‘The Office’ turns 15: Why we’re still obsessed
One of the most high-stakes, adrenaline pumping scenes of television was shot in an incredibly uncommon place: a quiet office building parking lot. On May 11, 2006, after years of sharing inside jokes, exchanging layered glances, and subtly flirting with each other at work, Jim Halpert was finally going to confess his love to Pam Beesly. Millions of people watched “Casino Night,” the Season 2 finale of The Office, and they held their breath as Jim stood on that pavement and poured his heart out. Pam rejected him in the moment, and for a single gut-wrenching minute all hope seemed lost. But with seconds of the episode to spare the two reconciled and shared an unexpected, ridiculously impassioned kiss at Jim’s desk. At the time, I remember thinking it was one of the greatest television episode endings I’d ever seen in my life. And to this day, it still is.
I was in sixth grade when the employees of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton, Pennsylvania branch first came into my life, and at the time I had no idea how transformative their presence would become. As the years passed I sat in front of television screens, laptops, smart phones, and even an iPod classic to watch, and rewatch, this quirky group of adults simply show up to work every day. I grew to love Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly, Angela Martin, and the rest of the characters in The Office like they were my own friends and family members. And I’ve never stopped marveling at the way they made life’s most ordinary moments seem monumentally important.
On March 24, 2005, the U.S. adaptation of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s British mockumentary-style comedy premiered on NBC. This week marks the show’s 15th anniversary, and to celebrate, Fischer and Kinsey spoke with Mashable about everything from The Office’s present-day popularity to their new podcast, Office Ladies. In addition to sharing their all-time favorite cold opens(opens in a new tab), the former co-stars talked about current reunion/reboot plans, dished on the one episode that never got made, and gushed over what is so obviously their favorite thing to have come from this whole life-changing experience: The friendships.
Fischer played the loveable (albeit sassy) secretary, Pam Beesly, whose friendship and slow-burn romance with salesman Jim Halpert both captivated viewers and helped propel the series forward. Kinsey played Angela Martin, an uptight, cat-loving accountant who led the Party Planning Committee and fell for offbeat Assistant to the Regional Manager, Dwight Schrute. Though Pam and Angela had a complex relationship on the show, in real life the two actors are best friends and newfound business partners.
Anyone who’s listened to their Office Ladies podcast, which launched Oct. 16, 2019, knows just how uncertain the fate of the show was in the early days of filming. Fans of the UK version were convinced the adaptation couldn’t possibly live up to the original, renewals were being hesitantly ordered in episodic chunks, and no one on the team really felt like they had job security until halfway through Season 2. An initial shadow of doubt was cast over the series, but somewhere along the way that doubt turned to delight and The Office went on to film nine seasons. The show’s first season, which only consisted of six episodes, averaged 5.4 million viewers. But by Season 5 the NBC series had reached a peak average of 9.04 million viewers. The Season 5 episode “Stress Relief,” which aired on Feb. 1, 2009, got the honor of airing directly after Super Bowl XLIII, netting 22.9 million viewers, and securing its pop culture domination.
The final two episodes of The Office aired on May 16, 2013, which means it’s been nearly seven years since the finale. But the hype has yet to die down, and the show’s fan base continues to grow daily. People sport Office-inspired Halloween costumes every October, make Jim and Pam references in their dating app bios(opens in a new tab), and gift teal teapots to their significant others. In 2020, an off-broadway musical inspired by The Office(opens in a new tab) is touring North America, and a children’s book based on the show(opens in a new tab) is even set to be published in the fall. Sure, it’s been 15 years since the pilot aired, but it’s safe to say the show’s popularity is, somehow, only growing.
