The Office - Thursday October 13, 9PM ET/PT, NBC/Global

We all knew when Steve Carrell left 'The Office,' other actors and characters would move to the forefront. Tonight we get a closer look at Andy, as he throws a garden party in a bid to impress Robert. The guests include his parents, played by Stephen Collins and Dee Wallace, and by a stroke of incredible inspiration, his brother is played by Josh Groban. Prepare for some serious a cappella attitude.

It's time for the new 'Office' boss to introduce the Dunder Mifflin gang to his family!

This week, we'll finally meet Andy's dad (Stephen Collins), mom (Dee Wallace) and brother (Josh Groban), and we've got an exclusive sneak peek at the party welcoming them to town.

In 'Garden Party' (Thurs., Oct. 13, 9PM ET on NBC), Andy invites his family and co-workers to a fancy shindig at Schrute Farms, and Dwight takes his hosting duties a little too far ... of course.

Take a look and tell us what you think: Are you excited to see some new faces visiting Scranton?

There were two direct results of the warehouse workers collectively winning the lottery on 'The Office' (Thu., 9PM ET on NBC). Darryl went into a deep funk because he'd stopped playing with them since moving upstairs -- yet they were still using his birthday -- and the office workers found themselves needing to chip in and help get the paper loaded onto the trucks.

It's a bit surprising how inept these supposedly intelligent people were in the warehouse. First, Dwight promptly drove the forklift into the wall and no one seemed keen to do anything about it. Afterward, no one even considered the pallet lift as they tried to devise a way to move boxes from the warehouse to the truck.

This week in TV clips was at times horrifying, but ended on a positive note. Last week's 'X Factor Flashing' gave way to the Nancy Grace nip slip. And then Andy Rooney retired, which inspired outpouring of mash-ups saluting his career in grumpy old man musings. Both Ed Helms and Seth Rogen got Jersey Turnpiked by the 'Jersey Shore.' But then Jaleel White came back into our TV lives and set everything back right in the world.

Check out some of our favorite clips from the week that was in TV and vote for your favorite in our weekly poll.

Oddly enough, considering the big deal made out of casting James Spader this season, what this week's episode of 'The Office' (Thu., 9PM ET on NBC) proved was that they really don't need him to succeed. The ensemble is so strong by now, they're holding the show together just fine.

That said, Spader was perfect this week. He's there to inspire and terrify the office, and keep everyone on their toes. But Andy has stepped up beautifully into Michael's shoes with a completely different but equal level of awkwardness.

Maura Tierney is getting back in the comedy game. After playing some very drama-heavy roles on 'ER,' 'Rescue Me' and 'The Whole Truth,' the 'NewsRadio' veteran will guest star on an episode of 'The Office.'

According to Zap2It, Tierney will play Robert California's wife.

"I'm a big fan of hers," 'Office' showrunner Paul Lieberstein told Zap2It. "I'm very excited."

So far she's only contracted for one episode, but maybe if we wish really hard she'll become a recurring character!

In other casting news ...

Fox's 'The X Factor' dipped in its second night, but not by much.

The new singing competition was watched by 12.5 million viewers with a 4.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic on Thursday. Comparatively, the Sept. 21 premiere was watched by 12.5 million viewers for a 4.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

'The X Factor' was bested by CBS's 'The Big Bang Theory' premiere, which drew 14.4 million viewers for a 4.9 rating. The new entry on CBS's Thursday nights, 'Person of Interest,' was watched by 13.2 million with a 3.1 rating.

As for the other big debut of the night, ABC's 'Charlie's Angels' reboot was seen by 8.7 million viewers (a 2.1 18-49 rating). It's not a very big number, but better than 'My Generation' did last year. The two-hour premiere of 'Grey's Anatomy' had 10.3 million viewers with a 4.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

Another day, another new actor in a lead role on a long-running series. This time it was James Spader stepping in for Steve Carell on 'The Office' (Thu., 9PM ET on NBC), though his Robert California didn't take over Michael Scott's position.

As promised, he instead quickly took over Jo's position as CEO of Dunder-Mifflin, though they show pretty quickly glossed over what could have been a fascinating scene. Couldn't they steal Kathy Bates away from 'Harry's Law' for one quick transfer-of-power scene?

Right off, though, Robert is a more hands-on CEO, as we learn that he spends half his time setting up camp in the Scranton branch's conference room. He's certainly an interesting character, but very different in tone than Michael Scott.

By now, everyone knows that Steve Carell has left the building, and James Spader has joined the cast of 'The Office,' but as we saw on 'The 2011 Emmy Awards' (Sun., 8PM ET on FOX), Spader isn't the only new person getting face time at Dunder-Mifflin.

