many failures due to its frequent success however Nellie Bertram was an incredibly large gap in its history. Fortunately, the fans were forced to endure Nellie for one season and a half. even that was too long for a character who was so unlikable.
