It’s officially confirmed by NBC Entertainment president Angela Bromstad; the upcoming season of The Office will be Steve Carell’s final season as a series regular.

“Not to diminish the departure of Steve, because that will impact the show, but we have tremendous faith in the writers and actors to keep it alive,” Bromstad said in an Associate Press report.

Carell had been hinting at his exit for months, as he was at the end of his contract; he’s developed a prolific movie career on the side and that is expected to be his primary pursuit following his exit from the top NBC comedy.

Speculation has run amok on who might replace Carell as the head of Dunder Mifflin. While Jim seems to be a natural choice, many have said the creative possibilities of putting Dwight in charge might be more intriguing. Of course, the show may also opt to introduce a new character, in which case, the question becomes what actor could step into the established ensemble without upsetting the established chemistry.

Personally, if I could choose anyone, I’d draft Aziz Ansari, currently a supporting cast member of Parks and Recreation. But I’m not sure I have enough onecall coupons to really sell anyone by myself on the idea.

However, spare me the suggestions of Ricky Gervais reviving his David Brent character on the US version to replace Carell; it’s a fan-boy dream, nothing more.

Word on the ‘net is that NBC is ready to rebrand the network almost completely, distancing itself from the horrid Ben Silverman era. Under the fresh leadership of Angela Bromstad, the network is picking up load of hot new shows from edgy producers like J.J. Abrams, Jerry Bruckheimer and David E. Kelley.

To go in this direction, however, Bromstad’s having to break ties with old series that aren’t drawing viewers anymore.

Among the latest victims? Gone is Dick Wolf’s flagship LAW AND ORDER show, which has been terrible for years in the ratings, but to which the network in linked due to their interest in other Dick Wolf shows; word is Wolf is furious over the cancellation, which could throw the launch of LAW AND ORDER: LOS ANGELES into doubt, previously thought a shoo-in for a series pick-up. Wolf apparently is contemplating taking LAW AND ORDER to TNT for a final, 21st season.

That’s not all. Bromstad is apparently ready to break ties with one-time wunder-show, HEROES. The Tim Kring-produced show has suffered in the ratings but is still the network’s biggest money-maker in DVD sales. Word is Bromstead could approve a mega-event finale of two to six episodes, to polish off dangling storylines, or could just cut ties altogether. We should know soon.

Meanwhile, a ratings underdog but personal favorite, Chuck, has received a surprise renewal from Bromstad, who apparently believes in the series and is willing to give the show another chance when surrounded by what she believes will be a stronger NBC lineup next season.

Finally, it appears that NBC may have anticipated Wolf’s reaction to LAW AND ORDER’s cancellation; instead of attaching Jimmy Smits to LAW AND ORDER: LOS ANGELES, NBC appears ready to sign Smits to a different legal drama, GARZA, which is… surprise… produced by Conan O’Brien’s production company!

Can you believe that? That’s a way better future for O’Brien than hawking the best acne treatment on late-night infomercials.

At the moment, the official word is that Conan O’Brien and Fox are in talks, but no deal has been made; despite that, the network is already pressuring their O and Os to keep the post-news, pre-midnight timeslot open for a presumptive late night talk show featuring O’Brien, which would go head-to-head with Leno and Letterman, beginning as early as next fall.

Some affiliates are balking at the heavy hand Fox is employing, considering no deal in finalized yet and that affiliates would make more with reruns of The Office and other proven syndicated hit shows. Even the best joint supplements won’t ease the limb-pulling going on, but in the end, you just know that it’s going to happen; Fox is the biggest network without a signature late night talk show, and O’Brien’s profile has never been higher.

Keifer Sutherland’s 24 is rumored to be heading for cancellation after this, the show’s eighth season; however, word around the ‘wood is that NBC has approached Fox to discuss terms on picking up the show for at least one additional season.

NBC is show-hungry after axing five hours of prime-time television to make way for the failed Jay Leno Show, and 24 is a solid performer, even though its costs are high and the ratings aren’t as stellar as they were when the show was fresh.

However, a switch to NBC could lead to nightmare scenarios like having the network force 24′s producers to force “go green” messages into their anti-terrorist drama. Sounds like a bigger recipe for disaster than simply having Keifer munching on tatuaje cigars throughout an entire season.

NBC completed its green shopping late this week as they announced plans to recycle and renew the rest of their Thursday night comedy lineup, one of the few bright spots in the NBC stable of shows.

That means a sophomore season for Community, a fifth season for 30 Rock and a seventh season for The Office. The other NBC Thursday night comedy, Parks and Recreation, was renewed for a third season back in January.

In all honesty, I have to say that this is the strongest four-comedy lineup has had on NBC since the network played host to … if memory serves … The Cosby Show, Night Court, Cheers and Seinfeld. But I may just be remembering the good ones..

Fox’s Kevin Reilly isn’t saying much, but has admitted that should Conan O’Brien become “available,” his network might just jump back into the late night game. Fox has been without a serious competitive late night show since axing, what was it… Chevy Chase?

While the whole NBC blow-up is enough to make anyone need the best cholesterol medication available, in the end I think O’Brien is the funniest of the three. Best of luck, Conan!

Conan O’Brien offered NBC an ultimatum this week: move the Tonight Show later than it has aired for 60 years, and I’m walking away. While he hopes NBC will choose to keep The Tonight Show in its traditional spot with him as host, O’Brien’s ultimatum is viewed by some network execs as his resignation papers. This means NBC will effectively have given Conan only seven months on the Tonight Show after a 16-year partnership.

