The Office's Most Unpopular Character Was Badly Mishandled

Published Sep 19, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

Out of the many characters who appear in The Office, one stands above as the very worst, and it's a double shame because he could have been so much better. The Office has a large ensemble of guest and supporting characters, as you would expect from a series that ran for nine seasons.

Many of these supporting characters are as memorable as the employees of Dunder Mifflin themselves. As a resident of the Mid-Atlantic states, anytime someone mentions they're going on vacation in the Finger Lakes, I have to stop myself from whispering, "People disappear in the Finger Lakes," à la Jim Carrey's one-episode manager candidate.

Then are those supporting characters that you just wish would get off the screen, characters like Brian Wittle, played by Chris Diamantopoulos in the final season of the show. Brian is the boom operator for the documentary crew who have been filming Dunder Mifflin these past years, and he appears on camera for the first time in episode 12, "Customer Loyalty".

The audience is led to believe that, over these last few years, the Dunder Mifflin employees have struck up real friendships with the crew when the cameras turn off. Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), for instance, have become good friends with Brian, and apparently, Brian has grown quite fond of Pam.

We don't know any of this until he rushes on screen to comfort Pam after Jim picks a fight with her, and we're just supposed to accept this has been a thing. I don't dislike the Jim and Pam storyline in season 9 as much as some, but Brian is one of the worst parts of it, and he easily could have been a highlight.

Brian The Boom Operator Could Have Been A Much More Interesting Character

Brian is a huge wet blanket in The Office. He doesn't have one funny scene in a show that remained pitch perfect hilarious up through the finale. The only thing he has close to a joke is when he awkwardly rejects Meredith's (Kate Flannery) offer to "boom" her. For the rest of his appearances, he's whining, somber, and a little creepy.

They could have gone in any direction with Brian. It's not the worst idea in the world to bring a member of the documentary crew into the show, they should have just made him interesting. Brian could have just been a friend, and maybe start offering his own insightful, funny comments about what he's seen in the office over the years. Make him an audience surrogate.

Brian could have gone in the other direction, and been a complete jerk working every angle to romance Pam while Jim is away. If he was more antagonistic, you probably could have done away with the mural vandalism episode in The Office, my pick for the worst in the series, and instead used that as the climax of the Pam/Brian "relationship". Considering The Office had the highly versatile Chris Diamantopoulos on hand, they could have gone in any direction.

Chris Diamantopoulos Is Hilarious & Talented With A Lot Of Range

Credit: Everett Collection

If you'd only ever seen Diamantopoulos in The Office, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was a one-note actor who went on to obscurity. He's not, though. He's actually incredibly talented and hilarious. Besides The Office, he has an impressive array of wonderful, unique performances that elevate whatever show he's in.

Diamantopoulos plays Russ Hanneman in Silicon Valley, maybe the funniest supporting character in the series. His frustration with the direction the doors close on his sports car is the hardest I've laughed in recent memory. In Mrs. Davis, his muscle-bound, Australian dork, JQ, is a delightful idiot with a surprising amount of warmth.

Even at the beginning of his career, Diamantopoulos was making waves. His performance as the naive Jason Barone in an episode of The Sopranos is a highlight of season 6. How The Office managed to waste him is as big a bummer as getting separated from your wife on Valentine's Day.