Sweet! The Office is doing double duty tonight, May 14, ending its fifth season at 9pm ET with the episode “Company Picnic,” which is also the mockumentary’s hallmark 100th episode. Equally nice, Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) and Idris Elba (The Wire) return to reprise their roles as Holly Flax and Charles Miner, respectively.

The occasion is the annual Dunder Mifflin company picnic. During the outdoor festivities, Michael and Holly are reunited, and somehow that entails Michael having some big plans for her. Also, the office employees compete in the picnic’s volleyball tournament.

A sneak peek montage and an on-the-set video are after the jump to give a hint of what’s coming up on the very special season finale.

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…and we knew she won’t stay for the entire fifth season because that was announced way back after the fourth-season finale aired, when it really was news.

So, I have no clue why dozens of entertainment publications are writing about the following as if it’s a recent development, but I thought I’d play along just in case I missed something important the first time around and misunderstood when New York Magazine wrote very clearly and legibly “it’s thought that Ryan won’t be able to sign on full-time next year.”

Perhaps the news is that Amy Ryan will resume her role as human resources representative Holly Flax on a minimum of five fifth-season episodes. Says the mega talented actress, who also admits she knows nothing of how Holly will fit into Dunder Mifflin’s unique workplace environment, “It’s a funny thing to enter a show that you’re a great fan of — and it’s nice to tell lighter stories.”

Funny, indeed. I’m happy to hear she’ll be back, for the second time around.

Amy Ryan Rocks The Office

Smart New York Magazine agrees with me that Oscar nominee Amy Ryan was the bomb on The Office’s fourth-season finale last Thursday. Sadly, the publication also reveals that although her character Holly is a permanent replacement for outgoing human-resources guy Toby, Ryan might not be around the entire fifth season. For shame!

Renewed Reaper Needs Some Lady Love

Buzz Sugar’s pre-renewal interview with Reaper star Bret Harrison is a bit dated now, but it’s still relevant because the first-season finale “Cancun” premieres Tuesday.

If Harrison’s comments prove true, fans might get the chance to welcome a new female character, possibly a demon, to the show during its second season, not to mention welcome back fun favorites Ken Marino and Michael Ian Black.

We can also get excited about the season finale, which Harrison describes as part The Matrix and part The Terminator. Works for me.

BONUS: Bill O’Reilly Dives Off the Deep End

Thank the Internet gods for video-sharing sites. This is a thousand times funnier than any sitcom or comedy movie I’ve ever heard of or seen.

Rabble-rousing talking head Bill O’Reilly blew a gasket or ten on the set of his Inside Edition entertainment gig twenty years ago, and some wise soul uploaded footage of the hilariously sad tirade to the Web last Monday for the unending delight of countless viral-video enthusiasts.

First watch Bill spew a pejorative-filled harangue at a crew member and then check out the brilliant remix set to beat-heavy music. The inspiration for dear Bill’s agitation? The teleprompter offended him, all because he was too stupid to know what the industry-speak phrase “play us out” means.

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Original Air Date: May 15, 2008

Well, it looks like H.R. man Toby really is leaving, after twelve years at Dunder Mifflin, and for Costa Rica, too. Despite the fact that he despises him, Michael wants to throw a big farewell party for Toby to celebrate having a huge weight lifted off his back. Obsessively frugal Angela is against a huge to-do due to a lack of funds, which leaves Phyllis in charge of finding an anti-gravity machine per Michael’s request after the boss hands over a shoeful of dough he’s saved.

Toby’s replacement, Holly (Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan, who was so good in Gone Baby Gone that I expected her to turn up looking haggard after a night of boozing and drugging), arrives and quickly manages to convince a downright rude Michael that she’s nothing like her predecessor by calling Toby boring to his face. She later reveals a charming ability to “get” Michael and his weird (for a grown businessman, at least) eccentricities, such as imitating Yoda.

It’s only a matter of time at this point before Michael falls hopelessly in love with the new woman in the office, and, sure enough, in the span of one commercial break, he’s already calling her Hollygram and making a mix tape for her commute into Scranton. Unfortunately, he forgets/doesn’t bother to inform Dwight that the hazing they agreed on before they met Holly is no longer necessary.

So, Dwight continues to feed her lies, including the claim that Kevin is slow in the brain. This inevitably leads to a love triangle of sorts because Holly is extra nice to allegedly mentally challenged Kevin, who predictably gets the idea that she’s totally into him because she wants him to bang her.

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