Given that the Mayans had a portion of the population convinced that this is the last year on the planet, it makes sense that Hollywood would be willing to exploit the apocalypse by taking it to the world of Romantic Comedies. That’s exactly the plan from with Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

From writer/director Lorene Scafaria, who last brought us Michael Cera and Kat Dennings running around New York City in Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist comes yet another lengthy-titled film. This time, the twist is a bit more enticing. Here’s the rundown.

Steve Carell and Keira Knightley star in the comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, which marks the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Lorene Scafaria. Set in a too-near future, the movie explores what people will do when humanity’s last days are at hand. As the respective journeys of Dodge (Carell) and Penny (Knightley) converge, the two spark to each other and their outlooks – if not the world’s – brighten.

A full cast of funny, with folks like TJ Miller, Patton Oswalt, and Rob Huebel making the end of the world a bit funnier. Take a look at the trailer after the jump, and catch the flick on June 22nd.

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Those who have had the stomach to sit through the post-departure of Steve Carell from The Office know that the show hasn’t had the same excitement and originality it had when he was attached. Since Helms and newcomer James Spader have taken the lead in the show, it’s become less about the boss and more about the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

That’s probably why NBC is contemplating taking the show’s standout character, Dwight Shrute, and giving him his own spin-off, a la NBC’s move with Friends and Joey. We all remember how that ended. THR has the scoop.

Reports of NBC eyeing a potential spin-off centered around Rainn Wilson’s quirky Dwight Schrute character are indeed true, according to a well-placed source. The idea would be to further explore the Shrute family farm, with multiple generations of Schrutes involved. The comedy concept could get a test of sorts on an episode of The Office later this season.

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These days when you hear about reboots or sequels to classic 80′s franchises, the only thing that comes to mind is a shutter. With things like Footloose or Fright Night trying to take over theaters, it’s hard to believe that a good idea could float to the top.

That’s where Dan Aykroyd’s script for Ghostbusters 3 comes into play. Rumors have been floating around for over a decade about the proposed third film in the franchise, with names like Steve Carell, Jonah Hill, Eliza Dushku, and Alyssa Milano being thrown about, but Aykroyd is here to tell us exactly what we can look forward to, in an ambiguous sort of way.

In a recent episode of The Dennis Miller Show, Aykroyd finally answered the questions we’ve all been waiting for: Will there be a third film?

Yes, we will be doing the movie and hopefully with Mr. Murray. That is our hope. We have an excellent script. What we have to remember is that ‘Ghostbusters’ is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributive to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold [Ramis], myself and Sigourney [Weaver]. The concept is much bigger than an individual role and the promise of ‘Ghostbusters 3′ is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood.

So the idea of Jonah Hill or Eliza Dushku may not be too far off. The sad part is when Aykroyd explains what has happened to our favorite members of the team 20 years later.

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Based on the cast (Steve Carell and Julianne Moore as a married couple Cal and Emily—how perfect) and a promising trailer, I went into Crazy, Stupid, Love fully expecting to love it. I didn’t, but I did leave loving the young couple (a surprisingly funny Ryan Gosling as Jacob and Emma Stone as Hannah). They had everything going for them—charm, chemistry and perfect timing. Emma Stone is darling and hilarious and deserves every bit of the praise and buzz she’s receiving.

They’re no mere insanely pretty faces, either. Both Gosling and Stone have smarts and personality that shine through, despite the screenplay’s sometimes ridiculous shortcomings. Yes, the screenplay. Who the heck greenlit this thing? With all the money they must’ve had, they couldn’t have hired someone to perk this thing up?

The clichés, oh the clichés. This is one of those movies where the crowd acts as one simple-minded, one-minded body. You know what I’m talking about. Everyone in the office pokes their heads above their cubicles at once and claps. Everyone stands outside and with the exact same judgmental expression watches the hero’s meltdown in the school parking lot. Stuff a normal group of individuals would never do. It’s the equivalent of a laugh track in a dumb sit-com. But that’s not all.

