Why fans are still coming to 'The Office' 20 years later

Brian Baumgartner, who played the endearingly dim-witted accountant Kevin Malone connected NBC’s “The Office,” can’t flight the relation that defined him for 9 seasons.

He adjacent precocious appeared successful an occurrence of the NBC play “Suits LA,” playing himself. In the show, helium asked his lawyer to find a mode to bash distant with the quality truthful helium could recognize his imagination of becoming an Oscar-worthy melodramatic actor.

Loyal “Office” fans surely caught the wrong gag.

In fact, Baumgartner has for years served arsenic a blessed ambassador for the beloved mockumentary astir the employees of a Scranton, Penn., insubstantial company. He hosted a podcast celebrating ”The Office” and turned it into a best-selling oral past book. Kevin Malone’s celebrated chili paved the mode for 2 cookbooks.

Many deed shows from decades agone person been embraced by audiences acknowledgment to vulnerability connected Netflix and different streaming platforms. But adjacent among that group, “The Office” — which is celebrating its 20th day — lives successful uncommon air.

While ne'er a blockbuster deed during its archetypal tally that began connected March 24, 2005, streaming has helped crook “The Office,” an adaptation of the eponymous British series, into an enduring popular civilization touchstone.

The acquainted formed members person ridden the wave, evoking their celebrated roles successful TV commercials for Cheerios, Panera Bread, Bush’s Beans, Fox’s telecast of the 2020 Super Bowl and AT&T Business. The amusement is being licensed for toys (Lego, Little People, Funko Pop! and Polly Pockets) and children’s books including “The Office: A Day astatine Dunder Mifflin Elementary.” Tickets for an yearly unofficial instrumentality normal known arsenic the Reunion, to beryllium held successful New Jersey this year, spell for arsenic overmuch arsenic $400.

“The Office” continues to person a stylistic power connected TV drama arsenic well. Its faux-documentary benignant — reminiscent of Christopher Guest movies — became a template for different palmy sitcoms including “Modern Family,” “Abbott Elementary” and astir precocious NBC’s “St. Denis Medical.”

While fans person been contented to rewatch “The Office,” they volition yet get a spin-off bid from enforcement shaper Greg Daniels. The still-to-be-named series, acceptable astatine a Midwestern paper that depends connected national journalists, volition premiere this twelvemonth connected Peacock.

The bid volition instrumentality spot successful “The Office” beingness with alum Oscar Nuñez joining the cast. (Daniels, protective of “The Office” canon, noted that Oscar Martinez was the lone quality who did not person a life-changing solution successful the finale).

Baumgartner has helped provender “The Office” popularity instrumentality for years, but he’s inactive taken aback astatine however overmuch the amusement means to fans who person discovered it since it ended.

“They person an aggravated request to archer maine however the amusement helped them done a hard time,” Baumgartner told The Times. “A aesculapian condition, a household issue, a home problem. It’s a precise almighty thing.”

Even with its cringe-generating moments, often created by Steve Carell’s malapropism-prone Michael Scott, the familial ambiance of Dunder Mifflin is simply a invited flight astatine a clip of governmental part and aggravated societal discourse.

“The Office” co-stars Craig Robinson, left, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, Kate Flannery, Creed Bratton and Brian Baumgartner successful 2025.

(AT&T Business)

“In this fractured society, conscionable seeing and feeling a disparate radical of radical who attraction astir each different is rare, peculiarly successful TV close now,” Baumgartner said.

While streaming services entered bidding wars for “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and different deed sitcoms of the past, “The Office” softly outperformed them. Nielsen information showed it was the astir streamed amusement successful 2020, a clip erstwhile much consumers were turning to Netflix, wherever “The Office” was streaming, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That request translated into a big-money deal. Comcast Corp. shelled retired $100 cardinal to its ain Universal Television portion that produced “The Office” to bring the bid to its Peacock streaming work successful 2021 — 5 times what Netflix was paying, according to radical acquainted with the woody who were not authorized to remark publicly.

The bid is the astir fashionable programme connected the service. NBC says the mean Peacock spectator has watched 59 episodes of the series.

Peacock enlisted the show’s producers to make “super fan” episodes that reconstruct worldly chopped for its archetypal 22 infinitesimal broadcast run-time (they are conscionable getting to the ninth and last season). They person helped thrust 1.7 cardinal hours of viewing of “The Office,” accounting for 7% of each Peacock usage.

“The Office” has besides remained a staple of accepted TV, presently moving connected 3 cablegram networks: E!, Comedy Central and Freeform. With cablegram networks cutting backmost connected archetypal programming, “The Office” reruns are filling up hours of their schedules. The amusement airs connected much than a twelve planetary broadcast services.

The durability of vintage TV sitcoms specified arsenic “I Love Lucy” and “Friends” are driven successful portion by the nostalgia of fans who grew up with them. But immoderate audiences flocking to the “The Office” are discovering arsenic if it were a caller show.

As streaming video gained audience, Daniels heard from co-workers connected his different projects astir however their preteen kids were watching “The Office” obsessively connected Netflix which archetypal bought the rights successful 2011. Being trapped successful a cubicle and forced to woody with a buffoonish brag resonates with the inferior precocious crowd.

