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Not all Television is made the same

As the title says, I'm not including shows made before 2000. The television landscape and more specifically sitcoms were shaped over decades and classics like Married... With Children, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld and countless others were the pillers that modern shows are built on.

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If I included anything back further than 20 years I'll have even more trouble proving my point -- which is already coming from a biased die-hard office fan.

Since 2000 there has been hundreds of half decent sitcoms, but there are only a few that can compare to The Office -- and some of those have connections to The Office through actors, writers and others behind the scenes.

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The Office is based on the British TV show of the same name -- Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephent Merchant in 1995. The first few seasons of the US version more or less followed the same tone as its predosessor -- albeit a little more lighthearted. It premeired on NBC on March 24, 2005, and ran for nine seasons until its finale on May 16, 2013. The series centers on the everyday lives of office workers at a branch of the fictional paper, Dunder Mifflin, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Great actors and their character's development

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The Office is one of those shows like Friends that breeds success. The original cast of the office were mostly unknowns -- minus Steve Carell -- when the show first aired and are now all household names more than a decade later.

John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling and Ellie Kemper are some of the actors that still pull in huge audiences and have large fan bases. Even characters with less screen time like Creed Bratton who have fans that go to clubs to see them perform live or stop what they're doing to take a picture with them.

The characters the actors played also had a long journey through the nine seasons of the hit show. Characters like Dwight Schrute, the assistant to the regional manager, who went from an odd, beet farming, rule-following-loser to an oddly funny, confident, beet farming-Regional Manager.

Other notable characters who made the show what it is are the secondary characters who had less screen time in the early seasons but largely carried the show after Steve Carell left in season 7. Characters like David Wallace, Oscar Martinez, Angela Martin and Kevin Malone were given extra screen time as the seasons went on and the show was better as a whole for it.

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We all know a Stanley Hudson or a Phyllis Vance. Stanley, is like the grumpy family member at Thanksgiving who has no patience for your cousin Chad, but will drink until the sun is up with your uncle, Larry. Phyllis is more of a mix of your sweet grandma and the lady ahead of you -- definitely named Karen -- in line asking to speak with the manager. Those kind of people are complex, ordinary and make the world go round.

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Of course, Steve Carell -- the biggest star of the series -- made the show what it is today and we wouldn't be talking about the Success of The Office without him. From improv lines, insanely awkward moments to amazing physical comedy -- Carell is truly one of the greats who raised his fellow cast member to his level for seven seasons.

The story arc of Michael Gary Scott is a rewarding experience for viewers. Steve Carell managed to turn Michael -- a bumbling, attention seeking man-child -- into someone that we can relate. He's a man who wants people to like him. He's in over his head and just trying to get by and make the people around him happy. He's egotistical, he can be ignorant and down right stupid. But, at the end of the day, Michael does all he can and just wants love and friends -- can ya blame the guy?

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With all of this talk of Steve Carell, we Have to mention the 800-pound gorilla in the room, Carol -- I mean... Carell, leaving The Office at the end of Season seven. He was such a big presense on screen, the show peaked after Carell left, even though there were more stories to finish telling. Although this happens with a huge number of sitcoms in their later years, it's still hard to watch episodes in season 8 or 9 and not foolishly hope for Michael to crash a birthday party or cheer Erin up when she gets her heart broken (again.)

Ah well, Such is life. Hopefully Carell's new Netflix show Space Force -- co-created with The Office's Showrunner, Greg Daniels -- will fill our collective need Steve Carell's comedy.

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Storylines, writing, overall series plot and behind the scenes talent

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For a show that centers on workers at a paper company -- The Office had an interesting and heartwarming story. Of course character development was the driving force behind a lot of the plot moving forward. And that's a good thing -- it's familiar, it's not overly complicated and the decisions characters make seem like ones we would make ourselves. Well, Maybe not all of Michael's -- but hey, pobody's nerfect!

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Love is a key storyline in most entertainment, so we have seen it all before on screen, The Office is no different -- in fact, the Jim and Pam love story in The Office is a well written and grounded relationship that happens all of the time. Boy meets girl, they connect even though one is in a relationship, drama ensues but they eventually end up together.

This played out love story worked because of the subtly of Jim and Pam's reactions to each other and others who may be watching. They are in a (somewhat) professional work environment where gossip is prevelant, so little glances across the room at each other can mean the world -- especially if other people start to notice.

Another great part of Jim and Pam's love story lends itself to the writers not beating a dead horse. After Jim withdraws his name from consideration for the coperate job at the end of season 3, Jim asks out Pam and they start dating. From there they fall in love and we get to watch them start a loving family. Of course they had problems in their marriage, but it wasn't an exhausting show of running around in circles like Ross and Rachael in Friends. Jim and Pam loved each other and did whatever they could to make that work. That is real life and a big reason why The Office is so grounded despite some truly silly scenarios happening at a place of work.

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The Office was not only a success because of the actors. The writing on The Office is truly original, especially considering the show popularized the 'mockumentary' style while laugh tracks and studio audiences were still popular. Writers on the show include cast members, Mindy Kaling (Kelly), BJ Novak (Ryan) and Paul Lieberstein (Toby.) Michael Schur, who played Dwight's cousin Mose, not only played a role in producing, but wrote for The Office and went on to work on other successful shows like Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place.

Finally, the show would be nowhere without its showrunner, Greg Daniel, who wrote, produced and directed the show through all 9 seasons -- Thanks, Greg! Please, please make Space Force a great show.

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Quotable moments and influence

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"That's what she said." is one of the most quoted lines from television ever. I still find myself trying not to say it in professional settings. Michael Scott popularized the saying and it's been ingrained in popular culture ever since.

A reason why The Office is quoted so much is because every single character has hours of funny scenes throughout nine seasons of airtime.

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From Creed to Kevin -- every one has had their moments to shine throughout the series and both the writing staff and actors rarely dropped the ball.

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Staying power in the digital age

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Recently, Netflix released data that showed The Office is the most watched TV show on their entire platform. The show is still constantly talked about by a wide age of people and because of Netflix, younger viewers are finding the show for the first time in 2019.

Another sign that the show still has a future has been the many rumours of a reboot, with some actors showing interest. We can only hope.

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Having a dedicated fan base

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Places like Reddit, Facebook or Twitter, where fans can interact with each other and the stars of the shows they love has really changed television in a significant way. Show like The Office or Arrested Development, have been saved from cancellation from this loud voice of fans. A more recent example would be Brooklyn Nine-Nine being saved from cancellation by NBC after an outcry from fans on social media when Fox cancelled the series.

The Office has one of the biggest bases of dedicated fans of any television show ever. The subreddit r/dundermifflin has over 850,000 subscribers -- not bad for a show that has been off the air since 2013.

All in all, The Office is great because it reached a large audience and still continues to make people all around the world laugh. As Creed would say -- Not bad for a dog food company.