Last season of 'The Office' starts Thursday

To see a promo of The Office.

"When we started there didn't seem like there was room for a show like this on NBC because the biggest show on NBC I think when we started was 'Will & Grace' and it was a multi-camera world," said showrunner Greg Daniels during a recent teleconference.

The half-hour comedy, pitched to the American public as a mockumentary, is a TV show as seen through the eyes of a documentary film crew capturing the everyday lives of workers at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. in Scranton, Pa. To achieve that effect, it was shot with a single camera. There is no studio audience and no laugh track.

"And I kind of feel like we somewhat forced our way into the world through just creative excitement over the cast and the different way of storytelling," said Daniels, who executive produced the show for its first five seasons, left to take over "Parks and Recreation" on the same network and is returning for the ninth and final season, which starts Thursday on channel 2, cable 9.

For its final season, Daniels said, the production company is bringing back 15 veteran cast members (no word on whether Carell is included) and tying up loose ends.

This year will be different and "very arc heavy," said Daniels, who adapted Ricky Gervais' British series for American TV.

"For one thing I feel like the last few years we didn't do arcs so much. We were pursuing more episodic comedy. But I think the real heart of the show are these arcs that allow the characters to have ongoing stories. ... It is all going to be set up in the premiere, but there is so much payoff from nine seasons for so many great characters that my biggest concern is just packing in these great ideas ... and making sure that we hit all of them or at least squeeze in as many as we can into the ending."

Fans will also finally get answers to their documentary questions.

"People are always asking, 'Why are they still filming? What are they after?' I think we are going to explore that for comedy and for story effect."

Daniels also provided some spoilers for the final season.

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Last season of 'The Office' starts Thursday