(S04E09) It feels really good to be back, doesn't it? My calculations might be a bit off, but it seems to me the amount of time we had off for the writer's strike was about the same as what we usually have off for a summer break. For some reason, though, it felt longer. Something about the cold winter months makes me long for the sweet siren song of Scranton, I suppose.

I wasn't there when we won WWII, but I imagine the joy I felt when a new Office showed up in my TiVo was similar to what it felt like on V.E. day. I almost wanted to dress up in a sailor uniform and give Steve Carell a long, deep kiss in Times Square (though, to be fair, I almost always feel that way). I was happy The Office was back, the only thing I worried about was whether it'd still be good...

(S03E18) I've decided that The Office isn't a sitcom. It's something more than a sitcom. I'm not sure what. I might be crazy (in fact, the gnome that lives in my belly thinks I should be seeing a therapist), but I think The Office is creating a new genre right before our eyes.

Is this hyperbole? Well, probably; this is the internet. If you don't use nine hundred exclamation marks, you don't get heard. But as I watch The Office every week, I find myself responding to it much differently than I have any other show that I've ever watched. It's not necessarily the greatest show in history (that's The Simpsons), it's just the differentest show in history (and yes, grammar nazis, I know that's not a word).

Hear me out on this...