Showrunner Paul Lieberstein explained that Andy Bernard was the natural choice for The Office’s new boss because like Michael Scott, he “put[s] people first and relationships first.†The reasoning makes sense: Andy’s neediness has already served the character well in the season premiere.
In other Office news, Maura Tierney from NewsRadio is going to play Robert California’s wife in at least one episode this season. Maura Tierney is great and all, but I’m mostly just out-of-my-seat elated to learn anything else about James Spader’s Robert California, who’s already one of the most bizarre and original new characters of this TV season. For the next few weeks I will conclude each day by gazing at a photo of Maura Tierney for 20 minutes in silent prayer that Spader’s female counterpart will also be a terrifyingly confident eye-contact fiend. Named Roberta California. Oooh.