With its more or less traditional sitcom format, The Office told new stories every week and resolved them before the credits rolled. As with most TV comedies, you could drop in on any given episode and enjoy a three-act narrative journey through the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin.
However, as the show gained popularity and the writers had to fill out bigger seasons and viewers were guaranteed to be coming back week after week to see these characters, the production team began to experiment with multi-episode story arcs. Here are the storylines that stuck with fans. For better or worse.
Best: Holly Becomes Scranton's New HR Rep
When Toby moves to Costa Rica in the season 4 finale, corporate sends in Holly Flax to take his place as the Scranton branch’s HR rep. At first, Michael is determined to hate “the new Toby,” but he ends up quickly falling in love with her.
Throughout season 5, they flirt with one another until finally, they get together, David Wallace finds out, and Holly is transferred to Nashua. This storyline had a sad temporary ending, but at least they eventually spent the rest of their lives together.
Worst: Cathy Tries To Seduce Jim
During Pam’s second pregnancy, Cathy Simms is hired to take her place during her maternity leave. When both Jim and Cathy are recruited to join Dwight’s team opening the first Sabre store down in Tallahassee, Cathy tells a friend over the phone about her intention to break up the Halperts’ marriage and seduce Jim during the trip.
This made Cathy needlessly unlikable. And a gorgeous woman in her twenties relentlessly flirting with a middle-aged married family man is hardly a universally relatable situation.
Best: Michael & Jan's Relationship
Michael’s relationship with his corporate overseer Jan was one of the most interesting story threads in The Office. At first, it seemed like Michael was punching above his weight, but it was slowly revealed that he was deeply unhappy in the relationship.
From the jaw-dropping “The Deposition” to the explosive, cringe-inducing “Dinner Party,” Michael and Jan’s relationship led to some of the show’s funniest and most memorable moments. Fortunately for Michael, their relationship was not one that would stand the test of time.
Worst: Jim Transfers To The Stamford Branch
At the very beginning of season 3, Jim has transferred to the Dunder Mifflin branch in Stamford, Connecticut, to get away from Pam after he confessed his love for her and she rejected him.
It made sense that Jim would want some time apart from Pam for a while, but in the first few episodes of season 3, otherwise terrific installments like “Diwali” are weighed down by the Stamford scenes. Cutting to Jim’s new workplace always stopped an episode dead.
Best: The Stamford Branch Merges With The Scranton Branch
Inevitably, Jim was going to return to Scranton. The Dunder Mifflin board decided to merge Scranton with Stamford, with Stamford manager Josh running things. However, Josh flaked on the board and took a job elsewhere, leading them to reverse the merger and put Michael in charge.
One by one, the Stamford employees quit, as they are offended and/or humiliated by Michael, leaving behind only Jim, Andy, and Karen. The merger storyline was a fun way to shake things up, and finally brought Jim and Pam back together.
Worst: Jim Is Promoted To Co-Manager
After a meeting with David Wallace in which Jim angled after Michael’s job by suggesting a promotion for Michael – which already seemed out of character, given how little Jim cares about forging a career at Dunder Mifflin – Jim was promoted to co-manager of the branch. Michael would handle the big-picture stuff and Jim would handle the day-to-day.
There was never any suggestion that Scranton needed a second manager, taking the job seriously didn’t ring true for Jim’s character, and the storyline was inconsequentially wrapped up in the space of just a few weeks.
Best: Threat Level Midnight
Michael spent a decade of writing, shooting, re-shooting, and editing his masterpiece, action thriller Threat Level Midnight. The Scranton branch did a table read of the unfinished script in season 2’s “The Client,” and Michael continued to mention his ambitions of being a screenwriter for years to come.
Finally, in the season 7 episode “Threat Level Midnight,” the movie was complete and Michael screened it for his employees, and the payoff was extraordinary. Unfortunately for Michael, however, his film would not lead to him to his red carpet dreams.
Worst: Deangelo Vickers Briefly Replaces Michael
When Steve Carell left The Office, NBC brought in his Anchorman co-star Will Ferrell to smooth the transition between Michael Scott’s departure and the appointment of a new series lead, but it backfired horribly. Ferrell is one of the most hilarious actors in Hollywood, but even his best efforts couldn’t make DeAngelo Vickers a fun character.
While DeAngelo came with a couple of funny moments up his sleeve, like doing an intense juggling routine without the balls and forcing Andy to eat hand soap, his multi-episode story arc was mostly a drag, especially in the wake of losing Michael.
Best: The Michael Scott Paper Company
Towards the end of The Office’s fifth season, Michael gets sick of the new CFO’s intrusive nature and quits his job. He starts his own paper company, the Michael Scott Paper Company, and invites all of his ex-employees to join him. The only two to come with him are Pam, who constantly second-guesses her decision, and Ryan, who’s been working at a bowling alley.
Despite their unsustainability, the trio manages to dominate the Scranton paper market, forcing Dunder Mifflin to offer to buy them out. In the end, Michael outsmarts David and becomes arguably one of the most successful business owners in history by securing a $60,000 buyout and jobs for himself and his two staff members after just four weeks of operation.
Worst: Athlead Destroys Jim & Pam's Marriage
In season 9, Jim starts a sports marketing firm called Athlead based in Philadelphia, and doesn’t tell Pam until it’s way too late. Everything from that point onwards was just awful. Jim’s increased time in Philly, living it up with his favorite athletes, left Pam feeling exhausted and neglected.
They argued all the time, and eventually, Brian the sound guy decided to step in and console her, getting himself fired from the crew of the in-universe documentary. The whole storyline was terrible. After all these years of fairy tale romance, no one wanted to see Jim and Pam’s marriage go down the toilet.