Top 20 Moments from ‘The Office’

By Carrie Kuhlman at September 20, 2012 | 9:20 am | Print

Image courtesy NBC
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The last season of The Office starts tonight on NBC and many of us at Playmaker are sad to see it go. Before we start filling our empty ice cream cartons with tears, we’d like to share a list of some of our favorite moments from the past 8 seasons of this popular series. Remembering the great times definitely helped the mourning process. Look over our picks and tells us some of your favorite moments.

1. Michael Uses “That’s what she said.”

It’s hard to imagine a world before this catch phrase was popularized by Steve Carell. While the phrase had definitely existed before, the Michael Scott character owned it and pushed it into modern pop culture. When The Office was at it’s most popular point on television, everyone was saying it and what’s ironic is that after Michael’s first uses of the phrase, he started using it at times when it didn’t even really make any sense. The other characters started saying it and it never stopped being funny. It was quite fitting that it’s the last thing that Michael ever said on the show. — Javi Perez

2. Dwight’s Incredibly Realistic Fire Safety Lesson

Dwight has pulled some crazy stunts over the past few years, but very few come close to his fire safety lesson. To prove that his co-workers weren’t properly prepared for a fire, Dwight created a small fire in a trashcan and then made it impossible to escape the office. After sheer panic set in, Kevin looted the vending machines, Oscar climbed up into the ceiling, Angela hurled her stowaway feline friend into the ceiling hoping Oscar would save it, and a few employees attempted to break doors and windows with office equipment. All the while, Dwight calmly provided fire safety tips and occasionally set off firecrackers, prompting Andy to yell, “The fire is shooting at us!” This scene goes down as being one of the most memorable cold opens of the series.   — Carrie Kuhlman

3. Jim Convinces Dwight it’s Friday

In my opinion, this is the quintessential prank that Jim ever pulled on Dwight because it carries over into a very important plot point for Dwight and the co-workers during season three, even though this specific prank takes place in season two. Dwight thinks that it’s Friday, when it is actually Thursday, and this coincides with the “Performance Reviews” for that specific episode. Jim keeps this ongoing, of course including Pam to have such popular phrases from that time such as “Did you see who Trump fired on the Apprentice last night?” One of my favorite lines from the entire series comes from this episode, which is part of Dwight’s answer to the aforementioned question: “I went out drinking with my laser tag team last night…I never go out on a Thursday!” Dwight has a laser tag team…
— Brent Vickers

4. Pam and Jim’s Casino Night Kiss

Pam and Jim’s will-they-won’t-they romance created a lot of tension during the first two seasons. Viewers everywhere were screaming, “Do it, Jim Halpert. DO IT!” in hopes that he would stop hiding behind those silly faces and profess his love to the adorable, shy receptionist. After years of close calls, Jim put on his serious face and passionately kissed Pam in the dark, empty office during Casino Night.

Finally, I could sleep at night knowing those two would be able to awkwardly and longingly look at each other in the privacy of Jim’s living room. Sure, Pam drunkenly kissed Jim during The Dundies, but that wasn’t the kiss that propelled their relationship forward. This kiss secured their fate as the cutest couple at Dunder Mifflin, with Angela and Dwight coming in at a distant second. —CK

5. Everybody Roasts Michael

The season five episode “Stress Relief” was the perfect episode to air after the Super Bowl. The incredibly hilarious fire drill to start was perfect and appears on this list. But we also got to see the employees of Dunder Mifflin roast Michael Scott. It was hilarious to see everyone get up and insult Michael. Oscar’s was so virulent that he did it in Spanish. Andy sang a song, of course, but my favorite was Pam, whose delivery was actually in the spirit of a classic roast.

Pam: “I saw him naked… and his thing is so small.”
Kevin: “How small is it?”
Pam: “If it were an iPod, it would be a shuffle.”

Well done, Pam. And remember, we only roast the ones we love. —JP

6. Dwight Receives Urgent Faxes from Future Dwight

This has to be one of the greatest pranks of all time. Prior to transferring to the Stamford branch, Jim stole Dwight’s stationary in hopes of harassing Dwight via fax. Early one morning, Jim sends an urgent fax to Dwight, signed “Future Dwight.” In the fax, Future Dwight writes that someone will poison the coffee that morning. Dwight, trusting the words of his future self, bolts across the office and dramatically swats a cup of coffee out of the hand of an unenthusiastic Stanley. This scene works so well primarily because it’s entirely believable that sci-fi geek Dwight Schrute would accept that he’s receiving faxes from himself — from the future. Long distance relationships are tough, but we’re glad Jim went the extra mile to continually humiliate Dwight. —CK