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Once in a while there comes along a show that not only is able to entertain audiences week after week, season after season, but relate to people on a very personal level. The Office is one of those shows.  Besides having one of the strongest ensembles casts on television and an original mockumentary form, one of the biggest reasons for this show’s success has been Steve Carell’s performance as Michael Scott.

To get a complete picture of what Carell has brought to this character over the years you must start at the beginning. The pilot episode was shot using the same script as the pilot to the original British version with Carell mimicking the awkward, incompetent boss as Ricky Gervais played it.  Seven seasons later, what we find is a much more likable, sympathetic character that the audience genuinely roots for and cares about.

But what exactly defines the perfect Office episode?  Is it the episode with the most laugh-out-loud lines?  Or is it the one with the cutest Jim and Pam moments?  No, what ultimately takes the show from a regular sit-com to an Emmy Award winning show are the episodes that give you a glimpse into the humanity and vulnerability of Michael Scott.

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Goodbye, Michael!

I’m not sure which one we all knew was coming: Michael Scott leaving, Steve Carell leaving, or The Office pretty much getting cancelled now that they’re gone. Maybe my emotions gauge isn’t properly calibrated, but I wasn’t tearing up during this one; of course we’ve all known about Michael/Steve’s departure since before the Eisenhower administration, so it’s no big reveal, and many other writers have given him a far more lugubrious analysis than I.

I’ve lost a good deal of interest in the show over the years and gotten progressively more annoyed with Michael’s character, but I still maintain an appreciation for all the good things the US Office and Steve Carell have accomplished over the last six years—they did, after all, take a British favorite and put their own distinct spin on it, creating a show that will go down as one of the ‘00s best.

And, to it’s credit, “Goodbye, Michael” doesn’t dwell on the loss and is actually pretty damn funny. One of its many smart moves is to play down Imbecile Michael and play up Caring Michael, who’s leaving the office on a good note by dispensing gifts and compliments, including his neon St. Pauli’s beer sign to Ryan, a velvet pool table to Stanley, the ten best accounts to Andy, and not telling everyone about Phyllis’s long-lost child.

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This may be a tough one to summarize because it’s not so much a plot-oriented installment, but more a series of skits featuring Will Ferrell interacting with everyone else around the office—Andy, Jim & Pam, Erin, Kevin, and, naturally Michael. That’s pretty much the recap right there.

But that won’t suffice, so here’s some more details: Ferrell, whose guest appearance for a few episodes has been in The Office news for what seems like the past three seasons, plays Deangelo Vickers (which sounds like a name Ferrell chose for himself), the guy brought in to replace Michael. After a surprisingly long cold open in which he ingratiates himself to Michael, Deangelo hits it off with the rest of the office, talking kids with Jim & Pam, immediately spotting/assigning the role of office clown to Andy, and earning the respect and admiration of the rest of the gang (especially Kelly, who orchestrates her own “meet cute” to nab his attention).

For those of you who’ve seen the original BBC Office, this is the long-awaited arrival of the “Neil” character, someone I never thought they’d get to—particularly seven seasons in. And, like Neil, Deangelo is great with first impressions but turns out to be a shallow, humorless jerk.

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Will Ferrell not big enough for all of you fans of NBC’s The Office? How about an hour-long season finale featuring Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, Ray Romano, Doctor Who’s Catherine Tate and James Spader?

NBC has recently announced that the trio of Spader, Tate, and Romano will be making appearances in the upcoming season finale of The Office, in which we get the last episode with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.

Carell’s character may be quitting the paper business to live the married life, but his real life counterpart will be taking on a new NBC comedy in which he tells the story of a younger him delivering mail for a living after college.

The question still remains: Who will replace Michael Scott as the new boss of the Scranton branch?

With this huge slew of cameo stars for the finale, you can see NBC is stirring the pot by making you think it could be any one of those candidates.

Sadly, you’ll just have to wait for the full season finale on May 19th to see for yourselves. Until then, who would you like to see replace Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott on the show?

