The Office officially turned 20 today, and it’s making everyone feel nostalgic (and a little old).
On Mar. 24, 2005, NBC aired the first episode of The Office, an American mockumentary sitcom that follows the daily lives of ordinary office workers at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company based in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
To celebrate The Office’s big day, fans gathered on social media and Reddit forums to express their love of the show and reminisce about their favorite moments.
“Thank you for being my comfort show,” one Instagram user wrote. “It’s gotten me thru everything.”
“The Office >>>> any other show,” another user declared.
On Reddit, people talked about their favorite episode of the series, and amongst those listed, “Dinner Party” from Season 4 appeared to be the most popular. In the episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his girlfriend Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) throw a dinner party and invite some people from the office.
“Just the whole Dinner Party episode. There’s not a line of dialogue, a camera shot, a facial expression that is wasted in the entire episode. It’s a perfect episode of comedy writing and direction,” one Redditor wrote in response to the question about their favorite moment of the show.
“20 YEARS?! God I’m old,” another person commented, before going on to add: “I think I could watch Dinner Party forever.”
It goes without saying that the cold open for Season 5 Episode 14, where Dwight initiates a chaotic fire drill to make his fellow coworkers believe there is an emergency in their office, was highly upvoted moment from the show too.
“The fire drill open. cat into the ceiling makes me laugh every time,” one person wrote on Reddit.
Others quoted their favorite lines from the scene, including: “Today, smoking’s going to save lives” and “SAVE BANDIT!”
It wouldn’t be a celebration of The Office without mentioning Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) love story, their “will they, won’t they” tension, and the moment when the two finally get together and eventually get married.
In fact, days before the 20th anniversary of the series, people were still posting about how much they love Jim and Pam on X.
“I rewatched [The Office] for the 5th time, fell in love with Jim and Pam and Michael and Dwight over again,” a user wrote. “I laughed once again and decided to believe in love once again”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Fischer theorized why people still “swoon” over Jim and Pam all these years laters.
“You’re watching a romance bloom. And it just gets you right in the gut,” Fischer said. “That’s something that isn’t captured a lot in movies and television.”
With the show’s spinoff, The Paper, on the horizon, it’s only a matter of time before The Office gains even more fans than before, becoming a staple for new and old generations alike.