7. Jim and Pam’s Private Wedding

Of course one of the most important and anticipated episodes of the series: Jim and Pam’s wedding. While their ‘actual’ wedding was disrupted for this reason or that and ended with that stupid dance down the aisle schtick adopted from a viral video, the real poignant and heartfelt moment–which when it comes down to it is the core of their relationship–is when Jim and Pam chose to sneak off to have a boat tour of the Niagara falls and in the middle of it rip off their ponchos and reveal to the captain that they were a bride and groom, who immediately married them, making the wedding everyone else attended obsolete and ultimately just for show for the friends and family of the bride and groom. As a die-hard fan of The Office, I wouldn’t have wanted to see it any other way. —BV
Image courtesy NBC

8. “Prison Mike” Lectures The Office

Working at Dunder Mifflin isn’t at all like prison. It’s like having a home room class in high school with a teacher who’s trying really hard to be cool. But in the season three episode “The Convict,” everyone starts hearing about prison for corporate crimes and thinks that the environment there is better than working at their office. So Michael decides to introduce everyone to “Prison Mike” to tell them what prison is really like.

Gotta watch out for those dementors in prison. —JP

9. Holly Thinks Kevin is Mentally Challenged

Perhaps the meanest (but funniest) ‘hazing’ techniques Dwight pulled on Holly on her first day (the season finale of season 4) which carried over to the season premiere of season 5 was when Dwight convinced Holly that Kevin was mentally challenged. Seemingly the perfect prank as Kevin has always been the ‘simpleton’ of The Office–lethargic and apathetic–it makes sense to choose his character to set her up with this, but what made it better was that everything that Kevin said, fell right into Dwight’s trap, and Holly believing his disability, until her horribly embarrassing — and somewhat insulting to Kevin — discovery that everyone had fooled her. —BV

10. Michael Emails a Topless Photo of Jan to the Entire Company

Michael Scott tries his hardest with the ladies, but he always seems to mess something up. After going on a secret vacation with his direct supervisor and love interest, Jan Levenson, Michael accidentally emails a topless photo of his travel companion to the entire office. Whoops. The photo makes the rounds, but Jan is initially oblivious to the email mishap. Unfortunately for Michael, she eventually learns of his wrongdoing, thus throwing another wrench into their strange relationship. The obviously photo shopped picture is also quite hilarious. Jan is lying down on a lounge chair sans swimsuit top while Michael stands behind her with a ridiculous expression on his face. It’s a shame those two lovebirds didn’t end up together. — CK

11. Andy Punches the Wall

Jim and Pam don’t attack right away. They’re sweet people and usually give everyone the benefit of the doubt upon introduction. But Andy Bernard just went too far with his office antics in the season three episode “The Return.” Andy wasn’t a very likable character at this point, so we all reveled in Jim and Pam’s prank to steal Andy’s phone (featuring Andy singing “Rockin’ Robin” in four-part harmony as his ringer). How this isn’t available to download as a smartphone ringer, I have no idea. But “PB&J” couldn’t have imagined that their prank would work so well that Andy would punch a wall and get sent to anger management training. —JP

12. Pam and Jim Find out Pam’s Pregnant

Company picnic is a great episode. Holly comes back, Michael makes up some words, Dwight and Jim share a moment, and in the end, we find out Pam and Jim are pregnant. But it’s not so much that we found out they were pregnant, it’s the way we found out. A nurse had dropped the hint, asking if Pam was pregnant before getting an X-ray. And then, in the final scene, a doctor gives them some news… and we just see the looks on their faces and their embrace.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And watching those two make each other happy and make us happy watching them is what we’re going to miss when The Office comes to an end. —JP

13. Dwight Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ as a Bedtime Story to Pam and Jim during their stay at Dwight’s B&B

One of my favorite things about this episode is that Jim and Pam’s first night away together as a couple is at Dwight’s Bed and Breakfast at Schrute farms. When asked for any special accommodations, Jim asks for a bedtime story, which Dwight immediately shuts down. However come nighttime, Jim and Pam are snuggled in bed together — with an always equally lovable and creepy Mose at the foot of the bed staring at them like a child/dog/something else not of this world–getting an excerpt of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows read to them by Dwight — complete with voice-acting for the characters and all! —BV

14. Jim Pulls Pavlov’s Dog Prank on Dwight

Choosing your favorite Jim prank on Dwight is like picking your favorite child. You love them all and they’re all wonderful… but this is my personal favorite. In a little more than a minute, Jim pulls off a perfect long prank that must have taken weeks to set up. Just for the simple satisfaction of… watching Dwight get a bad taste in his mouth. So simple and yet so hilarious. —JP

15. The Goodbye Toby Party

We all know how much Michael hates Toby. It’s one of the most fierce hatreds of all time. Israelis vs Palestinians; Celtics fans vs Lakers Fans; Elton John vs Madonna–then comes Michael vs Toby. Unlike the examples mentioned before, this one is completely one-sided, which is why in the season 4 finale “Goodbye Toby” we saw a whole new side of Michael in regards to Toby.

