The Office: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best

How many times can you say that you’ve watched a show’s initial season and been blown away? Probably not too many. In fact, there may not even exist a single first season of television that is more well-received than the subsequent entries and in this tradition, The Office certainly follows suit. The first season is something of an experiment gone wrong as the structure of the show feels wildly different and too grounded, opting for a down to Earth reality setting, rather than the exaggerated other-worldly mishaps that come thick and fast later down the line.

The community and critics did not exactly pan the first season as much as they were downright confused by it, and it really wasn’t the most insightful showing of what was to come either. The fundamental problem was its lack of satirical humour, irreverence and the ubiquitous uniqueness it would become known for. It was so far removed from what the show would become that it was like the television equivalent of MC Hammer’s second album. It was so wildly different from the rest of the catalogue that it couldn’t even compare to the surrounding pages.

Still, despite The Office having a very weak start to life on NBC, it recovered. It definitely wasn’t helped by the fact it was in contention with other highly acclaimed series’ also running in syndication but as this short season was ending, the last couple of episodes were a saving grace as they completely U-turned.

In one fell swoop, the writers turned Michael into a more likable guy, initiated the romantic subplot between Jim and Pam and changed the style of humour to more closely adhere to an American audience, which proved invaluable to catapulting it to the top.