Ranking the Office Seasons

Now that I've ranked all 188 episodes, now it's time to rank Seasons. For the record, I think the ones ranked one to three are interchangeable - all great, number four is locked in place, five and six are back to interchangeable, seven through nine are locked into place.

9. Season #8 – Season 8 is widely, and rightly, regarded as the weakest season of The Office, and I’m not going to try and argue against that. I will say that I somewhat admire the writers attempt here – we aren’t likely to see another sitcom go through what The Office did in Season 8 – because first it would need to be a huge critical and commercial hit for 7 years, although one with its prime clearly behind it, who loses their star and most popular character, and decides to soldier on anyway. Still, The Office, could have simply become a nostalgia show – trading off the audiences affection for the characters, but with Robert California, and to a lesser extent Nellie Bertram, I think they really tried to do just that – but to add a different kind of tension to the office. Had it worked, perhaps Season 8 would have been the start of a longer, second chapter of the show. But they didn’t really work. The show got sillier, and those two just never really fit. Still, it is a decent season of a network sitcom – fun and funny, and easy to watch. But it is not The Office at its prime to be sure.

 

8. Season # 9 – If Season 8 was the writers try to see if they could make a post Michael-Office work, then Season 9 was embracing the show for what it was, and embracing the endgame for all the characters. I do believe that they stick the landing amazingly well – the finale is legitimately great, and the two episodes leading up to it are fine as well. There is a lot to celebrate about the show this season – although it is also clearly more uneven than The Office was in its prime, and it still misses Michael who elevated the entire show. Still, name a live-action network sitcom in 2020 that had as good as season as The Office did in Season 9? It would be a very short list.

 

7. Season #1 – In my memory, Season 1 was always awkward and not that good – as it struggled to find its voice, and repeated too many gags from the British version. I was surprised then when I went back and re-watched it and found that that basically describes just the Pilot episode – which is one of the worst in the series’ run. After that though, the remaining five episodes are quite strong. True, they didn’t quite figure out the larger ensemble cast yet – that would come in Season 2 – but as a six-episode initial run, it really is quite solid other than episode 1.

 

6. Season #6 – In my memory, The Office was in its prime from seasons 2-6 – but watching it again now, it kind of becomes clear that that really only applies to first half of season 6. The classic episodes are in the first half – the greatness of the two-part Niagara wedding episode, the most cringeworthy episode ever – in Scott’s Tots – and everything with Dunder Mifflin maybe going under is handled perfectly. But once Sabre takes over in the second half, the unevenness really sets in – with the writers just not quite sure where to go next. It kind of feels like season 1 all over again – expect now it’s not a new show figuring out what it wants to be, but now a great show figuring out how to stay great. Overall, is season 6 still better than just about any live action sitcom on network TV in 2020? Yes. But it’s also clearly a notch below the previous four seasons.

 

5. Season #7 – It may seem odd to have season 7 over season 6 – especially since I consider the first half of season 6 to still be vintage The Office – something that only a few episode in season 7 could claim. But oddly, Season 7 is the one Michael Scott season of the show that I think is better than the sum of its parts. The whole season is basically a farewell to Michael – even before you realize it is, because through the season you start to see real growth for Michael – he starts to see the way he reads too much into things, he starts to see Ryan and Todd Packer for who they really are, and is able to really share his life with someone like Holly. The individual episodes weren’t always among the very best in the shows history – but the ones that were, were great, and overall the show was more consistent than season 6, which had that uneven backend. Plus when it was finally time to say Goodbye Michael, they did it perfectly. Perhaps this season isn’t “vintage” The Office like Season 2 through the first half of Season 6 – but it’s just as essential.

 

4. Season #5 – There is absolutely no doubt that by season 5, The Office was running like a well-oiled machine. The film was dominated two storylines – Michael and Holly’s short-lived relationship in Scranton, until she is transferred back to Nashua, begins the season and Michael’s heartbreak over it continued all season, and Michael quitting Dunder Mifflin, going out on his own (with Pam and Ryan) to protest his new boss (Idris Elba). The rest of the season also just works as standalones, with one funny episode after another. I’m not sure the heights are quite as high as other seasons – but it’s tough to find too many sour notes here either.

 

3. Season #3 – This season is not quite, but is nearly as good as Season 2. For Jim and Pam, it basically flips the script – with her pining for him, and him with someone else. I will say, I was sadder for Pam in this season than I ever was for Jim – and Jim did act like a jerk towards her on more than one occasion – but it all leads up to the best, most purely joyful moment in the shows history. As for the rest, everyone is still firing on top notch – Steve Carrell deepens Michael this season, and we get to see how Michael can both be good at his job, and how he looks to other people who just joined the office. The show also handled the addition of new characters with ease. In short, even if it’s not quite as good as Season 2 in total, most sitcoms will never have a season this good.

 

2. Season #4 – This season had two things working against it – the writers’ strike which shut down production about halfway through, and NBC wanting the show to have quite a few hour long episodes – where they have to pull off the trick of the episodes working as those hour longs, but can also be split in two for syndication purposes. So it’s quite remarkable really that the quality of Season 4 didn’t flag at all from where it was the previous two seasons. The highlights – like The Deposition and Dinner Party are as good as anything the show has ever done, and I liked the trick the show pulled in the Season Finale, pulling back on a big Jim and Pam reveal, like they had the last two years. Another vintage season.

 

1.Season #2 – This isn’t just the Season where The Office truly figured out what it was – it perfected it pretty much right away. Seriously, you don’t go too long at any point in this season without hitting a classic episode – and it had some amazing runs as well (Christmas Party, Booze Cruise and The Injury are back-to-back-to-back, perhaps the greatest three episode run the series ever had). There really isn’t a weak link this season – no, The Fight isn’t my favorite, but it’s still far from a bad episode). This is the season that really deepened the emotions between Jim and Pam – and left us heartbroken – that perfected the balance between Michael being an asshole or clueless-but-well-meaning (and ever inspires genuine sympathy a few times when it gives us glimpses into his childhood). In short, it is as close to a perfect season of a network sitcom you are ever like to see – there is a reason this was the season it won the Best Comedy Emmy.