Sound off in the comments!

The Office has finally stopped lollygagging around the Michael-Holly will-they/won’t-they (of course they will) question? and given us what we all expected: The Proposal, albeit coyly buried under the episode’s evasive title “Garage Sale.” But who’s complaining?

In the show’s 145-episode run, it’s deftly avoided cheap sentiment, and though Michael’s erratic behavior can be grating, especially in this last season, Steve Carell knows how to keep it sweet instead of cloying—even when you have the rest of the office bearing candles and ominously asking Holly to marry them in some weirdly druidic ritual (not that I know anything about druidic rituals [though one of the tech guys at my old job was a druid]; it’s just the best adjective to go with “ritual”).

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Who says good news doesn’t come at the end of the week? On the heels of their Q&A at PaleyFest this week, NBC’s newest hit show, Community, has been given more life as the network has renewed the show for another season. Also to get another season are Parks and Recreation and the new Steve Carell-less Office.

It seems that though the shows weren’t performing up to expectations, they managed to get a stay of execution. THR spells it out with math. We hate math.

Veteran comedy The Office is delivering a 4.0 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic and averaging 7.7 million viewers for its current seventh season. Steve Carell‘s farewell episode is scheduled to air at the end of April, with Will Ferrell coming on for a multi-episode guest arc.

In the ratings, Amy Poehler‘s Parks and Rec, currently in its third season, is averaging a 2.8 in the key demo and 5.5 million viewers. With its move to the 9:30 p.m. time slot, the series is up 17 percent in the 18-49 demo (2.8 vs. 2.4) and up 9 percent in total viewers (5.5 million vs. 5.1 million).

Critical favorite Community, which has anchored the competitive 8 p.m. time slot on Thursdays for NBC and is led by The Soup host Joel McHale, has averaged a 2.1 in the 18-49 demo and 4.7 million viewers so far in its sophomore season.

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I like the dynamic Todd Packer brings to The Office. Among the group of miserable souls who have their own beefs with each other and whose allegiance depends on whatever the week’s plot requires, Packer was always a fun wrench to toss into the cogs and, somehow, make them work better.

Basically, in his earlier appearances, Packer became the one thing towards which every petty person at Dunder-Mifflin could put aside personal differences and rally against. There’s something heartwarming in that solidarity. I also love David Koechner.

Of course, Packer has only made a handful of those appearances (four? five maybe?), but they’ve all been memorable thanks to Koechner, who finds the relishing humor in school-yard insults such as “Michael Snot!” and adolescent put-downs regarding Jim’s sexuality. He’s the missing link in the evolution of the 1^st-grade-bully-to-frat-boy-to-?-to-child-molesting-Uncle-John. Naturally an episode devoted entirely to him wouldn’t work.

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It’s nice to see that among the bevy of Michael send-offs, that The Office took a slight detour to give thanks to the rest of its fantastic cast. “Threat Level Midnight” is a self-indulgent love-letter to the cast that’s very generous with its humor and divvies up the best lines evenly among the current cast and even takes time to fondly remember some of the former performers, including a great cameo from Jan and creepily carnal lines from Pam’s mom and Karen (though the most disturbing one is Goldenface’s “I’m going to dig up Scarn’s dead wife and have sex all over her”).

Michael’s screenplay was first introduced wayyyy back in season 2, when the gang discovered it in Michael’s office and shut down work for the day to hold a reading in the conference room (the episode also had one of the best Michael-defining jokes of the series when it was discovered that Scarn’s bumbling sidekick was originally named “Dwight” until Michael did a search-and-replace to rename the character.

Unfortunately for the real Dwight, it didn’t pick up Michael’s misspelled “Dwigt”–it loses something in the explanation, but trust me, it was funny). I didn’t think there’d ever be more than a passing reference to it, if were ever brought up again, and that it’d go down as one of those things best left to the imagination, kind of like The Office’s own “Rules of Calvinball,” but run with it they did.

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