The Office is undoubtedly one of the biggest shows of all time. Some characters could get cringey, and yes, some beloved characters weren't always great, but this did not stop the show from becoming a powerhouse in its prime.
Thanks to streaming, millions of people have had a chance to watch the show, and there is one major flaw that people have noticed: the later seasons do not hold up to the earlier ones.
The show had some lackluster seasons, but which one is the worst? Let's take a look and see which one fell flatter than the rest.
'The Office Is A Classic'
At this point, the vast majority of people are familiar with The Office. The sitcom, which debuted back in 2005, is one of the most popular shows on the face of the planet, despite the fact that it hasn't aired new episodes in a very long time.
The cast was comprised of performers who had not yet become stars, but once the show hit the stratosphere, everyone and their mother became familiar with the biggest names on the show.
For a total of nine seasons and just north of 200 episodes, The Office was arguably the biggest show on TV. It seems like everyone was watching it, and even now, millions of households still go back and watch the show's best episodes regularly. It is a genuine classic of the small screen, and like Friends, it seems to be a show that will continue to remain popular with each passing generation, finding new fans who get sucked into the lives of Dunder Mifflin's finest.
As great as the show was, it was far from perfect, and as it went on, fans noticed that things were not the same as before.
Its Quality Tapered Off
Maintaining a high level of quality for a long-running show is extremely difficult to do, and unfortunately, this was one notable area where The Office struggled. This is not to say that all of the shows final few seasons were bad, it's just that the quality was lacking, and it was growing harder to watch.
When talking about when the show started to dip in quality, one Reddit user wrote, "Mine was personally after micheal, Pam, ryan rejoined Dunder miffilin. For some reason, Pam leaving reception started to ruin the show. When Erin joined, things just got worse.... What about you all?"
This event took place during season 5, and it certainly changed a lot of things for the show. Another popular pick for the moment things started to go wrong is when Michael Scott officially left Dunder Mifflin.
"when michael left. i actually enjoyes the office a lot until after michael left. nellie and erin/andys ending was bad and new jim/dwight were gross and unfunny. wish they skipped all that shit. i rly dislike robert california too," one fan wrote.
Michael leaving the show happens in season seven, two seasons after the original poster's pinpoint.
Again, the show's later seasons dipped in quality, but which season from The Office is actually considered the worst?
Season 8 Is The Worst
Over on Rotten Tomatoes, we can see that The Office maintained pretty consistent scores throughout its run on the small screen. That said, there is no ignoring the absolute dumpster fire of a score that season 8 has. The overall average of season 8 is a paltry 50%, making it the worst in the show's history.
Seth Abramovich of TV.Com noted that the show had a serious problem, one that a previously-mentioned Reddit user highlighted.
"I think we must finally acknowledge the elephant in the room: The addition of James Spader as Robert California is not helping this series survive the departure of Steve Carell," Abramovich wrote.
One fan threw absolute haymakers when reviewing the season.
"Just a horror show of a season, scrambling to to overcome the loss of Michael and series fatigue. The Randy California role became awful fast and Andy Bernard is just too annoying to carry the show very far. Even Jim/Pam have lost their luster. Attempts to expand the other characters seemed half-hearted by the writers and actually made them more annoying than endearing. This should really have been a half season to wrap up the series and close it out gracefully for the fans. No one deserved this mess," they wrote.
Season 8 of The Office was bad, but thankfully, there was some redemption in season 9.
