AV CLUB site commenter on the final episode of the American OFFICE.

PolarBears                                                                                      

The thing I dislike most about The Office's later seasons is not the dip in quality, but rather, the backlash from the fans. The thing is, I don't blame them. It was sheer loyalty that kept me going through Season 8; hell, I thought about dropping the show more often than not. But here I am; I've watched all 200 or so episodes, and I still will miss it.
The finale had its share of think pieces, but it didn't quite garner the fanfare it deserved. It's essentially come full circle from that small, forgotten show back in 2005; "It should've ended here or there!" and "I haven't watched in forever!" dominate conversations about the current state of The Office, and well, those people are right. But what saddens me is that no one seems to care as it limps off into the sunset. Sure, you have your die-hards and your occasional casual viewers, but we've let these last few seasons tarnish the reputation of the show. It's only natural. The truth is, however, that for a time, The Office was one of the most brilliant things on TV.
It gave us a sweet, genuine, and downright beautiful relationship with Jim and Pam. It gave us fleshed out, complex, and hilarious characters. It gave us Michael Scott. It gave us a wonderful cast (watching the retrospective, I was struck by how much love the cast members had for each other. It's the case for most casts, but man, these are some wonderful people). It gave us a window into the monotony and absurdity of office life, something many of us can relate to. It gave us a plethora of incredibly uncomfortable situations. Most importantly, it gave us some of the most hilarious TV moments, and episodes, of all time. And astonishingly, it lasted 9 seasons, and was able to bring back some of the things we loved the most about the show in this final season. So yes, there were incredible highs, and disastrous lows, but in the end, my favorite moments of this show were, in the words of Michael Scott,
"All of them. I loved them all. Every single one of them."
The Office took an ordinary concept, and it turned it into its own kind of ordinary. And there's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point?

NBC's Ben Silverman steps down.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006519.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/07/the-long-wait-is-over-ben-silverman-finally-out-at-nbc.html

Ben Silverman, as NBC exec and Reveille majordomo, will probably be best known for making the American version of THE OFFICE a reality. Otherwise, Silverman's track record is mixed, with a lot of aim-really-low reality-show junk on his watch.

And, with the 10-11 p.m. hour ceded to the low-cost THE JAY LENO SHOW, it will be interesting to watch the results of NBC's prime time schedule for 09/10.

Jay Leno going to prime time: everything old is new again.

Jay Leno, who will now get to take his play-down-to-the-proles version of THE TONIGHT SHOW to prime time, isn't the first host of the show to score a prime-time gig on NBC. Both Steve Allen and Jack Paar went the same route in the 50s and 60s--and if I recall correctly, Paar's prime-time show was much the same as his late-night one.

But neither Parr nor Allen were asked to do an hour show for five nights a week in prime time.

Obviously, Ben Silverman (who for every OFFICE or 30 ROCK comes up with nongenius ideas for "edgy" retoolings of KNIGHT RIDER and THE BIONIC WOMAN) isn't going to walk the plank. So, one can expect NBC to gut their prime-time schedule as much as possible (even past the 16 hours remaining when Leno debuts next year) with more superstupid reality shows and extra helpings of DATELINE NBC.

Perhaps the silver lining in this cloud will be possessed by Conan O'Brien. Free of the spectre of Jay being direct competition on either Fox or ABC, maybe Conan can develop an 11:35 p.m. talk show that can be truly Conanesque [i.e. incorporate more of the LATE NIGHT WITH...show than he thought possible, say, a week ago] and move the tired late-night format into a new era.

At least until Viacom sends David Letterman to early retirement and likely blesses Jon Stewart with the CBS 11:35 p.m. slot.