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Macleans.ca

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The Office: A Show With More Than Heart

Yeah, I got a little misty/teary/bleary at Steve Carell’s last episode of The Office as a regular. I have a respect for Greg Daniels that borders on the superstitious, but it usually pays off; I expected this episode to be good and, except for some of Will Ferrell’s scenes (we may know more about this once he’s written off the show, but it’s hard to know exactly what Ferrell’s been going for, and the tag was really not the kind of thing to convince us that the show can go on without Carell), my expectations were fulfilled. The tricky balance between Michael as he would be in real life vs. Michael the beloved sitcom character was well handled, leaning more to the escapist side of things – which is fine, since the show long ago became the story of people who find a certain refuge in the office, not people who are tormented by having to be there.

Best of 2010: slim pickings, in a good way

Best-of-2010 lists have been filling the entertainment pages of my recent morning papers (yes, I still read the paper on paper, preferably newsprint manufactured with a large proportion of long-fibred northern spruce pulp, which renders it less susceptible to tearing) and, I figure, why not play along? So:

Mel Gibson’s hand puppet, Dave Carroll’s broken guitar, and “Shannon Tweed Day” in Oshawa

Newsmakers of the week