I’m Already Missing Toby

Maria Elena Fernandez reports for the LA Times that Steve Carell, the star of “The Office,”will not cross the WGA picket line, effectively shutting down production of what is, in my opinion, the best show on television. When my husband wanted to buy a fancy new flat-panel TV several months ago, I put my foot down. And then he invoked “The Office,” citing my major crushola on John Krasinski. I have been known to have dreams about John Krasinski, the most mysterious of which involved the two of us dressed in evening wear, navigating an elaborate winding staircase on hands and knees, trying to sift our way through mounds of pointy costume jewelry in order to appease the fabulously messy-headed actor’s mother…put that in your dream machine and interpret it. Well, that’s when I caved. Our flat-panel is so big it’s embarrassing.

I will miss “The Office.” I will miss John Krasinski. I will miss Ryan, the evil temp-turned-boss (played by writer B.J. Novak), and Kelly (played by writer Mindy Kaling). Of course I will miss Toby, who is the network TV embodiment of men “leading lives of quiet desperation” (played by writer Paul Bevan Lieberstein). What makes “The Office” flat-panel-worthy, of course, in addition to dream-inducing Krasinski, is the writing. Without the members of the WGA, we’d be stuck with Dancing with the Stars.