In the Summer months since we last shared 22 minutes with our friends at "The Office," speculation has been rampant as to who the new branch manager at Dunder Mifflin might be, replacing the amazing and criminally under-Emmy'd Michael Scott (played to utterly glorious perfection by Steve Carell). Of all the names going around the water cooler, few seemed to consider the one buffoonish contender right beneath our noses the entire time: Andrew "I went to Cornell" Bernard.

In last night’s season premiere episode, “The List,” we learn that Pam is very pregnant (in real life as well), Angela is pregnant (supposedly with her husband the Senator’s child, though I suspect there will be a Schrute complication down the line), and James Spader's brilliantly intimidating Robert California character somehow talked Sabre CEO Jo (Kathy Bates) into giving him her job. Despite the upheavals and developments, the atmosphere in the office is thankfully familiar, despite the purgatorial sense of "what now?" in Michael's absence.