Creed and Jerk Characters

I am a devoted watcher of The Office and Creed is slowly becoming my favorite character. I know it is great to watch a movie or television show and really see a character that has a lot of depth, but I’m also a sucker for a one-dimensional character that is played well. Creed nails being evil and manipulative. I guess you can chock that up to good writing as well, but he plays the office jerk so well. It went out of his way to get some women fired last week even though he was the one that had made the mistake. He took up donations for her and on his way out the door, pocketed the cash and threw away the card. Excellent. I’m a fan of the well done jerk characters. That is what made Dan Fielding on Night Court so great and what makes Ari Gold on Entourage so great…they play the jerk well. I think there is a temptation to make the jerk have more depth, but in the end, I think you lose the entire mystique of the character. Don’t screw it up!