In a very fun video, we got to see a who's who of television in that familiar office chair where the castmembers from the show do their confessionals.

They were all talking about what they hated about their jobs, like Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) hating rapists, sex trafficking and crimes against children -- this is a much darker take for 'The Office.'

While there's no doubt Jim Parsons does incredible work as Sheldon on 'The Big Bang Theory,' one of the biggest bummers of Sunday's Emmy Awards telecast was the inimitable Steve Carell losing out on his final chance to win an Emmy for his six-year stint as Michael Scott on 'The Office.'

Though the show's writing has been uneven in recent seasons, there's no doubt Carell's performance -- especially in the episode 'Garage Sale,' where Scott proposed to longtime girlfriend Holly Flax -- was statuette-worthy.

Carell has been nominated for acting Emmys and Golden Globes for all six years he's played Michael Scott, but the only win he took for the character was in 2006, when he nabbed the Globe. The actor left 'The Office' this year, so it was his last chance to snag some Emmy love.

The 2011 Emmy Awards air Sunday, and Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb took a look at the field Friday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC) with People Magazine's style and beauty editor Pamela Edwards Christiani. They went through the major categories and picked a few favorites from 'Mad Men,' 'The Good Wife,' and 'The Office.'

Christiani picked Jon Hamm over Steve Buscemi, Kyle Chandler, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie, and Timothy Olyphant for lead actor in a drama. "It's his year. I don't know if you paid attention to 'Mad Men' last season, his character was so intense. The downward spiral -- Don Draper brought it to us this year." She also likes Julianna Margulies for 'The Good Wife,' citing the show's critical acclaim and fan popularity.

Mindy Kaling, who plays the always energetic, Ryan-obsessed Kelly Kapoor on the 'The Office,' while also pulling double-duty on the writing staff, just got promoted. But she's not climbing up the Dunder Mifflin corporate ladder.

Vulture is reporting that Kaling has been promoted to executive producer on the show. Kaling, who began her 'Office' career as a writer and became a co-executive producer last year, confirmed the news by tweeting: "excited to be back, lateral lisp and all!"

There had been widespread speculation that Kaling might leave her writing role on 'The Office' to focus on developing other projects of her own. In May, 'Office' executive producer Paul Lieberstein, who plays meek 'Office' HR rep Toby, told AOL TV he wasn't sure if Kaling would be coming back in a writing role.

"She's coming back as an actress, for sure," Lieberstein told AOL TV. When pressed as to whether that meant she wouldn't be writing for the show anymore, he said, "It doesn't look that way, but I don't think that's been ... We don't know yet," before hinting at her desire to work on new projects.

With the onslaught of new shows around the corner, Ryan McGee and I decided to talk briefly about 10 returning programs we're quite interested in (we each picked five shows).

And of course, the word "brief" was in our podcast planning documents, but it didn't quite work out that way. Between our opening gabfest about the FX show 'Louie,' which concludes its second season tonight, and the discussions of the other 10 shows, the podcast ended up being about 90 minutes long.

The rundown of shows we discussed, which includes 'The Good Wife,' 'Supernatural,' 'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Luther' and 'Glee,' is below.

While some shows have lured famous movie stars into leading roles, other shows are taking a more temporary approach this fall with big-name guest stars booked for short-term stints on the small screen.

Fall TV will host several major reunions that you definitely won't want to miss. Terry O'Quinn will head back to the island for a stint alongside former 'Lost' costar Daniel Dae Kim on 'Hawaii Five-0,' while Ray and Debra are back together (sort of) when Ray Romano stops by 'The Middle' to visit his former 'Everybody Loves Raymond' costar Patricia Heaton. And let's not forget 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' alums Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters playing a married couple on an episode of 'Supernatural' this season.

Wanna know who else is heading to TV this fall? Check out some more of the biggest and best guest stars, including 'The Wire' alum Michael K. Williams (Omar!), Oscar-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson and crooner Josh Groban in AOL TV's fall guest star gallery.

Last season, 'The Office' and its loyal viewers said goodbye to Michael Scott. This season? Say hello to Robert California.

It's no secret James Spader will join the cast of 'The Office,' but did you know he's intimidating the pants off the other actors? In a new video, the cast talk about Spader's new CEO character and what it's like working with a method actor like 'Boston Legal' veteran Spader.

"He scares the sh-- out of me," Phyllis Smith said.

In the video below, 'Office' showrunner and actor Paul Lieberstein (Toby) and the cast preview the new season and finding a new Scranton branch manager.