{alltv} 'Crazy Jan' returns to 'The Office'

Crazy Jan is coming back to The Office.

"I knew Jan wasn't gone forever," said Melora Hardin, the actress who plays Jan Levinson. "But I didn't know when they were going to bring her back, or how.

"So it's good, she's back, and she has gotten herself together a little bit. There still are twinges of the nuttiness, but she's definitely more of a combination of the old and the new, if you know what I mean.

"The old being the first and second seasons, when she was the boss and in charge, and the new being the fourth, fifth and sixth seasons where she started to unravel. She's kind of integrated a little more now."

In a new episode of The Office that airs Thursday, Oct. 14 on NBC and Global, Michael (Steve Carell) comes to work thinking he has a pimple, but it turns out to be a cold sore.

Told that a cold sore is a form of herpes, the always-swift-to-overreact Michael contacts all his ex-girlfriends: Jan (Hardin), Holly (Amy Ryan), Helene (Linda Purl), Donna (Amy Pietz) and Carol (Nancy Carell).

"I'm scheduled, contracted, to do at least six (episodes on The Office)," said Hardin, who also has a role in the new Jimmy Smits series Outlaw (NBC, Global).

"I don't know how they're going to weave Jan in past this first one, because it's the only one I've done. But I'm supposed to be doing six, and they said maybe eight, so we'll see what their plans are."

Future plans for The Office have been much discussed in recent months, since Carell has said this is his final season. We asked Hardin what she thinks the prospects are for The Office post-Carell.

"Um, you know, I think it still could flourish," Hardin said. "There are so many great characters and people really have gotten connected to those characters, not just Steve's character.

"I mean, he believes it can go on without him. He always has said that, since the very beginning. He feels it's a real ensemble, and it's interesting, that's what we won the Emmy for, best comedy series (in 2006). And best ensemble in a comedy series, we won two SAG awards for that (in 2007 and 2008). So I feel he's kind of right in that regard. That's kind of the show.

"(The Office) is not such an incredible starring vehicle for (Carell), even though he definitely drives the show. There are a lot of different characters who could drive the show and it still could be really fun and entertaining for the audience."

Over the course of the series, no one has pushed Michael's buttons the way Jan has. But it doesn't have to end there.

Here's what should happen: No matter who takes over for Michael Scott as manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch, male or female, young or old, existing cast member or newcomer, crazy Jan immediately should try to start up a romantic relationship with him or her.

"Exactly," Hardin said with a laugh. "That's very funny."