Season one of The Office presented us with a show that was just finding its feet. Just six episodes long and full of characters we didn’t know yet, it was innocent and understated and had no idea it was about to have a whopping 195 episodes follow in its path.
Considering season one started all the way back in 2005 and was followed by another eight seasons, fans have probably forgotten a lot of the details from those opening episodes. Although many viewers have binged the series multiple times, it's become a handy background watch — not something they pay much attention to. However, season one is just so good that it's worth giving it a proper rewatch.
It Used Elements Of The UK Version
As season one was used as a pilot to see if The Office had the same legs in the US as it did in the UK (it did), it didn’t come up with too many of its own ideas. The characters are all basically translations of their UK counterparts for the most part, while storyline elements and jokes (such as the stapler in the jelly) remain consistent between the two.
And Ricky Gervais And Stephen Merchant Wrote The Pilot
In fact, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant co-wrote the pilot episode alongside the US showrunner, Greg Daniels. This is likely to be out of the desire to avoid bringing on new writers so early on, just in case the new format didn’t work.
While the creators of the show remained executive producers throughout its run, they did write one more episode together: ‘The Convict’.
Then Some Familiar Faces Wrote Other Episodes
Something else you may have forgotten happened in season one was the introduction of cast members who wrote episodes. For example, BJ Novak (who played Ryan) wrote episode 2, Paul Lieberstein (who played Toby) wrote episode 3, and Mindy Kaling (who played Kelly) wrote episode 6.
Michael Scott Reached His Peak Of Racism
Michael often accidentally reaches quite high levels of racism, and it mostly comes from his desperate attempts to be liked through his incredibly overly-woke attitude. His stereotyping of Kelly, for example, is almost always intended to be positive... and yet, comes across very badly.
However, the second episode the show ever put out actually painted Michael in his most racist light ever, in which he directly quoted a very specific part of Chris Rock’s stand-up routine.
And One Of His Jokes Really Didn’t Land
While Michael tries to make people like him by doing what he thinks is sticking up for minorities and pushing an anti-racist rhetoric, the one thing that trumps that is his desire to make people laugh. When Meredith’s birthday comes around, he tries to write the funniest thing on her card out of everyone, but it ends up coming out deeply offensive.
Dwight Encountered A Lot Of Fake Disease
In the third episode, Dwight is tasked with finding a suitable health care plan for the office. In a move that violates just about every law of privacy in the world, he reads out a list of fake diseases created by Jim and Pam.
These include hot dog fingers, spontaneous dental hydroplosion and government-created killer nanorobot infection. Apparently Rainn Wilson improvised them all.
Kevin And Jim Were Pretty Good At Basketball
In the ‘Basketball’ episode, we take a journey outside of the titular office for the first time in the show. In the basement, a basketball game is set up and we see Kevin shooting some particularly impressive hoops over and over again. John Krasinski is known for his basketball skill, and performed all of his own stunts as Jim for the episode.
We Heard Todd Packer’s Voice
Todd Packer ended up becoming one of the most notoriously horrible characters in The Office. A loud, rude womanizer who no one in the office liked except Michael, who found his humor very relatable.
However, in season one we only heard his voice on the phone. He still manages to make Michael laugh, despite being on the phone for just a few seconds.
Patrice O’Neil Showed Up
In the episode centering around the basketball game, we got one of the first major guest stars the show ever pulled off. Alongside the likes of Darryl, we saw Patrice O’Neal play Lonny Collins, a member of the warehouse staff. This was just six years before his untimely death.
And So Did Amy Adams
The first of a few episodes that brought Golden Globe-winning actress Amy Adams to The Office, saw her play the episode’s titular ‘Hot Girl’.
She didn’t last very long, because Jim quickly felt the need to profess his love for Pam, but her presence is something often forgotten about as Jim and Pam’s relationship becomes so prominent later on.