Instead of his obvious disdain, he almost LOVED Toby because of his departure, and he made sure to express that in the only way he knew how–parody a song. In this case he parodied Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” into his own iconic performance of “Goodbye Toby!” Of course there was Jim’s “planned” proposal that went awry, and Andy and Angela getting engaged, and Michael meeting Holly, but the most important part of it all was Michael putting heart-and-soul into singing “Goodbye Toby” just so Toby knew exactly how Michael felt about his leaving. —BV

16.  Michael kisses Oscar

Any worries that The Office would slow down after an incredible second season would put to rest with the season three premiere “Gay Witch Hunt.” Michael unwittingly outs Oscar as gay and struggles to understand what is acceptable. When he insults Oscar and Oscar explodes at him, Oscar relents and hugs Michael only to find that he’s gotten himself into an even more uncomfortable situation.

This was completely improvised by Steve Carell and luckily Oscar Nunez played along. The reaction shots of the cast as they look on are all genuine as they didn’t know it was coming. Although there weren’t many reaction shots because they had trouble holding it together. We all know why. —JP

17. Jim Dressed as Dwight

“Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.” The day Jim dressed as Dwight was the day that everything awesome happened. Sure, Dwight is slightly eccentric, but nobody knows how to exploit those eccentricities quite like his fellow salesman and desk-adjacent buddy Jim Halpert. Jim showed up to work wearing the ultimate Dwight uniform: mustard colored shirt, giant glasses, atrocious tie and calculator watch. Jim then proceeds to ask Dwight a question about bears, but as soon as Dwight begins to answer Jim cuts him off in typical know-it-all-Dwight fashion. Dwight later dresses as Jim in an attempt to beat Jim at his own game, but fails yet again. $11 well spent, Halpert. —CK

18. Michael’s Candlelight/Sprinkler Proposal to Holly

As soon as we met Holly, we fell in love with her. And even better, we knew that she was perfect for Michael. But what was great about their love story is that it was never predictable. Michael took it slow. They broke up when she was transferred. When they saw each other again, she was dating somebody. Michael wasn’t disheartened though because he knew they were “soup snakes.” So when they eventually found their way back to each other, we knew nothing was going to stop them. And the proposal was perfect. Michael’s tour of the office reinforced that the people that he worked with really are family and this time it would be official. The tour encompassed their whole relationship, with funny and sweet moments, passing by others, and then a twist that had everyone laughing and crying with joy at the same time.

It’s just a good thing that Michael didn’t go with any of his initial ideas. —JP

19. Ryan Gets Arrested for Embezzlement and Fraud

While the rise and fall of Ryan the temp isn’t one of the main storylines one The Office, it certainly is one of the most elaborate. Ryan spent his early days at Dunder Mifflin as the forgettable temp and evolved into a drug addicted, power hungry ladder climber — prior to becoming a hipster. After he made it to the top, Ryan was promptly arrested for fraud. His arrest was recorded via cell phone and uploaded to youtube, enabling his former Scranton employees to watch him being hauled away in handcuffs. His storyline in the 4th season is rather dark, but the creative forces behind this workplace comedy made his downfall laughable. Ryan is the type of character that everybody hates because he thinks he’s better than everyone. It’s always great to see Ryan Howard crash and burn.  —CK

20. Michael Says Goodbye to Jim and Pam

Michael pulled off an interesting move in his last episode making everyone believe that his 2nd to last day was actually his last to save him the emotional pain of having everyone say goodbye to him knowing that they would never see him again. It’s actually a brilliant move. But one person couldn’t be fooled: Jim, his best friend in the office. Jim really did speak for all of us, as fans, when he told Michael how he felt as he was getting ready to leave.

Afterward both actors confirmed that their emotions were genuine. I challenge any fan to watch that clip and not get just a little teary-eyed. But of course, it wouldn’t be complete without saying goodbye to Pam, the person who spent more time with Michael than anyone else. She made it to the airport just in time to give him a hug and wish him luck. Quite fitting for a guy who was maybe a little like a father to her… but maybe more a crazy uncle. —JP

We’re sure the last season of this successful UK turned US series will be full of many more memorable moments. We can’t wait to see what this season brings to the table.

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