The Office: Season Eight

While The Office is at heart a group effort, the departure of Steve Carrell in the seventh season left the NBC series stumbling around looking for a new identity to replace the definitive example of ineffectual management embodied in Carrell's Michael Scott. Season eight promotes Andy (Ed Helms) to the private office and adds James Spader as enigmatic new CEO Robert California, who's much more effective at hiding his managerial incompetence from the staff. The show leans even more heavily on the terrific ensemble this time around—notably Rainn Wilson's Dwight, who brings a hardcore survivalist aesthetic to office politics, and John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer as office sweethearts turned doting parents, Jim and Pam. But while the plotlines veer here and there to create friction and comic conflict, they also never really map out a destination. The final segments set the stage for new management in the show's ninth and closing year. Compiling all 24 episodes from 2011–12, extras include two extended episodes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and webisodes. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)