the highlight

The enduring appeal of The Office in a crumbling world

How a nation engulfed by economic precarity turned a TV show about workplace drudgery into an aspirational fantasy.

Photo: Glenn Harvey for Vox
Photo: Glenn Harvey for Vox

When The Office reached the end of its six-episode first season on NBC in 2005, nobody thought there would be more.

The ratings were atrocious. Of the 156 shows on broadcast networks that TV season, The Office landed at 102 in total viewership. Despite a surprisingly large audience for its premiere — 11.2 million people — 57 percent had lost interest by the finale.

Michael Schur, a writer on that first season who would go on to create some very successful TV shows of his own, summed up the mood of impending doom well when I interviewed him for a 2018 podcast.

“There was a moment when we were shooting the last episode, where the cast was sort of huddled outside, and everyone was a little bit glum because it was our last week of shooting. Even though the show wouldn’t air for months, everyone kind of felt like, there’s no way this ever works,” he recalled.

Continue reading on Vox.com.

The enduring appeal of The Office in a crumbling world