John Krasinski, left, and Rainn Wilson successful “The Office.”

(Byron Cohen)

”It’s similar your acquisition successful school, erstwhile the teacher is lecturing you and you’re incapable to debar it,” Daniels said. “Or the idiosyncratic astatine the table adjacent to you is idiosyncratic you didn’t needfully take to beryllium your champion person and you’re benignant of stuck there.”

Jim Donnelly, enforcement vice president for drama astatine Universal Television, said the show’s youthful entreaty helps replenish the audience.

“I bash deliberation that arsenic tv viewers travel of age, they are uncovering the show,” helium said. “We haven’t truly seen immoderate drop-off successful interest.”

Daniels says the amusement inactive fells modern aft 2 decades. The British mentation of “The Office” — created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant — was changeable with a Frederick Wiseman-like bleakness. But Daniels gave the U.S. variation the look of a world amusement format, implicit with confessional interviews. He hired the movie unit from “Survivor” aft “The Office” aviator was picked up.

The applicable jokes connected the amusement entreaty to a younger procreation that devours prank videos — from MrBeast to Dude Perfect — crossed YouTube and different societal media platforms. The authoritative TikTok relationship for “The Office” has 4.2 cardinal followers, astir 1 cardinal much than “Friends.”

The enduring occurrence of “The Office” is singular considering the show’s rocky start. “A azygous camera sitcom, changeable arsenic a faux documentary with nary laughter way with radical who look mean successful the property of ‘Friends’ and ‘Baywatch,’ was not an casual pitch,” said Ben Silverman, who brought the programme to NBC. (Silverman presently runs the accumulation institution Propagate.)

“The Office” was created successful different epoch of television, erstwhile reaching wide audiences was indispensable for web TV survival. The amusement was vying for a spot connected the docket astatine a clip erstwhile NBC had mislaid its mega-hit “Friends” and had pinned its hopes connected “Joey,” a spin-off featuring Matt LeBlanc that struggled to get done 2 seasons.

Jeff Zucker, who ran NBCUniversal astatine the time, admits the quirky drama benignant of “The Office” aviator was not casual for his programming section to digest.

“The folks astatine NBC Entertainment astatine the clip were astir apt not the people successful knowing the wit of the show,” Zucker said successful an interview.

“The Office” had 1 existent champion successful precocious absorption astatine the network: Kevin Reilly, the amusement president who archetypal received a transportation for the task erstwhile helium was moving cablegram web FX.

Daniels didn’t person the prestige TV snobs down him either. Creating a U.S. mentation of the acclaimed 2001 British bid was perilous.

“There was a batch of accent due to the fact that fans of the archetypal amusement were saying ‘Why are you doing this? It’s specified a gem,’ ” Daniels recalled. “I would say, ‘If you similar this benignant of comedy, this is the closest you’re going to get.’ ”

The aviator was not well-received by trial audiences, but showed capable of a pulse with younger viewers to gain a six occurrence bid — an unusually tiny fig astatine the clip for a web show.

Ratings declined aft a decent assemblage for its premiere. Zucker said determination were “long conversations” astatine the web earlier bringing the amusement backmost for a 2nd year.

But the amusement caught a mates large breaks. One was Carell’s pb relation successful the summertime container bureau deed “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” which turned him into a movie prima and a gully for a amusement that avoided casting large sanction actors astatine the start.

The different was NBC’s determination to connection episodes connected Apple’s iTunes level erstwhile DVD sets were the main mode to binge-watch. The determination was a precursor to the video-on-demand streaming world.

While the “Office” assemblage was tiny by web TV standards of the time, galore of its viewers were young, upscale and much consenting to accommodate to caller technology. In 2005, “The Office” became a apical seller connected iTunes with 100,000 downloads successful the archetypal fewer months.

“I deliberation that told america that determination was going to beryllium a caller mode of delivering these shows,” Zucker said. “Had ‘The Office’ started retired connected streaming, it would person been a immense deed close retired of the box.”

Ash Tavassoli, enforcement vice president and originative manager of advertisement bureau BBDO LA ne'er caught “The Office” during its web run. But erstwhile helium was recovering from country helium went down the bid rabbit spread of 192 episodes.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t crook this happening off,’ ” Tavassoli said. “I had to instantly archer anyone who I knew who hadn’t watched it, ‘You request to spell ticker this thing.’ ”

The on-screen alchemy betwixt the formed members inspired him to usage them successful an advertisement run for AT&T Business that started moving past year.

“The Office” co-stars Baumgartner, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Craig Robinson, Kate Flannery and Creed Bratton look successful the bid of trippy commercials depicting the motorboat of a enactment of pillow speakers called Sleep with Rainn. Tavassoli said it didn’t instrumentality overmuch to get the tight-knit radical to marque their ain originative contributions to the spots.

“You enactment them connected a acceptable unneurotic and they person their ain dynamic,” Tavassoli said. “When we changeable with them, they didn’t adjacent consciousness america connected set. We fto them navigator for 3 days.”