If NBC boots Conan, Jay Leno would be free to return to the Tonight Show, but as damaged goods; he’s already the butt of national jokes that paint him as the reason NBC is now viewed as a “minor-league” network on par with The CW and MyNetworkTV. NBC trashed five hours of scripted programming last spring to launch The Jay Leno Show, simply to hang on to a relationship with the aging comic; now, they could be trashing the future of The Tonight Show by losing out on its natural successor in O’Brien.

Sure, O’Brien is joking about selling the best weightloss products in a matter of weeks, but the truth is that he will immediately become the focus of a bidding war for his services, with Fox being the most natural suitor.

NBC muffed the Carson-to-Letterman transition, opting for Leno about 16 years ago; now they’ve muffed the Leno-to-O’Brien transition. Nitwits.

After the miserable failure of just about everything else currently airing on NBC Mondays, the network has finally decided when to put on-air something that does work: the third-year dramedy, Chuck, will return to NBC’s beleaguered schedule on Sunday, January 10 with a two-hour movie-length special, and then will settle back into its old home on Mondays at 7 PM Central (8 PM Eastern).

This should be the cause of much rejoicing for Chuck fans, who saw the series’ initial order for this season expand from 13 episodes to 18, long before even a single episode has aired; while NBC’s miserable status since dropping out of the “major network” race by turning its third prime-time hour into a Jay Leno talk-show slot five nights a week, some help from Chuck may equate to help for the network at large, at least on Mondays.

Once Chuck moves to 7 PM Mondays in January, Heroes will move back to its more-familiar 8 PM time slot, which may improve that show’s fortunes. One can only hope. Seriously, if it were not for NBC’s comedy block on Thursday nights, which is consistently good with Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office and 30 Rock, there’s not a single complete night of programming on NBC that is solid front-to-back. It’s enough to make a person who likes the few remaining good shows on the network turn to electronic cigarettes.

Still, long-term, the best chance for NBC as a whole is for Comcast to take over ownership, fire all the idiots currently in charge, and turn NBC back into a three prime-time hours of real programming network once again, instead of this bargain-basement approach taken by GE.

The stars are lining up to appear on NBC’s highly appealing, but ratings-struggling, dramady, Chuck. The show, gearing up now for what could be a critical third season when it comes to the long-term survival of the show, has pulled out the stops when it comes to guest stars. What are they doing, offering affordable health insurance to guest stars, now?

Anyway, first up is the motion picture Superman, Brandon Routh. Keeping with its Superman theme, the show has also signed former Smallville star Kristin Kruek to appear for “several episodes” as a new love interest for secret superspy Chuck. And finally, Law and Order’s Angie Harmon as been confirmed for the show’s fourth episode of the season.

While stunt casting can be the sign of a show in trouble, that’s no secret for Chuck, which faced the very real possibility of cancellation last spring. If some stunt-casting is required to keep this show alive and introduce more people to its quirky appeal, so be it!

Welcome to the latest episode of “Dumb Decisions by NBC.” I’m your host, HollywoodIdiocy.com.

Clearly, NBC didn’t learn this past season when it canceled Scrubs a year ago, only to have ABC pick it up off the scrap heap and pair it with Better Off Ted, the best new workplace comedy since The Office. The strategy worked so well for the Alphabet Network that Scrubs has been renewed for yet another season, even though Zach Braff will only appear in six episodes next year.

Undeterred, NBC has made even more Dumb Decisions this year, just to prove that the network could be better-managed by computer memory than the current Entertainment Chief. Heck, forget computer memory, just put Tina Fey in charge and triple the NBC executive collective IQ in one fell swoop!

Here’s a list of this season’s crop of Dumb Decisions by NBC:

1) Turning over five hours a week of prime time programming to “Leno In Prime Time,” rather than, you know, actual entertainment. I predict Leno’s new prime time gig will die in the ratings, but NBC won’t care until a new administration takes over.

2) After ordering a super-sized season of My Name Is Earl, NBC cancels the four-year-old comedy at a time when there’s still plenty of life in it. Word is the blue collar comedy didn’t fit in with the new lineup of white collar workplace comedies NBC is favoring on Thursday nights. ABC and Fox are both reportedly interested, so My Name Is Earl is destined to become the next Scrubs debacle for NBC.

3) After Medium became the best-performing show on Monday nights for NBC during May sweeps (the net didn’t even test Heroes or Chuck in May, ending their seasons early), the network decided to forgo a fifth season of the psychic crime drama; word is CBS, which owns the show, will sandwich Medium right between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers on Friday nights next season, where it’s likely to prosper.

At least NBC renewed Chuck and Heroes, but with Leno taking over so much prime time real estate, will the Peacock even be considered a “Big Four” network anymore? Blame a bad economy all you want… there’s no excuse for such lame-brain decisions.

Multiple online sources are confirming that NBC has given an initial 13-episode renewal to Chuck; the “back nine” episodes will be determined most likely in the fall, depending on ratings performance. However, there are conditions attached.

Chuck will now be a show on weight loss pills. In other words, the ensemble cast will be scaled back, with some actors severely limited in the number of episodes they will appear in going forward; also, at least one supporting cast member may be cut. Finally, two members of the writing staff will be cut in further cost-cutting measures.

But in the end… who cares? Chuck will see a third season!

Building up toward a season finale and preparing for a third season, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak tease that the hit NBC spy-comedy, Chuck, could see a game-changing finale and set-up for an all-new direction next season. While they aren’t spilling the beans on the nature of this game-changing stunner, we do know that Jordana Brewster, who plays Chuck’s ex, is filming at least one new episode this season, though whether it’s the finale or not remains uncertain.

While it’s unlikely to involve anything as pedestrian as a new barcode scanner for BuyMore, or anything as wild as the kind of twists Lost regularly throws our way, we remain fans of Chuck and certainly interested to see how this all plays out.