Sitcoms set in workplaces have gone in and out of fashion. There have been sitcoms set in hospitals, in news rooms, and behind the scenes of theoretically more interesting television shows. When The Office, the American adaptation of the hugely successful British sitcom of the same name, first hit TV screens in 2005, it wasn't a workplace sitcom set up for success. Throughout the nineties and early aughts, British sitcoms retooled for American audiences were almost always recipes for disaster; the humour just didn't translate. Also, workplace sitcoms generally took place somewhere more interesting than a small paper company in a small town. Despite this, somehow, The Office became a colossal success story. During the time The Office aired, television changed dramatically. Picket lines were walked, once-great networks fell apart, and the way we watch and talk about television changed forever. Through all of that, The Office remained a constant. This is the story of how this doomed-from-the-start show made it so, so far. What was it that made The Office such a huge show? How did such an unassuming setting become home to some of the best comedy of its time? Where does The Office stand amongst beloved sitcom greats? The Office was the story of an American workplace. This is the story of an American sitcom.