It’s hard to remember it now, but seasons two through four of “The Office” can rival the current and the last of seasons “Parks and Recreation” in sheer gloriousness. So much has happened since the marriage of Jim and Pam that it’s easy to lose sight of just how amazing the show once was, how it excellently combined the comedy of discomfort with the effervescent sweetness, and how Jim and Pam were once a sublime combination of Ben/Leslie and Andy/April.

Based on Ricky Gervais’ brilliant UK series, many argued during the heyday of the US version that it was actually better than the original: It was a sweeter, less misanthropic version of Gervais’ series, and if anything, it was more palatable. As originally formulated, the series revolved around the branch manager, Michael Scott and his uncanny ability to stick his foot in his mouth, the will they/won’t they relationship of Jim and Pam, and a menagerie of eclectic and amusing oddballs that made up the rest of the Dunder Mifflin staff.

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Late last month, word leaked out that James Spader — easily the best guest star during “The Office’s” late-season parade of applicants to fill Steve Carell’s shoes — was in negotiations to join the NBC show full-time next season. And now EW has confirmed through sources that a deal has been reached:

NBC is set to announce the hire, adding a new well-known actor to the ensemble series that saw the departure of its biggest star, Steve Carell, this season, and will also say goodbye to recurring performer Kathy Bates as well. Bates played the company’s CEO last season, though Spader’s character is expected to have a greater presence on the show.

As great as Steve Carell was throughout much of “The Office’s” run, Spader’s arrival changes the show from “Eh, I’ll watch it if I’m not busy” to “must watch” for me. Hell, I watched “Boston Legal” just for Spader, and that show BLEW. I’d happily watch James Spader read the Yellow Pages — by the time he got to “Anderson” he’d have a naked woman he didn’t know turning the pages for him.

Once a fixture of “Saturday Night Live,” we haven’t seen much of The Ambiguously Gay Duo — Robert Smigel’s innuendo-heavy cartoon — since Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert (who voice the skits) attained comedic superstardom. But Ace and Gary returned in a big way during this weekend’s “SNL,” an otherwise unremarkable episode hosted by Ed Helms. Thanks to a “flesh ray,” Ace and Gary become live-action heroes played by Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon, while Carell, Colbert, and Helms play the bad guys trying to out them (for what it’s worth, Fred Armisen plays the lizard guy).

You can watch the Hulu video below — unless you live outside of the United States, of course. Consider it your punishment for daring to live outside our borders, you commie scum. (Just kidding, foreigners: you can watch the live-action part of the sketch here.)

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In shocking news that will shock you like an electric shock, “The Office” has added another big name celebrity to the mix for Steve Carell’s final episode. According to Entertainment Weekly, Jim Carrey will make an appearance as someone interviewing for the job Michael Scott is leaving behind. For those of you keeping score at home, this brings the celebrity cameo total for the finale to six: Carrey, Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, James Spader, Ray Romano, and Catherine Tate (Will Ferrell’s run will be over by that point). That’s a lot of extra moving pieces for a show that already has a large ensemble cast.

I can understand why they’d want to bring in these big names to drum up interest and make a ratings splash in sweeps, but it seems a little out of place on a show where every episode is about what a family the characters are. Even if each of these guests are given only 90 seconds of screen time, that’s, like (*tries to do math in head*)… twelve? Five? Banana? Banana minutes of total screen time? I’m getting close, right? All I’m saying is that I hope they’re able to weave all these cameos in throughout the hour without skimping on providing closure to the interpersonal relationships the show claims to be about. Unless Jim Carrey’s character delivers all of his lines out of his butthole like in Ace Ventura. I can not get enough of that.

Steve Carell’s farewell from “The Office” airs at the end of this month, and NBC has given its Thursday stalwart a plus-sized 50 minutes to say goodbye.

NBC announced today that it will offer extended versions of Steve Carell’s final episode of “The Office” as well as for “Parks and Recreation” on Thursday, April 28. “The Office” will see Carell off in an episode that night from 9:00 -9:50 p.m. (ET) and will continue with “Parks and Recreation” from 9:50 -10:30 p.m. (ET). [NBC Universal]

Vulture adds:

Producers finished production on this episode [of "Parks and Recreation] months ago, but the Parks crew often has extra footage that needs to be cut, so perhaps it wasn’t too hard to pack in some more Pawnee. 30 Rock will shift to 10:30 p.m. for the night, meaning — and this may be the best news of all — no Outsourced!

Of course, there’s still no official word on who’s replacing Michael Scott in Scranton. Will Ferrell is stepping in for four episodes, but it seems unlikely that he’ll stay as Carell’s replacement. Will Arnett and Ricky Gervais are scheduled to appear in the May 19th season finale, but for my money I think the new “Office” boss will be David Cross. I’m making this prediction now so that I can link back to how smart I am if I happen to be right. And if I’m wrong, well, how the hell was I supposed to know? I’m just a blogger sitting on a couch. Win-win, baby.