For anyone who has stuck by the American version of The Office since the very beginning – or maybe I should specify the beginning of the far superior second season  – the anticlimactic news that broke Monday about Steve Carell leaving the show was a bittersweet development. He’s been talking for months about stepping away from the series, and Jim has already spilled some digital ink as to how the show could use Carell’s departure in freeing itself from its creative funk.