The Office – Steve Carell Gets Extended Exit

Steve Carell will be leaving The Office on April 28th, and TVLine brings word that NBC is giving fans a little extra time to spend with Michael Scott during his departure episode.

Carell’s farewell show has been expanded by twenty minutes so The Office will run from 9:00 PM to 9:50 PM. The schedule change also shows some love for Parks and Recreation since it’s getting a little extra padding added to its schedule for a 9:50 to 10:30 timeslot, but 30 Rock gets left out in the cold with its standard 30-minute schedule. The real loser of the night is Outsourced, which gets bumped completely from the Thursday night line-up.

NBC is doing what they can to make sure the laughs don’t leave when Carell does, so there will be plenty of new faces around Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch that could possibly fill the void. Ricky Gervais has mentioned Will Arnett as a replacement, but NBC is considering three different people they feel might be more suited for the long-running comedy.

There’s no doubt that everyone involved will be on edge since it will probably be next season before the all-important question is answered – can The Office survive without Steve Carell?