(S33E12) To ensure a strong season finale, Saturday Night Live made a very smart choice to go with Steve Carell. He is an incredible comedic performer and his first hosting stint went pretty well, so I wasn't surprised to see him pull it off again this time around. Actually, this picture is from the first time Carell hosted. Is it weird that I've had it sitting on my desktop since then? Yes, probably. Anyway, the material was better than some of the other episodes', with a few spectacular highlights, including the hilarious digital short.

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Alan Sepinwall brings up a good point on his blog today (yes, two days in a row with Alan. What can I say, he's good): Why is Michael Scott, Dunder-Mifflin's favorite goofy manager, still being portrayed as the sad lonely clown? In last night's episode, not only do we see Michael lamenting the fact that both his old boss and the bird died alone, we also see Pam give a bird eulogy that essentially told Michael that he still has people who love him. But here's the interesting thing: doesn't Michael have a girlfriend?

Sure, Jan isn't that happy with Michael -- though I contend that she still likes him a little, considering she warned him of Dwight's traitorous ways in last week's episode -- but isn't he still dating Carol the real-estate agent (played by Steve Carell's real-life wife, Nancy Walls)? It makes me wonder if the writers are subtly trying to tell us that things between Michael and Carol aren't going that well, or they just simply forgot about that detail. Writers are human; they can forget. And they can also "conveniently forget" things to service a plot; Greg Daniels worked on a show that did that all the time in The Simpsons. So what do you folks think? Are we going to see Carol again? Let me know in the comments.