I will occasionally review my favorite TV shows, sometimes a few days late. These won’t be recaps, but general and specific observations from someone who thinks way too much about this kind of stuff and doesn’t get too overly negative if an episode doesn’t make him bacon and massage his feet.

I had a lot of excitement for the beginning of the television season last week. Thankfully, two of my favorite shows rewarded me.

A lot of people have criticized “The Office” over the past few years. The show deserves a bunch of criticism, but like most things in this day and age, the presence of any earned negativity begets a contest of self-righteousness. I don’t know about anyone else, but if I didn’t like a show as much as many of the people who flood blog comments and Twitter with their outrage on what the writers and actors have done to Dunder-Mifflin the past few years, I’d just stop watching. But I guess the need to tell everyone how you hated the episode more than anyone else outweighs, you know, common sense.

I considered a few times during last year’s Robert California car crash to just walk away, but knew I couldn’t once they announced the show would end after this season. Even though I saw lots of people complaining about Thursday night’s episode, I really enjoyed it for many of the same reasons I enjoyed individual episodes during Steve Carrell’s final season two years ago.

That year, if you weren’t comparing jokes to ones you thought were funnier from Season Two or Three, viewers saw a slow build to Michael’s final decision. He acted even more impetuously and carelessly if that could be possible. But the early episodes where he chafed at how the staff didn’t want to go along with his hi-jinks as much made it easier to swallow his ultimate decision to leave Scranton. In the culture of blog recaps and immediate commentary, sometimes we have to step back and let the story develop.

The same applies this year as they have explicitly shown us that conflict in the relationship of Jim and Pam will define this season. So many of the complaints over the past few years have focused on their perceived “stagnation” as a couple, something I find ludicrous because the show is supposed to somewhat relate to real life and lots of people have regular jobs with their regular spouse in a small town or city. Could they have shown the private lives of the Halperts better? Of course, but to say that Jim and Pam staying at Dunder-Mifflin is unrealistic just shows how unrealistic some television viewers are. Then again, Jon Cryer won a freaking Emmy last night so what do I know?

Anyway, like Michael two years ago, Jim and Pam will face their crossroads. I don’t think it will be one of splitting up, but one of venturing into an unknown that they thought they wanted seven years ago. This is realistic because they could not have broached this without knowing they would lose Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski. This is the time to investigate whether they are stagnant or just happy where they are. Personally, I can’t wait to see what happens. The B stories and other interludes will merely serve as color for what the documentary crew stuck around to record.

Last Thursday also brought the season premiere of “Parks and Recreation,” aka the best comedy on television that viewers and Emmy voters for some unknown reason continue to ignore even though it’s clear that this show is far and away above anything else on the traditional networks. I can rank Louie up there in the same category, but he got an Emmy for writing last night so at least they know he exists.

Meanwhile, P&R just keeps chugging along, taking Leslie down a notch in D.C. before Andy built her up unknowingly, showing Ron having to walk the line between his instincts and humanity and providing one of the single-best reactions you will see for a while when Donna laughs at Tom trying to follow Ron when Ron only wanted Pig Tom to come along.

With “The Office,” I can see their intentions and want to see how they manage to reach that goal, but P&R kind of has a blank slate as Leslie tries to juggle her work and council duties with the added glitch of Ben in D.C. for the first month or so. This is where I love to sit back and watch Mike Schur work his magic.