Steve Carell exits ‘The Office’ tonight

By VERNE GRAY

Newsday

After seven pretty great seasons, we come to the end of Steve Carell’s run on “The Office” (9 p.m., NBC).

In a masterstroke of comic timing and economy, Carell pretty much told us everything we’d ever need to know about his character, Michael Scott, in the first few frames of the first episode back on March 24, 2005. Jim (John Krasinski) has come to ask his boss about some project, and Michael says, “So you’ve come to the master for guidance. ... You come to da mastah grass hoppah!” It was all there: That serio-mock-serio assessment — characteristically exaggerated — of his self-worth; the tin-eared attempt at humor (in this instance, vaguely racist humor); dated pop-culture references (“Kung Fu,” 1972); and an endearing, guileless need to be liked.

In fact, Michael needed to be loved, and that was the true beating heart of one of the great comic characters in TV history. Except for his mom, Michael had no family to speak of, no real friends, no social interactions other than office ones and no true love until Holly (Amy Ryan) came along. He once told someone — I think it was Pam (Jenna Fischer) — that “your job is to be my friend.”

The poignancy of the remark is that none of his colleagues, Pam included, would have even known him — much less tolerated him — outside of the four little walls of Dunder Mifflin. The poignancy of tonight’s episode surely will reveal just how much they — and we — will miss him.