Give Steve Carell credit. With a little help from Ricky Gervais, he infused much-needed life into a quirky TV sitcom about bored employees in a paper distribution chain. Carell leaves The Office at the end of the season, though (meanwhile, the creators behind the franchise are expanding to China). The departing star is now free to focus his efforts on recasting himself as anything other than the amusingly infantile Michael Scott.

So with his new-found freedom (only a few more episodes to go), what does he decide to do? According to Deadline's Michael Ausiello, he's re-upping with NBC in order to co-write and executive produce an in-development comedy series tentatively named The Post-Graduate Project. Sound's great. What's it about?

It's based on Carell's time as a mail-carrier in a sleepy post office in small town Massachusetts, described as "sweet and nostalgic," and will be filled with a "quirky, but tight-knit group" of twenty-somethings who frequent the post office (no mention of whether they're employees also). Based on previous Carell interviews noted by Ausiello, the boss at the mail room drove the young mail carrier to quit the after a few months.

Sure, the idea is just a sketch now. But doesn't it sound just a tad familiar?

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ehayden at nationaljournal dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden